Laura saw Ben again on the eighth. As an explanation for being on the road during winter if she was stopped, she was carrying a cloth sack of dried fruit, several jars of preserves, and ham biscuits to deliver to soldiers afterward to show her gratitude for their protection of Richmond and their loyalty to the Cause. She turned her back to Ben to retrieve notes concealed at the waist of her pantaloons.
Ben divulged that Grant was vexed with Thomas, Schofield’s partner of a sort. “Grant ordered him to attack Hood with haste before Hood got more reinforcements, but Thomas claims the weather’s too bad to go chargin’ the Rebs. Grant wired Stanton yesterday he wants Thomas replaced if he don’t obey orders today. He might even hightail it over there himself and get things goin’. If he does, I’ll try to go with him and see your family. If I do, I’ll leave word for you in the tree hole so you’ll know I’m gone.”
After Laura gave him a verbal message for her father and brothers, Ben told her Forrest had struck at the town of Murfreesboro, but there hadn’t been a winner of that battle. “What’s in this message you brought me today?” he asked.
Laura wondered why he didn’t just read it since he could decipher codes with speed and without using a key, but she explained, “It’s news about a plot to steal arms in the North and deliver them to Wilmington for dispersal where most needed. Since the Confederacy lost most of the Georgia arsenals and arms-makers, that need is enormous, Ben, because Georgia was a major supplier.” Laura took a breath before continuing her report.
“They’ve lost the railroad connections from Atlanta to Augusta and Savannah and the one between Augusta and Savannah. The lines connecting Savannah to Charleston, Columbia, and Wilmington are still in operation. Back to the plot I mentioned: their targets are Jenks & Son in Bridesburg, Pennsylvania; William Mason in Taunton, Massachusetts; and Providence Tool Company in Providence, Rhode Island. Those are the three largest contractors for Union arms. They’re going after the ’61 and ’63 models of the Rifle Musket, They said, with that weapon, a soldier can fire two to three shots per minute, and it’s effective up to a distance of a thousand yards. They’d rather have breechloaders with ten shots per minute, or Spencers with twenty shots per minute, or Henrys with thirty shots per minute; but those contractors are too difficult and dangerous to reach, unless they change their minds. Besides, the Rifle Musket is produced in greater quantities, and the ammunition for it is easier to make or obtain. They plan to walk into those companies dressed as Union soldiers, turn over forged requisitions, and sail away on a captured ship with Union flags and markings. Someone has already scouted those locations; and the papers, uniforms, and ship are standing by to put the ruse into motion next week.”
Ben asked curiously, “How did you make such an important discovery?”
“The men finalizing the scheme met at my hotel this week, in a room I can spy on from another, and the leader left his pouch in his room while he was…occupied elsewhere with a lady friend. Lily was my lookout when I sneaked inside and copied the facts. It was risky, but it worked.”
“You’re amazin’, Miss Laura. Grant’s gonna love you forever.”
As they chatted, it seemed to her as if the South knew more about Sherman’s present actions and location than the North did, since he severed communications with them before his nefarious march began. Laura was the one who told Ben about the Union’s capture of the Augusta/Savannah Railroad line. She also knew the second session of the U.S. Congress was in progress, as a Rebel agent was gathering and reporting on its discussions about possible peace negotiations, current and postwar reconstruction policies in the already conquered states and those yet to be captured, and their plans for preparing blacks for life and work as free men.
Ben proved her assumption about Sherman was inaccurate when he told her about the capture of Andersonville Prison in Georgia and the Union’s decision to try Commandant Wirz as a war criminal. Though she was happy the captives were free, Ben’s words and behavior stunned and depressed her, caused those old doubts to resurface…
“They oughta hang him and ever’ guard at that blasted camp! They found almost thirteen thousand graves of our men; over a fourth of our boys taken there have died from hunger, exposure, and all kinds of diseases.”
