Stowaway in Time

by Cathy Peper

  “Then she goes home to her parents.”

  “What if they don’t take her back?”

  “They will. She is their only child. But even if they don’t, it’s not your problem, Jesse.”

  “I guess not.” Jesse dug the heel of his boot in the earth.

  “You take on too much. We have enough to handle just staying alive. Worry about Diamond and your family if you have to, but forget about the rest. You won’t do anyone any good if you get yourself killed.”

  Jesse gazed out over the camp. The men were edgy. He’d thought the heat was making everyone grumpy, but maybe there was more. “We’re going into battle soon, aren’t we?”

  “I think so. Not that our superiors tell us anything.”

  “Maybe they don’t know either.”

  “Maybe not, but they wouldn’t tell us even if they did.” Cole leaned back and lit a cigar. “How are you going to respond to Diamond?”

  “I won’t tell her we think we’re about to go into battle. I don’t want her to worry.”

  “What about Amy?”

  “What about her? I’ll wish her and Jack well.” But he understood what his friend was asking. Diamond was bound to misinterpret anything he said about Amy. “Do you have an extra cigar?”

  Cole tossed him one. “You rarely smoke.”

  “I do today,” Jesse said. “It isn’t every day you learn your brother has become a deserter, an outlaw and eloped with your almost-fiancé.”

  Twenty Four

  Chapter 24

  Janet ran into the parlor, her face alight. “I’ve heard from Finn. He wants me to come north and marry him.”

  “That’s great,” Diamond said, setting aside her knitting. She had nearly completed her first pair of socks for Jesse and looked forward to sending them to him. She stood, stretching her back and wandered over to the window. The sun hung high in the sky, radiating heat. The house provided shade, but it was still hot and muggy. Her body was damp with sweat and she missed air conditioning. She tugged at the bodice of her dress, wishing she could tear it off and wear shorts and a tee-shirt.

  Janet didn’t seem to mind the heat or maybe she was just too happy to care.

  Diamond stifled her unease. She had never met Finn, so it wasn’t fair for her to have reservations about him. She knew little about him other than Ian thought poorly of him. Her father-in-law had nothing good to say about her either, so she shouldn’t let his opinion influence hers. If Finn made Janet happy, nothing else mattered.

  “I’ll go home and we will marry as soon as Finn gets leave,” Janet said.

  “I’m happy for you, but how will you get there? It isn’t safe to travel.”

  “I did it before under worse conditions with only Sarah and the garden boy. I’ll ask Father to send Henry with us.”

  “Us?”

  “I hoped you would come with me.”

  Touched by Janet’s invitation and welcoming a break from Ian, Diamond agreed. However, she still worried about the travel even if the coachman came along to protect them.

  “Heard your screeching all the way upstairs,” Ian grumbled as he came into the room. “Finn finally make an offer?”

  “It’s his second offer as you very well know,” Janet said, “But this time he accepts your terms. Diamond will come with me and we’ll take Sarah and Henry.”

  “I suppose you want the carriage as well? How am I to manage without a carriage and coachman?” Ian asked.

  “We will take the wagon. You can hire a coachman as needed, but you usually walk to your office, anyway.”

  Ian grumbled, but didn’t argue further. “Fine, if it gets the two of you out of my hair. You’ll leave tomorrow.”

  “Then we had better pack.” Janet turned to Diamond. “I’ll send Sarah to you once she’s finished with me.”

  Diamond nodded. She wanted to say she could pack for herself, but had no experience packing hoops and the voluminous garments of the nineteenth century and would welcome Sarah’s help.

  She slept fitfully that night, glad to be heading north, but dreading another journey. She was still tired when Sarah awoke her and eagerly downed a couple cups of tea at breakfast. Flour was growing more expensive and Cook no longer served biscuits every morning, but knowing Diamond’s fondness for them, had made a batch to see them on their way.

  Diamond ducked into the kitchen to thank her before leaving.

  “Your welcome, Miz Diamond,” Cook said. “I’ve packed the leftovers in the picnic basket along with a jar of jam.”

