“I comprehend both the peril and the necessity. Do not undertake to make a protest about it. I am going.”
Hunter looked into eyes that were both uncompromising and decisive. “Return to me here as soon as Pierce is led to the ford. Do you understand?”
He stomped over to the table and drove his pen across another piece of paper furiously. “That means you do not wait for him to engage, or even to see if the ford is guarded. Turn around after showing him the ford’s location no matter what you hear. Do you understand?”
“I understand, Colonel.” Andrea stood impatiently with her hand on the door latch.
Hunter strode across the room. “Here. Take this pass in case you get stopped by any of my men.” Then his voice turned softer. “You’ve taken enough risks on your own accord. You need not take any more on mine. I understand the sacrifice.”
“If you will use the ford to get back to Virginia, it is well worth the sacrifice.” Andrea shoved the piece of paper into her pocket.
“I’m not in the habit of choosing routes of retreat. I leave that for the enemy.”
“I would hope that you’re not in the habit of allowing your men to be needlessly slaughtered either. Your reputation as a brave and gallant soldier is not worth that.” She reached for the door latch, but he held firm.
“It’s not for my reputation or glory that I fight. It’s for the honor of Virginia. You know that.”
Again she tried to remove his hand from the latch. “There is no honor in fighting a losing battle. I’m showing you the location of the ford so you can retreat with dignity—not get whipped with honor.”
He frowned when he read the impatience on Andrea’s face. “When the ford is in our hands, I will decide our course of action.” He paused and stared at her intently. “I hope you fully appreciate the risk of the venture. Your hand must be against them, as it has been for them.”
“Surely you do not believe I came all this way without appreciating that risk. As for whom I stand with now, I am willing.”
One more look in her rebellious eyes caused Hunter to concede. “Very well. Show Captain Pierce the way.”
Although he intended to give her a parting kiss, he did not have time. By the time he passed through the door, she had already leaped into the saddle and was holding in her skillful hands a large, spirited, and impatient horse.
The massive beast beneath her snorted and pinned its ears when her weight hit the saddle, providing more than a little indication that it intended to try to remove the obstacle from its back at the first opportunity. No need to worry about that, Hunter thought to himself. She would ride a hurricane if someone dared her to, or attempt to jump a mountain if someone told her it could not be done.
He watched in breathless silence as she whirled the horse around, and took off at a gallop with a dozen men following close behind.
Hunter closed his eyes and, for the second time in his life, said a prayer. He could not believe he was entrusting the one he loved with so dangerous an errand on behalf of his Command, nor that she was willing to accept it on behalf of him.
Chapter 63
“So long lost and loved at last, too late.”
–“The Three Scouts,” J.T. Trowbridge
Colonel Hunter paced impatiently after hearing a few shots in the distance, his heart and eyes weary of watching for her arrival. When the sound of galloping hooves interrupted the silence, he anxiously scanned the lane, waiting for the image of the horse to come into view. But it did not appear where he expected.
The bay, lathered and blowing, came bursting out of the woods not fifty feet away. He watched as she aimed her mount straight for the fence that separated the lane from the pasture, watched men who were lounging nearby scatter, and watched with his experienced eye, a horse that had no intention of attempting flight.
Hunter turned his head when they were but one stride out, seeing in the actions of the horse that it was indeed going to refuse to jump. When he did not hear a crash, he turned back to see the duo sailing over the obstacle with a foot to spare. Andrea’s spurs were deeply dug in her charger’s flanks, and the horse’s eyes still bulged from the shock of the perfectly timed action.
A hellcat on horseback. Hunter stared at her in suppressed amazement as she drew the horse to a jolting stop, spraying clumps of mud upon the porch step where he stood.
“Mission accomplished, Colonel.” She saluted him in such a way that he knew it was instinctive rather than planned. “It was occupied but did not appear to be heavily guarded. Gus is through and Captain Pierce should be—”
Andrea sucked in a mouthful of air as she dismounted. Although she made an obvious effort to land on her good leg, she grimaced and cursed under her breath when she hit the ground nonetheless. “…In control.” She finished her sentence, and straightened up with gritted teeth. “I await further orders, sir.”
“Yes, come with me. I need to talk to you.” Hunter turned and clanked noisily up the steps, his gaze falling on Carter who lounged against the wall beside the door as if preparing to stand guard. Hunter nodded in gratitude at the duty being performed with no orders to do so, and Carter nodded back with a kind of contented smile on his face.
“There’s going to be a hot fight,” Hunter said before Andrea had even closed the door.
Andrea half-nodded and half-shrugged with half a frown on her face, showing as much concern or interest as if he’d just predicted warm weather in the middle of July.
“You need to get away from here.”
This caused a bit more of a reaction. First, she blinked in surprise; then her eyes, which had been glowing with satisfaction, narrowed with a grave look of defiance. “But I—”
“After careful reflection, I’ve decided I don’t want you involved in this.”
“You mean you’ve decided you want me out of the way!”
Hunter closed his eyes when he heard the rebelliousness in her voice, knowing there was more to follow when it reached that tone. He braced himself for the fallout. “You’ve already done more than we can repay, more than we could ask. I want you safely behind the lines.”