“Are you forgetting about places like Elmira, New York, that are as bad as Andersonville was; it’s so crowded, some prisoners have to sleep outside even in winter; those men also lack adequate clothing, food, and blankets. One-fourth of them have died; it averages ten deaths a day. There’s also Johnson’s Island Prison on Lake Erie and Camp Douglas in Chicago with the same types of hardships.”
“It ain’t the same, Miss Laura; these boys were Americans, patriots.”
“You’re a Southerner, Ben, how can you feel this way?”
“I’m not a Southerner, Miss Laura, I’m from Ohio. I guess I’ve lived in North Carolina for so long I talk and sound like y’all.”
Laura stared at him as she murmured, “You’re a Yankee?”
Ben chuckled as he witnessed her reaction to his disclosure. “Yep, born and bred in Ohio, a true Yank through and through.”
“I see,” she murmured, and forced a smile. “You’re right, you surely sound and talk and act like a Southerner; I hope that isn’t an insult.”
“Not at all, Miss Laura, and I’m speakin’ the truth. You really gave me a lot of important news today, and I’m mighty grateful and real proud of you.”
“Thanks, Ben, and thank you for getting me in touch with Father. I should hurry; it’s getting late and I have to make my cover delivery. I’ll see you next week, or look for a message in the tree if you aren’t here.”
Laura was relieved that it was relatively quiet on the Petersburg front, though there was a little activity northeast of that city, and also relieved that freezing rain at Nashville was still delaying a battle there. The forces fighting to protect Savannah with its seaport had flooded rice fields and entrenched themselves to delay the enemy’s advance.
She read about more trouble between the Federals and Indians in central Arizona, which made her think about her uncle there. Obviously Lincoln was worried, too, as he had appointed special commissioners to investigate civil and military affairs on and west of the Mississippi River.
She was continuing to volunteer in local hospitals, where medical supplies were so low that surgeons were using boiled horsehair for suture thread and needles donated from ladies’ sewing boxes to stitch up the wounded. She had felt so sorry for the injured men that she had gone into her hidden stores and given them as much food as she possibly could without dwindling her supplies too low to run her hotel or for her to raise suspicion of being a selfish hoarder.
On December ninth, Jayce arrived for his seventh visit since their first meeting five months ago. Considering a fierce war was in progress and few men had seen their families in years, she was lucky, blessed, to spend any time with her beloved. As with their last visit, they shared a romantic dinner in her dining room with candles and a cozy fire.
Since she had just finished her menses, Laura didn’t think it was necessary to use preventive measures tonight.
As they lay in bed, Jayce covered her face and mouth with kisses and embraced her with relief and joy. “It seems like forever since I’ve seen you, my love. You should have been beside me on these cold and lonely nights.”
Laura clasped his handsome face between her hands and fused their gazes. “There’s no place I’d rather be, if it were possible. Sometimes I fear our future together will never come, that I’ll lose you to cruel fate. I need to feel you next to me. I need to hear your heart beating with life. Every time I work in the hospitals I realize death can come without warning.”
“I feel the same way, Laura; I needed to see, touch, and taste you before I saw another sunrise.” As he ravished her earlobe, he murmured, “I love you more than I can say with words or show you with actions, more than you can imagine, more than my own life.”
“The same is tr
ue for how I feel about you, Jayce; I love you with all my heart and soul and being. I could never get over your loss, so please be careful.”
“I stay alert, my love, and ease my loneliness with visions of you.”
“You mustn’t do that. Think only of staying alive when you’re in danger so you can return to me.”
“I promise, my love, I will survive this war and marry you.”
In their apprehensive states and with separations looming before them, they were urged to bond on every level: emotional, carnal, and spiritual. They knew this could be their last time to make love and it tormented them.
Laura’s fingertips brushed over his shoulders, chest, and arms with leisure. His physique was splendid and virile, and she opened her mind and pores to absorb pure and raw and magical sensations, the kinds only Jayce could evoke from her. A heady sense of power washed over her as she caressed his eager manhood. Her body tingled and pulsed with delight and suspense. Think only of tonight, Laura, and your beloved.