  “I appreciate it.” She nodded to Cook and the scullery maid, who never said a word and was rarely seen outside the kitchen walls.

  Cook lowered her voice. “Master Ian is a hard man and Master Jack pays us no mind. Miss Janet takes after her father, but Master Jesse, well he was always sneaking in the kitchen to grab a snack, ready with a quick smile if I tried to scold him.”

  “He doesn’t play fair, does he?” Diamond, too, found it hard to yell at Jesse even when he did things to infuriate her. She still got angry when she remembered how he’d refused to shoot White when he had threatened her and stole their raft.

  “Travel safely and watch out for Miz Janet.”

  “We’ll be careful and Henry is coming with us.” She paused, wanting to offer the woman hope for the future, but unsure how. “Some good will come out of this awful war. Freedom for all people.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  The kitchen door opened and Cook fell silent and lowered her gaze as Janet stepped inside. “I almost thought you changed your mind about coming with me when I couldn’t find you in the house. What are you doing out here?”

  Diamond reached for the basket. “Cook has packed us food for the trip.”

  “Excellent. We may find nothing on the way. Hurry, we need to get going.”

  “I’m ready.” Diamond followed Janet out of the kitchen, the heavy basket dragging on her arm. Henry had already stowed their trunks in the wagon and he waited, reins in hand, on the buckboard.

  Ian gave his daughter a hug and a kiss, and to Diamond’s surprise, embraced her briefly. “Take care of our home.”

  “Always,” Janet agreed. She climbed up on the wagon and settled herself beside Henry. Diamond was the last one in. Henry snapped the reins. The wagon lurched forward and Diamond almost felt grateful for the petticoats that provided a slight amount of padding between her backside and the hard seat. It was going to be a long ride.

  * * *

  Diamond, Janet, and the servants slept under the stars the first night of their journey. During the day, they had encountered no one other than fellow refugees. They fell in with another wagon also traveling to Missouri, deciding to stick together for safety.

  Except for the hard ground, Diamond didn’t mind sleeping outside. The temperature dropped once the sun went down, and although it was still muggy, it was cooler outside than in the wagon. She lay on her blanket studying the stars overhead. Occasionally she had entertained herself on stake-outs by gazing at the stars, but the sky looked very different without twenty-first century light pollution. There seemed to be many more stars, but she knew the number hadn’t changed. She was just able to see fainter and more distant stars in this century.

  She wondered where Jesse was and if he saw a similar view. She had sent a letter telling him of her move to New Madrid, but he wouldn’t have received it yet. Once she was in Union territory, it would become more difficult for them to correspond. She also would be unable to write for the Gazette. She’d had one story published, a puff piece about the Ladies Association and their work for the cause. It was an assignment she would have sneered at during her days at the news station, but seeing the name, Di Merrell, in print, even for something trivial, had given her an unexpected sense of satisfaction. She’d clipped the article and slipped it into her jewelry box.

  She wasn’t sure how her letter-writing campaign was going. Jesse’s letters were polite but short and to the point. Did he find writin
g them a chore he’d rather avoid or was it just his style? She’d heard nothing since she sent the letter about Amy and Jack. The last letter she had received talked about swimming in the river to escape the heat and trading with the Union soldiers who were doing the same. If she couldn’t draw him in with the written word she wasn’t sure what else she could do. She knew she was pretty. Men found her attractive—until they got to know her. She’d realized long ago that men preferred agreeable to competitive women.

  Did it matter? She and Jesse were married. Amy was no longer available. She knew Jesse well enough to know he would uphold his end of the bargain. But the ache in her chest told her it did. She didn’t just want Jesse’s name. She wanted his heart. Somewhere along the line she had surrendered her own and needed his to fill the hole. She’d felt only a mild sense of loss when she decided not to follow her college boyfriend and any affection for Brent had coalesced into hate the moment he snapped her wrist. The few friends she still maintained contact with called her heartless, in jest, but she had always wondered if there was truth to their remarks. She’d thought herself immune to love and the crazy things it made people do. Now she knew she was just as vulnerable as the next girl and the realization chilled her almost more than the threat of bushwhackers.