Although Andrea had stood before him calm and determined before, she now bristled with hostility. “Which lines, Colonel? North or South? For I can be felled by a Yankee bullet as easily as Rebel now. It makes no difference to me from where the lead comes!”
He grabbed her by the arm. “I prefer that you return to Hawthorne.”
“I’m on the wrong side of the Potomac for that,” she spat. “As are you! Though you are apparently too determined to go down in a blaze of glory to care!”
“We have the ford now.”
“I did not show you the location of the ford so I could retreat to a place of safety!”
When Hunter spoke, his face was resolute, his tone was stern, and his words were unrelenting. “If you defy me, I will have you arrested and placed there by force.”
Andrea’s jaw dropped and she blinked in surprise. “You would not dare!”
“Yes. I would.” The response was calm, but loud.
Carter stuck his head in the door at the noisy exchange, and gazed worriedly at the courier and the colonel as they stood face to face—one looking enraged, the other careworn and troubled beyond measure. “Everything all right in here?”
“We’re fine, Carter,” the latter said, not taking his eyes from Andrea’s defiant gaze.
Andrea picked up the conversation where it had left off as soon as the door closed. “If you think for one moment to bend me from my purpose by your threats or command, you will find you are in dreadful error.” She took a step closer and pointed her finger at him defiantly. “I will not leave but by force, and you shall not find that an easy course! Why, you do not even have enough men to accomplish such a deed!”
“It will take but one man, Andrea,” Hunter said in a perfectly calm voice.
“Me.”
He did not give her time to respond to that. He cupped her face in his hands,
bent down and kissed her so tenderly, so longingly, so lovingly that it took her breath—and her anger—away.
“Is it so hard to believe that I want you to be safe?” Hunter whispered in her ear, pulling her into his arms.
“Is it so hard to believe that I want the same for you?” Andrea placed her head on his heart. “Retreat does not indicate defeat when it allows you the opportunity to fight another day.”
“When Pierce gets back I will consult the opinions of my officers. I’ll yield to their decision on whether the Command fights or crosses into Virginia.”
“But there’s really no decision to make,” Andrea said, making an obvious attempt to keep her voice calm. “Think how the prestige of a victory over you would animate the enemy, Colonel Hunter. I know you worship the sacred soil of Virginia—but would it not be better to fight another day than sleep eternally beneath it? That is the basic premise for your decision, is it not?”
“You make it sound easy.” Hunter pushed his hat back off his brow and walked to a window in the back of the room to stare at the horizon.
“It is easy.” Andrea paced back and forth, her hands flying to accentuate her emotions. “On the one hand, your Command is devoid of every resource for battle including provisions and men. You do not have the choice of ground, or even knowledge of the ground on which you stand. Nor do you have the advantage of surprise or the benefit of being the aggressor.”
Hunter looked back over his shoulder at her, but made no effort to bring the conversation to an end. “You have no time in which to launch a diversion, and even if you did, you possess not the manpower or the ammunition to sustain one. Your horses are jaded, your men are tired, and the enemy outnumbers you five to one. Any attempt to defend this position seems incredibly impractical, unrealistic and, frankly, unattainable due to an uncooperative swollen river. Your only hope of success is a sudden and complete capitulation by the enemy, which we both know is not going to happen. They are well rested and well fed, and are no doubt incensed—nay, infuriated—with your very presence on Northern soil. They carry the added advantage of no longer suffering in fear of ambush or reprisal from you, trapped as you are on a useless piece of land that you cannot afford to hold and from which you do not have the ability to maneuver. The benefit of this to them and the consequences of this to you are nigh impossible to estimate! Tell me Colonel, wherein lies the difficulty of the decision?”
“Gotta couple of pretty good points there,” Carter said.
Andrea and Hunter both whirled around at the same time. Neither had heard Carter and Pierce enter the room—Andrea so intent on making her plea, and Hunter intent on listening in bewilderment to her torrent of words.
Carter leaned nonchalantly against the door, chewing on his cigar while looking wryly amused. Pierce stood with his head cocked to the side, looking openly shocked at the lengthy expostulation just given by a mere boy.
Hunter cleared his throat. “Thank you for your modest opinion. That will be all.”
Hunter watched a stream of sunlight burst into the room and surround her as she opened the door and then disappear as if she were taking it with her when it alternately slammed shut.
“Send in the other officers,” Hunter said to Carter, before turning his back and concentrating once again on the map on the table.
Chapter 64
“Yet this inconstancy is such, as you too shall adore,
I could not love thee, dear, so much, loved I not honor more.”
– “Off to War,” Lovelace
Carter saw Andrea leaning against a tree, her thoughts apparently so absorbed on the men spilling out of the farmhouse behind him that she didn’t notice his approach. Her eyes flicked from face to face as men shouted and hurried to obey orders. When her gaze finally met his, he read in her furrowed brow that she sensed the distinctive undercurrent of excitement. She knew without asking that a decision had been made, and it was not hard to see that the men preparing to carry out that decision approached it with enthusiasm.
