The Unlikely Wife by Cassandra Austin

suspended. She held her breath. It was the strangest feeling, as if the air was filled with waiting. She strained her ears for any sound that might have given her the odd impression. She could hear her aunt’s soft snoring. Somewhere a cricket chirped.
    She had nearly decided her imagination was playing tricks on her, when the back flap of the wagon eased open, spilling moonlight on shiny blond hair. Rebecca watched Alicia ease out of the wagon.
    With skill born of practice, Rebecca slipped noiselessly out of her blankets and followed. “Alicia,” she hissed the moment the flap had fallen back into place.
    Alicia was only a few paces away. She turned, her finger coming quickly to her lips. Rebecca joined her. “You shouldn’t be out alone,” she whispered.
    “I thought you were asleep.” Alicia cast a glance over her shoulder.
    Until that moment, Rebecca had assumed Alicia needed to relieve herself. Now, with sudden insight, she knew Alicia was sneaking out to meet someone. “Where are you going?” she demanded in as hushed a tone as her fear would permit. It was one thing to go sneaking off herself. It was quite another to find her young cousin doing it.
    “To meet Victor. You will cover for me, won’t you?”
    “Victor? Who’s Victor?” Rebecca had stepped closer and took her cousin’s hand, hoping to coax Alicia back into the wagon before their conversation woke Aunt Belle.
    “Victor Brooks. Our driver.”
    “Brooks?” Rebecca almost choked on the word. “You can’t go off in the middle of the night and meet Brooks.”
    “And why not? You’ve done this kind of thing often enough.”
    Rebecca heard accusation in the whispered words. “But you have to be careful of your choice, Alicia. And Brooks…”
    “Rebecca, you’re a snob.” Alicia pulled her hand out of Rebecca’s grasp. “You wouldn’t give Brooks a second thought because he’s an enlisted man. You didn’t even remember his first name.”
    Rebecca shook her head, wanting to deny the accusation even as she realized there was a grain oftruth in it. “Alicia,” she began, forcing her voice to remain calm. “Brooks tried to kiss me.”
    “And your lieutenant didn’t?”
    Rebecca sighed in exasperation. “That’s completely different.”
    “How is it different? Because it’s me some man is interested in? Because your lieutenant doesn’t want to see you? I think you’re jealous.”
    Rebecca took a step backward. She didn’t know what to say to refute the outlandish statement. Alicia took it as an invitation to end the conversation. With a toss of her blond hair, she spun around and hurried away.
    Rebecca considered going after her, but what could she say that would mean anything right now? Perhaps she should follow and spy on the couple. She would be close by if things got out of hand. She realized the foolishness of that even as she took the first few steps in the direction her cousin had gone. What she considered out of hand and what Alicia did would likely be two different things. If Brooks actually took liberties, all Alicia had to do was scream and forty or so men would come to her rescue. On the other hand, if he so much as touched her, Rebecca would want to storm forward and drag the girl away.
    With a sigh of resignation, Rebecca turned and crept back to the wagon. It wasn’t until she was curled up in her bed again that it occurred to her that this entire predicament was her fault.

Chapter Six
    E arly the next morning, Rebecca walked slowly through the camp. She had to do something to set things right, and she could think of only one way to do it.
    Looking back she realized that Alicia actually hadn’t been gone from the wagon for very long. At the time, however, it had seemed like hours. Had Alicia worried about her the same way when the situation was reversed?
    She shook her head. The circumstances weren’t the same. Alicia knew Rebecca could take care of herself. And Rebecca knew Alicia couldn’t.
    She spotted