by Sara Orwig
Caleb frowned and paused. “Burned?”
“Yes. Now I want to hear about Memphis and what news you can bring,” he said as they entered the parlor.
“Maybe Memphis was more fortunate than I realized,” Caleb remarked.
Amity was seated on the settee, and Sophia sat down facing her. Caleb sank down beside Amity as she smiled. “Sophia told me I could tell you, Papa. She stabbed a Yankee officer.”
Suddenly embarrassed, Sophia’s cheeks flamed as all of them looked at her and Caleb smiled. “So you told Amity,” he said softly.
“Good heavens, child, you stabbed a Yankee! We’ll drink the first toast to that!” Ormonde Therrie said.
“He’ll live,” she answered. “I stabbed him in the shoulder, but that’s why Caleb thought I should leave Memphis.”
“Enough reason.”
“Actually, sir, we’re both wanted by the Federals, but I don’t think we’ll be in danger in New Orleans. I brought Sophia, because she has no family in Memphis. Her brothers are fighting in the East and she’s wanted by the Yankees for sedition. She printed a newspaper loyal to the Confederacy.”
Ormonde Therrie smiled at her. “Miss Merrick, I admire your abilities and spirit! We’re honored to have such a guest.”
“Thank you, sir. I kept the family paper going for my brothers.”
“Miss Merrick, our home is your home,” Ormonde Therrie said. “And anyone who is brave enough to stab a Yankee is always welcome here. I heard that you wore a Yankee uniform to Shiloh and you brought Will Stanton and Caleb back to Memphis when they were wounded.”
“Yes, sir. And thank you. Both of you have made me feel so welcome,” she said, seeing the pleasure light Caleb’s eyes.
“What’s the war news in this area?” Caleb asked.
“We have Beast Butler in charge in New Orleans. The man is impossible,” Ormonde replied. Sophia listened as he told about the assault on New Orleans by Admiral Farragut and the wild night when the Union seized the town. While he talked, she glanced at Caleb and caught him looking at her, his gaze sweeping over her. When he met her eyes, he winked and turned back to Ormonde.
“You have to stay at least one night with us before you go to town,” Amity said.
“I insist, Caleb. I know you can’t wait to get back to your brothers, but we want to spend some time with you, too.”
“I’d planned to stay here tonight, and tomorrow if you’ll give us horses, we’ll go to town.”
“We’ll take you if that’s all right with you,” Ormonde said. “Rafferty just returned home two days ago, so this will be a wonderful homecoming and what a surprise.”
Sophia felt compelled to turn and caught Caleb studying her again. She blushed and faced Ormonde.
“Where’s Blaise?” Caleb asked and Ormonde frowned.
“She stays at her house in town. She’s rarely here anymore.” Ormonde glanced at Sophia. “My wife,” he said stiffly, and Sophia realized something was wrong between Mr. and Mrs. Therrie.
They sat and talked for the next two hours and then Amity said she wanted to show Sophia the house.
Sophia felt overwhelmed as they walked through the spacious rooms filled with treasures. “This is so beautiful. Thank heavens it wasn’t burned.”
“Papa says we still may not be safe. We don’t go into town often. Twice Yankees have come and taken horses and livestock, but Papa said let them have anything they want. Once one came in the house and Papa made me hide. The soldier took silver candlesticks and Papa let him have them without protest. He said we’d get along better that way. Some things are buried in the yard now. I hate this war. I don’t want Will to go back to fighting. I don’t want Caleb to go either.”
They ate in the large dining room while a servant pulled the rope for the punkah, stirring a cool breeze and afterward they sat on the upstairs gallery. A breeze came off the river and crickets and frogs were a background chorus.
“You have brothers away fighting don’t you? Was it three brothers?” Amity asked.
“Amos was killed in Shenandoah,” she replied. “Morris is with General Jackson and John is with General Lee, but I haven’t heard from either of them for months. Now their letters won’t get to me.”
Caleb reached out in the dark to take her hand and lace his fingers through hers.
Ormonde stood up. “I’ll bid you young folks good night. I’ll see you in the morning, Caleb. Miss Merrick, we’re so happy to have you here.”
