“Come on, Teddi,” Jonathan called, breaking into her thoughts. “Fill us in on this theater and the play that will be presented. I’m sure you have a starring role.”
Teddi stood in the doorway to the parlor, glanced around the room, and then shrunk back. The only remaining seats were her mother’s rocker, which Teddi wouldn’t dare occupy, and the sofa, where Phillip was already seated.
“Come have a seat,” Phillip urged, nodding toward the empty space beside him.
“Better yet, why don’t we go see the theatrical hall?” Teddi suggested. “They just finished hanging the new drop curtain last night after we completed practice. I haven’t even had an opportunity to see it.”
The four men glanced at each other, obviously content to stay and enjoy their full stomachs and the warmth exuding from the glowing fireplace.
“Why don’t you young people go? I’ll stay here and keep Isabelle company,” Clayton suggested as he wriggled down into his chair a little farther.
“Come on. Don’t be so lazy, you two,” Teddi urged as she poked her finger first in one brother’s chest and then the other’s.
“I don’t suppose she’ll give us a moment’s peace unless we accompany her,” George said, eyeing Jonathan and Phillip.
“Guess we might as well give in,” Jonathan agreed while rising from his chair. “Come on, Phillip. I’m not going to let you stay here and keep warm while we go traipsing about the post.”
“He doesn’t have to come,” Teddi responded just as Phillip stood up.
The room fell silent, and nobody moved for a moment.
“Unless he truly wants to,” Teddi quickly added.
It was a halfhearted attempt to restore a bit of decorum to the uncomfortable situation she’d created, but it was the best she could muster at the moment. Phillip wasn’t really welcome, at least not where she was concerned. These were her brothers, and she didn’t want to share them, especially with someone as disquieting as Phillip Hamilton.
“Of course he wants to. And I want him to,” Jonathan responded, giving his sister a surprised look.
The group was unusually quiet as the foursome made their way to the building, but the silence was soon broken when Phillip announced their arrival. “There it is,” he said, pointing toward the long frame building.
“Well, I must admit, I’m surprised. The building must be at least 120 feet long,” George commented.
“One hundred and thirty-five,” Phillip answered.
“And sixty-eight feet wide,” Teddi added. “Wait until you see the stage. It’s huge. And the auditorium will seat eight hundred people,” she exclaimed as they entered the building.
“And would you look at that curtain,” Jonathan remarked, walking toward the stage.
“It’s beautiful,” Teddi replied as she gazed at the skillful touch the artist had rendered upon the curtain. “Even the folds of the drapery can’t be seen.”
“Looks like the Bay of Naples with Mt. Vesuvius in the distance,” George replied.
“Who’s the artist?” Jonathan inquired.
“One of the soldiers,” Phillip answered.
“I’d say he’s missed his true calling. And speaking of callings, Phillip, how is your ministry going? Are you able to spend time gathering a flock, or are you too busy taking care of their medical maladies?”
“I haven’t been able to spend as much time as I’d like, but it’s working out. The previous post chaplain, Colonel Lane, retired only a few weeks ago, giving me adequate time in which to acquaint myself with the medical part of my position before beginning my work with the spiritual side. I’m hoping to implement a few new ideas, but mostly I’ll follow Colonel Lane’s lead.”
“What new ideas?” Teddi questioned. “You think there are things you can add that would make the chapel better than when Colonel Lane was in charge?”
Phillip hesitated for a moment. “No, not better,” he cautiously answered. “Just add a little more variety. Change is good for the soul, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely,” Jonathan enthusiastically responded, while slapping his friend on the back.
“I see no need for change when things are going as well as they are,” Teddi countered.
“I’m not really changing much, Teddi. I thought it might be nice to have a candlelight Christmas Eve service. Colonel Lane said he had never done that. I also thought it might be nice to have a Sunday school class for married couples to attend together instead of going to a men’s or women’s class. These are merely ideas; nothing’s been decided. Colonel Lane suggested I change things a bit, breathe fresh life into the body of believers. You know, stir things up a little,” Phillip added.
