Field of Redemption

by Lori Bates Wright

  A movement over by the food table caught his attention.

  Abby held up the ends of her apron to provide a basket as she filled it with biscuits and baked goods. Clutching the apron close to herself, she turned and disappearing into a clump of trees that led down to the creek below.

  Ian narrowed his gaze, scanning the trees where Abby had vanished.

  A commotion drew his attention to the horseshoe pit where clapping and cheering indicated that most likely someone had scored a ringer. When the crowd parted, Fitz emerged clasping his hands together on either side of his head in true champion form.

  A dog barked excitedly, chasing a group of boys that ran after Penny Jo and her friends.

  Ian spotted Abby slip back over to the food tables. This time she packed her apron with fresh fruit. And just as mysteriously, she again disappeared into the winding copse of trees.

  Ian was determined to follow her this time.

  Circling his way around the crowd, he traced her path, entering the shade of tall pines. He lost sight of her but headed toward the sound of burbling waters coming from a high creek. Once out from under the canopy of trees he had to shade his eyes from the sun reflecting brightly off the water.

  Down by the water’s edge, Abby doled out food to Hickory and several other children. Excited squeals followed as she filled their eager hands.

  Awestruck by the tender smile she offered each one, Ian drew closer.

  “The door that nobody else will go in at,

  seems always to swing open widely for me.”

  ~ Clara Barton

  Nine

  “Hello, Colonel.”

  Ian’s scouting skills were slipping. He’d tracked Abby, taking extra care to remain unnoticed. But she greeted him the minute he stepped toward her. Almost as if she’d expected him to follow.

  She didn’t bother turning, but continued to fill a little girl’s burlap bag. Ian counted four other children, including Hickory, devouring turnovers beside the stream. Straightening, Abby dusted crumbs from her apron while the child ran off to join the others. When she tilted her head, the brightness of the sun brought a fiery glow to her hair.

  “Did you come on your own or did General Farris send you?” Her lips held no hint of a smile.

  Ian was used to direct questions. He also knew when to answer and when to keep silent. Abby would have to come to her own conclusions about his motives.

  His attention moved to where the children sat with their bare toes in the water, eyeing him with open curiosity.

  “Children, this man is Colonel Saberton.” She cast a side-glance his way. “He’s here with the army and is sworn to protect you.”

  The mixed bag of kids, every color and size, didn’t look convinced until Hickory hopped to his feet and came to stand beside Ian. “He’s the preacher I told you about. He came to help get Sallie to heaven. Abby likes him and so does Miss Tori.” Spitting into his hand, he wiped it on the bib of his overalls before offering it to Ian as token of friendship. “The Rebs elected him a colonel. That’s good enough for me.”

  Ian accepted. He hadn’t forgotten the boy’s bravery in helping Tori. Any half pint kid willing to take on Nicholas for her honor was a friend worth having. “As I remember, you’re quite a sharpshooter with that slingshot.” Ian pointed to the hand whittled weapon hanging from Hickory’s back pocket. “Have you been keeping the Yankees at bay?”

  “Yes, sir!” Hickory gave him a full-face smile and ran back to take his turnover from a boy who’d already helped himself to a bite.

  “I’ll see you all next time. Be good and mind Mama Ivy.” Abby waved and turned to the woods that led to the church.

  A chorus of goodbyes followed her.

  Hesitating a moment, she looked to see if Ian was coming, too. “We may as well walk back together.” Wisps of hair escaped her thick braid and fluttered across her face until she smoothed them neatly behind one ear. “Unless there’s some other dangerous criminal you need to follow.”

  He had that coming.

  Ian easily caught up and held aside a vine as they entered the dark awning of trees. The odds of her having purposely poisoned Farris just dropped considerably in his estimation. Still, Abby was taking quite a risk to bring leftover food into the woods to feed a bunch of shanty kids. She had to know Farris would suspect her of aiding escapees. Backwoods areas were no longer secure. Runaways and deserters hid out in the shanty towns, always looking to find a way up north. Shanty towns were known for the type of lawless activity that went along with desperate men who had nothing more to lose.

