A Corner of Heaven

by Raine Cantrell

  “A pity she’s married, Colter. However, I would be most pleased—”

  “Brice.” The soft but unmistakable warning in Colter’s voice captured the officer’s immediate attention. “Mrs. Waring and her husband are old friends of mine. She has just informed me that James was lost at Shiloh.”

  The change in Brice’s demeanor was startling. Elizabeth accepted his sincerely offered sympathy, but inwardly she cringed. The whole situation seemed fraudulent, somehow. As Colter introduced Lieutenant Colonel Andre Laurent, Elizabeth found her hand brought to his lips before she could refuse, and the warmth in his eyes expressed an offer she didn’t dare acknowledge.

  Last was Captain Hugh Morgan. She responded to both Colter’s affectionate tone and the young captain’s warm smile. Brice motioned Colter to his side. Elizabeth tried to murmur her excuses, wanting to escape, but Colter merely glared at her.

  “I won’t be long.”

  “Walker’s gonna throw a fit seven ways to the devil if we’re late, Colter. She’s charming, and I fully understand your reluctance to join the secretary of war and his staff when such a young, lovely widow is in need of consoling, but she’ll keep.”

  “You misunderstood me, Brice.” Colter lowered his voice so that Elizabeth would not overhear them. “Her husband is listed as missing, not dead. Mrs. Waring has always had my utmost respect and I expect you to act accordingly.” Placing his hand on the younger man’s shoulder, Colter grinned. “But you can buy me a few minutes’ time, can’t you? I really do need to talk to her. There seems to be some family crisis that I may be able to assist—”

  “Say no more.” Brice set his hat on his head with the wide brim tilted forward. “Hugh, I do believe the colonel’s bay has thrown a shoe. If you’ll tend to it, Andre and I will make his apologies to the secretary.”

  They took their leave quickly but respectfully from Elizabeth. Colter once again took her arm and led her around the corner of the building. It wasn’t private, but it would have to do. He sheltered her with his body from the prying eyes of passersby.

  “I want you to listen to me,” he began. “First, explain why you are in rooms outside the city? What happened to the Waring town house? Better still, tell me why you’re not with James’s family? Petersburg has been kept safe from the fighting.”

  “It was Mother Waring’s decision to sell all the Richmond properties.” She was tempted to escape into the bustling street, knowing that Colter would not stop his interrogation until he had heard everything. Bowing her head, she tried to conceal the weariness that had taken its toll these past few months. Why, today of all days, did Colter have to come to Richmond? He would never accept the fact that he had no right to ask her anything. And fleetingly, Elizabeth wondered why she couldn’t lie to him.

  Colter leaned one shoulder against the building’s wall, barely listening to the constant squeaks and rattles of lumbering wagons passing. He was, he thought, exercising a great deal of patience. It was difficult to temper his need for answers when she was so reluctant to supply them.

  Removing one of his gray gauntlets and tucking it into his sash, he brushed his thumb across her cheek, then raised her chin. “Tell me what’s happened to you. No judgments, Elizabeth. I care and need to know what I can do to help you.”

  “If you truly mean that, leave me alone.”

  “You request the impossible of me.”

  The gentleness of his touch proved almost too much. Elizabeth could fight his arrogance, his anger and his mockery, but not this. Tears formed and she blinked them back, but not before Colter caught one on his fingertip. She watched him bring that tiny bit of moisture to his lips.

  The tip of his tongue licked it. His eyes narrowed all the while, staring intently into her own.

  Elizabeth felt a warmth unfurl inside; she couldn’t turn away.

  “It isn’t sweet, love. No tears from such bruised eyes could be. You remember how stubborn I am.”

  “Yes. Yes, I remember.”

  “So you’ll tell me what I want to know.”

  Elizabeth found the decorative gold braid on his sleeve far easier to look at than the intensity of his gaze. “There isn’t much to tell. I’ve been through no more and no less than most women in the South.”

