Against Her Will

by Nicole Sturgill

  Against Her Will

  Nicole Sturgill

  Dream Big Publishing

  Byron Center, MI

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used factiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Dream Big Publishing

  A publication of Dream Big Publishing

  Byron Center MI

  Copyright 2014 by Nicole Sturgill

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in

  whole or in part in any form.

  Dream Big Publishing is a registered trademark of

  Dream Big Publishing.

  Text of this book is set in Garamond text size 13.

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  All rights reserved.

  Summary: Temperance Hall was born the daughter to a poor farmer and his seamstress wife. When her mother and two younger siblings were killed by fever and her father and older brothers by a rebel soldiers bullet, Temperance was left all alone and things went from bad to worse when she was found by a horrid man who made a habit of finding pretty young women of marrying age and marrying them to the highest bidder he could find.

  Pain, hunger, and fear became the only constants in her life and Temperance had hoped that her new husband would take her away from all that--she had hoped wrong. He seemed to love causing her pain and shame in any way that he could and Temperance began to realize that only through death would she ever have any relief…

  Then came the day when her husband’s brother returned home. The war was long over, but he’d fought for the confederacy and just been released from a prison camp and allowed to get back to his life. He seemed broken and it wasn’t only the injuries to his body that made him seem that way--his soul seemed just as scarred as her own.

  Temperance knows that this man, or men like him, had taken her father and brother from her, she knows that she should not desire him because he is not only her brother-in-law but blood relation to the monster she called her husband, but none of that seems to matter.

  Just as she had lost her family, was found by a slave trader and sold into marriage, she found herself falling in love with the fallen soldier completely against her will.

  Woman’s photo provided by © Can Stock Photo Inc. / arturkurjan

  www.canstockphoto.com

  [1. Historical – Fiction 2. Romance ]

  Nicole Sturgill

  Copyright 2014 by Nicole Sturgill

  All rights reserved.

  Chapter One

  Temperance laughed as she ran through the tall grass and her skirts whipped around her ankles. Her sisters giggled as she chased them, letting them stray ahead of her before closing the distance and then once again falling back.

  It felt amazing to hear their laughter and see their cherub faces flushed with happiness as their blond braids danced around their shoulders. For so long life had been such a struggle and while money was still tight, food was still scarce and their clothes were still threadbare, at least the war was finally over!

  The papers had been full of news about the end of the war between the states. The Union had been successful and a declaration had been issued. The Confederacy had surrendered. It meant that their western Virginia home here in the rolling mountains would once again be filled with their entire family just as soon as Temperance’s father and two older brothers made it home. It meant that the fields would soon be full of crops once again. It meant that her brothers would once again be working in town and it meant that the cupboards would once again be full of food, the smokehouse full of meat, the wardrobes full of clothes, their feet encased in shoes and their home overflowing with laughter.

  It had been four long years since her, her sisters, or her mama had seen the three men--and the boys would be grown men now. Thomas had been fifteen when they’d left and Gregory seventeen. Temperance could hardly remember what her papa looked like and figured she’d never know her brothers until they introduced themselves. She had only been eleven years old the last time she had seen any of them. Her youngest sister, Charlotte was only three and a half now and had never even met the rest of her family and six year old Jessica didn’t remember them.

  Temperance couldn’t wait to have everyone together again! And she knew her mother was overjoyed as well. The woman had been polishing the house until it shone, sewing new dresses and filling the house with beautiful singing since they’d received news two weeks ago that the war was over.

  Now it was simply a waiting game until word spread throughout all the troops and the men found their way home.

  Temperance hoped it wouldn’t be too long… she was a papa’s girl and longed to feel his strong arms hugging her close again. Everything in the whole world had always felt better and safer when her papa had hugged her.

  After topping over the last of the rises their meager cabin home came into view and Charlotte plopped down in the grass. “Char, you’re going to stain your dress!” Jessica scolded, panting for breath as she did so.

  “You sound just like, mama,” Temperance informed the bossy girl as she caught up to them and then plopped down in the grass beside her youngest sister.

  Jessica giggled, “You’re going to stain your dress as well.”

  Temperance feigned shock, “Well come on then, dearest sister, don’t let us be the only ones that earn a scolding from mama!”

  She grabbed a squealing Jessica around the waist and pulled the girl into the grass. Charlotte laughed and began to tickle Jessica until she begged for mercy.

  The girls sat companionably side by side and then Jessica frowned and pointed toward the barn. “Tempy, who’s horse is that tied up?”

  Temperance’s eyes sought out the horse and she saw the Union insignia upon the sacks on its back. Her heart pounded. Were her papa and brothers home so soon? If so, why was there only one horse?

  “It’s papa!” Charlotte exclaimed and she jumped to her bare feet. Her chubby legs scampered down the hill as she yelled out for papa again and again.

  Temperance couldn’t contain her own excitement either as she too got to her feet, raised up her skirts and raced after her sister with Jessica hot on her heels.

