To Love a Spy

by Aileen Fish

  He pulled Anna along, and she quit resisting, though she struggled to keep up in her skirts. She prayed that George was well.

  The soldier dragged her into the building and down a dank hallway. The building smelled quite awful, and she did not want to decipher the various smells. Awful!

  The guard pulled her into a room, and a soldier rose from a small desk and opened a door behind him. The blond released Anna’s arm and urged her forward. She looked over her shoulder to see the three guards turn and leave.

  She rubbed her arm and stepped into another larger office. Though she was terrified, this was what she had wanted, to see someone in charge. But the slight young officer—who appeared to be no older than George—seated behind the large desk surely could not be the commander, could he?

  “Major Thomas Turner, madam, commandant of the prison,” he said with a faint tilt of his head. “When Corporal Tucker first told me that you had come to see your husband, Mrs. Damon, I was elated, thinking I now had a way to find him, but if you are asking for him, then I assume you do not know where he is either.”

  He stared at Anna with pale eyes. No kindness emanated from them.

  Anna’s knees buckled, and she swayed for a moment. Find him?

  “I do not understand. Where is my husband?”

  Major Turner nodded to the young soldier behind Anna, who lowered her into one of the wooden chairs in front of the desk.

  “I was hoping you would know,” he said.

  “He is not here?” Anna swallowed hard and prayed she would not give way to tears. She could not cry in front of this strange little man. The softness of his voice did not suggest compassion, but something less charitable.

  “No, he seems to have escaped. I now firmly believe from your expression that you did not know that.”

  The ache in Anna’s throat eased, and she wanted to jump up and run from the office, to shout and laugh, to sing praises, to find George. She stayed still though and pressed her lips together to hide her joy.

  “When? How?”

  “A week ago,” he said. “And we do not know how. We know only that he is not here.”

  Anna rose on shaky knees. “Then I suppose I will go. Thank you for seeing me.”

  “Just a minute, Mrs. Damon. Do you have a passport?”

  Anna froze.

  “No, I do not.” She held her head high.

  “How did you travel into Richmond then? How did you cross Confederate lines?”

  Anna swallowed hard and stared at Major Turner, unable to manufacture a plausible excuse.

  “If you do not have papers, Mrs. Damon, then you must be considered a spy. Are you a spy, madam?”

  Anna held up her hands. “No, I am just a woman trying to find her husband in the middle of a terrible war.”

  He stared at her for a moment, and Anna forced herself to meet his eyes, desperately trying to banish images of languishing in a prison with her baby in her arms.

  “Major Turner, I am not a spy.”

  “Then why will you not tell me how you got into Richmond without proper papers? If there is an unprotected thoroughfare, we must know of it.”

  Anna took a deep breath.

  “I hid in the wagon of a farmer bringing supplies into town. He did not know I was in there. I jumped out and found my way to the prison. Frankly, I had no idea how I would leave Richmond once I found and spoke to my husband here.”

  Major Turner eyed her skeptically.

  “What supplies?”

  Anna thought quickly.

  “Cornmeal,” she said. “I hid beneath bags of cornmeal.” It seemed as likely as anything else.

  Major Turner pursed his small mouth.

  “How do you propose to cross Federal lines to return north?”

  “I thought I might walk along the road and ask a farmer to take me up again.”

  “In a heavily defended city, the capital of the Confederacy, without papers?” His skeptical tone did make her proposal sound foolish.

  “I really had not thought that far, Major Turner, only that I should see how my husband fared.”

  “Where is your family, Mrs. Damon? Lieutenant Damon was from Missouri, I believe. Are you from Missouri as well?”

  “Yes, I am,” she said, lifting her chin. “Missouri.”

  “Your husband should have been shot as a spy, especially as a Southerner, but instead he was sent here.” He gazed at her speculatively.

  Anna wondered if the major was asking for some sort of response. She certainly had no intention of agreeing with him.

  “You should obtain a passport, Mrs. Damon. I will let you go. I am certain you do not know of your husband’s whereabouts or how he escaped from the prison. Good day.”

  He nodded to the young soldier to escort her from the office.

  Anna released the breath she must have been holding for the entire visit, and she followed the soldier out on wobbly legs, casting furtive glances over her shoulder as if the major might change his mind and apprehend her.

  She stepped out of the prison and strode as quickly as she could away from the building. She dared not return to Suzy just yet. What if the major had set someone to follow her to find her egress from the city?

  She hurried down the street and ducked into an alley between two buildings, pausing there to bend over and catch her breath. She was not winded from exertion but from fear—fear for George’s safety, Suzy’s safety, and her own well-being.

  She had not noticed earlier when she had arrived at dawn, but Confederate soldiers thronged the city, and she wondered how she could make her way back to the mill without discovery. She longed for a drink of water and wondered how she might find one.

  Anna waited fifteen minutes, and when no soldiers peered down the alley as if to spy her out, she lifted her chin, pulled her shoulders back and strolled out onto the road, turning away from the direction in which she truly wanted to go. She would have to wait until dark to return to the mill, and she could only hope that Suzy would wait until she made it back. Anna walked down the road, hoping that her clothing passed as Southern, however that should appear.

