Rebel Rose

by Debra Glass

Pike grinned, displaying a row of grayed teeth. “I intend to hang her before we move out.”

  Chapter Eight

  A chair had been brought from a neighboring house for Rose to sit on in her jail cell. Even the Union guards had thought it ignominious for a lady to be detained in a jail designed for miscreants of the lowest sort.

  One of the Union soldiers had even brought her a Bible to read but she had not touched it. Instead, she sat, pondering what she had done with Eric.

  When she had told him she’d gone through his pockets every time he turned his back, the look in his eyes had crushed her. What else could she have done? At that moment, she had known Rueben was involved and no matter what her interest in Eric was, she couldn’t let Rueben be caught.

  Everyone—including the Yankees—knew Rueben had fought and was wounded during the charge at Shiloh. Because of the color of his skin, the Federals would treat him doubly worse than any other man they considered a traitor.

  She closed her eyes and the image of Eric’s thumb brushing across the silvery marks on her hips rose up hard in her mind. A wave of grief erupted inside her. She shook her head to dispel the image but it was replaced with the vision of his blond head bending to kiss her and the torrid memory of his lips claiming hers.

  Rose dug her nails into the armrests. The past days rushed through her as if it had all been a wonderful dream that had turned into a nightmare. She swallowed hard. Tears burned in her closed eyes. She wouldn’t cry. She just wouldn’t.

  “Miss Rose…”

  Rose’s eyes snapped open. She looked around the cell but there was no one except the Yankee jailers in the next room.

  “Miss Rose,” the urgent whisper came again and this time, Rose realized it was coming from outside the barred window.

  As casually as possible, she stood and moved to the window. “Rueben?” she hissed under her breath. “What are you doing here? Take Queenie and leave. Go to the caves until Hood crosses the river.”

  “No’m.”

  “The Yankees won’t do anything to me. They can’t take me with them so they’ll be forced to let me go. I’ll be all right.”

  “No’m,” Rueben said again.

  The cold fear in his eyes struck terror in Rose’s heart. He looked horrified. Had they already discovered he was the spy?

  “I’m comin’ in there and tellin’ them I took those papers out of the colonel’s pocket.”

  “Don’t you dare. What would Billy think?”

  “Mr. Billy’s dead,” Rueben said flatly. “And the Yankees say they gonna hang you before they leave.”

  Rose stared. “They won’t hang me,” she said more to reassure herself than Rueben. “They’re just trying to scare you.”

  “No’m,” Rueben said, glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone was coming. “I heard the colonel and that devil, Pike, arguing about it over at the college.”

  Eric wouldn’t let that happen. Would he?

  Pike, however, was another story. Rose shuddered remembering the fear the Missouri troops had instilled in the locals when they’d been here before. Their colonel had even called the college president, Dr. Rivers, a filthy half-breed.

  Pike had personally overseen the burning of the Globe Mill and the Martin Mill and had tried to burn several of the plantation houses on the outskirts of town. He would have succeeded had it not been for a skeleton band of locals from Phillip Roddy’s cavalry who fought them in hand-to-hand combat out at Cypress Creek.

  But worse, Rose recalled her very unladylike rejection of Pike’s sexual advances. He’d sworn then he would make her pay.

  Her insides hollowed. She had no doubts he would indeed make her pay. Dearly.

  A man who would burn women and children and servants out of their homes would certainly have no qualms about hanging a woman as an example. The act would also be demoralizing to the Confederates who would soon take the town.

  “There’s only one thing to do and that’s turn myself in,” Rueben said grimly.

  “No,” Rose said a little too loudly. She glanced back to make certain the Yankee guards hadn’t heard her. They were still involved in a heated game of cards. She clutched the bars desperately. “No, Rueben. They’re never going to hang a woman. What would Queenie do with you gone and her expecting a baby soon?”

  Rueben’s gaze dropped.

  “We’re in this together,” Rose told him. “Now go. Hide. And don’t come out for anything. Do you understand me?”

