Defiant Hearts

by Janelle Taylor

  The following day was a stormy continuation of a deluge that had begun shortly after her return from spying on the villains. Laura of course could not ask Jayce to go riding, but during a brief break in the horrible weather, she feigned a visit to Emmaline to speak with Jim. After she told him about yesterday’s incident, Jim related that two patrols were out searching for the gold and culprits.

  “They won’t find anything, so all they’re doing is getting wet, cold, and tired; the rain has already washed away any clues or tracks they left behind. Considering what happened to that wagon driver, you should be convinced those men are dangerous. Don’t trail them again, Laura.”

  “I understand the risks, and that’s the only way we’re going to obtain the evidence we need to stop them,” Laura said firmly. “I appreciate your concern for my safety, but I’ve gone too far to halt now.”

  “As your superior here, I’m ordering you to cease taking such risks.”

  An astonished Laura started to protest, “But, Major—”

  “No buts, Laura; it’s too dangerous. Just concentrate on gleaning clues from your uncle; here, where you’ll be safe.”

  “Uncle Jake isn’t a fool, Major Wright; he isn’t going to tell me anything of value. The evidence we need is beyond the fort.”

  “Evil men like him make slips, or facts can be pulled from them by someone as clever as you obviously are. Leave the outside work to me.”

  Once more, Laura had the feeling that Jim was withholding something crucial from her or was duping her. Why hadn’t he shadowed the men since he knew who was to blame and was familiar with the shipment schedules and routes? Since Emmaline had told her that Jim couldn’t join the murderous gang and work from the inside, how else could he gather facts if he didn’t follow them? If he had trailed them in the past, why didn’t he know about the mine where Jake concealed the stolen cache? Why didn’t he know Jake owned that land? If Jim had done those deeds or knew those facts, why hadn’t he related them to her? Since Jim wasn’t being fully open and honest with her, she would keep some secrets of her own, like her discoveries of the mine and its owner…

  The sun came out on the following day, butJayce left at dawn on a lengthy escort duty before Laura could meet with him.

  Her father was seeing Charlotte every few days, and left that afternoon to spend time with the woman in Prescott. While he was gone, Laura busied herself cleaning the cabin to distract herself from her worries. As she was putting away items Howard had left out during a near-rush to depart for town, she made an intriguing discovery.

  Laura glanced at the cabin door to make sure she had bolted it after he left before she withdrew her father’s journal from his wardrobe drawer. Guilt nibbled at her as she committed the daring and shameful deed, but she wanted to see if Howard had recorded anything about Charlotte.

  As Laura remained ready to replace the journal if her father returned too soon, she perused his notations about the woman and concluded he truly loved Charlotte and would ask her to marry him. Then she checked the January-to-current entries to see what he had written about Jake and Jayce. She hoped to learn her father’s true opinions about his brother and why Howard was so impressed by Jayce and why he was encouraging a romance between them. She not only read the same things Howard had revealed to her, but also read about a Union soldier who was disguised as one of the Galvanized Yankees who had been chosen and sent there to watch the others for signs of threats against their captors or planned desertions!

  Laura pored over every account to see if she could find the man’s identity, but her cautious father had not recorded one name or any enlightening clues about the mystery agent. She retrieved the items she had put away and returned them to the bunk and washstand where her father had left them. She took out her sewing box and sat on the sofa to pretend she was doing needlepoint as a reason to explain why she hadn’t cleaned up after him.

  Many contradictory thoughts whirled inside her head. Was it possible Jayce Durance was a Union soldier and secret agent? Did that clarify the enigma surrounding him back in Richmond? Did her father’s knowledge of that fact explain his favorable opinion of Jayce and his odd willingness to matchmake? Did the Wrights’ knowledge of it explain why they acted strangely at times?