  “Don’t feed me that pious pap!” Her stricken look forced a barely polite apology, but it didn’t stop his desire to take hold of her arms and shake the answers from her. Colter reminded himself that she was another man’s wife, not his to demand anything of. Elizabeth couldn’t be his.

  She studied the deep creases at the corners of his eyes, the straight-bladed nose, the curve of his lips that had taught her pleasure. Her gaze lingered on the faint thin scar that marred his high-boned cheek.

  Colter, as if he had sensed her thought, touched it. “A careless move against a saber. I was lucky with this one.”

  “There were others?” The thought of Colter being hurt…no, what was she thinking? She mustn’t care about him.

  “All minor. Stop distracting me. Shall I repeat—”

  “No.” Her voice was clipped as she cut him off. Colter was always fierce in his desire to have his demand met at the moment he expressed it. Resentment flooded her. She was a woman now, not the half-grown child he had carelessly led on and deserted. And she was quite comfortable with her independence, if not the manner in which she achieved it.

  “James’s mother didn’t care for my conduct. It was not her idea of what befitted a grieving, proper Confederate widow. She expected me to pray for hours and refuse all condolence calls. She even attempted to lock me in my room. Her son, she claimed, deserved that much from me. When I tried—”

  “She cast you out?”

  “That doesn’t surprise you. No, of course not. I had forgotten how well you knew the Warings. Alma then proceeded to turn the family against me.”

  “Elizabeth, did you love James so much—”

  “Never ask me that. You truly have no right to.”

  The proud set of her head, the spark of fury in her eyes and the color flagging in her cheeks stopped him from debating the point. He conceded this tiny skirmish to her with a curt nod.

  “I will tell you that I cannot grieve for James because I don’t believe that he is dead. And if anyone is to blame for my leaving the family, it’s me. The constant bickering, along with what they were trying to do to Nicole forced my decision.”

  “Nicole? I don’t remember anyone with that name.”

  Drawing a shaky breath and slowly releasing it to control the urge to scream, Elizabeth paled and clutched the edges of her mantle. “I should have remembered the cruelty you’re capable of, Colter.” She stepped back and pivoted away from him, weariness cast aside under a surge of rage.

  “What’s come over you, Elizabeth? Stop backing away from me as if I were going to attack you!”

  “How dare you pretend you don’t know? How dare you! James relished telling me every detail of his last meeting with you.”

  Colter eased away from the wall slowly. Alarmed by her wild-eyed look, he stalked her.

  “Colter!”

  He spun around at the sound of Hugh’s voice, still bewildered by Elizabeth’s accusations.

  “Brice sent me to find you, Colter. Walker is demanding your presence.”

  Torn between duty and his own need, Colter glared at him. “A few minutes more.” He faced Elizabeth. “Where exactly are you staying? I must leave, but Hugh will arrange an escort for you and we’ll continue this conversation later.”

  “That is unnecessary. I don’t want anything from you, Colter. I certainly have no desire to see you again.”

  “But I intend to know why you’ve lashed out at me for no reason!”

  “No reason? Will that be the needed sop to your pride? Must you hear the admission from me? Didn’t you believe James when he told you about Nicole?”

  “I haven’t seen James in four years. Not since the day I sailed for England.” His accusing voice stabbed the air be
tween them. “If your husband told you differently, he lied. Now, who the devil is Nicole?”

  “She’s our child. Nicole is our daughter, Colter.”

  Chapter Two

  “Colter,” Hugh warned again, motioning to several people who stopped to stare at the shouting couple to move on.

  “Christ!” Colter’s voice became a strangled groan. They had a child! He turned away from her, his mind reeling. A child? His vision wavered and he had to brace himself against the wall to keep from stumbling. His shoulders heaved as he struggled to breathe.

  He was grateful that Hugh came to his side and lent the strength of his shoulder for him to lean upon. Colter brushed his hand over his eyes as if to clear them. She was lying! She had to be lying! He shoved Hugh away, but when he spun around, it was to see the last of Elizabeth’s skirt hem disappearing around the corner.