  Exhausted from the journey, she fell asleep, only awakening when a woman’s scream tore across the clearing. For a second, she didn’t remember where she was, but the hard ground beneath her, Janet’s cursing and Sarah’s muffled moans of terror, soon reminded her. The women struggled to their feet and Janet pulled a rifle from her bedroll.

  Men swarmed their small camp, ransacking the wagons and grabbing the horses. The fire had burned low, but the hint of dawn colored the sky, lighting the world to dusky gray. One ruffian held the wife of their traveling companion in a firm grip, a gun pointed at her head.

  “What is the meaning of this,” Janet yelled. “We’re loyal Southerners on our way home to Missouri.”

  “I don’t care if you’re Jefferson Davis himself. We need horses and supplies.”

  “I’ve got a gun.” Janet waved her rifle.

  “Use it and I’ll splatter her brains.”

  “Let us alone. Are you one of Jeffries’ men? My brother fights with you and will be furious if you harm us.”

  “They ain’t got much,” one of the other men said, spitting on the ground. “No gold, just some food.”

  “Take whatever food you can carry, but we need the horses,” the leader said. He still kept a tight grip on the woman. Her screams had muted to sobs.

  “Take what you must, but don’t hurt my wife.” The couple’s two children clung to the farmer, one of them crying, the other apparently too scared to make a noise.

  “Well that depends,” the leader said. “Are you loyal Southerners as well?”

  “They are,” Diamond said. “Why else would we travel together?” It was a lie. As they cooked their dinners over the fire last night, the farmer had admitted they were fleeing southern Missouri and heading to St. Louis because they were Union sympathizers who no longer felt safe in their home with all the bushwhacking activity. He’d stared disapprovingly at Sarah and Henry. Janet had bristled at his attitude and told him to mind his own business if he wanted the safety numbers gave them.

  Not safe enough, apparently. They had set guards for the night, but someone must have fallen asleep, allowing the bushwhackers to get the drop on them.

  Janet tapped her gun against her thigh. “You need to leave us at least one horse to pull the wagon.”

  “We don’t take orders from anyone. Especially a woman. We aren’t regular army, not that it makes much difference. The Confederate Army needs horses, too. Just be glad we will leave you your slave woman.”

  Sarah moaned and hugged herself tightly.

  “Just one horse,” Janet pleaded. “Don’t worry about them.” She pointed with the gun to the other wagon. “They have no love for the Southern cause, but I not only have a brother following Quantrill, but another brother in uniform.”

  Diamond gasped.

  “Is that so?” The leader twisted his hand in his captive’s hair, drawing her head back. She whimpered. “I should slit your pretty neck.”

  “I say we kill them all,” one man yelled.

  The leader turned his gun on the man, still keeping a tight hold on the woman. “We might not be regular army, but we’re not murderers, Sam, and don’t you forget it.”

  The man raised his hands, one of them holding a pistol, and took a step back. “Sorry, got carried away.”

  “String up the man and we’ll get out of here,” the leader commanded.

  “No!” Diamond cried, ignoring the glare Janet sent her. “Leave us alone. You said it yourself, you’re not murderers.”

  The leader shoved the woman down to her knees and turned his attention towards Diamond. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two of his men grab the farmer.

  “You lied to me.” He moved towards her, stopping when Janet raised her gun. “Shoot me and my men will have their way with you,” he said, without sparing her a glance. “Why do you care about some Northern traitors?”

  “I only want this war to be over. My husband risks his life fighting for the Southern cause, but soldiers shouldn’t take up arms against civilians. Steal from us if you must, but allow us to leave here safely. My sister-in-law and I only want to get home and these people only want to escape further violence.”

  “You talk pretty,” the leader sneered. “Like someone who never saw their home burned to the ground.”