“Thank you, sir, for welcoming me into your home.”
Amity rocked. “Now you can almost forget the war. It’s so quiet and peaceful and still here. Caleb, how soon are you leaving?”
“I haven’t decided. I’ll stay for a time.”
“I wish you’d never go back. I wish none of you would go. Papa says our lives are all changed now anyway. He doesn’t think it’ll ever be the same again. He thinks Rafferty is right to build a future and avoid battles. Of course, he’s in as much danger running the blockade. He’s lost one ship.”
“I didn’t know that,” Caleb said, stroking Sophia’s knuckles with his thumb, a sensual slight stroking, yet stirring longing in her.
While they talked, Sophia was intensely aware of him, wanting to touch him, wanting to be in his arms. All evening long he had watched her.
Finally Amity stood up. “I’m going to bed. If you want me, Sophia, my room is next to yours.”
“Thank you,” she said, standing. “I should go to bed, too.”
“Wait a minute, Sophia,” Caleb said quietly. “We need to make some plans for tomorrow.”
She sat down again as Amity left them. He stood and pulled her up and went to lean against the wall, pulling her against him between his legs.
“Caleb, we’re not alone!”
“I know we’re not, dammit. You’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen,” he said softly, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her. She clung to him, leaning against him, returning his kisses.
He bent his head, trailing kisses along her throat down to the neckline of the dress, his tongue touching her bare skin, inflaming her.
“Caleb, I love you,” she whispered. “But we’re not alone and Amity could come back out and I’d be so embarrassed.”
“It would make it a lot easier if I could tell everyone we’re going to marry.”
She framed his face with her hands. “I love you and I need your strength and if I could hold you here forever I would, but you may feel so differently when you come back. Reason says to wait. And I better go to my room before you destroy my good name.”
“I’d like to destroy it,” he said, sliding his hand beneath the neck of her dress over her full breast. His touch made her ache for more, for a night in his arms.
She drew a sharp breath and allowed him to caress her for minutes before she caught his wrist and turned it to kiss his hand. “Oh, Caleb. I want to be with you.” Knowing she should go, she left him.
The bed was turned down for her with one of Amity’s fancy gowns laid out. When Sophia slid against the cool sheet, she lay in the darkness, thinking about Caleb’s proposal, wondering if she could survive when he went to war. She wanted to be his wife, wanted to marry him, but did he truly love her or was it the wild circumstances they were caught in? Would he come home and feel differently toward her? Would he return and wish he hadn’t married in haste? She wanted to marry him, but nagging doubts continued to pursue her. Would he change with a long absence? Could they get along for a lifetime when they had so many differences? Yet how big were the differences? Already she took an occasional sip of brandy. Now she could see why he thought the railroads were good for Memphis. She thrashed in bed, feeling uncertain, worried, fearful about his going. But she was certain of only one thing: she loved him completely.
She hadn’t had a chance yet to ask him about being wanted for sedition. Would she ever be able to go back to Memphis?
After lunch on Thursday she climbed into a buggy beside Amity with both men in front
and they headed toward New Orleans. When they rode into the city, she was entranced with the shuttered houses and the ornate wrought-iron balconies, the narrow streets and fancy buildings. The afternoon was steamy hot, and she dabbed at her forehead with a handkerchief, yearning for a breeze. Union soldiers were everywhere and Caleb wore civilian clothing with a broad-brimmed hat pulled low over his eyes. Finally they turned into a carriage house and he helped her down.
“We made it here,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze.
Darcy came running from the house and threw his arms around Caleb who hugged him in return. “Cal, you’re home. Did you bring Fortune?”
“No, but he’s promised to come soon. Darcy, you remember Miss Merrick. Sophia, this is Darcy, my youngest brother.”
They were in a palm-filled courtyard with a fountain splashing in the center. Through a doorway, a woman emerged, smiling and walking toward them. She was round with the expected baby, but when Sophia looked at her face, she thought Chantal O’Brien was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Her golden hair was shiny, her black eyes sparkled.
“Caleb!”
“Chantal! You’re beautiful.”