  Her mother’s wails broke through the quiet afternoon air and Temperance froze just feet away from the porch of their home. Jessica and Charlotte stood in the doorway of the house with fear and uncertainty on their flushed faces as they gazed inside.

  Their mother’s sobs were almost inhuman and full of so much sorrow and pain that it filled Temperance with fear. Her mother was not a woman who cried. She was strong-willed and tough. She had been raising three girls all on her own for four years and was the type of woman who took things in stride.

  Whatever the man inside had said to her mother had to have been terrible.

  Temperance pushed past her sisters and entered the cabin. Her mother was on her knees in front of the fireplace with a picture clutched against her chest as she stared up at the ceiling and wailed. Temperance knew the picture was one of her family, taken before Charlotte had been born and before the war had taken her brothers and father away from home.

  Temperance’s heart was pounding and full of uncertainty as she took in the sight of the man standing awkwardly in front of her mother. He had his blue hat clutched in his hands as he stood there in his full soldier attire. The black mustache on his face quivered as he looked down at the sobbing woman before him and his blue eyes were rimmed with red. His face was extremely skinny and very pale.

  This wasn’t her father or her one of her brothers. Her brothe
rs had red hair just like her and their mother. Their father was blond like her sisters.

  “Who are you?” Temperance demanded. “What have you done to my mother?!”

  The man whirled around and his eyes widened as he took in the sight of Temperance and the two girls who were now clutching onto her skirts. Temperance spared a glance at her mother but the woman didn’t seem to notice they were there as she remained lost in her overwhelming grief…

  But grief over what?

  Temperance thought she might know but prayed she was wrong. Please God, it had to be wrong. They’d just received a letter days before in their father’s hand that the men were fine and hopeful the war would end soon. It had been dated a few weeks before but they had been fine then…. They had to be coming home.

  “Ma’am’s, I’m sorry… I didn’t do nothing to your mama, I promise,” the man insisted, his throat bobbing.

  “Mama’s crying,” Charlotte whispered as she chewed on her lip. Her wide innocent eyes gazed up at Temperance full of tears, “Why mama cry?”

  Temperance patted her head and turned her attention back to the man. Her gaze made it clear she was waiting for an answer. The man shifted his scuffed black boots on the uneven planks of wood on the floor, “It’s not news fit for young ears,” he assured her.

  Temperance’s heart shattered as her worst fears were realized. She looked at her broken mother and knew she could not fall apart. The girls would need her to be the strong one since their mother could not.

  She crouched down and looked into the confused eyes of her sisters, “Both of you need to go out to the barn and make sure the cow and mule have enough food, water and hay. Stay out there until I come for you.”

  “But, Tempy, something is wrong! I want to know what’s wrong,” Jessica stubbornly argued.

  Temperance shook her head and pointed toward the door, “You will do as I say, Jessica. Now go.” She patted both girls gently on the backside as they clutched hands and went out the door. Charlotte seemed more confused than ever and Jessica was stomping, clearly angry and hurt over being made to leave.

  Temperance let out a long, weary sigh, shoved herself to her feet and turned to face the man once again who rubbed at his neck with his bony hand and glanced at her mother still sobbing on the floor.

  “Now what news have you brought with you?” Temperance asked.

  “You are a set of young ears, ma’am… I don’t know if I should tell you.”

  “I am fifteen years old, sir, and plenty old enough to hear what it is you have to say. My mother will need my help in dealing with my sisters so I need to know what’s going on. Clearly she is in no shape to tell me herself.”

  “Miss, it’s too bad…” he shook his head.

  Temperance stomped her foot, “You will tell me! Do you know my brothers and my father?” her voice broke as she spoke of her father but she kept her chin strong and her shoulders back.

  The man looked down at the toes of his boots. “Yes, I knew them.”

  Temperance’s body shook with despair though she made no sound. The man had just said he knew them--past tense.

  “And do you bring us news of them?” she whispered, finding that her voice refused to speak any louder.

  “Yes,” the man croaked. “I promised your father, Joseph, that if anything happened to him I would see to his family.”

  “Surely my brothers can see to us,” Temperance countered, her eyes getting lost in space as she stared into nothing. Her body felt numb--almost weightless… dead.

  “Miss, your father and brothers were victims of a raid just over two weeks ago. They aren’t coming home, miss. Well at least not alive. I accompanied their caskets here and have them waiting in town….”

  The room began to spin. Caskets? All three of them?

  “You’re lying…” she countered, shaking her head and stumbling back several steps. She tripped over the rug and nearly fell. The man reached out for her but she slapped his hands away. “You’re lying!” she screamed this time.

  He shook his head as a tear fell down his gaunt cheek. “I’m not. I wish I were. I loved those men like brothers… we fought side by side from the beginning.”

  Temperance couldn’t focus. Her mind raced, her heart cried, the room seemed to be in a never ending spiral. It was hard to focus. Blackness began to edge into her vision.

