the beans.
“Do you live around here?” Alexandra asked, curious about this lad who didn’t seem to fit in with these plain country folk with his superior garments.
She noted the fine cut and quality of his clothes, looking beyond the holes at the knees of his trousers and the shiny area around the elbows where the material had worn thin. Everyone else here wore homespun and home sewn attire.
“My folks live over a ways,” he said, nodding in the direction of the east. A wide path cut through the thick trees. “My pa and two brothers are in the army, which leaves me and Ma running the plantation. If Ma didn’t need protecting, I’d be fighting Yanks myself,” he said, with a faint twinge of resentment.
“That’s a big job for one man—running a plantation and protecting your mother,” Alexandra said, smiling to herself at his apparent youth.
“Yeah, I reckon it is,” he said, squaring his shoulders. “How about you? What are you doing traveling in the middle of the war?”
“I’m on my way to stay with my aunt. She needs someone to stay with her, too.” She would have to remember to use that angle with Thomas.
They took their plates and settled on a crate in the shade of the barn wall. Laughing together, they ate and watched the dancers sweep around the courtyard to the tune of Tom’s fiddle. The bridegroom’s music reflected his animated expression.
****
Thomas’s shoulder still stung but offered a tingling, healing sensation resulting from the poultice and clean bandage. The bath hadn’t hurt either in making his mood lighter. Perhaps he’d been wrong about Alexandra. He liked her, damn it. Why should he deny himself her company just because he feared things might get messy? It didn’t have to be complicated.
He took a piece of fresh apple pie and sat down on the barren ground out of the way of the dancers, thinking. War twisted things up. He watched in surprise as women danced with each other, making the lack of men all the more apparent. Only one old man remained out there, but the women weren’t going to let that stop them from enjoying themselves. The whitehaired gentleman glanced at the various women, perhaps trying to decide which of them he would dance with. Thomas shook his head and finished eating his pie.
****
They traveled in haste now that they no longer dragged Eli along behind them. The inconveniences suffered were worth gaining someone to look after Eli.
Thomas still believed they should be going in the opposite direction, and only against his better judgment did they continue on the road to Vicksburg. He shifted his position on the horse. Alexandra’s hair tickled his nose. For the hundredth time he noted the strange vagaries of the situation which caused a proper young Southern woman to so easily lean against a man who only a few days ago was a perfect stranger. And what about the lack of a chaperone? War did that to people. Priorities shifted and refocused, forever altered.
“I think I should take you home,” Thomas blurted.
Alexandra jumped and jerked her head from his shoulder. “No, I have to go to Vicksburg.”
“The war is concentrating there on the river.” He lifted his hand and gestured toward the west.
“How do you know?”
“It’s a key position,” he said. “Besides, I can feel it,” he added, unable to resist taunting her.
“I don’t care. I have to get to my aunt.”
“I’m certain your aunt has vacated the area if necessary and is long gone to a safe place.”
“No, she won’t leave her home.”
“Stubbornness runs in your family, eh?”
“I am not stubborn,” she said with a haughty lift of her chin.
“No?” Thomas said, with laughter.
“No! I know what I want. You’re the one who is being intractable.”
“Oh, I’m being intractable, am I?”
“It means unmanageable.”
“I know what it means.”
“Then stop doing it.”
“Fine. I’m taking you home,” he said and turned the horse around.
Alexandra
“Do you live around here?” Alexandra asked, curious about this lad who didn’t seem to fit in with these plain country folk with his superior garments.
She noted the fine cut and quality of his clothes, looking beyond the holes at the knees of his trousers and the shiny area around the elbows where the material had worn thin. Everyone else here wore homespun and home sewn attire.
“My folks live over a ways,” he said, nodding in the direction of the east. A wide path cut through the thick trees. “My pa and two brothers are in the army, which leaves me and Ma running the plantation. If Ma didn’t need protecting, I’d be fighting Yanks myself,” he said, with a faint twinge of resentment.
“That’s a big job for one man—running a plantation and protecting your mother,” Alexandra said, smiling to herself at his apparent youth.
“Yeah, I reckon it is,” he said, squaring his shoulders. “How about you? What are you doing traveling in the middle of the war?”
“I’m on my way to stay with my aunt. She needs someone to stay with her, too.” She would have to remember to use that angle with Thomas.
They took their plates and settled on a crate in the shade of the barn wall. Laughing together, they ate and watched the dancers sweep around the courtyard to the tune of Tom’s fiddle. The bridegroom’s music reflected his animated expression.
****
Thomas’s shoulder still stung but offered a tingling, healing sensation resulting from the poultice and clean bandage. The bath hadn’t hurt either in making his mood lighter. Perhaps he’d been wrong about Alexandra. He liked her, damn it. Why should he deny himself her company just because he feared things might get messy? It didn’t have to be complicated.
He took a piece of fresh apple pie and sat down on the barren ground out of the way of the dancers, thinking. War twisted things up. He watched in surprise as women danced with each other, making the lack of men all the more apparent. Only one old man remained out there, but the women weren’t going to let that stop them from enjoying themselves. The whitehaired gentleman glanced at the various women, perhaps trying to decide which of them he would dance with. Thomas shook his head and finished eating his pie.
****
They traveled in haste now that they no longer dragged Eli along behind them. The inconveniences suffered were worth gaining someone to look after Eli.
Thomas still believed they should be going in the opposite direction, and only against his better judgment did they continue on the road to Vicksburg. He shifted his position on the horse. Alexandra’s hair tickled his nose. For the hundredth time he noted the strange vagaries of the situation which caused a proper young Southern woman to so easily lean against a man who only a few days ago was a perfect stranger. And what about the lack of a chaperone? War did that to people. Priorities shifted and refocused, forever altered.
“I think I should take you home,” Thomas blurted.
Alexandra jumped and jerked her head from his shoulder. “No, I have to go to Vicksburg.”
“The war is concentrating there on the river.” He lifted his hand and gestured toward the west.
“How do you know?”
“It’s a key position,” he said. “Besides, I can feel it,” he added, unable to resist taunting her.
“I don’t care. I have to get to my aunt.”
“I’m certain your aunt has vacated the area if necessary and is long gone to a safe place.”
“No, she won’t leave her home.”
“Stubbornness runs in your family, eh?”
“I am not stubborn,” she said with a haughty lift of her chin.
“No?” Thomas said, with laughter.
“No! I know what I want. You’re the one who is being intractable.”
“Oh, I’m being intractable, am I?”
“It means unmanageable.”
“I know what it means.”
“Then stop doing it.”
“Fine. I’m taking you home,” he said and turned the horse around.
Alexandra
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