A Place of Peace (18 page)

Melinda sighed.  A night in a good bed sounded like heaven to her…

About a mile past the train station on a little side dirt road, the swinging sign marked
“Hotel”
seemed to call to them.  It was a small hotel, perhaps not more than five rooms or so, but the
Vacancy
sign hung in the window, and Alisander steered his horse towards it.  By the time they pulled themselves off the horse and plodded towards the front porch, golden lights twinkled from the windows and left sharp squares of yellow along their path, guiding them into the bright interior.  Alisander took Melinda’s hand as they walked up the steps.  Although he still had on his gloves, she could feel his strong grip, and the chilling sensation surged through her again at his touch.

“After you,” he said, opening the door for her. 

“Why, thank you, sir,” she bowed her head as she moved past him.  He swept in behind her, hat in hand.

“We need two rooms, please,” he said to the woman at the desk.  The woman at the desk looked at them both, noting the grime of the road and the disheveled appearance of them both.  Alisander had managed to maintain some air of dignity, as his uniform concealed a lot of the light colored dust, but Melinda felt like she did at the train station: like someone who had been not only feeding the hogs, but rolling around with them at the same time.

“Certainly, sir,” the woman smiled at Alisander.  Melinda caught that look.  She suddenly realized that there would be plenty of young women giving a handsome young officer a second look and a smile, including this one.  She didn’t know why, but a stab of jealously came over her as she looked at the woman.  By telling her they needed two rooms, Melinda understood that the woman at the desk now knew they weren’t married, and that signaled Alisander’s sudden availability.

Oh, Melinda
, she thought.
You’ve really been on the farm too long.

The woman at the desk produced the guest book, and Alisander signed his name with a flourish.

“Who are you with?” asked the woman at the desk.  “We don’t get many of our boys coming back through these days.  Most of them are down in Mississippi.”

Alisander smiled at her, and Melinda felt that stab again.  “I am on leave, ma’am,” he said.  “The 2
nd
Kentucky Cavalry under Colonel Morgan.”

The woman seemed to beam.  Melinda felt like slapping Alisander for being so… nice.  She cleared her throat, hoping to convey her tiredness and desire to go up to her room.

“Forgive me,” said Alisander.  He pulled a golden coin from his pocket and placed it on the desk for the woman.  “This is a five-dollar gold piece,” he said.  He leaned forward a little, his voice dropping to a whisper.  “Just between you and me,” he said.  “I don’t put much trust in paper money.”

The woman’s eyes shone as she saw the money.  “Yes, sir?”

Alisander glanced over at Melinda, who promptly looked away from him, embarrassed.  He then leaned over the desk and motioned for the woman to come closer.  Melinda watched him whisper something to her, but she couldn’t make out the words.

The woman nodded, glancing over at Melinda in the process.  She handed Alisander two keys from beneath the desk, and Melinda saw Alisander slip another coin, silver this time, into the woman’s hand.

“You’re in rooms five and six,” the woman said.  “There are fresh linens upstairs, and there is a washroom available down the hall.  I can warm some water up for you if you want.  Might take a while, though.”

“That will be fine,” said Alisander.

The woman smiled again.  “Just upstairs to your left.”

“Thank you, again.”  He took Melinda by the arm and started to steer her towards the stairs.

Melinda looked back at the woman at the desk, who was looking at the gold coin like she had never seen one before.  As Melinda and Alisander started up the stairs, she watched as the woman vanished into a back room behind the desk.

“Well,” said Alisander as he stood beside door number 5.  “This is you, I guess.”  He handed her a key.  Melinda started to yawn despite herself.  The thought of the bed…

“I need…” she trailed off.  What did she need?  Food?  Rest?  A place where she didn’t have to worry about being homeless?  The thoughts were overwhelming.

“You should get some sleep,” said Alisander.  “I told the woman downstairs to procure you a change of clothes.  Since I don’t know anything about women or what they wear, I supposed she would be helpful in picking something out.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said, but deep inside her, she was grateful he did.  Her dress was caked with dust and sweat and made her feel very self-conscious.  The thought of clean clothes coupled with a bath was almost overwhelming to her. 

“It’s nothing,” he replied, smiling.  “I think you would be beautiful dressed in a burlap sack.”  He touched her cheek, smudging a trace of dirt that had stuck there. 

Beautiful?  He just said the word beautiful…
  She didn’t know what to say.

As they stood there at the door, another girl, younger, clomped past them up the stairs and down the hall.  In her hands were two very heavy buckets of steaming water.  Alisander watched her pass.  The girl went down to the end of the hall and opened the door at the end.  Melinda saw a large tub in the center of the room.  The girl dumped both buckets into the tub and came back out, moving faster with her now empty buckets.

“Ma’am?” she said as she stopped.  “My mother says there will be clean towels for you in the washroom.  I will bring more water up as soon as it warms from downstairs.”

“Thank you,” said Melinda.  The steam from the tub was calling to her.