  She cried out for her papa just as she lost hold of her consciousness and crumpled to the floor.

  Chapter Two

  The man, Robert Thompson, had been there when Temperance had awaken later that evening. He had cooked a meager supper of beans and potatoes for the ladies and while Temperance and her mother had been unable to bring themselves to eat, Jessica and Charlotte had filled their bellies.

  Later that night, Robert had pulled Temperance and her mother Herriot aside. “Ma’am’s, I need to know where you want the caskets? A funeral and burial in town or…”

  “There isn’t money for that,” Herriot stated bluntly, causing Temperance to frown. It was her mother’s voice but the words sounded distant and cold. And those green eyes lacked any of the warmth her mother had once possessed.

  Robert tipped his head and coughed lightly into his arm. Temperance noticed he seemed more pale than he had earlier. She felt sorry for him. To have fought so hard for so long and now be playing nursemaid to a bunch of women simply because he had made a promise to a dying man to do so must be terrible. She was sure all the man wanted was a nice long rest.

  Temperance swallowed hard and fought back yet another wave of pain at the knowledge of what had become of half her family. When she once again met Robert’s eyes he was gazing at her gently. She forced a smile, “We’ll bury them here at home.”

  Robert nodded. “I’ll go collect them in the morning for you. I’m real sorry about all of this…” Robert’s voice tailed off as Herriot, wandered away, going through the door beside the kitchen and disappearing inside the bedroom she had once shared with Temperance’s father. The door closed with a resounding click.

  “I had better get the girls cleaned up and ready for bed,” Temperance announced. “They’ll have a million questions I’m sure.”

  Robert nodded and tipped his head toward the door. “I’ll go outside and get to work. Do you happen to know where the shovel would be?”

  Temperance shivered. “The barn. There is a stall full of tools and it will be in there.”

  “Thank you, miss.” Robert ran his hand through his thick black hair and then disappeared out the door.

  Temperance was simply going through the motions as she helped her sisters clean up and dress for bed. They were unusually quiet and Temperance knew they were upset and confused over the tension and sadness in the house.

  As Temperance tucked them both into the bed the three of them shared in the loft, Jessica finally spoke, “Tempy, did something happen to papa, Gregory and Thomas?”

  Temperance swallowed hard and felt her eyes burn. She couldn’t lie to them. They would see the caskets for themselves tomorrow. “Yes,” she whispered. “They won’t be coming home to us alive.”

  Jessica immediately began to cry. “What does that mean, Tempy?” Charlotte whispered, her innocent three year old heart not fully understanding.

  “They have gone to heaven, Char,” Temperance’s voice broke, “They died.”

  It was several long and taxing hours later before Jessica and Charlotte finally drifted off to sleep with tears still drying on their red faces. While they hadn’t truly remembered the family they’d lost they had fallen in love with the stories--the idea of what would be--and now all that had been ripped away from them.

  Temperance had changed into her nightdress but knew that sleep was not going to come soon. She grabbed her knitted shawl and slipped down the ladder. She entered her mama’s room and found the woman still wearing her dress, curled up upon the bed and staring into space.

  Temperance swallowed hard and walked to the edge of the bed. “Mama?” she whisper
ed.

  There was no response. Her mother didn’t even bat a lash to let Temperance know she sensed her presence.

  “Mama, I got Jessica and Charlotte to bed. Robert is going to help us lay papa, Gregory and Thomas to rest tomorrow. We’ll be okay, mama. You take your time to heal and I’ll make sure everything else is taken care of….”

  Temperance kissed her mother’s cheek. She grabbed a quilt from the hope chest at the foot of the bed and draped it over her mother’s still form. With one last glance at the woman, Temperance left the room and closed the door.

  She leaned there against the closed door for several long moments, simply breathing and fighting back her own sadness and worry. She had no idea how things were going to be okay but she had to have faith. Her mama was a good seamstress and if they moved into town she could make a fairly good living--much better than she made living three hours away. Temperance was old enough to get a job cleaning at the hotel or working in the diner. Everything would be okay--it had to be.

  She wrapped her shawl tight around her shoulders to ward off the chilly May night air and stepped onto the porch and the glow of the lantern light that was hanging beside the door. She sat down in the rickety rocking chair and looked out over the rolling hills and the mountains in the distance. They were lit up by the moonlight and an eerie calm seemed to have fallen over everything.

  “It’s awful late, miss. You should be resting.” Robert’s voice was suddenly filling the night and Temperance let out a squeak and covered her pounding heart with her hand.

  “You scared me!” she accused as she turned to look at him.

  He tipped his head and offered a sad smile, “Sorry, miss.”

  Temperance sighed and watched him as he sat sideways on the steps. She studied his profile in the lantern light. He had pulled off his uniform jacket and wore a white tunic tucked into his pants. He was skinny and pale and his clothes were stained with sweat and dirt. Dirt also streaked his bony hands and sunken cheeks--probably from digging her family’s graves.