  If caught aiding them, Farris would have grounds for Abby’s arrest.

  “It’s peaceful here, don’t you think?” Abby stopped and scanned the towering pines surrounding them. The fallen needles beneath their feet muffled all other sound but their voices. “I come to this spot sometimes when I need some quiet.”

  There was much he wanted to know about her.

  A large moss covered stone provided a place to sit. Something about the way she gracefully swept her skirt aside before settling down, told him she had once been accustomed to wearing much finer dresses than the simple work skirts she always had on.

  Ian leaned a shoulder against the bark of an evergreen and crossed his arms. “Much quieter and less demanding out here than in the hospital, I’m sure.”

  “Yes, it is.” She studied her hands clasped in her lap. “There are days the hospital is overwhelming.” On a quiet sigh, she smiled. “I’m sure you’ve seen your share of suffering, too. I remember the battlefields.”

  “Where were you close to battle?” Ian pushed off from the tree to come closer to where she sat.

  When she looked up at him her eyes reflected the verdant color of the forest around them.

  “A year after the war began. I left where I was living to look for someone. I came upon the aftermath of a Kentucky skirmish. The field surgeons couldn’t keep up. I stayed for two weeks to help with nursing before moving on.”

  “That was very brave of you.” Ian slid in beside her on the rock. “Who were you looking for? A brother … or a beau, perhaps?”

  She looked off into the trees and, for a minute, he didn’t think she planned to answer.

  “Colonel? Tell me, why I should trust you.” Her honest request came in a breathless whisper.

  It suddenly occurred to him that Abby had no idea how alluring she was. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be alone in the woods with a man twice her size. Ian felt an obligation to protect her from her own naïveté. “If I were a threat, I would have asked whether the field surgeons you assisted wore blue or gray.”

  Abby ran a finger across her brow to tame a stray strand of hair caught by the breeze. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the swaying branches above. “Fair enough.” Her gaze returned to his and she gave a hesitant smile. “I was raised in a foster home in Ohio. By the time I was eighteen, I felt I was imposing on their generosity, so I took the position as governess to the twelve year-old boy of an affluent attorney. Mainly, because it provided a roof over my head. I soon found I enjoyed working with him. He was bright and curious with so much potential to become anything he set his mind to.”

  Ian stretched a leg out and rested his forearm on a knee.

  The way she waited for his reaction to her account told him this was not a rehearsed script. She was being as honest as she dared.

  “Three years ago, my charge, Malcolm, turned fourteen. The very next day, he disappeared. I found a note saying he’d run off to enlist. His mother was distraught, and absolutely furious at me.” She shook her head slowly as if trying to remove the memory. “With good reason.”

  “Why?”

  Abby frowned slightly as she studied the folded hands in her lap. “Malcolm was asthmatic—shamelessly coddled by his mother. I tried to encourage him to be more independent. To convince him he could do anything the other boys could do if he’d just get over being afraid.” With a slight groan, she looked away. “What I faile
d to realize was that Malcolm had set his mind on going to war. He thought to win his parent’s respect by coming home to a hero’s welcome.”

  “So you ran away, too.” Ian watched her closely and could tell immediately he’d struck a nerve.

  “No, I went after him.” The dare in her eye made him grin.

  “Malcolm’s nanny went traipsing after him?” Ian tried not to laugh, but couldn’t help it. He imagined the reaction of his own troops if she’d marched into camp to drag a young soldier home by the ear. The poor kid would have taken less harassment in front of a firing squad.

  “Governess.” Abby corrected. “Nannies are goats.”

  Ian could tell she was offended.

  “And stop laughing.” She scooted farther down the rock.