Teddi remained silent. How could she argue if Colonel Lane had given Phillip the go-ahead to promote change? To make matters more difficult, his ideas sounded quite innovative and exciting, but that didn’t mean she had to like them. Since he had assumed his new duties, there’d been nothing but change going on in her life. In particular, Captain Hamilton had managed to stir up emotions and feelings that Teddi wasn’t ready to deal with.
six
As he sat in one of the leather-upholstered chairs in Phillip’s office the next morning, Jonathan was puzzled about why Phillip had insisted they meet so early in the day. After all, he was on leave and enjoyed sleeping a little later than usual, and he was certain his mother had invited Phillip to dinner that evening. Consequently, there seemed to be no logical reason for this meeting. Jonathan couldn’t think of anything Phillip might want to discuss that couldn’t have been better said as they relaxed with coffee in the parlor after a satisfying evening meal. But Phillip had been insistent, and Jonathan had relented.
Now, after waiting for fifteen minutes, he was becoming irritable and even more certain that this meeting could have waited until a civil time of day. Jumping up from his chair, he paced the length of the room several times and then wandered to a bookshelf that lined the west wall of the room. Running his fingers across the leather-bound volumes, he finally pulled one of the books from the shelf, flipped back the cover, glanced through several pages, and shoved it back onto the shelf with a grunt of disgust.
“Looks like Greek to me,” he mumbled, looking at another one of the volumes.
“Actually, it’s Hebrew,” Phillip replied, striding into the office. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Had an unexpected patient show up.”
“You should have left the patient to Teddi. She loves taking care of emergencies,” Jonathan said with a chuckle.
“I give Teddi only those duties she’s been accustomed to handling or the ones she volunteers to complete. Besides, it’s a bit early, and she hasn’t yet arrived at the hospital. In fact, that’s why I asked you to come here for our talk. I wanted it to be private—just the two of us. We could have met at my quarters, but it would have appeared rude for me to invite you and not include George.”
“Believe me, George wouldn’t have even considered getting out at this time of day when he’s on holiday. What’s so private that you can’t mention it in front of anyone else?” Jonathan asked, his interest obviously piqued.
“Teddi,” Phillip simply stated.
“Teddi? What about her?”
“I’ve done something that has angered her. Unfortunately, I can’t get her to tell me what it is, so I don’t know how to make amends.”
“You’ve been here only a couple of months, Phillip. How could you possibly have managed to mess things up so badly in that short a time?” Jonathan joked.
“No, it’s not since I’ve been here. Something in the past, before I ever arrived,” Phillip replied.
“How can that be?”
“I’m hoping you can tell me,” Phillip answered.
For the next hour, Phillip related the events that had transpired since his arrival: Teddi’s obvious disapproval of him because of something he’d supposedly done to hurt her in the past; her anger that Isabelle had mentioned Teddi’s broken engagement; and her obviou
s distrust of men, particularly him.
“I even went so far as to ask your mother what I’d done. But she wasn’t of any assistance. Can you give me any help with this, Jonathan? I’m at a complete loss.”
“You haven’t seen Teddi since you moved from Fort McHenry, have you?” Jonathan quizzed.
“No, that’s not possible.”
Jonathan eyed his friend. “Do you have feelings for Teddi?”
“I have the highest regard for her. She’s an excellent nurse, has a quick wit, and is intelligent, capable, compassionate, and devout in her religious beliefs. . . ,” Phillip hedged.
“But she doesn’t possess the beauty necessary to make you a good wife,” Jonathan interrupted.
“That’s unfair, Jonathan. I recall that you always look for the most attractive young lady with a comely figure when you’re seeking out prospective love interests,” Phillip countered.
