The Blue Hat and the Red Rose: A Historical Romance

by Forest,Lynn

  “Uuummphh.”

  “I can’t imagine how happy you are that I’m here right now.”

  She responded by narrowing her eyes at him angrily. “Uuugghhhmm.”

  “I must say, you do look absolutely sweet and adorable like this.”

  “Eeeeuuggghhh!”

  He reached for the bandanna with which she was gagged, but at first just hooked his finger around it and left it in place. “Aren’t you at least grateful that I got here a moment before he may, or may not, have pressed that hot iron against your rump?”

  He tugged the bandanna down so that she could speak. “You untie me, right now. And yes, if you must hear words of appreciation, I am grateful that you got here before I got my backside scorched.”

  A suspicious, slight smile appeared on his face, and he leaned closer to her. “Unfortunately for you, I think that you are being a little premature about that.” He stood slowly, and took a couple of steps backwards so that she could clearly see what he was doing. As she watched with large eyes and her mouth hanging open, he stood in silence and rolled up his right sleeve.

  He sat down in front of her again, then reached for the bandanna and once again placed it in her mouth so that she could not speak. “I have to get you home to your parents. Now, Emily, we are not off to a very good start are we?” He waited for a moment, and then startled her with a gruff and demanding… “Are we?” Her eyes now seemed to be pleading, and she simply shook her head back and forth.

  “And right now, Emily, we are going to establish the chain of command in this little mission of ours. Understand?”

  She did not even grunt in response. She simply continued to glare at him with her smoldering eyes. “Emily… something tells me that it’s been a very long time since somebody tanned your hide.” Her eyes went wide open again, and she resumed her squirming and managed to emit a high-pitched squeal. “But that’s what’s going to happen to you right now.” Now her muffled screaming became constant.

  He stood slowly, and she was still squirming and trying to free herself, but her position of being bent across the standing barrel with her hands still tied to the broken wagon wheel left her to simply squeal her unintelligible protests.

  Suddenly, she heard a loud CRACK and felt a searing, fiery pain across her bare bottom. “Eeeeoooouuugghhh!” Unfortunately, for Emily, the punishment continued.

  Charles resumed sitting in front of her again, her smoldering eyes now filled with tears. “Who is in charge for the rest of this trip, Emily?” He pulled the gag down. She gulped and forced her words through clenched teeth, “You are… Major Morrow… Sir.” She was once again hissing at him as she spoke.

  He stood once again next to her, and continued her chastisement.

  His hand stinging, Charles walked back in front of her, and then knelt in front of her as he unrolled his sleeve. He held her gaze intently, even though tears were flowing down her face. “If you cause me any more difficulties between here and Cincinnati, there’s going to be a whole lot more of that. Do you understand? The next time this is necessary, I’m going to take you across my knees and take my good old time about it. And I can promise you, young lady… I will enjoy doing it.”

  At first her eyes flashed unbridled defiance, but then she broke into sobs and nodded her head up and down emphatically as Charles pulled a knife from his pocket and cut the bandanna from her face. Then he reached for her wrists and cut away the ropes that had begun to cut into her skin.

  The second that her wrists had been released, she reached back and scrambled to get hold of her bloomers and denim riding slacks that had been unceremoniously yanked down to her ankles. Charles then turned away in a gentlemanly manner so that she could stand and pull her clothing back into place, actually beginning to feel sorry for the embarrassment to which she had been subjected, even though her own folly had made the situation possible in the first place.

  He turned back to face her, and he was greeted by the vision of the beautiful young woman still sobbing from pain and embarrassment as she furiously rubbed her backside to alleviate the overwhelming sting caused by his large and calloused open hand. Just as she was about to get her crying under control, she broke out into another round of sobs. “I’m going to… I’m going to… I’ll be right back.” Still rubbing her backside, she walked away into the woods and disappeared behind a large shrub.

  A couple of minutes later, she reappeared, wiping tears on the sleeve of her checked shirt. In a sweep of one motion she reached down to the ground to pick up her wide brimmed hat and pulled it low over her forehead as if to hide her continued crying. Charles pointed a scolding finger at her, “Don’t you dare move. I’m going to go back and get the wagon, and then we will be on our way.”

  It took him several minutes to walk back down the road, untie the horses and ride back down to where Emily stood awaiting him, still rubbing her backside. He got down from the wagon, and then walked to the nearby tree to which the inept soldiers had tied his horse, the same one upon which Emily had ridden away without him. He walked up to her and handed her the reins, and she walked toward the back of the wagon to tie the horse to follow behind.

  Charles watched for a moment, and then shouted to her, “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Emily stood for a moment, confused by his intent until he called out to her once more, “You’re not riding on this nice padded seat. Since you seemed so intent on taking my horse for a ride, you just mount up before I decide to make you a little more saddle sore.”

  Once again, he was treated to her glaring expression, and then watched in satisfaction as she climbed on top of the horse and winced when her bottom pressed down upon the saddle. Without being told to, she led the horse around to the side of the wagon, and they began their slow journey toward the Ohio River.