  “Elizabeth! Damn you! Come back here!”

  Hugh grabbed his arm before he could start after her. “I’ll go after her, Colter. You’d best get to the meeting.”

  Turning to Hugh, Colter made no attempt to hide his anguish. “Find her. I don’t care how you do it, just find her.”

  Leroy Walker, the Confederate secretary of war, sat behind his desk, his receding hairline streaked with the same gray as his beard. When Colter entered the room, Walker glanced pointedly at his mantel clock, heard Colter’s brief apology for being late and offered a curt nod.

  Seated beside Brice, Colter, of necessity, banished Elizabeth from his thoughts and watched the secretary scan some correspondence before placing it in his portfolio.

  Brice gave him a whispered summation of the discussion he had missed. Two months before, in September, Lincoln had declared his intention of issuing a proclamation to free all slaves as of January 1, 1863. The secretary informed them of various reactions, concluding with the opinion that Lincoln’s political opponents and several supporters exhibited uncommon good sense in condemning the plan.

  Walker cleared his throat and set aside the last of his papers. “When you are ready, Colonel.”

  Andre handed Colter his map case along with a mocking smile that irritated Colter as he opened the case and spread two small but detailed maps on the clean surface of the desk.

  “Sir, before I explain General Lee’s intent, I would like to inform you that the rumors are confirmed. Since McClellan procrastinated so long in crossing the Potomac, Lincoln has relieved him of command of the Army of the Potomac and appointed Ambrose Burnside.”

  “Burnside, is it? I’m not questioning the validity of your information, Saxton. I know your reliability too well. But you are aware that Burnside refused this commission twice before.”

  “True, sir, he did. But this is confirmed.”

  “This should amuse President Davis. Lincoln set a great store by McClellan. I am given to understand that he was insulted by his fair-haired general more than once. But I digress. His background?”

  “Brice,” Colter ordered, and then stepped aside for him to stand at attention before the secretary.

  Without embellishment, Brice reported Burnside’s background. “He successfully led the expedition that captured Roanoke Island from us in January of this year. McClellan gave Burnside command of one wing of his army at South Mountain and Sharpsburg. With all due respect, sir, our forces are in agreement that due to his delay in crossing early that day, we were stopped from suffering a crushing defeat.”

  “Yes,” Walker agreed. “I recall Lee mentioning that in his report to the president.”

  Brice returned to his seat and Colter motioned Andre forward.

  “By all accounts,” Andre stated in his softly drawled voice, “Burnside does not feel that he is competent to command such a large army. Although he spent several days being briefed by McClellan, indications are that Burnside does not agree with McClellan’s plan to keep our armies separated. But Colonel Saxton will explain further.”

  “With our General Longstreet near Culpeper and Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, sir, McClellan had intended to stop them from uniting. He had a good chance to do it, too, since it would take two days of hard marching for our forces to join.” Pointing to one of the maps, Colter continued.

  “Our reports indicate that Burnside is marching along the north bank of Rappahannock toward Fredericksburg. He has reorganized his army into three divisions under the commands of Hooker, Sumner and Franklin.”

  “Yes, we have that intelligence report. One of your people, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Excellent job, Saxton.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Colter hid his impatience with the politeness he was forced to adhere to. He wanted to be done and gone. “Lee feels that striking at their communications would be a mistake. He’ll cover the capital by crossing the path of the enemy. With his forces placed on the heights south and west of Fredericksburg, earthworks and artillery will fortify his position.”

  Walker studied the map. His eyes were shadowed and he seemed to be lost in thought. “Small town, isn’t it? I remember fog hanging in the valley every morning, enough to hide the town.”

  “Yes, sir. It slopes up from the river to low hills,” Colter answered. “The slopes are mostly clear, but there are woods here, sir.” Once again he drew Walker’s attention to his map.

  “There’s nearly five miles to protect,” the secretary remarked.

  “True.” Colter smiled and gazed at him. “I have good reason to believe there will be extensive delays for the Union forces to contend with. A mishap with the pontoon train would stop an immediate crossing of the river.”

