“Callie, I was hurt. It takes time to heal. To believe.”
“I swear, Daniel, I only ever wanted to save your life. I love you. I loved you then. I never stopped.”
“You denied it well!” he whispered. “Pride,” she admitted ruefully.
“Come here,” he murmured. She couldn’t move. He caught her arm, and he pulled her close against him. He gazed down deeply into her eyes, and his fingers threaded into her hair. His lips touched hers, softly. Yet they spoke of a deeper passion, of a hunger. They stirred and stoked and kindled sweet fires and hungers deep within her. She parted her lips to his kiss. Tasted it. Savored it.
Callie thought she would die with the sweetness of his kiss. Then suddenly, he broke it. He stared off around the corner of the house.
“Daniel, what is it?”
His eyes focused on her. “You don’t know?” he said sharply.
“What are you talking about?” she demanded, confused.
He shoved her forward. “You love me, yes! And the damn Yanks are heading straight for the house!”
“What?” she said incredulously.
“There was a man in a Yank uniform who just stepped onto the front porch.”
“Daniel, damn you, it’s probably Jesse.”
“I don’t think so.”
He was staring at her, hard. She trembled. Could he doubt her still? “You said that you loved me,” she reminded him harshly.
He nodded, still watching her. “I do. But, Jesu, Callie, why is it that every time you whisper words of love, I am plagued by blue uniforms?”
“I’m telling you—”
“I do love you, Callie.”
“Daniel—”
“Get to the house!” he thundered, shoving her forward. She tried to swing around, to protest. It was too late, Daniel was gone. She didn’t know which way he had disappeared, but he had slunk into the forest, and she was very afraid.
Jesse. She had to reach Jesse. Maybe he could make some sense of this. Her feeling of danger was acute.
She went racing full speed back to the house. Maybe the man in the uniform was Jesse. Maybe he had gone back outside for some reason.
She burst through the back doors and stared around the hallway. Christa was just walking back toward the den and she stopped, startled by Callie’s appearance.
“There’s a Yank in the front. Is it Jesse?”
“What?” Christa said.
Callie shook her head, racing down the length of the hallway, throwing open the doors.
There was a Yankee soldier there. A cavalry officer. He was bent over, dusting the dirt from his boots, “A Yank!” Christa whispered. “You’re right! My Lord, I’ll get my gun.”
“It could be Jesse—”
“I know my own brother!” Christa cried.
Callie gasped suddenly. “No, no! You can’t get your gun.”
“I’m telling you, it’s not my brother!”
“But it is mine!” Callie told her. She cried out, “Jeremy!”
The soldier stood and smiled and came hurrying toward her.
Within seconds she was in his arms, laughing as he swung her around the porch.
Then her laughter was suddenly caught short as Jeremy’s circle brought her around to face Daniel as he stepped from behind a pillar, his hands on his hips, his eyes as sharp as razors.
“Excuse me, Mrs. Cameron, but just what is going on here? Do I pour brandy, or draw my sword?”
———— Twenty-seven ————
Callie felt Jeremy tensing beneath her fingers. Daniel looked as if he were ready to explode.
Suddenly Christa Cameron was out on the porch. “My Lord, Yanks are just springing up all over!”
“You’re on my porch in southern territory, Yank,” Daniel stated. “And worse than that, sir, you’ve got my wife. You’ve about five seconds left for an explanation!”
“Me!” Jeremy exclaimed. Callie could feel her brother’s temper beginning to seethe. “Insolent Reb! You came north and kidnapped—”
“Kidnapped!” Daniel exploded. He was about to draw his sword.
“That’s right,” Jeremy stated.
Daniel let out a warning oath. Steel was going to flash any second.
“Wait!” Callie cried, pushing away from Jeremy, and standing before Daniel. “Daniel, stop! This is my brother!”
Daniel gazed from Callie to the stranger on his porch, then back again.
“Brother?” Daniel said.
There was chaos on the porch, with everyone talking, and everyone wary.