  She attracted no attention, and constant glances over her shoulder elicited no sight of Confederate soldiers who followed her in particular. She stepped into an older hotel and found her way to the dining room, where she was seated. She ordered a cup of tea.

  A glance at the ladies seated next to her suggested she was dressed appropriately, although their clothing appeared to be lighter in color. Perhaps they were dressed for the warmer and more humid weather of summer in the East.

  A waitress brought her tea, and Anna sipped it with relief. Fortunately, the waitress did not need to see papers. Anna tried to look as if she belonged.

  The ladies next to her soon rose and left money on the table for their meal. Something about the money looked odd, and Anna leaned over to see it better. Red lettering caught her eye, and she distinctly read Confederate States of America in black.

  Anna stiffened and stared at her tea. She had only Federal money, and not much of it left. She had read once that the Confederacy had printed its own money, and she had forgotten. Now, she had no idea what to do.

  She stopped drinking the tea as if that would make everything better, and she watched the waitress attending to other tables. Although she had never stolen a thing in her life, she was about to do so. When she had left the prison, she had no idea she would face possible arrest for drinking a cup of tea for which she could not pay.

  She cleared her throat.

  “Excuse me,” she said to the waitress, a buxom older woman who busily cleaned the table next to her. “Could you direct me to the...mmm...” She lifted her brows.

  “Oh, yes, ma’am, through there, the door on the left.” She pointed to a door just outside of the dining room.

  Anna nodded and rose as if to head for the water closet. She bypassed it, hurried out of the hotel and down the street, ducking in between the same set of buildings where she had hidden
only a half hour ago.

  Now she was a thief! What on earth had she gotten herself into, and where had George gone? Had he made it to the North? Had she passed him at some point, her train going east and his going west? Would he return to Iowa now or continue with his duties?

  Anna suspected she should move on, and she slipped further down the alley to emerge onto a less crowded road. She wandered toward the canal and river and sat down on an embankment to wait until late afternoon. The sun was pleasantly warm, and she kept herself awake with great difficulty, primarily by imagining a reunion with George.

  When the sun dropped below the horizon, she rose and made her way back to the old mill, glancing over her shoulder often to see that she was not followed.

  She stepped inside and saw the wagon and horse.

  “Suzy,” she whispered.

  Suzy’s head popped up from the back of the wagon.

  “Oh, missus! I thought you’d been taken for sure,” Suzy cried as she climbed down. “Did you see Mr. Damon?”

  Anna sagged against the wagon, the events of the day taking their toll on her.

  “No,” she murmured. “It seems he has escaped. Suzy, do you have any water or something to eat?”

  “Sure I do, missus. You look tuckered out. Sit yourself down here now.” She helped Anna climb onto the back of the wagon and then climbed in behind her to forage for food and drink. Handing Anna a cup of water and some bread, she sank down beside her.

  “So, Mr. Damon is free? Where is he?”

  Anna stuffed the bread into her mouth.

  “I do not know. I have been almost arrested several times though. As you said, I needed papers. The prison commandant wanted to know why I did not. He wondered if I was a spy.”

  “What did you say?”

  “That I was from Missouri.”

  Suzy chuckled. “Missus, why are you holding your stomach like that? Are you sick?”

  Anna looked down at the hand that hovered over her belly. She shook her head.

  “No, Suzy. I am with child.”

  “You never!” Suzy cried out before clapping her hands over her mouth. “You should have told me, Mrs. Damon! I never would have brought you here. What if you had been taken prisoner? What would have happened to the baby?”

  Anna nodded. “I know,” she said, “but I had to see George, to see if he was all right. Now, I do not know if he is well, or where he might be.”

  “We need to leave, ma’am. You lay in the back of the wagon and rest.”

  “No, Suzy, I will sit up front with you just like I have done. I will be fine.”

  Suzy shrugged. “Well, we need to go. Maybe Mr. Damon has gone home to Iowa.”

  “I hope so,” Anna said. “I truly hope so.”

  She climbed over the back of the bench and seated herself while Suzy maneuvered the team out of the barn.

  “I do not know how you managed to get through enemy lines, Suzy, but I hope we may return through the Federal lines just as easily, for they may think we are Southern spies,” Anna whispered as they pulled out of the barn.

  “It ain’t easy, but I manage. I learned the back roads and some that ain’t roads.”

  And for the next two days, Suzy did manage. By means of the same obscure roads, she got them back to her cabin on the outskirts of Washington at dawn.

  Exhausted, Anna fell into Suzy’s bed at her insistence and slept the day away. She awakened at dusk and sat upright. Suzy was not in the cabin, and it was dark.

  She rose, ran hands over her hopelessly disarrayed hair and stepped outside. She heard voices and singing from the various cabins nearby, and she supposed Suzy would return when she chose. She sat down on a wooden chair and listened to the voices. They sounded quite jovial. Interspersed throughout was the sound of chirping, like crickets.

  She must have dozed again, because a hand on her shoulder startled her awake. She looked up in the darkness. The moon highlighted the profile of a tall man, and she stiffened, prepared to run.

  “Anna,” George said softly. “My darling.”

