by Dagny Rand
“HI Darcy.”
I was just stunned.
“Nathan? “
Grandma had gotten behind me and gently shoved me in the room and closed the doors. I had to admit Nathan looked well.
“Well how have you been?”
I still was a bit shocked but tried to answer.
“I’ve been alright and you? I mean I heard you are going to West Point next year. You must be excited.”
I moved over to the nearest chair and sat down. Nathan sat on the sofa across from me.
“I’ve been down at the stream I thought maybe I’d see you there but..”
“Well I promised my pa I wouldn’t go there anymore.”
“Oh I see.”
“Truth is nothings the same without you there Darcy.”
“I’m sorry Nathan. I’m sorry for so many things getting in trouble for asking you to teach me to dance, not being able to go to the dance tonight and now for making you sad.”
I got up and walked over to the widow and looked out into the darkness.
“ I wish we could back in time and be the kids we were back then.”
Nathan had gotten up and slowly moved behind me until he was able to put his hands on my shoulders.
“I’m not, I wouldn’t want to trade the beautiful woman I see here back to that young tomboy with the braids and her shoes tied over her shoulder.”
I had to smile when I thought about the first time he saw me I was in braids and my shoes were over my shoulder. I knew I had to tell him how I felt and if I didn’t do it now I would lose my nerve.
“You know I have been keeping this inside me all these years and I feel I have to tell you. I know you’re going to think I’m silly but well I have been in love with you since I was six years old. Ok you can laugh at me now.”
He gently turned me around and with his hand he lifted my chin.
“I’m not laughing and I don’t think it’s silly. I’m so glad you told me because I’ve been in love you with since the first day I saw you trying to wade across the stream.”
He slowly let his lips touch mine and my arms went around his neck as we shared a passionate embrace.
“And now you’re going to West Point and we’ll be apart again.”
He held me in his arms and I felt I could stay there forever.
“I don’t care about West Point. I’d give it all up just to stay here by the stream with you. I love you Darcy Meadows for always.”
I looked at him
“Always and forever.”
Later that evening I sat up in bed still excited that Nathan really did love me I was going to go to the stream tomorrow and we could sit there and plan our future together. But that was not to happen. As I was walking toward the stream my pa came along in the wagon. Just as I was about to turn off in the road he pulls up.
“Darcy, come on I’ll give you a ride home.”
I had no choice I had to take the ride home. Two days later news hit town Fort Sumter was fired on and we were at war. Every young man was rushing to join the army and every mother sat and prayed their son or sons would be safe.
Nathan joined the army and with some help from his father he was sent under the command of General Albert S. Johnston and West Point graduate and highly respected officer. West Point would have to wait for Nathan he felt it was his duty to defend the south. It was the day before he was to leave and he waited by the stream hoping that Darcy would come to say good bye. He had almost given up when he say her across the stream making her way down to the stream. He made his way into the stream and she waited patiently like always. As he got to the other side she looked at him and took his hand.
“This time I want to walk across with you. “
“Are you sure, you’ll get wet.”
“I’m sure.”
Together we waded across the stream hand and hand. Once we made it to the other side we sat under the tree and held each other. I couldn’t bear to think of him leaving. I know he had to do this but the uncertainty of this war. Why couldn’t the Col. find a way to keep him away from the battlefield. He looked at me as I tried to stop the tears in my eyes.
“What’s this tears? You don’t want me to remember you with tears in your eyes. Not the day before I leave. You don’t want me to have that as my memory of my girl. You do know you are my girl.”
I nodded.
“And when I come back I’m going to marry you Darcy Meadows, and I’m going to purpose to you right here under this tree.”
The next morning Nathan left by train for his basic training. Ms. Leta carried on so the Col. had to take her home. I promised I wouldn’t go to the train station I wanted to have the memory of us at the stream. It was our special place that no one could ever take from us. I heard the train whistle and knew Nathan was on his way. I wished he didn’t go yet I knew he had to it was what he was.
It suddenly began to rain and as the drops hit the window sill I felt my own roll down my cheek.
Chapter Four
There wasn’t a day that went by that the townspeople gathered at the newspaper office to hear the latest on the war. Mrs. Rollins had not only her husband but her two sons also. Each day she waited to hear any news on the war. Grandma would sit with her sometimes. She felt sorry for the woman she had no one to lean on for strength. Then it came two days after the Battle of Shiloh it came out the wounded and the casualties. I looked over when I heard sobbing and saw Mrs. Rollins weeping. I looked at the names in the newspaper and saw all three Rollins men were lost in that battle. I felt an emptiness that was in the very core of my soul seeing Mrs. Rollins’ grief I couldn’t bear to read any farther than the fact that General Johnston died in battle. I wanted to look at the list but I just couldn’t I didn’t want to think that Nathan could be dead. Not after he told me he loved me and promised to marry me. He couldn’t be on the list. I forced myself to look at the G’s and there was no Gower. I said a silent prayer thanking the good Lord that he as spared.