“Did he really marry you, Callie, or is he talking through his teeth?”
“Don’t you dare accuse my brother of lying, you northern varmint!” Christa put in.
“Christa, please, I told you, he’s my brother—”
“Your brother? Really?” Daniel demanded.
“Yes, I have three of them, you know that.”
Everyone fell silent. Jeremy and Daniel were still looking at one another suspiciously, and Callie thought that with the drop of a hat they could be at one another’s throats.
A new, amused voice interrupted them.
“I think that brandy might be a good idea.” Jesse had come put to the porch.
Jeremy swung around and looked at him. He saw the colonel’s blue uniform from the medical corps, and he instantly saluted, then dropped his hand.
“My Lord, he’s a Yank!” Jeremy stared at Callie. “Who is he?”
“My brother!” Daniel offered, then brushed past them all. “If I’m not drawing my sword, then I’m pouring the brandy. Anyone care to join me?”
“Indeed, sir, I would!” Jeremy announced, following closely behind him. Callie started to follow the two of them. Jesse caught hold of her arm, gently pulling her back.
She stared at her brother-in-law. “Jesse, they’ll kill one another.”
He shook his head, and smiled. “Give them a chance.”
She looked to Christa for help. Christa shrugged. “Daniel is hotheaded, but you know that, you married him. You ought to know, too, that he’s not a murderer, and that he’s sick and tired of death and violence. He’ll be all right.” She paused. “What about your brother?”
“He’s not a murderer!” she said quickly, indignantly. “But they’ve both been shooting people in uniforms just like one another’s for three years!” Callie added miserably. “Are they going to know the difference now?”
“Give them a chance,” Jesse told her. He released her and opened the door for her, following her into the main hallway.
Down that hallway, the door to the den was closed.
She walked down to it, and stood very still. She could hear nothing.
She glanced to Jesse, but he shrugged and grinned.
Callie began to pace the hallway.
Inside the den Daniel was beginning to wonder how he had ever missed the fact that this man was Callie’s brother, except that his wife was so beautifully feminine it was, perhaps, difficult to transfer her coloring and attributes to a man.
This soldier was tall, his own height. His eyes were so similar to Callie’s eyes only a darker gray. His hair was an even deeper auburn than Callie’s, and his features were more ruggedly hewn. But he was a striking man, just as Callie was a beautiful woman. Nor did he seem afraid of Daniel, or of the fact that he was facing an enemy in enemy territory. Maybe it was because he had already seen a fellow countryman in uniform, as unlikely as such a presence should have been at this southern plantation.
Daniel poured brandy and handed one to Jeremy. So far they hadn’t exchanged a word.
Daniel asked one question, and the words began to flow between them like wildfire.
“Why did you come here?”
“To bring her home. I heard that she had been spirited away—to the South.”
“Well, she wasn’t spirited away. I came after her. And my son,” he added softly.
“Where the hell were you when she was expecting that son?” Jeremy demanded he
atedly.
sDaniel arched a brow. “In Old Capitol Prison,” he said briefly.
“Oh,” Jeremy murmured. “Well, then, perhaps …” He shrugged. “She is my sister, sir. My father is dead. Her welfare is my concern.”
Daniel smiled suddenly and lifted his glass. “Sir, I see your point, truly, I do. And I assure you, we are legally wed.” Yes, they were wed, but was Callie where she wanted to be? He hadn’t actually kidnapped her, but then again, he had given her little choice.
“I think, sir, that we must ask Callie where she wants to be,” Daniel said softly.
Jeremy arched a brow, watching Daniel. But Daniel frowned suddenly.
“How did you know where to find your sister if you heard only that she had been spirited away?”
“That was easy enough. An old friend of the family did some research for me, Eric Dabney. He knew who you were, and he found out where you lived.”
Dabney!
“You know the name?” Jeremy said.
“Oh, yes.” Daniel ran his finger around the rim of his glass. “I know the name well. Lieutenant Colonel Dabney was responsible for my stay in Old Capitol.”