Jayce let his hands, lips, and tongue explore at will. Her blond hair was spread on the pillow like an angelic halo, and his fingers stroked those lustrous locks of golden splendor. He savored the soft and warm texture of her bare skin, creamy throat, and taut breasts. His breathing became erratic as his desire mounted. He enjoyed kindling their passions and fanning their flames into a roaring blaze that seared magnificently over their bodies. His mischievous and playful tongue toyed with her protruding nipples. His other hand roved between her parted thighs. His ensuing actions excited them to a lofty height before his manhood was sent home and welcomed.
Laura coaxed him with words and responses to continue his potent, swift, deep thrusts. She wanted them to possess each other completely.
Jayce’s stiff shaft and its hairy base rubbed against the core of her desire. He lifted his head and gazed into her green eyes, before leaning forward to seal their mouths once more. She was the one he wanted for his wife, to be the mother of his children, to share his future. Yes, his joyful heart sang, they were perfectly matched.
Laura let Jayce guide her along the sensuous paths of their adventure. She knew this man was the one she had waited and longed for. He was her destiny. He was the owner of her heart, and he would keep his promises to her.
They labored as one until they achieved the ultimate culmination. They nestled together for a while to savor the golden aftermath of the glorious experience; and both prayed their next union would come soon.
It came sooner than they expected as they snuggled in Laura’s bed as they laughed, talked, and relaxed, focused only on each other.
As he nibbled at her earlobe, Jayce murmured, “Your hotel is staying busy, but if you don’t earn enough to support yourself and keep it going, let me know, my love, and I’ll give you the money you need.”
Laura kissed his cleft chin and stroked his ebony hair. “I’m doing fine,Jayce, so don’t worry about me. The only thing I need is you.”
He drifted his fingertips over her bare skin. One teased down her neck, up her breast, and circled the taut nipple. “And this?” he hinted in a husky tone. “And this?” he added before kissing her.
After their lips parted, Laura smiled and said, “Yes, yes, my beloved, I need you and everything about you to make me happy and fulfilled.”
“You have me and my full attention, so you must be ecstatic.”
Laura laughed and responded, “Blissfully so, for now, but soon…”
As he grinned, she slipped her fingers around his manhood, moved her hand up and down its length, slowly and gently at first, then faster and firmer as she enticed it to a full erection. Her questing lips kissed a path across his face and neck, then returned to his mouth.
Jayce’s body became white-hot as she stimulated it, and he moaned and writhed as she pleasured him with her hands and lips. When he teetered on the brink of release, he restrained himself, rolled her to her back, and thrust into her welcoming heat. He took her to the pinnacle of ecstasy many times with his roving hands, lips, and tongue before she cascaded over its beckoning edge and he quickly followed her.
As they lay in the second aftermath of shared harmony, he said, “I can hardly wait until this war is over; then you’ll be mine forever.”
Laura’s fingers swept aside a strayed lock of black hair, damp from his exertions and the room’s heat from a fire glowing nearby. She looked into his blue eyes and reveled in the tenderness evidenced there. “I’m already yours by my choice and your complete possession. You staked your claim and stole my heart. I could never replace you if I lost you.”
“You won’t ever lose me, my love, never. I promised, remember?”
“I shall never forget, and you shall never lose me, either.”
Their mouths meshed as they sealed their vows in rapturous ignorance of the perils and tests which loomed before them…
Jayce departed that next morning, after eating breakfast this time. As Laura watched from the parlor window as he rode away, an inexplicable sensation came over her. It was like a forewarning of something bad about to happen, an obscured threat without a name or face she could recognize and battle. She tried all day to shake the eerie feeling, but never succeeded in doing so, causing her to worry over what it meant.
