Scars Upon Her Heart (The Scars of The Heart Series)

by Sorcha MacMurrough

  Stewart couldn’t ask the questions he burned to have answered, but he would watch and wait. Moreover, the conversation had given him new hope that things might not be as impossible as they seemed between himself and Viv. If the marriage was already in trouble…

  He pulled himself up short at that unworthy thought. Both Viv and Will James been through hell, and therefore deserved every consideration. He would have to quell his fascination for Viv for the time being, until they could both heal.

  The rest of Christmas day was taken up with feasting and merry-making, with Vevina sitting on Stewart’s right as the queen of the feast. Afterwards, she was the Major’s dancing partner long into the night, though with so many men, and so few women, Stewart often had to sit by and watch her as she tripped lightheartedly through the figures.

  Even in men’s clothes, she was a breath-taking sight to behold, womanly in every respect, and he knew his resolve to bide his time and suppress his aching desire for her would be the hardest thing he had ever done.

  He only prayed his patience would win him far more than just her lithe body, but her genuine love and respect too. For he had the feeling that no matter how much he desired her as a woman, he longed for the partner of his soul even more.

  Chapter Ten

  Vevina’s Christmas Day had proven a delight, but several days later she encountered Hawkes, and her fears once again became aroused.

  Viv had been helping Doc Gallagher in the surgery, and was just rolling down her sleeves when Hawkes had come in for attendance. Doc Gallagher unwittingly asked her to see to the repulsive Sergeant.

  “So, the Major lets his fancy piece out to play,” the odious man rumbled, as he sat on the makeshift table.

  Vevina looked at him with undisguised contempt. “I hope this arm festers and falls off.”

  “‘igh words for a low-bred whore," he snarled. "You mark my words, I’ll get even with ye, and the rewards will be mighty when I do.”

  His eyes fastened on the locket which was hanging around her neck. “Where did you steal that! It belonged to my mother!”

  The Doctor and several other patients stared at her accusingly.

  “I was given it for Christmas. The only thing your mother ever owned was a gin bottle!”

  Doc Gallagher grabbed the ham-fist as it swung for Vevina, and twisted Hawkes’ arm around his back before shoving him roughly out of the tent.

  “I'm sorry, my dear. I wasn’t thinking," the doctor panted once he had removed the interloper. "He’s the man who did all that to you and Will, didn’t he?”

  Vevina nodded, and wrapped her arms around herself as she began to tremble.

  Doc Gallagher sat her on a bench and brought her a glass of brandy, which he held to her lips.

  Stewart arrived just then, and took in the scene of the Doctor with his arm around Vevina with cold fury.

  “What’s going on?” Stewart barked.

  Vevina cringed at the sound. “H-H-Hawkes,” she stammered.

  Stewart rushed to her other side. He stroked her face tenderly and demanded of the doctor, “He didn’t harm her?”

  “Not physically, Stewart, though he tried. But he made threats against the poor girl and I had to forcibly remove him,” Doc Gallagher said in a low voice.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t work here any more, if he's going to start lurking and causing trouble?” Stewart suggested gently.

  Vevina shook her head and rose from the bench with a determined air. “No, I am not going to cower in fear in your tent any longer. I want to lead a normal life, not constantly be looking over my shoulder waiting for Hawkes to come get me.”

  The Major looked up at the doctor for his opinion.

  “Surely there’s no harm, Stewart. She’d always attended her by me or one of the other doctors. She’s never alone. The girl is right. She should try to behave normally. A bully thrives on fear and terror for his power. Let her show she’s not afraid, that she had friends and protectors, and perhaps in time he will find another victim to persecute,” Doc Gallagher said.

  Stewart hoped his friend was right. In the end, after a bit more pleading on her part, he consented to the scheme. After this incident, Vevina never went anywhere unaccompanied.

  Vevina underestimated the sergeants enmity, however. Fortunately, Stuart's vigilance for her safety was the only thing to save her when Hawkes foolishly overplayed his hand.

  A day or so after the incident in the hospital tent, a series of seemingly random thefts broke out all over the camp. First Will’s mess-mates noticed one or two small items missing. By the end of the week many men were complaining in adjoining tents. Soon the outbreak of missing or damaged items reached Major Fitzgerald’s headquarters as well.

  One day all the cutlery disappeared. Then Ensign Parks’ expensive telescope. Stewart lost his pocket watch, which astounded him since he hardly ever took it off, and Doc Gallagher reported dozens of small items missing from the surgery tent.

  Three weeks had passed since Wilfred’s terrible ordeal and illness, but he was now well enough to perform secretarial duties. He and Stewart would often spend long hours together going over the never-ending pile of orders, dispatches and notices which flooded the camp from headquarters.

  Ensign Parks would also come to help Will and have a companionable chat, and Bob kept them all running on a constant supply of tea and whatever Vevina had cooked.