  Perhaps, Laura fretted, it was wishful thinking or wild imagination on her part. Yet, she had suspected from the beginning that the Wrights and Benjamin Simmons were keeping secrets. Why, she asked herself, since she also was an agent on the case? Knowing she was a Unionist, why wouldn’t Jayce confide in her? Unless he hadn’t been told about her involvement, and he was worried about his actions because she was Jake’s niece. On the other hand, perhaps Jim didn’t know a second agent was on the job, and perhaps Jim wasn’t fully trusted by whoever had sent the agent there.

  If she could make certain Jayce was the unnamed man in her father’s journal, she would confide everything to him and they could work on the assignment together. If he wasn’t, she had to find a way to protect him from punishment. She had to stop him from riding with that gang before he was killed or captured and their future was destroyed. And, whether or not that disguised agent was Jayce, perhaps his orders didn’t extend beyond those two mentioned by her father in his journal.

  If only she could ask her father for the truth, but she couldn’t do that without revealing she had invaded his privacy. For the same reason, she couldn’t approach Jim. She must not risk angering either man at this time or she could be sent back home. She should watch Jim and her father for illuminating clues before she took any action. She decided she wouldn’t wait for very long and allowJayce, if guilty, to further entangle himself. In fact, she would confront Jayce as soon as he returned to the fort! He would have to decide what was more important to him: her and their future, or his illegal aid to the dying Confederacy.

  Laura was glad her father was in love and hoped to marry Charlotte, but she was dismayed over his notations about Jake. Howard desperately wanted his brother to change, for them to be reunited. She was pained to realize that her uncle was going to break her father’s heart again, but at least her father would have Charlotte to help assuage his new anguish.

  A happy event occurred on April fifth: Howard and Laura received detailed letters from Tom and Henry, to which they responded on the same day. Afterward, she wrote to her sister-in-law in Pennsylvania, sending “hugs and kisses” to Nora and Henry’s two children.

  Damp, cold, days urged her to stay inside the warm and dry cabin where she did chores, sewed, read, and worried over her troubles until her head almost ached at times. She was tempted to confront Jim with her suspicions, but needed to speak with Jayce first in the crushing event she was wrong about her beloved being a secret Unionist.

  Despite every ploy she tried, her father refused to drop any helpful hints about Jayce. The only thing that kept her from exposing Jake’s evil was the knowledge that her father was leery of Jake’s honesty. Whether she told him now or later, the grim news was going to wound him deeply.

  * * *

  Jayce did not return soon, and many crucial events took place in the South while he and others were escorting supply wagons from Ehrenberg.

  Since telegraph lines had not reached Prescott, news sent from back East to other forts was delivered by messengers to the post commander every few days. Howard shared the incoming tidings with Laura, which sounded tragic for the South.

  From the first astonishing dispatch on the seventh, Laura learned that Selma’s occupation on April second had opened a door for Federal troops “to finish off Alabama,” the first Confederacy capital and the state that had hosted the first Confederate convention for secession.

  On that same day, Petersburg had been conquered after a costly ten-month siege, forcing President Davis and others to evacuate Richmond, the next Union target. On the third, the Confederacy capital was captured. One newspaper reporter had written: “This town is the Rebellion; it is all we have directly striven for.” Tales of numerous fires, rampant lo
otings, and crazed mobs dancing, singing, and kissing in the streets were mentioned in the detailed message. Laura was relieved to hear that Union troops had immediately set about to restore order and subdue the fires. From the accounts, many of those blazes were set by fleeing citizens and the military to prevent certain locations and possessions from falling into Yankee hands.

  Laura prayed that Lily and Richard were safe; she had told them to flee to the Adams plantation if trouble struck. She also hoped Belle, Cleo, Bertha, and the Longs were unharmed. She believed that things were moving rapidly toward the war’s termination, and she wished Jayce were there to hear the news with her, to realize he no longer had a reason to endanger himself and their future for the Cause.

  On the sixth, a skirmish at Sayler’s Creek had resulted in another Union victory and the capture of Lee’s rear guard. Torrential rains and swollen creeks and rivers had hindered the Confederate’s flight and intensified their miseries. Too late, Union troops had heard that Davis had been in Danville nearby on the third, but had fled in secrecy to an unknown location.