  “Abby, that was a reckless move—even for you.” Ian enjoyed the bright color glowing in her cheeks and green fire in her eye. “What were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking a boy had set out to do a man’s job he was completely unprepared for.” She was up on her feet with a hand on her slender hip. “And he really was sickly. His mother had a valid concern.”

  “All right, all right.” Ian took her other hand and pulled her back down beside him. “What’s done is done. Just tell me this. You obviously didn’t find him or you wouldn’t be all the way down here stranded in Macon. Assuming you are stranded.”

  “I am.” Abby sighed heavily, before meeting his pointed look with a challenging one of her own. “General Farris refuses to sign my travel pass for the railroad and border barricades. So unless I decide to set out on foot and somehow slip past the guards, I can’t leave. Working at the hospital gives me a place to lay my head, but I pray every day General Farris doesn’t come up with some concocted reason to send me to prison.”

  Ian settled a fist on his thigh. The longer he was in Macon, the more he’d come to despise the city’s highest commander. “Why do you suppose the general wants you arrested?”

  At that, she shrugged and looked the other way.

  Ian instantly knew he’d hit upon the crux of her dilemma. With a careful hand, he reached over to cup her chin, gently turning her face back to him. “What has he done?”

  Again, she hesitated.

  Ian got the feeling if she shared what she knew, it would be detrimental in the wrong hands. His thumb caressed her jaw. “You’ll have to trust me.”

  He watched her inner struggle play out in the shadows of her face. Finally, her eyes lifted to his. “I may have caused him to lose a great deal of money.”

  “You may have? You don’t know?” Ian’s brow quirked.

  “Not for certain.” She moved her chin from his grasp. “But from what Sallie and the Dove’s Nest girls told me, he’s only bringing in a quarter of the amount that he had been before.”

  “Before?” Ian felt like he was on a winding trail up a steep mountain.

  “Before they started keeping more of what they earned. Farris used to keep it all for rent.”

  “Wait, General Farris owns the Dove’s Nest?” Ian was fairly sure that bit of information hadn’t come up at the general’s promotion interview.

  “He owns most all of the red district. The women at the Dove’s Nest all started out owing him money after he found them without a home or in the shanty towns. He offered them lavish loans, then turned on them. They were made to sign indentures of servitude to work off repayment.” Abby’s voice quieted and Ian could tell she was having second thoughts about confiding in him. “I suppose you already know how they are forced to work.”

  He needed to validate her story. If what she said was true, the general was in serious ethical violation.

  “Why does he blame you?” Ian was still trying to put all the pieces together. How had Abby become involved?

  “Well, when I had a look at their servitude contracts, I noticed they were only committed to four years of service. No specific amount of money was indicated that needed to be repaid, only an agreed upon term of service in exchange for food, clothing, and shelter.”

  A grin tugged at the corner of Ian’s mouth.

  “So I helped them figure a fair price to be paid for those necessities, and they handed that amount over every month.” Abby tucked her hair behind an ear. “And … they kept the rest.”

  She gave a small shrug as if it had just been that simple.

  “No wonder Farris would like to put you away.” Ian grinned.

  “He hired some ruffians to intimidate the women into giving their full earnings, but I threatened to go to his commanding officer. I doubt he wants all of his dirty dealings brought out in a court of law.”

  “You are either extraordinarily brave or completely senseless.” Ian wasn’t certain which.

  Abby stood and shook out her skirt. “I had no intention of reporting him. I wouldn’t even know how to go about it. But someone needed to help them.”

  “So why does he insist you are a Federal spy?”

  “He started intercepting my letters and quickly discovered I was from Ohio. He’s been trying to sway public opinion against me ever since.”

  His gut told him every word she’d said was the truth.

  Ian leaned forward with an arm across his knee, watching the wind ruffle her hair. Abby McFadden was a most peculiar female. Whatever circumstance she got herself into, she acted with all of her heart. Most times she dove in headlong without much thought, but with her heart just the same.

  Noticing the sun lowering in the sky, he came to his feet. His men would be finishing up their field exercises by now. “Come on. You need to get back to the hospital before people start to talk.”