She laughed and patted her middle. “And very big!”
“Chantal, this is Miss Sophia Merrick. Sophia, this is my sister-in-law, Chantal O’Brien.”
“I’m so happy to meet you,” Chantal said. “Come inside. Rafferty is at the office, but he will be home soon and we have such a surprise for him.”
They went through a cool shadowed hallway and upstairs to a long parlor with a view of the city. As soon as they were seated, Amity glanced at her. “Sophia, I have to tell Chantal—Sophia stabbed a Yankee officer!”
“My word!”
“He’s still alive. It was in the shoulder, but I had to leave Memphis,” Sophia explained.
“I’m so sorry,” Chantal said.
A door slammed, and Darcy jumped up to run from the room. Sophia’s curiosity arose about the oldest O’Brien. Caleb had talked about Rafferty often. She heard boots on the stairs and then a tall, handsome, black-haired man entered the room. His eyes were as blue as Fortune’s, his face thinner. All three older brothers had the same charming smile as he looked from her to Caleb.
“Caleb!”
Caleb crossed the room to hug his brother and she still couldn’t see much resemblance between them beyond their smiles. Caleb was inches shorter, thicker through the shoulders with a squarer face. Caleb’s skin was darker, his hair lighter, tightly curled, and brown.
“Sophia, meet my oldest brother, Rafferty O’Brien. Rafe, this is Miss Sophia Merrick from Memphis.”
“She had to leave because she stabbed a Yankee,” Darcy said, studying her.
“Welcome to New Orleans. You’re a brave lady.”
She blushed as she greeted Rafferty, and then he turned to welcome Amity and Ormonde. Before long they were all seated talking, Caleb listening to Rafe’s tales about the blockade.
It was almost time for dinner, and Chantal showed Sophia the room that she would share with Amity. As they left the room, she heard Rafe call Caleb aside.
Caleb followed his brother downstairs to the long room that Rafe used for an office. As soon as they were alone, Rafe opened a drawer and pulled out a paper.
Caleb glanced at it. “I’m wanted for leading Confederate raids into Memphis.”
“You rode right through town to come here. That’s wild, Caleb.”
“This is a busy seaport. No one paid any attention to us.”
“And Miss Merrick stabbed a Yankee?”
“He attacked her, and she defended herself. That’s why she left Memphis. She was printing an inflammatory Confederate paper at her house and the Federals have been searching for the person who’s been printing it. I knew they’d be back to search her house and they’d find the press so I took her with me and left.”
“Then you’re both wanted.”
“Yes. Fortune caught up with us on the road south to tell me. She’s subject to arrest and prison. I have a bounty on my head. I don’t think I led anyone here.”
“I’m not scared for my sake. What are your plans?” Rafe asked.
“That’s what I wanted to ask you. Sophia doesn’t have a price on her head, and there won’t be any posters here. The arrest warrant is because of the paper she printed. The Yankee hasn’t told anyone that she stabbed him. He said he was hurt in an accident. I want to return to the war. The only family she has are two brothers who are fighting in the East. Can she stay with you?”
“Of course. We’re not suffering badly from shortages because of my running the blockade. We’re making a huge profit, Cal, and I’m still selling some things to the Confederacy, some to the highest bidder, and some things I’ve given the Confederacy. I’ve given things to the Federals, too. I don’t think the South will win this war.”
“I haven’t thought so since Shiloh,” Caleb agreed.
“Most of our money is in a bank in England, because it’s safe there. Blockade running exceeds my wildest dreams and we’ll come out of this war—if we survive it—rich men.”
“How much danger are you in?”
“How much are you in on the battlefield?”
Caleb glanced out the long windows at people passing on the street. “It was hell at Shiloh. I never knew war could be so bad. So many men I knew killed.” He looked at Rafe. “There were over twenty thousand wounded or killed or missing in the two days we fought.”
“I heard. I wondered if the figures were correct. I’m in danger, but not as much as you. It’s dangerous when we reach our coast and try to land and unload; sometimes it’s dangerous sailing, but most of the time we have the sea to ourselves and have hours when there’s nothing to worry us.”