  Laura hoped the Union was careful in its treatment of Davis when he was captured, as cruelty or execution could further inflame the Rebels.

  Ten lonely days had passed for Laura before the escort unit returned to Fort Whipple on Saturday evening, too late for a ride with Jayce or to even summon him to the cabin to schedule one for the next day.

  She could hardly sleep that night, worrying that an unseen noose was moving closer to Jayce’s neck and threatening to choke off her future before she could rescue him from his misguided ways.

  As if fickle Fate thwarted her bold plans at every turn, Laura was compelled to attend worship service and have dinner with her father and Charlotte on Palm Sunday. After a lengthy visit in town, she prepared an evening meal because, at his request, Jake ate supper with them. Her uncle stayed on his best behavior and Howard and he even chatted during and after the meal.

  Yet, aware of Jake’s character and crimes, it was a strain for her to be polite and friendly toward her uncle. She wanted to grab her uncle and shake some sense into him! She struggled with anger toward the man who had imperiled her future by coaxing Jayce into his evil clutches.

  Those intrusions denied Laura the chance to meet with Jayce or to even catch a glimpse of him around the fort. She was determined to extract the truth about him, no matter what it entailed. If he was the Union agent mentioned in the journal, they could work together. If not, she would warn him about the danger he was in and beg him to cease his criminal activities and to exonerate himself by helping her. She would go so far as to swear he had been working with her on the inside from the start! She would point out that he could either: go to jail or the gallows or remain free to marry her. As she worked and fretted over her increasing dilemma, she was unaware of the historic event that took place back East that very day, one that would change her life soon…

  A messenger arrived after Jake’s departure and following the bugle signal for Tattoo, sending men to their quarters. The soldier apologized for coming at a late hour, but said he saw light on in the cabin, knew the colonel had not retired, and assumed he wanted the report immediately.

  Colonel Adams told the man he had done the right thing, thanked him, and dismissed him. After the soldier left to seek food and shelter in the fort for the night, Howard opened the dispatch to learn that, despite a Rebel triumph at Farmville on the seventh, Grant and Lee had begun serious correspondence concerning Lee’s surrender and peace terms.

  Laura wished she could run to her beloved’s quarters and share this elating news with him, but that was impossible. Tomorrow, my love, we will share all of our secrets…

  On Monday morning, Howard returned to the cabin with bad news for Laura. He informed her that Jayce and others had been sent south of Wickenburg to pursue Indians who had robbed Ben Weaver of fifteen superior horses, then murdered the son of their past friend and ally Pauline Weaver. Not long afterward and thirty miles south of Prescott, Indians, suspected of being the same band, had attacked and stolen a burro train that was heading to supply merchants in the mining town of Weaver.

  Before she could control her expression and tone of voice, she asked, “He’s already gone?” She watched her father nod.

  “I know you’re disappointed, my dear, and it’s been a long time since you’ve seen him, but he’s a soldier first and foremost. Don’t worry, he’ll return soon. I met Weaver’s son when I went to Wickenburg; he wasn’t much like his father. The man who brought us the news and requested help said Ben’s body was filled with arrows and he’d been shot one time. The shafts were snapped off and his clothes were taken, though I can’t guess why anybody would want garments filled with holes. It sounds as if those Indians had more in mind than a mere raid; it hints of revenge to me.”

  “Why, Father? What did Ben Weaver do to them?” She wanted to know the details because Jayce was being sent after the marauders. Too, if the Indians were going on the warpath and might operate close to the fort, she needed to be aware of that peril when she followed the villains.

  “Nothing that I know about, my dear,” he answered her query, “but his father is considered a traitor to them since he started scouting and working for the Army; and Pauline’s been leading gold seekers into Indian lands for years.”

  “It must be dangerous to pursue warriors. Will your men be safe?”

