Once in a Blue Moon

by Kathryn Kelly

  What was she supposed to do now?

  Granger limped back inside and she sighed. She was to nursemaid Granger. He grinned at her.

  She stood up, moved away, and gestured to the sofa. “You’re supposed to have your foot elevated.”

  “I did.” He insisted.

  She pointed at the couch. “Sit.” She knew that look on his face and it so wasn’t going to happen. “I’ll be back after a bit to check on you.” With that, she went out back, found a rocker on the back veranda, and created her own little breeze.

  Now that she was alone, she could think.

  Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Augustus personally knew both of them. That thought alone was overwhelming.

  The other overwhelming realization was that she was here in 1863. Was this what her great-grandmother was keeping from her? Was there a portal here that sent people back in time? If so what triggered it?

  Her analytical brain wanted to know. To figure it out.

  She caught her breath on her next thought.

  Was it possible that her parents were still alive?

  Chapter 36

  Augustus had need to get away. Just hearing Arabella reading aloud the words of his dear friend Robert E. Lee informing him that another of his dear friends had been killed – by his own men, no less, had been heartbreaking.

  General Lee had intimated that perhaps Augustus could have done more to save their mutual friend, but Augustus knew that wasn’t likely. Conditions on and around the battlefield were limited at least and abhorrent most of the time.

  He sucked in a deep breath. This would pass. It was the way of war.

  Augustus stood on the back veranda watching as his men came straggling back. He waited until he saw Beau coming forward, supporting another soldier who was limping to join them. He knew better than to ask who won.

  “How did you fare?” He took the man’s weight, giving Beau a break.

  “I’m not sure. They retreated into the trees. I had to call the men back.”

  “We’ll set up an infirmary on the bottom floor of the house.” Augustus and Beau got the man up the back steps and inside the house.

  Beau winced as drops of blood splattered on the wood floor. The house would never be the same. He pictured his own home in Jefferson County and as always wondered how it and his family fared. “Get something and get this blood up.”

  He and Beau set the man on the floor of the study. “And gather up all the blankets you can find.”

  Augustus examined the man’s leg. The bullet was still there firmly lodged in his calf. He was going to have to get it out. “You’re Tom, right?”

  The boy, not more than seventeen nodded, his cheeks streaked with tears that had fallen through the dirt on his face.

  “I’m going to have to get this bullet out.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “I have to leave you while I get my instruments.”

  Augustus had some chloroform in his bag upstairs. As he rounded the corner, he couldn’t help but glance toward the parlor for a glimpse of Arabella. He saw Granger on the sofa, but no sign of her. He took the stairs two at a time and grabbed his bag where he’d left it sitting next to the nightstand.

  As he went back into the hallway, Villars stopped him. “Excuse me, Sir?”

  Augustus stopped.

  “They said you be needing some blankets and such.”

  “That’s right. Do you mind?”

  “Oh no sir. I just wanted to ask if there’s anything else you’ll be needing to help treat the wounded soldiers.”

  “As a matter of fact, there are a few other things that you might be helpful if you have them.”

  It was several minutes later when Augustus made it back downstairs. The first thing he noticed when he entered the study was the stack of blankets several feet high stacked against the wall.

  The second thing he noticed was Arabella kneeling next to Tom, holding his hand. Tom no longer had tears in his eyes. He was talking about his family.

  “My Pa didn’t go to war. He’s older – thirty-five. He stayed back to take care of my mother and the farm.”

  “Do you have any brothers?”

  “No ma’am. I’m the only child. My ma, she took it pretty hard when I left.”

  “I can only imagine that she must be very proud of you.”

  Tom smiled.

  Augustus walked up to the other side of Tom. He sent up a silent prayer that Tom was one of the lucky ones who got to go home whole after being shot.

  Chapter 37

  When Arabella looked up at Augustus, she saw the regret in his eyes as he watched Tom. The boy’s wound must be worse than it looked.

  Then Augustus shifted his gaze to hers and she caught her breath at the way he looked at her. His eyes softened and his lips curved slightly at the edges. “Thank you,” he mouthed.

  She nodded slightly, but turned her gaze back to Tom. “The doctor’s here now. He’s going to take a look at that wound.”

  Tom’s expression turned to one of panic. “Will you stay?” His eyes widened. “Please?”

  Arabella looked up at Augustus. He shrugged. “All right. I’ll stay.”

  Arabella had made sure to sit facing away from Tom’s gunshot wound. The last thing she needed was another fainting incident.

  “Tell me about your farm.” She urged as Augustus knelt and began examining the boy’s wound.

  Tom talked about his horse named Cherry. Arabella focused on his words to keep from focusing on the sound of Augustus ripping his pants.

  Tom was still talking when he passed out.

  “I think he fainted.”

  “Good.” Augustus opened his medical bag. “We need to conserve all the morphine we can.”

  Arabella kept her gaze on Tom’s face. “How bad is it?”