When a wounded Major Richard Stevens arrived at the hotel two days later, Laura assumed that was the reason behind her premonition. She helped Lily get the injured Richard to her room upstairs and into bed. She listened as the exhausted officer told how he was shot in the leg during a skirmish with one of Sherman’s detachments. Since his company was moving fast and hard and without an ambulance wagon, a surgical aide had cut out the ball with a knife and stitched the hole with a common needle and thread, performing the deed without anesthesia or painkiller. All the aide could do was wash the jagged area with a bromine/water solution to prevent infection, as his medical supplies were near to nothing.
“It wouldn’t have helped to ride for Savannah, since Sherman’s knocking on her front and side doors. I knew my family had already fled into either South Georgia or northern Florida, so I couldn’t go home, if we still have one the way that scourge is plundering and torching Georgia. I couldn’t keep traveling with my company because I’d only slow them down or get left behind and maybe captured. I surely didn’t want to wind up in Yankee prisons or risk losing this leg to gangrene; so I came here, Lily, Miss Laura, where I could heal in a safe place and see a doctor if it gets inflamed. A man isn’t much good to himself or his family if he’s missing a limb.”
“That isn’t true, Richard, my love; I want you in any condition, and I can support and protect us if necessary,” Lily said from her heart. “I have a good job and a large room here, and Laura taught me how to shoot a gun. I’m so glad you came to us. We’ll take good care of you.”
Laura’s empathetic gaze drifted over the disheveled man. “She’s right, Richard, about everything she just said. You’re more than welcome here in Lily’s room or you can select one of the others as soon as it’s available. Don’t worry about anything, and we’ll have you on your feet again real soon.”
“You won’t return to Georgia after you’re well, will you?” Lily fretted.
Richard clasped Lily’s small hand in his large and dirty one, though he was ashamed of his sorry appearance. “I don’t know, dear heart; by the time I can ride, there might not be a state to return to and help defend; it’s looking pretty bad for Georgia and the Confederacy at this point.”
Laura concurred, “From the tragic news we receive almost daily, you may be right, Richard. But what you need now is rest, sleep, hot food, and Lily’s loving care. Perhaps you’ve done all you can to help the South; you were wise to come here. I’ll have Bertha prepare you some soup and hot tea while Lily stokes the fire; we don’t want you catching a chill. I’ll fetch medicine and a clean bandage for that wound.”
“You’re mighty kind and generous, Miss Laura, to me and to my Lily.”
“You’re in wonderful hands,
Richard; Laura is well trained at tending injured men, since she volunteers her time in the local hospitals.”
“I couldn’t help our brave men every week if Lily didn’t run the hotel for me during my absences. You should be proud of her, Richard; she’s made an excellent assistant and she handles this place as well as I ever did.”
“Lily is a rare and special woman, Miss Laura; I knew that the first time I met her; that’s why I asked her to marry me after the war.”
“I’m happy you did, Richard, and she’ll make you a perfect wife.”
She watched Richard’s tender gaze roam Lily’s smiling face. It was evident they were in love and were well matched, just as she and Jayce were. She saw him grimace and shift his position. “I know you’re weary and in pain; Lily and I will work hard on getting you better.”
“I really shouldn’t be lying in this clean bed as dirty as I am.”
“Linens can be washed, Richard, so don’t concern yourself about them. After you’re stronger, perhaps tonight or tomorrow, we’ll get you cleaned up. I’ll return shortly, and please call me Laura. Since Lily and I are like sisters, you’re like a special part of my family, too.”
“Thank you, Laura; you’re an angel, like my Lily is.”
As she was closing the door, Laura saw the couple hug and kiss, unable to wait a moment longer. Her heart pounded with joy over Lily’s good fortune. She hurried to get the items she needed, as she wanted to make certain nothing bad happened to Lily’s future husband.
After Richard’s wound was tended and he ate his fill of nourishing soup and hot tea, Lily tucked him in as if he were a sick child. Lily was relieved she detected no fever from infection as she stroked his brow until the laudanum took effect and he was deep in peaceful slumber in a comfortable bed and warm room, far from any perils.
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