  Ian took her hand and led them back to the edge of the church grounds which was long deserted by now. A quiet rumble in the distance warned of an evening shower to come. No campfires tonight. The men would be forced to play cards or write letters inside their tents, which always made for a quiet opportunity to get caught up on his field reports.

  Before they parted ways, Abby stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Ian?”

  He liked the way she said his name. Glad she’d moved past calling him, “colonel.” As if she’d finally come to regard him as a man not just another soldier.

  Abby’s serious expression caused him to pause.

  “I do trust you.” Her quiet confession warmed him. Made him want to earn more of her trust. “And to answer your question, I didn’t notice.”

  He had to think about what she was talking about.

  “Most of the time the field surgeons had their jackets off while we worked. We saved men who wore gray and men who wore blue. It didn’t matter what they had on. They were mortals in desperate need of care.”

  Abby let her hand slip from his arm and walked away.

  “I dream of a better tomorrow where chickens can cross the road

  and not be questioned about their motives.”

  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Ten

  As September progressed, the sweltering temperatures they’d experienced all summer were finally beginning to cool. The mass of green foliage covering the city had taken on touches of red, orange, and gold. According to the locals, the abundant rainfall Macon experienced this summer was a sign that winter would be an especially harsh one for middle Georgia. Some predicted they might even see some snow this year.

  Abby missed winters back home in Ohio. Especially the Winter Carnival with long sleigh rides and wassail with nutmeg.

  Winter was very different here.

  Last year the church had put on a Christmas Festival complete with a nativity play put on by the children. Abby implored the church committee to include Hickory and the shanty kids, but was met with her first real taste of class discrimination. Watching the disappointment and hurt on their little faces, most not old enough to understand such rejection, had been like a thousand daggers to her heart.

  Of course, she’d witnessed slavery and social segregation even in Ohio. Her father had been an avid supporter of treating a
ll God’s children as equals. Even the wild heathens who’d set fire to the mission that caused his death, Abby had no doubt, would have been considered brothers in her father’s eyes.

  Abby took her time walking back to the hospital. Transfer of the wounded from Atlanta had begun. Floyd House Hospital was full to capacity. Serious cases were moved to the larger Ocmulgee Hospital, such as the soldier she’d just accompanied there with gangrene destroying the flesh to his hip.

  Abby was caring for triple the number of soldiers now than when she’d first come to Macon. There were days, she never stepped outside the hospital walls.

  Today, she’d jumped at the chance to steal away for a few minutes. Especially thankful when Doc had suggested she stop by Harbor House for a bite to eat before reporting back for her evening shift.

  As she rounded the corner from Mulberry to First Street, a gust of wind blew in from the south, whipping her skirts around her legs. Abby heard thunder roll in the distance as she surveyed dove gray clouds billowing up on the horizon with the promise of a cooling rain.

  A sergeant on horseback, tipped his hat in passing.

  Abby immediately wondered if he was one of Ian’s men. All of Macon appreciated Saberton’s cavalrymen. Ian demanded his troops treat civilians with courtesy and good manners. They were never intimidating or demanding like General Farris’ officers could be. In both cases, she supposed, the unit reflected its leadership.

  Thinking back on their conversation under the soaring evergreens, Abby couldn’t help but think she might have divulged more than she should have. But she was a firm believer that everything happened for a reason. Ian followed her to where she met the children. They had been so excited to see her, mostly because she’d brought more food than they’d probably eaten all week.

  It had been a chance for Ian to see them for himself.

  The two of them had enjoyed easy conversation, and Abby was comfortable spending time with him. He was opinionated, and teased her freely, but he wasn’t malicious or dishonest. On a whim, she’d decided to confide in him. If nothing else, she was glad to get it all out in the open. Other than the town women, who talked big but were essentially powerless against Farris’ bullying, Abby hadn’t spoken about it to anyone.