  Neither said anything for a while, and Emily was aware of the fact that Charles was attempting to stay vigilant for any threats, a task made more difficult by the short night of sleep. From time to time, Charles would hear her sucking in her breath or whisper an “ouch” when a sway of the horse would bring another ripple of residual stinging to the red and warm area in contact with the saddle.

  Enough time had passed in silence that Emily was free of any residual sobs. And when she finally spoke, it was in a soft tone of voice that Charles had not before heard from her lips, “I’m certain that my father will see to it that you end up in a military prison for what you did back there. You had no right to do that.”

  “But I had orders, and I think that your aunt and uncle called on some very powerful friends to arrange for an Army officer to take you home. When the General gives me an order, I can’t just turn around and go back and tell him that we all decided it was okay to let you go on alone. And whether you want to recognize how dangerous this little trip is, I will use any means necessary to get you home safely.”

  He shook the reins and the horses began their slow but steady walk once again, and this time Emily kept close enough to the wagon that they could talk without his thinking that they were being dangerously loud. “I am concerned about the fact that Aunt Catherine and Uncle William don’t know that you found me. I want to let them know as soon as we can.”

  Charles nodded. “We will do that, as soon as we get close to a telegraph station. But speaking of your Aunt Catherine, you seemed to immediately calm down when she made reference to something or somebody called Red Rose. What did that mean?” Emily’s face turned dark pink, to the surprise of Charles. “After what you just experienced, how could the mention of this mysterious Red Rose make you blush so?”

  In spite of what she had just experienced, and in spite of the fiery sting still making a horseback ride painful, Charles was intrigued to see a discrete smile on her face, followed by a quick recovery of her scowl. She looked over at him and shook her head. “It’s none of your business, but I know that you’re going to badger me until I answer you. Red Rose is a hairbrush. My mother has this beautiful oak hairbrush with this
gorgeous painting of a red rose on the back. But it’s not one of those little oval hairbrushes, oh, no. Red Rose is large and rectangular. And when it lands on your bare bottom, often enough and hard enough according to what my mother decides is necessary, said bottom ends up the same color as the rose painted on it. You have my word on that. I have seen it with my own eyes… looking over my shoulder in a mirror, of course. Of course, that has not happened in recent history.”

  Charles smiled. “So this Red Rose is no longer a threat?”

  A faint smile betrayed Emily as she responded, “Actually, my mother keeps warning me that as long as I’m under their roof, use of that hairbrush is always a possibility.”

  They continued on for a moment in silence, before Charles responded, “Perhaps it should still be used with some frequency.” He glanced over at Emily with a bit of a grin on his face.

  She scowled at him once more. “You are entitled to your opinion, I suppose. But Major, before you get too cocky and proud of yourself, I want you to understand that my mother’s hairbrush hurts more than your hand.”

  He looked over at her with a sly grin once again. “I may take that to be a challenge, Miss Emily.”

  She looked at him and peered through narrowed, smoldering eyes. “I assure you, Major, I was merely speaking factually. No challenge, and certainly no invitation, was intended by that observation.”

  “Please, call me Charles. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together. And as long as you do what you’re told, I will have no reason to try to exceed the results of your mother’s hairbrush.”

  There was another brief silence before she spoke again. “Was he going to really brand me?”

  Charles sighed deeply. “Probably.”

  Her head turned sideways immediately. “You really think so?”

  “This is war. And everybody is skittish in a territory like this where Union and Confederate land seems to flow back and forth day-to-day. Things are getting sloppy when undisciplined soldiers like that are turned loose in the countryside. And while this is no justification for their actions, your circumstances made them understandably suspicious of you.

  “Sometimes the distinction between civilian and soldier gets blurred when there are divided loyalties like you see around here. Add green recruits into the mixture and it gets even more unpredictable. But people have a hard time trusting one another right now. I guess the same can go for women like you as well as men.”

  Several more moments of silence passed before Emily spoke in a near whisper, “Thank you.”

  Charles looked at her with curiosity. “For what?”

  “I never get called a woman. I usually get referred to as a girl, or a little lady.”

  Charles rubbed his chin as he continued up the road. “I must confess to having referred to you as ‘young lady’ a couple of times back there.”

  She looked at him and nodded smugly. “I noticed that, and I drew the conclusion that if you ever referred to me like that again, you’re intending to tan me again.”

  “Actually, I barely put a blush in your cheeks. If there is a next time… I just think that you need to see to it that there is not a next time.”

  He heard her moan from anger, “I am just so thrilled that you seem to be so taken with my backside.” She looked at him and glared. “Maybe I should be flattered.” She looked over and saw that the face of the soldier was as red as his uniform was blue.

  He cleared his throat loudly. “I’m not meaning to be forward or inappropriate. Any references that I have made regarding that part of you, I have made only in reference to how you will be disciplined for any further failure of good behavior.”

  “Uhhumm, I see. For a moment there, I thought that maybe you were finding me attractive.”