  Howard chuckled. “If you mean, will Private Durance be safe, I’m sure he will. He’s fought Indians in the past; he knows them and their ways. He’s a skilled tracker, fighter, and scout. And he’s an expert with weapons and his fists. That’s why I selected him to be your protector.”

  “Are those the only reasons you chose him for me?”

  “No, he has plenty of good traits and strikes me as being a fine man.”

  An ex-Rebel and enemy is “a fine man”…“You think so, Father?”

  “That’s my opinion from speaking with him and watching him here and back East.” Howard grinned. “I’m sure you’ve formed your own opinion of him by now. Is it different from mine?”

  “I agree you’ve judged him accurately. He seems to be a unique and special man, a good one. Can you tell me anything more about him?”

  “Not now, but we’ll learn more about him as time passes.”

  It was clear to Laura that her father was going to obey an order of silence, despite the fact she had exposed serious feelings for the man, and if Jayce was that secret agent mentioned in his journal…Still, she might trick him into a slip, so she jested, “I was just wondering if you two had become friends and were conspiring my conquest behind my back.”

  “I might conspire for you, my dear, but never against you. I want only the best for my cherished daughter, and you are twenty-one and single.”

  “I’m not a spinster yet, Father,” she quipped. “Besides, with the war going on for so long, few good men are available for courting.”

  “Perhaps that was true in Richmond, but what about here?”

  Laura faked laughter before she said, “If you’re going to start playing matchmaker again today, perhaps I should go visit Emmaline to escape.”

  “I’m sure she would enjoy your company and a diversion. Major Wright left with the troops, so she’s alone and may be worried about him.”

  That, Laura fretted, was another obstacle in her path: with Jim gone, she couldn’t press him for information. Perhaps Em will—No, she would never betray her husband’s trust or defy his order of silence. Wait for Jayce’s return before you risk exposing and jeopardizing him, she silently commanded herself.

  Early Wednesday morning, another dispatcher brought the best news Howard and Laura had received to date: On April ninth, two great military leaders had met at Appomattox where Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant. Lee had not been compelled to hand over his personal sword; and the kind treatment of that fine southern gentleman—a Virginian like them—pleased father and daughter.

 
As they embraced in joy and with misty eyes, Laura murmured, “It’s finally over, Father. Now, recovery and healing can begin.”

  “I hope and pray so, my dear, but a rough road lies ahead. If you don’t mind, I want to ride into town to tell Charlotte this wonderful news.”

  “Go, Father, share this happy occasion with her. At last my brothers and friends will be safe. I can hardly wait to see them again.”

  “Nor can I, Laura; I prayed for my boys every day and night. So many have lost kin and friends. Our family is blessed to have come through this horrid war unscathed.”

  Laura noticed how her father stopped himself from mentioning Jake’s agonizing losses, but his expression told her they were on his mind, just as they burdened hers. Her father had no idea of the shame and suffering still in store for his younger brother, partly as a result of her actions. She was tempted to confess everything to him at that moment, but didn’t want to spoil his good mood; and she wanted—needed—to speak with Jayce first and resolve the dilemma still jeopardizing him, despite the war’s end.

  Before that momentous day passed, a bell in the new church tolled wildly for over an hour; citizens and visitors celebrated in saloons and in the streets; news was sent to other towns, mining camps, ranches, and farms. Most of the soldiers were given the rest of the day off, and a ration of whiskey was handed out so they could toast the triumphant Union. Even the Galvanized Yankees present were elated to hear the war was over, as they had been told they would be pardoned following that event.

  Laura remained in the cabin alone, as she was not in a mood to join those making merry inside the stockade or in town. With peace would come a demand to finalize her assignment. The government would want the villains arrested and punished, and the stolen gold and money returned to its rightful owners. She was astonished that Jake had gone into Prescott to enjoy himself instead of packing his belongings and taking flight, so that implied to her he didn’t have the slightest idea about his impending doom. But it was her beloved’s fate that concerned her; it looked grim at what should be a glorious time…