  He gave an irresolute nod.

  “Ma’am,” one of the Yankee guards called.

  Rose whirled, trying to block the small cell window with her body. “Yes?”

  His gaze scanned the cell. “Were you talking to someone?”

  “Just praying,” she called sweetly.

  The guard had the decency to blush. “Pardon me, miss,” he said and then shuffled back to the card game.

  Rose didn’t dare glance back out the window. She knew Rueben was gone. Her knees shook as she moved back to the chair. This wasn’t happening. After what they’d done together, Eric would never allow Pike to hang her. But what if Eric had been lying all along?

  Rose recalled how he had noticed Rueben’s wounded leg and had rolled those heavy barrels of salt off the wagon himself. She bit her bottom lip. The first night Eric had been quartered in her house, he’d chased that drunk Yankee away. He’d held her and comforted her while she cried. For him to have been acting during those times would be either beyond comprehension or unconscionable.

  She tried to take a deep breath but her stays were too tight.

  Her mind grappled for an explanation. What if he had been using her to try to find out information? Her sex trade agreement with him was a farce. He’d played her all along. She’d been silly to think that for the first time since Billy’s death, she’d felt safe and…cherished.

  Now she felt like a fool.

  Her shoulders shook and she blinked against angry tears. He’d told her himself that he was not a gentleman. She should have known that any man who would engage in illicit acts with a woman out of wedlock was not to be respected. She clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles burned. The bastard had tricked her and she had been so desperate she’d fallen for it.

  One hot tear seeped down her cheek and she ferociously batted it away. He’d been inside her just today—and in a place no decent person would ever dare go. Shame flooded her cheeks as she recalled how—that even with him in that place—she succumbed to ecstasy.

  Part of her hoped they did hang her because how could she live with herself after being humiliated this way?

  * * * * *

  Eric raked both hands through his hair. The Confederates had been thwarted a few miles west of Florence when they attempted to put out pontoon bridges at Bainbridge. Now the troops were moving toward South Florence and Eric knew they had not the manpower or force to repel Hood’s twenty-thousand strong army.

  Pike’s attentions would be drawn to the Confederates and he would do one of two things regarding Rose. Reconsider hanging her or make swift justice of the matter and leave her dangling from a gallows for the Confederates to find.

  Eric recalled writing the letters which would be delivered to the widows of the men who’d died as a result of his negligence. He kept reminding him that if the information he’d left for Rose to find had been real, it could have cost a good many Union lives.

  He sighed.

  But it hadn’t been real. The information had all been a lie he’d made up to entrap her. No one had died.

  And Rose did not deserve to die either. He pushed himself up. With the Confederates congregating to cross the river, there would be enough confusion for him to do the unthinkable.

  No matter what Rose had done, Eric could no longer imagine his world without her in it.

  “Colonel?”

  Eric looked up to discover Rueben. He stood in the doorway, nervously twisting his hat in his hands. He glanced over his shoulder and then stepped into the roo
m. “I was the one who took the information to General Lee.”

  * * * * *

  Rose shot to her feet when she heard a bevy of men enter the jail. Eric had finally come to his senses. She was going to be either freed or taken under house arrest. She started toward the front of her cell but stopped short when an eerily familiar face loomed into view.

  Sick dread settled in the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t seen this man for over a year but she remembered well the fear and hatred he instilled in the citizens of Florence. When he was here before, he’d been a colonel. Now, he wore the insignia of a general.

  Pike twisted his head in such a way that his neck made a loud cracking noise and then a thin smile stretched across his face. “Rosalie O’Kelley.”

  Rose gulped as Pike’s gaze slithered down her body and then lifted once more to her eyes. “Where’s Colonel Skaarsberg?”

  “He’s done his duty for his country, Miss O’Kelley.” Pike’s grin widened.

  Rose ached to slap the nasty leer off his face. A sharp pang stabbed her in the heart. So, her suspicions of Eric were correct. Why should she be surprised?