“I suppose that is true enough. It’s just that, to me, Teddi is beautiful. She’s the most engaging woman I know. She can discuss almost any subject with as much authority and intelligence as a man, while at the same time, she finds pleasure in decorating a home or teaching small children. And how could I think her anything but handsome? People say we look like twins,” Jonathan added.
Phillip shifted in his chair. He knew that Jonathan’s statements were true. A person’s outer appearance was not a true measure of who that person was. And he genuinely liked Teddi’s company, working side by side with her in the hospital, especially on those occasions when she let down her guard and didn’t measure every word that she said. But his feelings for her stopped short of romance.
“For now, I want to be Teddi’s friend, but there is something that’s preventing her from trusting me. I need to find out what that is, and I’m hoping you can help,” Phillip finally replied.
“Let’s think back to when you left Fort McHenry,” Jonathan suggested, falling silent for a moment. “Teddi was infatuated with you—remember? In fact, she gave you that silver sleigh bell that my father had special-ordered for her charm bracelet. Oh, boy, did she ever get into trouble for that,” Jonathan recalled, putting his hand alongside his face and letting out a howl. “Father was furious. Teddi was in trouble the rest of the summer.”
“She can’t still be angry about that,” Phillip protested. “I told her that I didn’t want to take her sleigh bell, but she insisted. Besides, I gave it to you to return to her. You did return it to her, didn’t you?” Phillip persisted.
Jonathan’s face turned ashen. He looked as though he were going to be sick.
“Are you all right?” Phillip asked, moving toward his friend.
Jonathan nodded his head. “I think so, but you may never speak to me again.”
“Why?”
“I completely forgot about the sleigh bell. I never gave it back to Teddi. After you gave it to me, I put it in a small wooden box in the bottom of my bureau drawer for safekeeping until I returned home from college. I’ve never taken it out of the bureau,” Jonathan admitted.
Phillip folded his hands and sat on the edge of the desk across from his friend. “I see. I suppose she has a right to be angry with me,” Phillip murmured.
“Perhaps. But I think this has more to do with her broken engagement than the return of that charm,” Jonathan argued.
“Perhaps it’s a combination of things. She felt betrayed by me when she was young because I never answered her letters and didn’t return her valuable gift. Then, only weeks before I reenter her life, she’s betrayed by her fiancО. My presence serves only to reaffirm those feelings of betrayal. The problem is now compounded by the fact that if you return the sleigh bell, she’ll never believe I gave it back to you years ago. I’m certain that she’ll think I’ve put you up to it,” Phillip finished with a sigh.
“If I try to talk to her about what’s going on in her life, ask her why she’s behaving so rudely toward you, it will present an opening. If she mentions the sleigh bell, I can tell her I have it and explain that you asked me to return it long ago. The truth is, I have wondered why she is so inhospitable to you. I thought perhaps she was romantically interested in you but you had rebuffed her,” Jonathan remarked discreetly.
“She’s given no indication that she has any interest in me. In fact, I think she wishes I’d never arrived at Fort Riley. Attempting to figure out why has just about driven me mad,” Phillip emphatically replied.
Jonathan laughed. “My sister has a knack for driving even the soundest mind into turmoil, it seems.”
“I’ve not given into it quite yet,” Phillip replied. “But if I don’t figure out how to win her trust and become her friend in the foreseeable future, you may have to commit me to the nearest asylum,” he said, joining Jonathan’s laughter.
“I’ll talk to her and see if I can somehow help untangle this mess that I’m afraid I’ve helped to create,” Jonathan promised as the two of them left the chapel. “You are coming over for dinner tonight?”
“Yes, but we have dress rehearsal this evening. Why don’t you come along? I’m merely an understudy. We can sit in the audience and watch the performance,” Phillip suggested.
“I’ll see what mother has planned. I’ve promised to haul boxes of Christmas decorations from the storage room. She wants to go through the old ornaments and discard the ragged things. Of course, she’ll end up keeping it all. She can’t ever bring herself to throw away those ugly little decorations we’ve all made for her throughout the years.”