  “It’s not so bad right now, but if it gets infected, we’ll have to take his leg.”

  Take his leg. “You mean you’ll have to amputate?”

  “It’s the only way to keep the infection from spreading.”

  Arabella closed her eyes. She was quite familiar with the problem of infection during this time period. She was also aware of the tendency of physicians to amputate a limb to keep the infection from spreading. “I hope you can avoid having to do that.”

  “You know.” Augustus said. “I’m not sure you should be here while I do this.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t need you fainting again.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m not looking.”

  He didn’t answer for a few minutes. “Got it.”

  “That was fast.”

  “Unfortunately, I’ve become an expert at digging bullets out of flesh.”

  “A dubious honor.”

  He scoffed. “No truer words were ever spoken.”

  Suddenly Arabella needed some fresh air. The smell of blood permeated the room. “Will you help me stand?”

  “Of course.” Augustus wiped his hands, then reached under her arms and lifted her off the floor.

  With her feet on the floor, she put a hand on the arm he offered to steady herself. She felt the muscles under his sleeve. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure. May I walk you to the back veranda?”

  She nodded. Her pulse had quickened and she didn’t trust herself to answer. They were halfway to the door when she stopped. “What about Tom? We can’t just leave him.”

  “He’ll be fine.”

  “What if he wakes up?”

  “I’ll come right back.”

  He was right, of course. This wasn’t the ER where she worked with plenty of staff to stay with patients and monitor them as needed. She would come back and check on him after she’d settled her stomach.

  Augustus opened the back door, stepped aside to give her space to move her skirt through the door, and followed her out onto the veranda.

  She expected to see a few of his men gathering around, take stock of the skirmish. Instead, she saw something quite unexpecte
d.

  The lawn was crawling with wounded soldiers.

  Chapter 38

  Augustus spotted Beau who was talking to another officer he didn’t recognize.

  “Please excuse me.” Augustus turned to Arabella, took her hand and brushed the back with his lips. “Duty calls.”

  “Of course.”

  Though Augustus didn’t want to leave her side, he had wounded to tend. Besides, he needed to find out where all these soldiers came from.

  “Sir.” Beau came toward him, bringing the other officer with him. “We met up with another regiment out there. This is Captain Jones. He’s from the 22nd Louisiana detachment. They’re on their way to Vicksburg, too, but they got waylaid by the same Yankees that got us.

  Augustus shook hands with Captain Jones. “Welcome. Do you have a physician on staff?”

  “We did and he was a fine good one, but we lost him at Port Hudson.” Captain Jones took off his cap and lowered his head for a moment.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” Augustus particularly didn’t like it that physicians were in danger during battle – for a number of reasons, some admittedly personal.

  Beau jumped in. “Colonel Townsend is our physician.”

  Augustus knew perfectly well why Beau was making sure he was known as the physician. He was preserving his claim as the captain in command. “I’ll do what I can, but I’ll need to request the assistance of anyone who has experience with the treatment of wounds.”

  Before getting to work, Augustus glanced toward the now empty back veranda. Arabella must have gone back inside. He would have been inclined to ask for her help, but there was a strong likelihood that she would faint at the sight of blood.

  It was going to be a long day.

  Chapter 39

  Arabella went inside, woke up Granger, and moved him to the study with Tom. She thought he over-exaggerated his limp so she didn’t offer assistance. Once he was situated, she located a pile of clean sheets, and set up a work station on the desk in the study. This way she could keep an eye on the patients while she worked.

  Using a letter opener she found in the top desk drawer, she began ripping the sheets into long strips. When she had a foot or so of them ready, she gathered them up and headed out back. It looked like Doctor Colonel Augustus Townsend was going to be needing them for bandages.

  “Excuse me.” She stopped the first solider that passed by. “Have you seen the doctor?”

  The man pointed toward a tent. “Thank you.” She gathered up her skirts with her other hand and, ignoring the curious stares of the other soldiers, and several offers to carry the stack of bandages for her, picked her way to Augustus.

  His back was to her, but she recognized him immediately by the broadness of his shoulders and the way his dark hair brushed his collar. She also recognized his voice when he told the solider “This might hurt a little.”

  She stood waiting until he finished stitching up the man’s forehead. She was careful to fix her gaze on the trees on the horizon, though in all truthfulness, needles didn’t bother her.

  He turned and she saw a mixture of surprise and pleasure on his face.

  “I brought you something.” She held out the bandages for him to take.

  “Where did you get these?”

  “I made them,” she said proudly.

  “How did you know?”

  She shrugged. “It wasn’t hard to figure out. You’ve got a yard full of injured soldiers.”

  “Here.” He pulled a stool forward. “Have a seat.”

  “Oh no. I’m good. Sitting is the new smok-” She promptly sat on the stool.

  He looked askance at her, but tossed the bandages over his shoulder. He turned back to the man whose stitches he’d just finished.