  Vevina and Martha were inseparable for most of the day, cooking, cleaning, laundering. Martha’s husband or Ben Mitchell attended them, upon strict instructions from Stewart to be discreet, but never let Vevina out of their sight.

  Vevina was actually beginning to believe that Hawkes had forgotten all about her, when disaster struck. She had gone into the woods on a hunting and foraging expedition with Mitchell, and alll seemed well, until suddenly a twig snapped nearby, breaking the silence, and causing her to jump.

  She told herself not to be so fanciful, but the triumphant cackle of Hawkes echoed eerily throughout the forest.

  She turned to head back to the safety of the tents, but it was already too late.

  Hawkes and Corporal Henry came storming out of the trees. The Corporal knocked Mitchell unconscious with a single blow before he even knew what hit him.

  Vevina desperately swung the butt of her unloaded rifle at Hawkes, and ran as fast as her quaking legs could carry her.

  “Help! Help me!” she shrieked desperately, just before Hawkes caught up with her.

  Fortunately, Beckett and Ensign Parks had decided to follow on behind for a stroll in the fresh air and to help bring back the bagged game, and hurried to her rescue as soon as they heard her shriek.

  “What the hell is going on here!” Jack Beckett roared. He would have punched Hawkes if Vevina hadn’t stopped him.

  “No, Jack, that’s what he wants! Hitting a superior officer will get you hung! Leave him, before he gets you in trouble!” she pleaded, as Jack continued to move in Hawkes’ direction, murder in his eyes.

  “I caught ‘er with these,” Hawkes lied, holding out Ensign Parks’ telescope and Stewart’s missing pocket watch.

  “She ‘as a secret stash in the woods. She was trying to ‘ide ‘em. Mitchell saw what she were up to, and she ‘it ‘im over the ‘ead, so she did,” he continued more boldly.

  They all stared at him angrily, wondering what game he was playing now.

  Parks gaped at the telescope for a minute, and then at Vevina, who shook her head slightly, and met Parks’ eyes.

  Parks’ mouth flapped open like fish before he barked, “Corporal, find Major Fitzgerald and bring him here!”

  A sickening smile of triumph lit Hawkes’ ugly face. He grinned at Vevina and said, “Just one of those items is a hanging offence. Wait ‘til the Provosts get hold of ye!”

  “Damn you, Hawkes, I can’t wait for the next battle. I won’t give the Frenchies a chance ta kill ye! I’ll do it meself, with me bare hands, and save a bloody bullet!” Beckett growled.

 
Suddenly Mitchell staggered out of the woods, desperately looking for Vevina.

  “There you are! Jesus, I thought Hawkes and Henry had got ye!” he said with evident relief as he patted her shoulder. He leaned on her dizzily for support. A moment later, his eyes focused on Hawkes standing nearby.

  “You bastard!” Mitchell hissed, lunging for him.

  Ensign Parks shouted, “That’s enough, Private! Unhand him now!”

  “But sir!” Mitchell protested.

  Parks silenced him at once. "Wait until the Major gets here before you say another word. All of you stand at attention now!”

  Vevina felt sick with apprehension as they waited, praying that the Major wouldn’t judge things merely by appearance. If he did, she was a dead woman.

  When Stewart finally marched up, he listened with a face of stone to Hawkes’ tale, and examined the two pieces of stolen property carefully.

  Finally he said, “Ensign, tell me when you last saw this telescope.”

  “Last Tuesday, when there was a wonderful partial eclipse of the moon, at seven in the evening.”

  “When did you notice it missing?”

  “First thing the next morning, sir, when I heard a songbird and looked for the telescope to try to identify the creature.”

  “About seven in the morning on Wednesday, then?”

  “Yes, sir, that’s correct.”

  Stewart looked over at Henry. “Corporal, fetch Bob the serving boy, and Doctor Gallagher here please.”

  Corporal Henry bounded off like a trained retriever, all to eager to see Vevina hang.

  Then Stewart declared, “I last had this watch Tuesday evening, at about nine. When I returned two hours later, it had disappeared.”

  “And your tents are close, and all the things that have been going missing from the men prove I’m telling the truth. She’s the thief, in league with that ‘usband of ‘ers!”

  Stewart’s eyes bored into Hawkes, until the Sergeant backed down and began to whine, “I know she’s a thief. They were always taking things, that’s why we fought down by the river. Don’t be fooled by her again! Give her to the provosts to ‘ang!”

  Vevina saw Stewart move to strike the man, but just then Doc Gallagher strolled up, and said, “Now, what’s all this about thieving?”

  Stewart explained the situation briefly. “Now Doctor, would you care to tell me where Viv was on Tuesday night last?”

  “We had to do some amputations, so we started at five, and didn’t finish until midnight. Then Viv stayed in the tent all night with myself and Mitchell here, tending to the sick men. She never once left my sight the entire evening, and had her breakfast and left at nine in the morning.”

  “Thank you, doctor, for you clear and concise testimony. And Bob, what of Private James’ movements on the night in question, since the Sergeant has accused them of both being thieves?” Stewart asked in a clear ringing voice.