“How curious!” Jeremy said. “I was always convinced that Dabney was in love with Callie himself. He was close to her husband, but you could always see that look in his eyes …” He shrugged. “I’m surprised he would want to make her miserable. Maybe he didn’t know that there was a relationship—”
“He knew,” Daniel said flatly. He rose to pour Jeremy another shot of brandy. “Excuse my curiosity, sir, but it has been some time since Callie and I left Maryland. Why has it taken you so long to come here?”
“I’ve been on the western front of this war, under Grant. When Grant was ordered east, I received papers soon after to come this way. I didn’t want to fight here,” he said regretfully. “Because?”
“Because I’ve too many good friends in Virginia and Maryland companies—fighting for the South.”
Daniel nodded wearily, taking up his seat behind his desk. “I understand,” he said.
Jeremy grinned. “So the Yank out there is really your brother?”
“Yes, sir, he is.”
“And you’re still speaking to one another?”
“Any time we come across one another, which seems to be about once a year.”
Jeremy grinned slowly. “How interesting.”
“Too interesting,” Daniel said softly. “You’re regular cavalry, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Jeremy answered. His grin faded. Jesse was with the fully established medical corps now, he would never face Daniel in battle.
Jeremy very likely could.
“Jesu!” Jeremy breathed. He started to speak again, then the door suddenly burst open, and in came Callie, breathing hard, her eyes silver and as wild as her hair. She stared at them both. “I’m-—sorry!” she murmured. She tossed back that wild mane of hair. “No, I’m not. I was worried sick about the both of you!”
Daniel walked around and leaned on the edge of his desk, watching her. “Why would you be so worried?” he asked her.
Jeremy, in turn, stared at his sister. “Indeed, Callie! We’re both quite civilized.”
Civilized! They were so civilized she wanted to smack them both.
Where was the brother who adored her, who should have gone to battle for her with a vengeance?
And where was her enemy, her husband, who had brought her here? If the love between them had all been pretend, at least the passion had been real.
Wives were property, he had told her!
Would he fight for the plantation before he would fight for her?
What was the matter with her? Did she want a fight between Daniel and Jeremy?
No. She just wanted Daniel to care.
“I was worried,” she said quietly.
Daniel stared at her. She’d have given anything to read what lay behind the brilliant blue fire in his eyes. What emotion lay within his heart?
Fight for me, dammit! She thought. Fight for me as you do for this place, as you do for those other things in your heart that mean so very much to you.
Ebony dark lashes fell over his eyes, and then he was staring at her again. She could still read nothing in his eyes.
“Your brother came to rescue you, you know,” he told her.
“Oh?” she murmured, looking at Jeremy.
“He seemed to have been under the impression that you were kidnapped.”
She didn’t respond; she didn’t move. What in God’s name was Daniel doing?
“I thought that I should give you the choice, Callie. I don’t want you to be miserable here, in the South. Or with me.” The last was spoken so softly that she wasn’t even certain that she heard him correctly. Did he want her to stay, or did he want her to go? What was he doing? She wanted to cry out, and she wanted to scream and beat against him.
She stood silently at the door, returning his stare, trying to keep her chin very high. She had told him that she loved him. She had given him everything.
“Callie?” he said.
Pretend. Pretend that you love me.
She opened her mouth, but she never had a chance to speak. The door opened again suddenly and Kiernan, smiling brilliantly, stuck her head in.
“We’ve a supper on, of sorts, gentlemen, Callie. Janey and Jigger—and I, of course, would be delighted if you’d join us.” She extended a hand to Jeremy. “I’m Kiernan Cameron. Welcome to this house, just in case the other residents have neglected to say so. I’m sure you’re anxious to meet your nephew. He’s right out in the hallway here.”
“Supper sounds fine to me,” Jeremy said, rising and bowing very politely to Kiernan. He gazed at Daniel “If I’m truly welcome in this house.”