Phillip nodded and laughed. “I know. My mother is the same way.”
❧
Teddi sat in the meager dressing room while rehearsing her lines one last time. Above all else, she needed to remain calm. The last thing she wanted to do was go on stage and deliver her lines in a warbling voice. There was still an hour before the curtain would go up, but she could already hear the excited voices of theater patrons as they arrived. Last night’s dress rehearsal had gone smoothly. Corporal Wigand had forgotten his line in one place, but she’d been able to prompt him without anyone noticing. Even the director hadn’t caught on, and the play had continued without further mishap. She hoped things would go as well this evening.
The orchestra was beginning to warm up, and the tentative sounds of violins strumming and horns tooting in preparation for the overture sifted through the door. Teddi relaxed, knowing that soon the conglomeration of sounds would blend together in beautiful harmony.
“Change in cast, Miss Yorke,” Private Mosier announced after lightly tapping on her door.
“Who? Why?” Teddi asked, yanking open the door and meeting the young private eye to eye.
“Corporal Wigand is ill. Terrible case of laryngitis—nothing but croaking noises,” the private explained while pointing to his own throat. “Captain Hamilton, his understudy, will play the part.”
“Phillip Hamilton is going to play the lead opposite me?” Teddi asked, her mouth gaping open in surprise.
“He’s the only understudy we have for that part,” the private replied with a quizzical expression.
“Of course. Captain Hamilton will be playing the part. Thank you, private,” Teddi replied as she closed the door, made her way back across the room, and fell into the straight-backed wooden chair. Phillip is playing the lead. We haven’t even practiced together. How could this happen? she wondered. The director had been so certain there would be no need for understudies, he’d never even bothered to check and see if any of them knew their lines.
Quickly she made her way down the hall and stopped in front of Corporal Wigand’s dressing room. She hesitated only a moment and then lightly tapped on the door. “Phillip, it’s Teddi. Are you in there?”
“Yes,” he replied from the other side. “I’ve not finished dressing, so I don’t think I’d better open the door.”
“Of course not! I just wanted to ask if you’ve memorized your part. Since the understudies have never practiced, I just wanted to assure myself. . .”
&nbs
p; “I’ll do my best to keep from embarrassing you,” he interrupted.
“It’s not me that I’m worried about,” she began.
“Oh, really? You were worried about me?” he asked, pulling open the door and meeting her gaze.
“Well, yes,” she stammered. “You and the others in the play. We’ve worked so hard, and. . .”
“I know that you’ve worked hard, Teddi. But this is only a few hours of entertainment, a means of amusing those in attendance. If we forget a word or two and give them cause for laughter, that’s all right, too, don’t you think?”
“No, at least not for me. We’ve all worked too hard to be laughed at. This isn’t a comedy. Furthermore, it will be yet another embarrassment for me to endure. Now, do you know the lines or don’t you?” Teddi insisted.
“Yes, Teddi, I know the lines,” Phillip replied and promptly closed the door, leaving her staring at the wobbling cardboard placard that had been stenciled with Gardner Wigand’s name.
Turning on her heel, she marched down the hall, entered her dressing room, and slammed the door. Minutes later, a light tapping sounded at the door.
“Five minutes until curtain,” Private Mosier called out before proceeding down the hallway.
Teddi’s palms moistened and her heart began to pound in her chest. She gave herself one final glance in the mirror and opened the door. Phillip was moving toward the opposite side of the stage for his entry. She gave him a faint smile, but if he returned the greeting, it was hidden in the shadows of the darkened stage. She shouldn’t have been so brusque. After all, he was probably a bundle of nerves, trying to remember his lines as well as stage directions and costume changes. An apology was in order and she’d see to it—unless he caused her no end of embarrassment during the performance!
Sleigh Bells Page 5