  Diamond swallowed. Perhaps she shouldn’t have opened her mouth. But why had Janet thrown their companions to the wolves? It was bad enough the Rebels were going to strand them in the wilderness. Why give the men a reason to hurt them? “We don’t know what we will find when we make it home. If we make it home. Our house could be gone. These people mean you no harm. Let us go.”

  “A spying traitor? I don’t think so.”

  “We’re not spies,” the farmer said, straining against the men who held him. His wife still slumped on the ground sobbing, but she’d gathered her children close, hiding their faces in her embrace. “We just wanted to grow our crops.”

  The leader gestured towards his men who dragged the poor farmer towards the nearest tree. He pointed his pistol at Janet. “Drop the gun, lady.”

  “I won’t.”

  He fired at her head and Janet dropped the gun, screaming and clutching at the side of her face. Diamond’s head spun as blood blossomed between Janet’s fingers. How was she still standing? Would the bushwhackers kill them all?

  “Janet!” She ran to her sister-in-law, catching her as the injured woman swayed and toppled into her arms. She struggled against her weight, lowering her to the ground. Blood splattered on her bodice and she lifted her skirt to tear a strip from her petticoat. “It’s okay, you will be okay.” She spoke the words mindlessly, not really believing them. But head wounds bled a lot. She had to see how bad it was.

  She pulled Janet’s hands from the injury, gasping as she saw Janet’s mangled ear. The bullet had carved a crease along her sister-in-law’s temple before plowing a bloody path through her ear. She pressed her makeshift bandage against Janet’s ear. As gruesome and painful as the wound no doubt was, she didn’t think it would be fatal unless it became infected.

  The gunshot still rung in her ears, but eventually other sounds came through—thundering hoofbeats, wailing children and the desperate screams of the woman.

  “Help me! Please help me.”

  Diamond looked up from her patient. The farmer swung from the tree, his face purpling in the growing light of day. His wife jumped for the rope which was tied around the trunk of the tree, but couldn’t quite reach it. “Hold this tight to her head,” Diamond told Sarah before running to her bedroll where she’d left her drawstring purse.

  The men had not taken it in their search of the wagons. She kept all of her small twenty-first century items within its bead
ed interior, not wanting her in-laws to stumble upon them. She grabbed her Leatherman knife and ran towards the hanged man.

  It had been years since she’d climbed a tree, but there were no other options. “Give me a boost,” she yelled at the woman as she stepped on the lowest branch and reached for a higher one. She pulled, the woman pushed, and she swung up into the tree. Balancing on the branch, she leaned over and sawed at the rope. To her relief, the frayed material parted easily, and the man fell to the ground, gasping and choking. He was still alive, although he could have brain damage from lack of oxygen.

  The woman tore the noose from his neck and leaned over him.

  “Give him some room,” Diamond advised, easing her way down the tree.

  “I can’t thank you enough,” the woman said. “I don’t know how you did that, climbing the tree like a squirrel.”

  Diamond wasn’t sure how she’d managed either. “I hope I got there in time. I have to get back to my sister-in-law.”

  “Is she badly hurt?”

  “I think she’ll make it, but her ear’s all torn up.”

  The children crept closer to their parents, but still hung back in fear. The woman wiped the tears from her face, motioned for them to come forward and left them with their father.

  “Why’d she do it?” she asked Diamond, her tone too low for the others to hear. “She didn’t have to say nothing.”

  “She was scared.” Diamond thought it a feeble excuse, but the woman nodded, seeming to accept it. Diamond drifted back to where her sister-in-law had drawn herself to a seated position, leaning against a tree with her eyes closed. Sarah had torn her own petticoat, tying Diamond’s bandage to Janet’s head.

  “See if they left us any brandy,” Diamond instructed the maid. Once Sarah left, she took Janet’s hand. “It’s not a fatal wound, but we are in a heap of trouble.”

  Janet opened her eyes, the Weber blue cold as a frozen lake. “Jack will carve out his liver with a dull knife.”

  Diamond blinked. “Who’s liver?”