  Tugging his beard, the secretary grinned. “I see. Good reason, you say?”

  “Yes, sir. And you must convey to President Davis General Lee’s considered opinion that he will not be able to stop Burnside from crossing the river. The Union force has deployed over one hundred guns on this rise of the left bank. It gives them a command of the intermediate plain.”

  “Pity. Well, I must respect Lee’s judgment as I know the president will.”

  “A survey of the area leads me to believe that Acquia Creek would be Burnside’s choice for a base. I will have confirmed reports of the exact sites within three to five days.”

  “The president does not wish to have these blue bellies at the gates of Richmond again. Do convey that message to General Lee.”

  “Most assuredly, sir.”

  “If that is all, Saxton, the meeting is concluded.”

  Colter nodded, rolling the maps and replacing them in their leather case, which he handed over to Walker.

  “My respects to the president, sir.”

  “Rest assured that I will give them, Saxton. He’ll be pleased with your report. And now that the formalities can be set aside, please remember that I knew your father well. As an old family friend, I want to know what’s wrong with you.”

  “Nothing a few days’ personal leave wouldn’t help.”

  “Are you ill?”

  “No, sir. A matter requiring my immediate attention has come up and—”

  “Three days. I’m sure that is all the time you can be spared without objections. You’ll remain in the city where I can reach you quickly should the president wish to speak to you further?”

  “The hotel—”

  “Yes, yes. I suppose you’ll be wanting leave for these young men of yours, too.”

  Colter smiled and glanced behind him to where Brice and Andre waited expectantly. Turning back to face Walker, he said, “If it could be arranged, sir. They have been across the lines with me for almost two weeks.”

  “I envy you your youth and stamina, gentlemen. If there is nothing else—”

  “Since you’ve asked, sir,” Colter was quick to say, “Captain Morgan would like me to secure safe passage for his wife to return from New York.”

  “Yankee?”

  “They’ve been married almost five years, sir. She returned to her family almost a year ago when she suffered the loss of
their child.”

  “Bad business, that,” the secretary stated, picking up his portfolio.

  “Indeed, sir,” Colter agreed. “The child would have been their first.”

  “No. Not that. My intent is not to appear callous, but this business of having family loyalty split is bad.”

  “I can assure you, Mr. Secretary, that no one would dare to question the loyalty of Hugh Morgan. No one.”

  “Watch that rashness, Colter. We need you.” Sure that he had Colter’s attention, the secretary smiled to soften his reprimand. “I hope your men appreciate your quick defense of their reputations. I pray they never need to return the favor. Come, we’ll have my secretary draw up the papers to reunite your young captain with his lady.”

  Colter carefully closed the door behind him and followed Walker. He hid his disappointment that Hugh was not waiting in the anteroom for him with news of Elizabeth.

  Brice and Andre stood at attention, impatience stamped across their features. Colter couldn’t blame them. He knew, as they did, how quickly the order could come to cancel their leave. He buried a stab of guilt for the resentment he momentarily felt as the safe-conduct pass for Jenna Morgan was written then signed.

  Colter glanced down and silently read it. “Pass the bearer and his party, unmolested, by Government transport.” Below was the secretary of war’s signature.

  “You’ll need military passes, but I think you can secure those, Saxton.”

  “Yes, sir.” Securing the paper inside his uniform frock coat, Colter, as well as Andre and Brice, bid Walker good day.

  Once outside, the bitter wind had given way to a dreary rain. Colter swore softly and ignored the good-natured taunts between Brice and Andre over where they intended to go first. His announcement that he would return to the hotel to wait for Hugh brought him their undivided attentions.

  “Whiskey and women, Colter,” Brice offered in a chiding tone, holding the bridle of Colter’s purebred hunter as he mounted. “Three days to forget the damn war, if we’re lucky.”

  “Enjoy it. Both of you.”

  “What’s gotten into you, Colter? You ain’t been listening to that puritan Jackson again?”