I walked back home only I stopped at the stream it was the one place I still felt I could reach Nathan. I felt no matter where he was if I just sat here he would know I was thinking of him. I closed my eyes and tried to picture him beside me when I heard grandma calling me.
I got up and walked through the trees and saw her on the road.
“I knew I’d find you here. This came for you it’s a few weeks old but I thought you would still want it.”
She smiled and handed me a letter.
“It’s from Nathan. Oh grandma thank you so much.”
“Would you like to read it at home? I’m going that way I can give you a ride?”
“I’d better thanks grandma.”
In the privacy of my room I opened the letter and began to read ”Dear Darcy, I think of you often. There’s nothing glamorous about this war. We’re going to a place called Shiloh in a week and from there I’m not sure. I often think about you. I miss you and home. We’re all Virginia boys here but none of us are from the same town. We all talk about our homes and our families I even told them about you and they all want to meet you. It’s almost time for lights out and we’ll be leaving in the morning so I’ll end the letter here. I hope we can get home soon I’ve got to move on now hope this gets to you. I love you Darcy always and forever. Love Nathan.”
That letter was over a week old we already had heard the news of the Battle of Shiloh and the death of . General Johnston died on the battle field of a gunshot wound to his leg. He unselfishly had his personal doctor sent to the front to aid the wounded; he on the other hand bled to death due to his wound. It was the bloodiest battle in the war so far. It was on a Sunday afternoon that is a place called Shiloh both sides lost 23,000 men. Among those brave men under Gen. Johnston that were also wounded was one young man Nathan Gower. It seemed a mortar hit right beside him and tore his left leg severely. At the army hospital they felt the only recourse to be was to amputate. It would be the end of his army career but a young surgeon had heard of a new method of savi
ng the legs and arms of these wounded soldiers and after six hours of painstaking surgery Nathan’s leg was spared. The fact that he would always have a limp was a small price to pay to save the leg from amputation.
It was a shattered Col. Gower who came to our house that afternoon a week after the battle.
He seemed a broken man as if he had lost all the will to live. I had thought oh no Nathan is dead. I began to sob and he gently touched my hand.
“No, no Darcy, he’s not gone. He’s been wounded. He suffered a serve injury to his leg. They transferred him to another army hospital and Leta and I are going to see him as soon as we can get a train out.”
The man just kept looking at me and smiled.
“Is there anything I can do or get you Col.?”
The old man just smiled and nodded his head.
“I’m sorry my wife treated you so badly my dear I know how much Nathan cares for you. I intend to tell him I have been here to see you and you know of his injury. Would you like me to tell him anything?”
I looked at my parents and then my grandma who nodded her head and smiled.
“Col. do tell him always and forever he’ll know what it means.”
A smile came to the old man’s face as he once again pats her hand.
“I’ll tell him miss don’t you worry.”
He gets up and starts to head out the door. When my ma stops him.
“Col. if there is anything you or Ms. Leta needs please let us know.”
“Thank you Mrs. Meadows, thank you very much.”
He walks out the door with my pa. I looked over to grandma.
“He looks so broken. I wish there was something I could do for him.”
“ You did just by what you said to him. “
Weeks passed and there was no news on Nathan. The war raged on and more young lives were lost on both sides. I found myself wondering if I would ever see Nathan and yet there was that one hope that I would turn around one day and he would be there at the stream and we could pick up our lives.
It was a warm Sunday afternoon I sat under the tree by the stream as I had done since I spoke with the Col. Sometime I would just sit and watch the clouds, other times I would think of Nathan and pray he would come home to me. I closed my eyes and began to talk in a low voice as if Nathan was beside me.
“Nathan, I wish you were here so I knew that you were alright. I’ve been worried for so long to hear any news on you. Oh I wish you could hear me.”
With my eyes closed I didn’t notice that Nathan had indeed walked to the banks of the stream and was standing there in front of me.
“I can hear you silly. I’m right here.”
I opened my eyes and there was Nathan standing before me with on crutches but he was standing there before me. I jumped up and put my arms around me.
“Nathan!”
“Darcy, Darcy careful you’ll knock me down. “
I stepped back and tried to stop the tears in my eyes.
“How did you get here? How are you, how…?”
He slowly made his way to the tree and leaned up against the trunk.
“You’ll have to ask me one question at a time Darcy.”
There were so many questions I wanted to ask and so many things I wanted to tell him but for now just to stand here and see him before me.
“I know the last time we were here I promised you I would do something. Well if you can forgive me for not getting on one knee I’ll try to do this right.”
He gently takes my hand and smiles
“Darcy Christine Meadows would you do me the favor and be my wife? I’d get on one knew if it would make you answer faster.”
I looked at him and smiled.
“Yes, I will marry you Nathan, today, tomorrow whenever and where ever you want.”