Daniel threw up his hands. “The odds, as always, are against me. We’ve two men in blue tonight, to one in gray.”
Kiernan lowered her lashes, hiding a grin. Jeremy followed her out. Daniel kept studying Callie. “Well?” he said softly.
He never gave her a chance to answer. He took her elbow and led her toward the hallway. “I’m sure Jeremy can be convinced to stay the night. And—” He paused slightly. Callie heard a note of bitterness in his voice. “I’m equally certain that we’ll all be riding back to war in the same direction very soon. We can all give it until tomorrow, don’t you think?”
“Daniel—”
“No! I don’t want you to say anything now.” His hand on her elbow, he led her out into the hallway.
Jeremy was busy meeting Jared, and Kiernan was still trying to usher everyone into the dining room. Jesse and Jeremy arrived in uniform blue, Daniel in his tattered gray, Kiernan and Callie in their mourning black, and Christa a burst of summer in a dazzling yellow gown. Patricia and Jacob Miller were also at the table, scrubbed and clean, nearly fourteen now. They’d grown accustomed to Jesse, but Jeremy was a new Yank, and they eyed him very cautiously.
Callie wondered how the meal would go when, be-? fore they even sat down, Jesse told Jacob how big he was getting and Jacob stated that he was near big enough to be going off to war. He didn’t make any comments about killing Yanks, he cared too much about Jesse to do so, but it was plenty clear just who’s side Jacob was on. Kiernan told him he was nowhere near big enough to go off to get killed.
“Soon. Another year, maybe,” Jacob said, setting his jaw stubbornly. “There’s boys younger than me out there fighting, isn’t that true, Daniel?”
It was pathetically true. The South was drawing deeper and deeper into her reserves, though by law, no boy Jacob’s age should be fighting. But when the enemy neared Richmond, time and time again it seemed that the soldiers marching out from the city were growing both older and younger—the graybeards came out, and then the boys who couldn’t quite grow whiskers yet.
“Jacob, don’t go making Kiernan unhappy tonight,” Daniel warned the boy. “There’s no need for you to be coming to war for some time, and God knows, it has to end soon enough.”
“Jacob, see to the young ones at that end of the table, will you?”
The older children watched the younger ones, but Jigger, trying to serve the meal, grinned from ear to ear. “It’s near like before! A party this size. And we have excelled, yes, we have!”
“It’s certainly the finest meal I’ve had in some time,” Daniel assured him.
And it was. The table was filled with vegetables, string beans, peas, turnip greens, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. There was a smoked ham, rich with the taste of hickory, and there were several fat chickens, too, for someone had decided that this would be a real feast.
As if a prodigal son had returned home.
Which was the prodigal, Callie wondered, Jesse or Daniel?
Conversation flowed easily throughout the meal. The men seemed to be all right about the color of their uniforms, even if the blue at the table didn’t seem to set well with Christa. Still, there was laughter at the table. More than Callie had heard in a long time.
She saw Jesse looking at Daniel. “I understand that Jeff Davis passed a suspension of habeas corpus a while back. We could all be in trouble here.”
The adults all grew silent.
“What does that mean?” Patricia Miller demanded.
Jesse hesitated, then answered her. “Men—and women—are granted certain rights by the constitution. Your constitution, and our constitution,” he added. “You have the right to privacy, and no one should be able to arrest you without proper cause. But in the case of war—”
“Lincoln suspended the right of habeas corpus very early on in the north,” Daniel commented. “But what—”
Daniel set down his fork. “It means we’re in trouble if we’re all caught,” he said flatly. “It means Jesse and Jeremy could wind up in Andersonville, and it means that I could be arrested for consorting with the enemy.”
“We could all be in trouble for having dinner?” Patricia said incredulously.
No one answered her. She stared at Jesse. “The South isn’t wrong, the North isn’t wrong—the war is wrong!” she exclaimed.
Everyone around the table had grown very tense.
A pea suddenly sailed across it. It smacked Jeremy right in the face and he jumped.
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