The Forgotten Debutante (Cotillion Ball)

by Becky Lower

  She smoothed her skirt and waited.

  “So that’s when he deserted? And you helped him escape?”

  “Well, no and yes, I guess. He left the battlefield behind since his only other option was surrender to the Confederates and be confined to a prison for the remainder of the war, but he didn’t desert, since he had been only thirteen when his brothers joined. He never enlisted. He merely followed his brothers into battle. When he told me what had happened, I decided to do what I could to get him to his home.”

  Halwyn shook his head. “He could have been lying. Did it even occur to you to question his story?”

  “You can’t fake raw emotion. I was witness to his anguish over having to bury his brothers. And his determination to get back home where he was needed. His family had paid a hefty price in the war already. He didn’t need to remain and become cannon fodder, too.”

  They rode in silence for a few minutes as Halwyn absorbed this information. He brought the horse to a stop again.

  “Why did you not come to the house and ask for help? Why did you figure you needed to take such a chance on your own?”

  Saffron shifted in her seat. “He would have run if I’d left him.”

  “But Mother and Father had helped runaways before. Did you forget the time when they rescued the slave from behind Downing’s Restaurant?”

  “Yes, I remembered how we helped with Sally and her baby. I did give some consideration to going for help. But he would have left the safety of the carriage house had I turned and run for assistance. I had no choice.”

  Halwyn flicked the reins and the horse resumed walking. He stared straight ahead for a few minutes in silence. Saffron bit her lip to keep from interrupting him as he puzzled through the problem in his mind.

  “How did you do it?”

  “What, get him out of town?”

  “Yes. There were guards at every exit out of the city.”

  “I made him get into the hidey-hole of the wagon. You recall how I used to love playing in there.”

  Halwyn’s mouth twitched at the memory, but his demeanor remained focused.

  “So you blindly accepted what some stranger said, you undertook a great risk by riding through town alone, you suffered two months’ worth of house arrest, all for this boy?”

  “That about sums it up. Yes. Although I wasn’t as completely reckless as you make it sound. I didn’t mention I held him at bay with a pitchfork before I decided there was nothing to fear. He was as afraid of me as I was of him, to start with.”

  Saffron smoothed her hair before she spoke again. “Getting him out of town wasn’t all I did. I brought him some of Jimmy’s civilian clothes to change into and hid his uniform in the carriage house. After my confinement was done, I rushed to Biscuit’s stall and buried the uniform. So, I aided and abetted his escape. The reason Zeke’s not saying anything about his supposed desertion is because he fears I’ll get into trouble. I can’t let him die because he’s protecting me, Hal.”

  “I see your dilemma. Maybe there’s a way around the situation without revealing your part in his desertion. But it may get sticky. Let me do some digging. Don’t mention a word to anyone else, though.”

  Saffron placed a hand on Halwyn’s arm, then changed her mind and hugged him. “I won’t. And thank you for trying to sort this out. I love Zeke with my whole being; I have for years. We can’t let him die for something he didn’t do.”

  “I’ll do what I can, but it’s going to take some powerful evidence to overturn the army’s decision. Once the army makes up its mind, it’s hard for it to reverse course.”

  “If anyone can do it, you can. I put my trust in you.”

  Saffron caught the slight slumping of Halwyn’s shoulders in response to her statement. She had placed a heavy burden on him, and it made him uncomfortable. But he was their only hope, and she prayed he could find a solution.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Saffron visited the military jail the next day. Today, though, Zeke came running over to the bars separating them when she walked in. He was wearing the same clothes from the day before, and they were matted and wrinkled from being slept in. There was a definite odor coming from the chamber pot in the crude cell. But his eyes were brighter than they had been the previous day, and the forlorn, defeated man of yesterday had once again turned into her dashing fiancé. Her stomach jumped as she stared at him.

  “What are you doing here? It’s too dangerous for you to be seen with me.” He whispered to her even as he plundered her mouth with kisses.

  “It will be all right, Zeke. I told Halwyn everything, and he’s right now working on a solution to get you out of here.” Saffron kept her voice low, as well.

  “Everything?” Zeke choked on his words.

  “I had to tell him about how I helped you three years ago. How else would I have the knowledge you never enlisted and you were only thirteen when you decided to join your brothers?”

  “So he’s aware of your part in this?”

  “Not only about my part. He now is aware we’re engaged and that you’re more than a passing fancy to me.”

  Zeke stepped back and ran his hands through his matted hair.

  “Jesus, Saffy. What have you done? If I do manage to get out of here alive, your brother will kill me.”

  Saffron laughed, and gave in to her urge to run her fingers through Zeke’s now tousled head of hair. She drew him close again and kissed him.

  “Halwyn doesn’t hate you. He’s trying whatever he can to correct the situation.”

  “Yet it’s because of him I find myself behind bars.” Zeke’s voice broke.

  Saffron rubbed his back, soothing him as if he were a frightened puppy. They stood together, foreheads touching through the bars, as she continued to comfort him. She could feel the tremors racking Zeke’s body. He was afraid his only way out of jail was by death.