  “I mean, you are… I mean…” He shook his head and laughed. “I’m certain that you often look in the mirror, so you already know that you are a very pretty woman.” He glanced over at her and smiled again. “Even when you are fully dressed.”

  Emily smiled against her own wishes, but was careful to look away when she did so. She did not want to give the soldier any indication as to how much she wanted to hear him make more comments about her loveliness. She decided to not get in any further over her head, so she changed the subject. “So, Major… Charles, I mean, how did you end up in the Army? You just like guns and violence that much?”

  He shrugged as he continued to scan their surroundings, as they were now crossing through some farmland where there were open tobacco fields on both sides of the road. “I suppose that I wanted some sense of adventure, so I joined when I was twenty-one. I guess I would have signed up even if I knew there was a war coming.”

  She cocked her head and glanced at him. “What is it about you men that you think that you have to fight out all of your disagreements? I don’t understand why all of this couldn’t have been just talked out instead of resorting to all of this bloodshed. I don’t understand why you men like to go to war.”

  Charles brought the wagon to a halt, and patted the seat next to him. “I guess it’s time for you to tie that horse to the back of the wagon and sit next to me.”

  Emily gave a sigh of relief, then dismounted the horse and led it to the back of the wagon and secured the reins. She then stepped onto the side of the wagon, reluctantly took Charles’ extended hand and sat down next to him. He watched with interest as she seemed to sit down without showing any outward signs of discomfort. “Your backside feeling better now?”

  She folded her arms, turned and glared icily at him. “Much better, now, thank you very much. It doesn’t hurt very much now at all.”

  Charles clicked his tongue and the horses began to slowly pull the wagon again. “That’s too bad. I wish I would’ve had that Red Rose family heirloom back when you were bent over that barrel.”

  Emily cleared her throat loudly and dramatically, “Never mind any more talk of that. You never answered my question. Why do men seem to enjoy going to war?”

  Charles’ expression grew dark, and he looked straight ahead as he continued to take Emily closer to her home. “I suppose that there are some men who enjoy war. I guess I would have to confess that I’ve known a few. But most men are like me… I’m terrified every time I go into battle. I’m always looking around to see if there is some rifleman taking aim at me from behind a rock or from up in a tree.

  “I spend most of my time with my stomach churning, sometimes so scared I feel like I can’t breathe. There’s nothing glorious about war.”

  Whether she realized it or not, Emily had placed her hand on his knee as she began to speak. “But still, you willingly joined the Army. And you had to know in advance what soldiers and armies do. So, if you feel that way about war, why join the Army in the first place?”

  Charles was silent for a moment as he continued on and he was once again glancing around them. “Because, sometimes only an army can change things to make them better in the long term. President Lincoln could have let the Confederacy go on its own way, but it wouldn’t have been good for the nation, and now look how many slaves have been freed.

  “Sometimes, to do the right thing a person has to go through some hellish experiences. I still remember the first time I killed a man. I shot him with my revolver, but he was about twenty feet away from me and aiming his rifle at me. I fired first, and I still see his face at the moment that bullet hit his chest. He looked like he was my age. Years before we could have been boys playing together and skipping rocks across the stream.”

  “But Charles, if everyone would just decide to refuse to go to war… I mean, maybe one man doesn’t make much of a difference, but if one, then another and another. I think you know what I mean.”

  He closed his eyes and shook his head for a moment. “Every time I hear a shot fired, every time I see a cannonball explode, and every time I smell blood and death I wish that that could happen. I’ve seen about every possible way a man’s body can be destroyed and his life brought to an end.”
He looked at her with eyes that were almost pleading for an answer. “For two years, every night when I do sleep, I either have nightmares about what I saw that day or, nightmares about what I’m afraid I’m going to see the next day.”

  She stared at him and saw that his face had turned ashen before he spoke again. “I wish it was some other way. But I’m afraid that people like me have to deal with what is, not what we wish was, the way of the world.”

  They rode on in silence for a moment before she spoke again, “I still think that you’re wrong. I still think that it’s up to each individual to disavow guns and war.”

  He looked over at her and actually smiled, “I hope that this does not sound condescending, Emily. I mean this in all sincerity. I hope that there will always be people who feel the way that you do. Maybe someday, some of them will end up at the top of the chain of command.”

  It was around noon that they started meeting other travelers on the dusty road. Most of those they met were men traveling alone, with an infrequent man and woman passing by on a dusty wagon or carriage. They did not encounter any families, and to Charles that reinforced his concern that the locals felt that travel in the area was too unsafe and uncertain to involve their children.

  The war weary Major noticed that every man that they met could be seen discreetly placing his hand where there was obviously a gun at the ready. Of course, that included him, for he never knew if a fellow traveler would be relieved to see the blue uniform of the Union, or be angered and resentful at a man considered to be an occupier and invader. All through the late morning and the middle of the afternoon, the same intense and frightful scenario would play out.

  They stopped only to rest and water the horses and to go their own ways into the woods, before taking one last stretch and then climbing back onto the wagon. Before starting to move, Charles looked around warily. “I think we may have another day and a half to get to the Ohio crossing at the Covington settlement.”