“I’ve asked her to marry me,” Caleb said abruptly.
Rafe’s head came up and he placed his hands on his hips and grinned. “I never thought I’d see the day! Congrat—”
“Wait a minute,” Caleb said, moving around the office restlessly. “She thinks we should wait until the war is over and life if normal.”
Rafe frowned. “Sorry, Cal. When I think what I went through to win Chantal—I’m sorry.”
“She thinks we may feel differently when life settles again. If it ever does. I hate what people may think about her traveling here with me.”
“You didn’t ask her for that reason, did you?”
Caleb turned to look into Rafe’s eyes. “What do you think?”
“No. Sorry. We’ll take care of her, and she can stay at Belle Destin with Amity part of the time if she likes. You’d be safer at Belle Destin.”
“I don’t want to cause trouble for either you or Ormonde.”
“Don’t worry. You won’t if you don’t roam through town,” Rafe warned.
“I’ve heard Beauregard was replaced by Bragg.”
“That’s right. You can always sail with me if you’d rather get into blockade running.”
“No. I’ll join Bragg’s men again.”
“Cal, who’s this Will Stanton? Amity writes him regularly and talks about him often.”
“Will is a fine person. Sophia saved both of us as Shiloh and took us to Memphis. Will recuperated at home and I was at Sophia’s. Will and I hope to go into the railroad business together after the war. We’ve bought an old depot and a railroad.”
“You’re not coming back to New Orleans to live?” Rafferty asked, studying him.
“No, I plan to return to Memphis. It’s not so far when the trains are running. I like Memphis, Rafe, and I think I can build a railroad that will be important.”
“I hate to lose you, and you may change your mind. If you have a sound proposal, I’ll invest in it.”
“When the time comes, you’ll hear about it in great detail. You’ll like Will, too.”
“I’m glad to hear. It worried me because he lives away from New Orleans and it’s wartime and people do foolish things. You’d be safer if you’d sail with me.”
Caleb watched a buggy pass in the street and turned around. “I think the Confederacy is important to Sophia. I feel I need to fight for her sake, for the Therries. It seems something we’re all caught in and can’t stop.”
“It’s not our fight.”
“It’s mine now because of Sophia.”
Rafe nodded. “Just try to survive.”
“When are you going out again? Where’ll you go?”
“I’m not going until our baby is born. Chantal’s time is only two months away, and I won’t leave her. How’s Fortune? When is he coming to New Orleans?”
“He said as soon as possible. You won’t know him. He’s taller than you are. I guess he wrote you about his marriage.”
“Yes. I can’t imagine him having a wife and child.”
“They’re no longer alive.”
“He wrote all about it. I just pray you both don’t end up on the same battlefield. I hear from Tobias Barr. He’s fighting for the North. He had his own furniture business in Chicago before the war started.”
“I hope I don’t face him in battle either. It was so bad, Rafe. I never dreamed it would be that bad.”
“I never would have guessed fighting would be difficult for you. You’re a hunter and a fighter.”
“Not like this. Wholesale senseless slaughter.” He moved away from the window. “I’m going to bathe and change. Thanks for taking Sophia into your house. She’s never been away from Memphis.”
“She’s beautiful, Cal.”
“I think so.” He left, climbing steps to his room.
That night as he sat across from Sophia, he couldn’t take his eyes from her. Beneath Chantal’s and Amity’s guidance and wearing their silk dresses, Sophia blossomed into a breathtaking beauty. She was in a scarlet silk dress, her blue eyes sparkled and her cheeks were rosy. Her hair was the latest fashion, parted in the center, turned under behind her head. She turned to look into his eyes, and he saw the flicker in the depths of hers as she gazed back at him.
He ached to pull her into his arms and he knew he wouldn’t get her alone in this house filled with people.
As they sat and talked the third night, he was tense, anxious for dinner to end. He was going back to battle and he wasn’t leaving without getting to be alone with Sophia. Before dinner Caleb had made plans to get Sophia to himself as soon as they were finished eating. Dining at Rafe’s was usually long, leisurely, and enjoyable, but tonight Caleb couldn’t wait to finish.