  “It’s hard for you to deal with being the only brother left behind. But there was a reason for it. Not only did you help your father when he needed it, but you also found me when I’d been forgotten by everyone else. We were meant to be together, Zeke. I figured out our fate the moment I laid eyes on you. Why else do you think I would have put myself in so much danger?”

  Zeke’s green eyes found hers, and the worry in them seemed to lessen as he and Saffron lingered together. Saffron finally took a step back.

  “Does my new dress meet with your approval?” She fluffed the voluminous skirt of her blue-striped gown, hoping the action would settle her. She was as worried about the eventual outcome of his plight as he was, but his spirits needed to be lifted, not doused. She had to put up a positive attitude, but it was difficult since the metal bars separating them were a constant reminder of the dilemma they still faced.

  “Twirl for me,” Zeke requested, showing a bit of his old spirit.

  Saffron complied, spinning around so her skirt billowed.

  “It’s lovely, Saffy. The blue matches your eyes.”

  “Which is the exact reason I bought it. Thank you for noticing.”

  Zeke reached between the bars and grasped her hands. “I hope your faith in your brother isn’t misplaced. I still feel swinging at the end of a rope is to be my fate. I have since seeing my brothers’ graves again. I miss them so.”

  “Yes, you do. Which is why we should name our children for your fallen brothers. But we can’t even begin our future together if you don’t make it out of here alive. So you need to keep a positive attitude.”

  Zeke’s mouth raised on one corner. “You’ve been assigning names to our potential children?”

  Saffron pulled him close and kissed him with all the passion she’d been keeping under control for months. Her tongue invaded his mouth, and he moaned his approval. Her hands hooked onto his belt, holding him in place as she explored his mouth. After a few minutes, she finally came up for air and moved back a few inches.

  “Do you have an answer to your question now? Do you have something to live for? Do you
love me?”

  Zeke’s smile split his face. “If I can make love to you every night and wake beside you every morning, I will feel as if I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

  “And that’s the only kind of dying you’ll be doing, Ezekiel Boone. I plan to make you my husband and give you a yard full of children. So we need to get you out of here and get started on our future.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He reached for her again and kissed her now-swollen lips. She finally stepped back and ran her finger over her mouth.

  Her action brought a smile to Zeke’s lips. “You did the same thing when we first kissed. Do you recall?”

  “When you left the wagon and melted into the woods?”

  “Yes. My last image of you was you standing by the wagon with one finger touching your lips. I longed to go back and kiss you again, to taste the peaches on your breath, but I needed to hide myself from the guards.”

  “I recall it well.”

  She shook her head at the memory and gathered up her reticule. She brushed the skirt of her gown again before she stared at Zeke once last time.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow. Hopefully, I can bring you good news.”

  • • •

  Zeke paced in his cell as he waited for Saffron’s visit the following day. His shoulders were knotted, partly from sleeping on a hard cot and partly from constant worry. He had actually entertained the notion death would be preferable to continuing to live in his brothers’ shadow. But that was before Saffron had declared her true feelings for him and given him everything to live for.

  He gritted his teeth as he paced. Now the stakes were raised even higher. Admittedly, Saffron had agreed to marry him before yesterday, but Zeke now had proof positive she shared his feelings—that he was not merely another conquest of hers.

  He now realized what he needed to do was to live to the fullest, to honor his brothers’ memory by making the most of his life. And the rest of his life included the lovely woman he now waited for. The woman who had blossomed from the girl he’d met years ago. The woman who had invaded his dreams as he’d fallen into an exhausted sleep each night at the farm.

  Finally, footsteps came down the hall. Except there were two sets of footsteps, not one dainty pair. He shrugged his shoulders, hoping to eliminate the tension, hoping his fears would not be in evidence. Seeing Saffron again would lessen his worries. And he was curious to see with whom she came.

  Saffron ran to him, touched his hands, and kissed him on the cheek. Zeke only had time to register her loveliness and her deep burgundy gown before Halwyn appeared in full military dress close behind her. Zeke’s fingers twitched, and he removed them from Saffron’s grasp. There would be no stolen kisses today. He faced Halwyn with his arms across his chest.

  “So, have you come to do me in before the army can get its turn?” Zeke’s attempt at humor fell flat.

  “Hopefully, I’ve come to help. Saffron’s told me everything. But your trial is tomorrow, so we have little time to get a defense organized. Can you produce a birth certificate?”

  Zeke shook his head. “We were all born on the farm with no doctor in attendance. None of us have birth certificates. I only have my mother’s word I was born in 1847.”

  “And where is your mother now? Can she get here to testify?”

  “No. She’s on a wagon headed to Oregon. She can’t possibly be in DC by morning.”

  Halwyn removed his hat and tugged on his hair. “We have to come up with something. Let’s all put our heads together.”

  Saffron’s eyes drifted from Zeke, to his bare cell, to the small barred window, and then back to him. Her somber face broke into a grin.

  “I have an idea. Here’s what might work …”

  The three of them huddled even closer together as Saffron whispered her idea. Zeke’s hopes for a speedy end to his incarceration, any outcome other than him dancing at the end of a rope, rose again. Maybe something could be done, because the only dancing he hoped to do was at a fine ball with Saffron as his partner.