Carter paused and looked back at the men, too. What he saw on their faces was what he knew was in their minds. They were already thinking of the end result of today’s contest and their greatest reward—to see Hunter approach them after the battle, feel his hand on their shoulder, and hear the words from his lips, “Well done.”
“Colonel wants to see you,” Carter said in a low voice when he reached her.
Her eyes shifted to a point over Carter’s shoulder, and the light reflected from them announced the approach of the most dashing and indomitable soldier in the Confederacy. She smiled then, or tried to, her trembling lips revealing the overwhelming emotions she felt at the mere sight of him.
“Ride with me a moment,” was all Hunter said when he reached her.
Carter watched the two mount, their legs swinging across the backs of their horses in perfect unison, both settling into their saddles with gentle ease—an act he suspected was more a result of the injuries each had suffered than in deference to the backs of their mounts.
Andrea turned toward Carter a moment, obviously trying to wear the same expression of calmness that Hunter so coolly displayed. Before gathering her reins, she saluted in Carter’s direction, her lips showing a smile of hopeful optimism, her eyes a look of intolerable dread.
The slender youth and the strong, bronzed officer then swung their horses around to the right and pushed them into a canter in perfect stride and harmony, as if there was but one mind and soul between them. Carter watched them ride away side by side, boot to boot in silence, two opposite forces of energy that had finally found perfect balance.
To a stranger, it might appear they were drawn together by the mysterious relationship of opposites, but Carter knew their affinity to one another was strong likenesses. Both were as stubborn, intrepid, and fiercely independent as any two people could be.
He could well imagine the spirited clashes and passion that flickered and flamed between them. On second thought, perhaps he could not. He saw the sparks flying when they but stood in the same room. He could not imagine the meteoric brilliance that flamed when they were in each other’s arms—and he felt his face turn scarlet at the thought.
In any event, he was glad that a truce had been called, fortifying a bond and creating a union that not even war, hopefully, could separate.
* * *
Hunter rode into a small grove of trees and watched Andrea cautiously scan each shadow and silhouette within its depths, her mind obviously alert to any danger that might be hidden within. “You are safe within my lines.”
Andrea focused her eyes on him for a moment. “You forget. I am an enemy among your men and a traitor among mine.”
“You are not the enemy of this Command, I assure you.” He urged his horse a step closer, and spoke in a serious tone. “My men have decided the battalion shall cross into Virginia. You apparently influenced them no little bit.”
“And yet you disagree?”
“I am of the mind it is better to have fought and lost then never to have fought at all.”
“It is not rational or logical to gamble all and gain nothing. And,” she said, her tone serious as she moved her horse back a step to look at him more fully. “It should worry you, as it worries me, that I am being forced to give you advice on being rational and logical.”
Hunter gazed in awe at the bright smile of humor she wore on her lips despite the desperate situation. She looked perfectly majestic sitting arrow straight, yet relaxed, on her horse, one hand on the reins, the other on the back of her saddle as she twisted to face him. Yet, he felt a sudden stab in his heart when he thought of how few minutes they had now to talk.
“Miss Evans, I rely much on your judgment and hold your opinion sacred, believe me.”
“The ford is not easily accessible to a large number of men,” Andrea said, her tone serious again. “There is danger in delay.”
“Yes, I understand. “I have men moving out as vanguard to help Pierce protect the f
ord. I want you to go with Carter in the main body. I will move up with the rearguard.” Andrea started to shake her head. “That’s an order. I’ll be right behind you.”
“But the rearguard will be the most heavily engaged!”
“So be it.” His gaze shifted to a place over her shoulder. “The fault is mine, so must the remedy be. I will not leave until my men are safely in Virginia.”
A gust of wind swept down upon them, causing Andrea’s horse to rear and, almost in the same instant, buck, while hopping and sidestepping in apparent fear. Hunter watched her bring him back under control, never so much as blinking an eye or changing her relaxed stance in the saddle—or apparently even taking notice that he was attempting to dislodge her.
“Easy, big boy,” Andrea said soothingly, bending down to pat him on the neck to calm his quivering. “Nothing but the wind.”
The horse stood trembling with alarm, relying on nothing but her voice to keep him from running straight to kingdom come for safety. Andrea appeared surprised when she finally looked up and read the amused amazement on Hunter’s countenance.
“The boys gave me this horse as a practical joke” she said, patting it on the neck again as if his behavior required an explanation. “Told me if I wanted a broke horse when I requested a mount from government stables then I should have specified as such. They had a jolly good laugh when I got on Buck here the first time.”
Hunter winced. “He’s not broke and you took that fence earlier?”
“There are only two ways he could have gone—over or through.” Andrea shrugged. “My odds were fifty-fifty.”
“And you think fifty-fifty makes good odds.”
Andrea turned in her saddle again to face him, leaning back and resting one hand on her horse’s rump. “Lighten up, Colonel. You said yourself you don’t bother to count odds, which is for the better, for I fear yours today are not nearly so high.”
Hunter ignored the comment. “The boys, as you call them, that gave you the horse … they are on the other side of the hill?” He did not say to whom he was referring, merely nodded toward the Union line.
Shades of Gray: A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia Page 48