  Chapter 15

  “George,” Anna cried out and rose to throw herself at him. His frame, once so sturdy and strong, was thin and emaciated. He almost fell over as she grabbed him.

  “Oh, George!” she sobbed. “You are alive! You are here!”

  George held her, whispering soft words against the top of her head.

  She pulled back to look at him but could see little in the darkness.

  She ran her hands along his face, now gaunt, his cheekbones prominent.

  “You are so thin,” she whispered achingly. “But you are alive.”

  “Yes, I survived.”

  She ran her hands along his shoulders. Epaulettes. He was in uniform. She had never seen him in uniform.

  “Come inside. Suzy has some candles,” she said. “How did you find me? Where have you been?” She took his hand and pulled him inside. As tall as he was, he had to duck to enter the doorway. She felt for the candle and matches she had seen the first night she arrived and lit it.

  “You know that I escaped from Libby Prison. I have been in a hospital here in Washington with a fever. When I heard you were here, I demanded they release me, and they did.”

  George’s once broad shoulders were slumped, and Anna’s heart went out to him. She moved into his embrace again and wrapped her arms tenderly around his thin waist.

  “How did you discover that I was here?”

  “Suzy found me. A resourceful woman. She apparently asked around in her circles and found an orderly at the hospital who knew my name. She found me in the hospital. She told me that you had come to find me and that she had taken you down to Richmond, but that upon finding me gone, you had returned.”

  Anna lifted her head.

  “And you were here the entire time?”

  “Yes, I think so,” George said. He lowered his head to kiss her, and Anna lost herself in his lips for some time.

  “I have missed you so much, George.”

  “And I, you,” he said. “The image of your face was the only thing that kept me sane in that rat-infested prison. The officers spoke of a future escape, but I could not wait for them.”

  “How did you escape?”

  “I bribed a guard, the oldest and truest way out of a prison.” George smiled.

  “Where is Suzy now?”

  “I believe she is in another cabin with her sister, Sally. The child has grown.”

  “She has, has she not?” Anna wondered if this was an inopportune moment to tell him of their child.

  George set her from him and stared at her, boldly running his eyes down her form. Anna blushed.

  “Suzy told me,” he said. His eyes caressed her, and she caught her breath.

  “That I am with child?”

  George nodded. “I would not have had you endanger the child, my love, but you have come a long way to find me.”

  “Longer than you think,” she said. “I went to Vicksburg first.”

  George’s eyes widened, and she sat him down on a chair and told him everything.

  “Anna, Anna, my darling,” he said with a sigh when she finished her tale. “When this war ends, you and I shall retire to the farm and never know a moment’s worry again.”

  Anna smiled at the image—George and her sitting in rocking chairs on the porch of the farmhouse, their children playing on the lawn, her father and stepmother sitting beside them.

  “Are you coming home, George? Is your service over?”

  George leaned forward and took her hands in his. He brought them to his lips, she knew, to soften the blow.

  “No, my love. The war rages on. The tide has turned in favor of the Union, but the Confederates have not yet surrendered. And all you and I have struggled for, all the hundreds and thousands of slaves are not yet free.”

  Anna gripped his hands.

  “How long?” she asked, though she knew he did not have the answer.

  George shook his head.
>
  “I do not know, my love. Not long, I hope. Not long.”

  “Can I not stay here in the capital with you?”

  George shook his head. “I do not remain here in Washington. Within the week, I will return to my duties. I think it is best you return home, Anna.”

  Anna pulled her hands from him and jumped up to pace the small cabin.

  “I cannot bear not to see you, George. I cannot.”

  He rose and wrapped his arms around her to stop her pacing.

  “And I cannot bear not seeing you either, but I must, darling. We must endure.”

  Anna clung to him. “I do not have enough money to return to Iowa, and so I must stay here,” she mumbled against his dark-blue coat.

  George laughed.

  “That is no excuse. I am your husband. I will pay your fare. Of course I will pay your fare.”

  “I was afraid of that,” she said.

  They held each other until Suzy returned.

  “There now,” Suzy said with a broad smile. “All is right with the world when two people in love can hold each other.”

  Anna blushed.

  “Thank you for everything, Suzy,” George said, extending his hand. “I will take Mrs. Damon with me now to a hotel in the city, where we will stay until I can arrange her trip back to Iowa.”

  “That’s as it should be.” She shook his hand and offered Anna her hand, but Anna hugged her.

  “Good-bye, Suzy. Thank you for everything. You are an inspiration to me.”

  Suzy guffawed as if in embarrassment.

  “Such foolish words,” she said. “Take care of her and the young ’un, Mr. Damon.”

  “I will see you again, Suzy,” Anna said. “I do not know when or how, but I will.”

  “I expect you will,” Suzy said with a wide smile. “It’s a small world.”

  George led Anna to a horse and wagon and helped her into it. They rode into the city, where he stopped at a small hotel. They stayed there for the next few days, enjoying their time together until the day of Anna’s departure.

  “I wish I were traveling with you,” George said. “I worry about you, but they need me elsewhere, and I cannot go.”

  “I will be all right, George. I have made it a long way. I only hope my father is not too angry.”