  Strategy in place, Halwyn and Saffron prepared to leave. Halwyn respectfully allowed Saffron a few minutes alone with Zeke. Holding hands through the bars of the jail cell bars they spoke in quiet whispers to each other.

  “Will our plan work, Saffron? I have my doubts.”

  “Of course it will work. I saved you once already, and I’m not about to let you die now and cut short our future together. After all, we have the children to consider.”

  Zeke shook his head. “We don’t have any children, my sweet. All we’ve done is kiss, and you can’t get with child by only kissing. I grew up on a farm, and I’ve seen how the animals do it.”

  Saffron gave him a saucy smile. “We may not have any children yet, Zeke, but we will have a family together. I can guarantee it.”

  Zeke kissed her fingers and then found her mouth. “From your beautiful lips to God’s ears.”

  Her whimper of approval was all Zeke needed to take the kiss deeper. His tongue sought entry into her mouth, and she accepted him greedily. Zeke lost all track of time as his body responded to Saffron’s touch. He allowed himself to get lost in the moment.

  Their moment was rudely interrupted by the prison guard.

  “Time’s up, miss.”

  Saffron kissed him one final time before stepping back.

  “You’ll be a free man tomorrow. Then we can kiss all night.”

  She smiled at the guard on her way out.

  “You poor bugger. To have a pretty woman waiting for you on the outside and to never be able to hold her again must be an awful feeling.”

  Zeke straightened behind the bars. “But I will hold her again. Our future children depend on it. I’ll be let go tomorrow.”

  “Not according to what I hear. The hammers that have been ringing out all afternoon are from men who are constructing the gallows you’ll hang from tomorrow. Maybe your pretty lady will come to see you take your last breath and will need a shoulder to cry on. I should make plans to be there.”

  Zeke roared and lunged toward the man, who backed away with a laugh, out of the range of Zeke’s grasp.

  “Just giving you a hard time, boy. Don’t mean any harm. But you are one poor, sorry bugger.”

  The guard left the room, and Zeke slumped on the cot. In front of Saffron, he’d put on a good face, but deep within himself, he agreed with the guard. He was one poor, sorry bugger. Tomorrow would be his last day on earth. Would hanging be a quick death, as his brothers’ had been, or would it be drawn out for a few minutes, with him gasping for breath? Would he really be reunited with his brothers in heaven? Was there a heaven at all? Why hadn’t he insisted Saffron come with him and his family to Oregon?

  He wrapped his arms around his quaking body and struggled for peace. His heart raced as he rocked back and forth. His fate was no longer in his own hands. He would have only one chance to prove his innocence, and it came from Halwyn, the brother who had disliked him from the start. The deck could not be stacked higher against him.

  He fell asleep, finally, to the sound of the hammers outside his window.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  In handcuffs and striped prison garb, Zeke followed his guards into the room where twelve officers would determine if he were to live or die. The fact the jury had been appointed by the officer who had originally filed the charges did not give him much cause for hope. The fact he had handcuffs on didn’t help, either, since it gave him a guilty countenance. He hung his head, convinced his fate had been sealed before he ever entered the room, despite whatever defense he could mount, and barely paid attention to the proceedings.

  “The defense calls as its primary witness Major Halwyn Fitzpatrick,” the defense attorney who had been assigned to the case boomed out. Zeke’s head jerked up, and for the first time he caught sight of Halwyn in full dress uniform. They locked stares for a brief moment before Halwyn made his way to the front of the room and got sworn in. Zeke’s stomach roiled. He assumed the proceedings would
be lengthy, but they were moving ahead at a pace that made his body jerk, made his hands ball into fists. The metallic taste of blood in his mouth reminded him he was biting his lips. He struggled to stay composed.

  “Major, tell us about your involvement in this case,” the attorney prompted.

  “Mr. Boone approached me about reenlisting in the army soon after he began working for the Reburial Program, so I was responsible for filling out his paperwork and getting things set in motion.”

  The attorney paced in front of Halwyn. Zeke sat at the front of the courtroom, his mouth dry.

  “And were you able to set things into motion?”

  “Soon after I filed the initial paperwork for him, I found the roster for the Twenty-Second New York Infantry when they finally mustered out from the war. Mr. Boone’s name was not among them.”

  The attorney turned on his heel and faced Halwyn. “So, is it your belief the defendant is guilty of desertion?” The attorney turned again and pointed toward Zeke with an elaborate flourish.

  “No. It isn’t. But something about his story didn’t add up, so I held back on my findings in order to do some more digging.”

  “And what did you uncover?”

  Zeke noticed Halwyn hesitated a moment, adjusting his glasses on his nose, clearly uncomfortable in these surroundings. Halwyn inhaled a sharp breath before he answered.

  “I had already notified my commanding officer of a new recruit, so I could hold back on the request for only so long before being asked for it. I hadn’t yet found the missing link. So I concluded, as did my superiors, he never mustered out. At least it appeared so.”

  The attorney leaned over and stared at Halwyn. “Appeared?”

  “Yes, I finally received the paperwork I’d been waiting on from New York. The roster from the Twenty-Second New York Infantry when they enlisted.”