  “You went in to see him at seven, sir. Before that I had been with him doing the household accounts. I’d brought him supper at six, and we worked on until you came in. You went back to your tent for a moment at about nine, and I remember seeing the watch then.

  "You left at eleven. All three of us were together the whole time. Then we played cards, and I stayed up with him until one. He’s teaching me how to read and talk proper in the evenings, like his wife does during the day,” Bob said soberly.

  Vevina couldn’t help but smile. He certainly sounded as though he had given testimony in a court of law before.

  “All lies to protect their useless ‘ides!” Hawkes screamed, enraged.

  Corporal Henry took that moment to slink away, unnoticed by all except Vevina as every pair of eyes focussed on Major Fitzgerald, who had gone dangerously silent.

  “Are you calling me a liar, Sergeant?” he demanded in a toneless voice full of eerie menace.

  Hawkes suddenly realized his mistake, but it was too late.

  Stewart bellowed, “You will be given the lash tomorrow at nine in front of the entire regiment unless you not only withdraw that last remark, but return all the property to me, so that I may return it to the rightful owners.

  “I could hand you over to the Provost for hanging now, but I want you to sweat and suffer for a while,” Stewart growled, walking towards Hawkes until they were chest to chest, though Stewart towered over him.

  “I want you to suffer what you’ve made this young woman suffer. Having to always be on her guard, watching and waiting for the next blow to fall. Now it’s your turn. And the blow will fall, Hawkes, when you least expect it. I want those stolen goods in my tent in one hour or else. Now get out of my sight.”

  Hawkes turned and fled.

  Beckett watched him go and said with a sigh, “You oughtn’t to have done that, sir. He’ll desert now!

  “A coward like that would be too scared to face the French on his own, nor is he any good at surviving without victims to prey upon. Don’t worry, Beckett, he’ll be watched. There's some reason behind all his actions against Will and Viv, though I’m damned if I can see it. But thank you all for protecting Viv, and report anything unusual, however insignificant it might appear.”

  The men dispersed, and Stewart stopped Vevina as she turned to go, brushing her lush auburn hair away from her cheek. “You’re not hurt?” he asked softly.

  “No, just terrified. Why does he hate us so much?” she whispered.

  “People often despise what they can’t have, envy people what they possess, which they can’t attain,” Stewart replied.

  A sudden stab of conscience pricked him sorely. The words applied to himself, as he saw a shadow of the woman in the Gainsborough gown in his mind’s eye, and then thought of Viv’s husband laying back in his tent, oblivious to the danger which threatened him, and the raging desires of the man he looked to as his wife’s protector.

  “Come, madam,” he said, formally offering her his arm. “It grows late, and we have plenty of food for the next few days. You may go hunting again tomorrow.”

  They walked back to their tent in silence.

  Then Vevina went in to see Wilfred and explain all that had happened. She finally confided her fears to him.

  “I think he is being suborned to do it. He doesn’t mean mere harm. He intends to kill us both. We would have both been hung if the Major and the rest of our friends hadn’t been able to give a good account of ourselves and those possessions to the provosts. Is it possible that our tormentor has continued his pursuit of us even here?”

  “Viv, that isn’t possible. He must be safely back in Ireland, sitting in our father’s chair, drinking our wine, cruelly abusing our servants, turning our dependents off the land that their families have farmed for us for generations,” Wilfred said bitterly. “Why should he bother to leave the life of luxury he stole from us for a hell hole like this?”

  She shrugged one shoulder. “Money talks. But I can’t even begin to guess how it could involve Hawkes. He has no Irish connection.”

  He pondered for a moment. “But he can read, unlike many of our comrades," Will pointed out. "Perhaps he saw something in the paper about our escape from prison, a reward offered?”

  She chewed her lower lip, and nodded. “I’ll get Martha to hunt about for information, see if I can find any old newspapers Stewart or some of the officers might have kept around.”

  “It might just be resentment and lust, Viv,” Wilfred sought to reassure his sister. “Don’t let you fancies go out of control.”

  “I’ll try not to, Will, but you know my sixth sense. I feel danger now, more strongly than ever, and I think our enemy Samuel is closer than we think.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Vevina’s worst fears were confirmed the next morning when Stewart received a report that the new commander of the forces besieging the nearby town of Cuidad Roderigo was on his way to their camp to inspect the troops.

  Stewart’s men were ready, for they had seen little action since Christmas, and had used the time
well to make much needed repairs, and clean their weapons and uniforms until they were as spotless as possible under the conditions they had to endure.

  Furthermore, they had managed to dig an impressive set of fortifications, and build ramparts around the camp, so that they were well-placed strategically should the French decide to launch an offensive in the middle of winter in order to take them by surprise.

  With only two roads to Lisbon and the sea, the French would be desperate to push back the English at the earliest opportunity. Stewart’s camp would be the Grand Army’s next target if the British siege were unsuccessful.