  “You see, my wild little Rose, the colonel was sent here to learn your secrets.” His stubby fingers curled around one of the cell bars. “This isn’t the first time he’s ferreted out a spy. And a whore.”

  Rose gasped.

  Pike let out a mirthless laugh. “You haven’t heard what our dear colonel did to the infamous Southern Sally?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Pike’s watery blue eyes flashed as if he’d smelled blood. “You’re not the first fancy lady Skaarsberg has caught spying.”

  Rose’s knees threatened to buckle but she didn’t dare grab the cell bars and risk coming an inch closer to Pike. She wanted to blurt that he was lying but she had a sickening feeling he was telling the truth.

  “Didn’t know?” Pike chided. “I’m not surprised he didn’t mention it. He dallied with a whore in Nashville known as Southern Sally. She saw fit to beguile the colonel with her wares.” Pike’s eyes dropped to Rose’s bosom and lingered there.

  Even though he couldn’t see through her clothing, Rose resisted the urge to cover herself.

  “Sally, however, got away with what you did not,” Pike continued. “And information she sent the Rebs resulted in eight deaths. Eight.”

  Now, Rose understood why Eric had been so filled with hate. Doubtless he felt responsible for each one of those deaths.

  She took a step backward and then another until the back of her knees found the chair. As she collapsed into it, she gripped the armrests to keep from toppling onto the stone floor.

  Even knowing why Eric had been hateful did not lessen the fact that he’d tricked her.

  “Ol’ Cump Sherman knew what he was doing when he picked Skaarsberg to get you,” Pike chided. “Pity. If you’d only shown me your favors, I might see fit to be a little more generous. But as it is—”

  Determined to put an end to this madness, Rose lifted her gaze to Pike’s. “The Confederates are going to cross the river any day now.”

  “So they are.”

  “Don’t you think you should be gathering up your little band of invaders and retreating north?” Rose asked.

  Pike’s ruddy face reddened even more. “All in good time, Miss Rose. You have an appointment with a noose and the sycamore tree across the street, first.”

  Rose stared. She had thought to force him to tell her what his plans were but she had not expected this. She’d never really believed they would hang her.

  “Unlock this cell,” Pike called to one of the guards behind him.

  Trembling, Rose shrank into the chair as if it could protect her. The key twisted and the mechanism clicked, echoing through the cell.

  Pike held out his hand like a practiced courtier rather than her executioner. Rose stared at it. In an instant, all her choices flashed through her mind. Everything inside her screamed at her to bat his hand away and to flee this cell as fast as her feet would carry her. She knew that would be futile.

  Ignoring his offer, she pushed herself up and made herself look into the general’s eyes. “I do not deny my guilt,” she said, surprised that her voice was not trembling.

  Somewhere in the back of her mind, she hoped God would be merciful enough to reunite her with the baby she’d never known.

  Pike flashed a wicked, gray toothed smile.

  As Rose took her first step, she stumbled. Pike reached out to catch her but somehow, she managed to right herself and jerk away from him at the same time. “Keep your stinking hands off me,” she seethed.

  He only laughed and snatched her arm, digging his fingers in until Rose had to clench her teeth to keep from crying out. The last thing she would do would be to give him the satisfaction of letting him know he’d hurt her.

  He dragged her toward the jail door. Rose didn’t know if he or another soldier opened the door but all at once, she was outside and blinking furiously against the blinding sunlight.

  When her eyes focused, she saw she was being ushered across the street to the lot where the biggest sycamore tree in town stood. The macabre thought occurred to her that she had always loved this particular tree and had often prayed neither army would see fit to cut it down as firewood. She had never guessed she would draw her last breath under its copious branches.

  Already, a boy of a soldier was tossing a noose over one of the sturdier limbs. When he saw Rose, he stopped in his tracks.

  A boom reverberated in the air and Rose’s knees buckled. She would have fallen but for Pike’s vice grip on her arm.

  “That’s just the Confederates shelling the fortifications at the river,” Pike said blandly as he kept walking.