  Arabella followed his gaze. The man was grinning like an idiot.

  She adjusted her hat and smiled back at him.

  “You can go now,” Augustus said.

  The man jumped off the stool he’d been sitting on and dashed away.

  Augustus propped his foot on the stool and studied her. She shifted uncomfortably on her own stool.

  “How would you like to be of use?”

  I just brought you bandages that I made myself. Clean ones. She didn’t have time to formulate an answer before he continued. “I know you have an… aversion to the sight of blood, but I think I have the perfect job for you.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’d like you to provide morale for the soldiers.”

  “Morale? What do you mean?” Her brain went to cognitive behavioral therapy. Perhaps her training in psychology would come in use after all. It was something she hadn’t considered.

  “Just sit there and smile at the men.”

  “Smile at them? That doesn’t sound very useful. I could talk to them though.”

  “You can talk if you want to, but mostly just sit there and look pretty.”

  A laugh escaped before she could stifle it. He must be insane. He wants me to be Scarlett O’Hara.

  Chapter 40

  Augustus laughed to himself at her expression of disbelief.

  “I can do other things, you know.”

  “I’m not discounting that. But right now these men.” He gestured around him at the men in the yard she’d referred to. “Right now they need something to cheer them up.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “Why not?”

  “There are too many of them.”

  Understanding dawned on Augustus. She was one of the few women among dozens of men. And here he was asking her to flaunt herself for them. Was it any different, really, though, than going to a ball with a dance card dangling from her wrist?

  “The men won’t touch you.” His voice was gruff, even to his own ears. “They know they wouldn’t live to see the dawn.”

  She shook her head. “I still don’t think it’s a good idea, but I’ll do it on one condition.”

  He grinned at her. “Name your terms.”

  “If you want me to cheer them up, you have to let me talk to them.”

  “I don’t understand the importance of that.”

  She smiled sweetly. “Did you feel better after we talked today? After I read the letter.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “No.”

  She waited a beat. Then laughed. “Okay. But Granger and Tom seemed to feel better after I talked to them. Don’t you agree?”

  Reluctantly, he did agree. “I don’t know if they felt better or not, but they seemed to enjoy your company.”

  “I’m good at listening to people.”

  “I suppose that could be a good skill to have.”

  She smiled. “It comes in handy from time to time.”

  Not sure what to make of her response, he turned to the young soldier who’d been volunteered to help him out. His name was Nathaniel and he also served as the drummer boy for Captain Jones’ regiment. “Who’s next?”

  As Augustus removed a bullet from the shoulder of a soldier, he pondered Arabella’s request to talk to the men.

  He couldn’t quite reconcile that she didn’t seem to feel safe merely sitting and giving the men someone pleasant to look at, but instead, wanted to spend time talking with them. To Augustus, that seemed like a more dangerous endeavor.

  As he dropped the bullet into a tin pan, he glanced in her direction. Already three men had gathered around her and were regaling her with their experiences in today’s skirmish. Each one of them seemed eager to tell his story.

  Augustus wiped his hands on an already bloodied cloth. Perhaps she wove some magic through her words. Whatever it was she did, he would have to worry about it later. Right now he only had time to hope that none of the wounds he was tending would lead to an amputation.

  Augustus reluctantly admitted to himself that he’d been a bit jealous at first. The men flocked to Arabella like bees to honey. She was pretty with her long dark hair and her sultry eyes. But there was something in her expression. Something that the men
responded to. Hell, he’d cried in front of her and she’d barely said anything.

  She was different from other women. She didn’t chatter inanely about things like his sisters’ friends. Maybe if he’d socialized more, he would have encountered someone like her.

  Even as he had the thought, he dismissed it. There was no one else like Arabella. She was unique.

  And just like his fellow soldiers, Augustus was hooked.

  Chapter 41

  Arabella sat perched on a stool next to a soldier and listened as he talked about his dog back home. Her heart went out to him. He was just a boy. A boy who missed his dog.

  And now he was on his back, healing from having his head split open from cannon fire.

  He’d told her the same story three times now. She suspected that he had some significant brain damage. She could only hope that with proper rest he would recoup enough to live a normal life.

  She squeezed his hand and told him she would be back. As someone who spent her life with a bottle of water in her hands, she had to make frequent trips to the well. On top of that, the heat was scorching.

  Granger had been assigned the task of minding the well bucket. He was resting his ankle, but had plenty of strength in his arms to move the water bucket up and down inside the well.

  Arabella took a long drink and handed the ladle back to him. She could only hope there was noting seriously contagious going around.

  She turned around and nearly bumped right in to Augustus. “I wondered where you’d gotten off to.”

  She hadn’t seen him since yesterday when he’d asked her to sit and look pretty. In fact, the more she’d thought about that, the more miffed she’d become.

  “Just keeping the soldiers happy like you requested.” She started to pass by, but he blocked her path.

  “And I’m hearing that you’re doing an excellent job.”