It was a dream come true for both of us. I was to be married in my mother’s wedding dress. As I stood in front of the mirror looking at the image. “Well girl this is it, the moment you’ve been waiting for since you were six years old. The day you become Mrs. Nathan Gower.” The door of her room opens and her father stands there looking at his little girl and smiles.
“You look so happy Darcy and I’m so proud of you.”.
*****
THE END
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Copyright 2015 by (Jolene Clark) - All rights reserved.
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Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
Reaching Climax with the Cowboy
How Her Heart
was won
By: Jolene Clark
Click here to go straight to your FREE BONUS!!!
Reaching climax the Cowboy
Kaylee Morrison was just an average girl, the only girl in the family still single. It was at her younger cousin’s wedding when a remark made by a neighbor started Kaylee wondering if there would ever be a day when she would be throwing the bouquet instead of being the one trying to catch it.
It was a warm afternoon and the little church in town was packed for the wedding of Kaylee’s cousin, Celeste, to a local boy. All the girls who were over nineteen and married were sitting in the front row. Kaylee, as usual, was part of the wedding party. The old saying ‘always a bridesmaid, never a bride’ seemed to fit Kaylee. With the ceremony over, the reception that immediately was also not as delightful as Kaylee expected. Kaylee heard whisper of rumors that were hurtful and made her feel uncomfortable the whole time there. The following day, Kaylee returned to work at Miss Lucille’s bridal shop. As she was checking through dressing rooms she noticed someone left a bridal magazine on the bench. It had the recent styles from Europe which were quite interesting. As Kaylee thumbed through the pages, she came to the last four pages where there were classifieds. Here were individuals looking for brides/ husbands. So engrossed with the classifieds, she didn’t notice Miss Lucille walk by the room and stop.
“Miss Kaylee, what are you doing?”
Startled, Kaylee put down the book and stood up.
“I was just getting ready to clean up the room Miss Lucille.”
She gathers the three dresses and was about to leave the dressing room when Miss Lucille saw the book.
“These are very nice.”
She picks up the book and looks at the styles.
“Do you think you could possibly copy some of these style, Kaylee?
“I don’t know Miss Lucille, if I had time to study the styles maybe, but the materials we’d need have to send away for. The lace is Irish and Italian, Miss Lucille. Can we find a supplier here who can have it shipped to us?”
She handed the book to Kaylee and smiles.
“Let me know if you can design one of ours to look like these. We’ll put it in the store window for the spring line.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She hurries out to the styling room where her next appointment for a fitting was waiting. Kaylee gave the young woman a single and proceeded to make the young girl feel like a princess and that this was to be the most exciting dress she would ever wear. Three hours later, Kaylee was making her way home in the pouring rain. It was cold and damp as the rain seeped through her coat right to her bones. She turned the corner and saw her Aunt Alice’s carriage outside her home. Slowly she made her way up to the door. From the other room her mother called out,
“Kaylee, could you come in here for a moment?”
She removed her coat and hat and walked into the dining room. Her aunt took one look at her and shook her head.
“I’m telling you Rose; look at what she looks like. You’ll never see a man wanting to marry her. Look at her, she looks like a drowned ca
t. I swear the girl has none of the Benson looks she got all the Morrison side looks. Pity none of them had an eye for style and class. Rose you know it’s true that sister of James’s Lordy was she ever a homely girl. She ended up being an old maid if I remember.”
Kaylee looked at her aunt. True she had married off all her daughters’ and neither one was pretty, yet to Rose Morrison her nieces were the center of her life. For years, Kaylee knew she was never the favorite in the family she was always considered the black sheep. The more Kaylee tried to please her mother the more Rose found something to complain about that she did something all wrong or why couldn’t she be more like her cousins. There was never a time when Kaylee was given not praise but a kind word. Rose Morrison thought of only her family completely ignoring the young girl who had been supporting her for the past ten years since her husband died when Kaylee was only seventeen. When James Morrison passed away the January morning, it was Kaylee who abandoned her college plans and went to work. The only job she could get was to work for Miss Lucille’s dress shop. Lucille had seen her talent and knew she could bring a lot of money to the dress shop. Kaylee had an eye for style and class and Lucille wanted her shop to be one of a kind in White Plains. Having an elite dress shop so close to New York had many pluses.
“I’m very sorry mama. I got caught in the rain coming home. I’ll go up and change.”
It was then that Aunt Alice spoke.
“Well, I have no time to wait. I only came to tell you my brother in law’s daughter is going to Miss Lucille’s tomorrow and wants you to help her pick out a dress. I do hope you’ll look better than you do now.”
Kaylee keeps her head down knowing if she looks up Aunt Alice would continue to insult her. But Aunt Alice was not finished.
“Are you listening to me, Kaylee? Rose I swear didn’t you teach this girl anything about manners? She just stands there like a scared rabbit. I’m telling you she’s going to disgrace the family by being the old maid. People already think she’s a bit backward and touched in the head. My Lord Martha Morgan asked me just the other day if she wasn’t touched in the head. We’ll be the laughing stock of all New York.”