  Rose staggered to her feet as he dragged her along and searched the sea of blue uniforms for one taller and blonder than the rest. But Eric was nowhere to be seen. The bastard probably couldn’t bear to face her after he’d used her and humiliated her.

  At least Rueben was long gone. Rose just knew her heart would break if he were stolen away from Queenie with baby on the way. It was difficult making it in these times and Rose knew Queenie would have a hard time without her around, much less Rueben.

  The soldier with the noose gaped at Pike. “Sir…you aren’t…serious?”

  With his free hand, Pike snatched the noose from the boy’s hands. “Damn serious. Now stand back if you don’t have the stomach to hang a Rebel spy.”

  “Sir…she’s a…a woman,” another soldier protested.

  Pike pushed Rose into place and slipped the noose over her head.

  She balked as the rough rope scratched her face and neck.

  “Give me your belt, private,” Pike ordered and soon afterward, Rose’s hands were swept behind her and leather bound.

  Her insides were quickly turning to mush and she feared she’d lose her bowels in front of all these men. Pike was really going to hang her. There was nothing she could do about it now. There were no arguments she could make—not if she wanted to keep Rueben alive.

  Her stomach flipped when Pike pushed the knot down and tightened the rope around her neck. Already, her breaths were coming in quick short pants. Terror swamped her.

  Pike leaned in close. “Oh yes, wild Rose. You’re wondering if you will suffer. I can tell you that you will. I’ve seen men hanged before and it’s not a pretty sight. First, you’ll buck and kick and fight for a toe-hold on the ground. A toe-hold you will not find. Then, you’ll choke and strangle. Your neck will burn and your head and lungs will feel like they’re about to explode. Your eyes will bulge and the last breath you take will reek of your own shit.”

  “General Pike,” Sergeant Poole intervened. “This is not protocol. She should at least be taken to Nashville for a fair trial.”

  Rose had never been so glad to see the sergeant in her life.

  By now, Florence citizens were gathering—mostly women, children and servants—but what good could they do against a Yankee ge
neral?

  Pike gave the rope a jerk and Rose reeled backward, coughing and sputtering, held up only by the noose around her neck. “Back down, sergeant, or I’ll have you court-martialed.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Rose watched Pike twirl a length of the rope around his arm. “Who among you will help me put this traitorous whore to death?”

  No one stepped forward.

  “Don’t have the stomach for it, eh? Well, would you if your comrades had died because of her?” Pike gigged.

  “This is an outrage!” Rose saw the long, lanky form of the college president, Dr. Rivers, marching toward them. “Let that woman loose immediately!”

  Rose’s heart leapt. Rivers was a rational man. A smart man. He had talked Cornyn out of burning Florence homes when the Missouri troops were here before. Maybe he could talk some sense into Pike.

  “Keep that half-breed back,” Pike said and the temporary lull of denial Rose had slipped into suddenly vanished.

  The rope tightened and the branch creaked. Rose’s heels left the ground and true to Pike’s words, she kicked, scrambling to feel the earth beneath her shoes once more. Her shoulders burned as she wrestled against the leather belt binding her wrists. Searing pain crushed her windpipe. The chorus of protests and the sky became a blur. She gasped for a breath she could not draw.

  And just as everything started to go black, she heard the pounding of hooves and Eric’s voice over the din of blood pumping in her ears.

  “She’s not your spy! It was her servant and I’ve killed him!”

  Rueben…

  No…

  “Let her do—” Eric’s voice faded and then there was only nothingness.

  Chapter Nine

  Eric dismounted while his horse was still at a gallop and he did not stop moving until his fist slammed into Pike’s face. Pike staggered backward, jerking the rope entwined around his arm. Eric caught him by the open lapel of his uniform and dragged him toward Rose so that the rope loosened and she was once more on the ground. In one swift motion, Eric yanked the rope off Pike’s arm and while Poole and some others took care of Rose, Eric pummeled Pike.