“Go on,” said Alisander.  “I must go see about my horse.  I’ll stop by later when you’re finished.”

He put his hat back on and trotted downstairs, leaving Melinda standing next to room 5 with a key in her hand.  Despite her best efforts, tears welled up.  She watched as Alisander doffed his hat to the woman at the desk as he went out.  Another day and his leave would be over, and he would be gone back out to the war. 

She realized that after tomorrow, there would be a chance she would never see him again.  She gripped the railing on the steps and leaned over.  She couldn’t quite come to grips with the feelings that were washing over her.

She felt like she was in love with him.

Chapter Nineteen

T
he wagon was old
, but mostly functional as Holcomb noted some places near the wheels where the wood was starting to soften and rot from neglect, but he decided it would do.  At the moment, they had no other options and Nashville wasn’t too far away if they stayed on the road.

He drove the wagon out of
Franklin in the cool morning air feeling better than he had in a long time.  The bed he slept in felt like sleeping in a pile of cotton, and his aches from traveling had all but vanished.  After a quick breakfast and a hardy thank you to Judith, he left the hotel and started back to Colby and Lilly, whom he assumed were waiting patiently for his return.

He could see the smoke from their morning fire and the stacks of crates and boxes resembling a small fort near the roadside.  He thought they were lucky that no one had passed by them in the night: raiders or worse.

Lilly, he could see, was draped in a blanket with her back against a tree.  Colby was poking at the fire, sending sparks up each time he prodded it.  Neither one of them seem to notice the wagon that was approaching.  A bad sign, if Holcomb had meant to do them harm.

“Hey there,” yelled Holcomb.

Colby shaded his eyes to look down the road.  He waved at Holcomb.  Holcomb immediately noticed the change that had come over Colby’s face.  He glanced over at Lilly, who was staring off into the far distance, seemingly in a content daze.  Holcomb shook his head as he rolled the wagon up to a stop and hopped off.

“What did you two do?” Holcomb asked, already knowing the answer.  He noticed the apples, now ant covered, lying in the grass.

“Have some coffee, friend,” said Colby, handing him a cup.  “It’s one of God’s days.”

“Yes it is,” muttered Holcomb taking the coffee and sipping it.  It was strong and bitter.

“Bacon?”

“No,” said Holcomb.  “I ate at the hotel.”  He motioned to the wagon.  “This will do.”

Lilly slowly rose to her feet, some stray grass sticking in her hair.  “What did it cost us?”

“Well,” said Holcomb.  “That’s the thing.  I have to go back and trade more of our stuff.  The cost of the wagon was thirty dollars.”

Lilly narrowed her eyes.  “Thirty dollars?  You are kidding, right?  For this?”  She walked over to the wagon, letting her blanket fall away.  She ran her hands over the sides, feeling the roughness of the wood.  “It’s worth ten, maybe.”

Holcomb shrugged.  “Our options were limited.  I was lucky to find this one.”

“No.”

Holcomb bristled.  “What do you mean?  I told the owner I would come back, and I mean to keep my word.”

Lilly paused, facing Holcomb.  “We are not giving away any more of our stuff.  It’s ours and we are going to keep it.”

Holcomb glanced over at Colby, expecting him to show some support, but Colby was making a point to not look at either of them, obviously not wanting to take sides.

“You gave her our medicine, I assume,” said Lilly.  “That’s enough.  That bottle is worth this wagon, I reckon.  We don’t need to lose any more.”

“You don’t understand.  We had a deal.”

“Well,” said Lilly.  “Deals change all the time.  We’re going to load this wagon and leave for home.  That’s my decision.”

“It’s not your decision to make,” said Holcomb.  “We are going back to
Franklin and I am going to give that woman, who is a widow, by the way, what she deserves.”

“I said no.” Lilly’s voice grew colder.

Colby stopped poking at the fire long enough to lean up on his crutch.  “John’s right, Lilly,” he finally said.  “We need to keep our part in the deal.”

Lilly looked like she had been slapped.  She turned away from them both.  “Fine,” she finally said, but her voice came out small.  “Load it all up.  I don’t care.  It’s just that we need what we need to survive.  We can’t just go giving everything away.”

Holcomb shook his head at Lilly’s impudence.  He was sure she would have stood there and argued with him all day, but as soon as Colby spoke…

“Colby, can you help?” asked Holcomb as he shouldered the first box.  “I’ll understand if you can’t balance on your leg.”  He shot a look in Lilly’s direction.  “Of course,
you
could always help.”

Lilly ignored him.  Holcomb sighed again and began the arduous task of stacking box after box into the back of wagon.  By the time he was finished, it was close to
midday, and the sun was already blazing high overhead.  This wagon was lacking a covering, and Holcomb knew traveling with their cargo on display was risky, but it was either that or abandon it here on the side of the road.

Holcomb wiped his brow and looked from Colby to Lilly back to Colby.  Lilly was pointedly ignoring him, and Colby was staring at Lilly.  Holcomb suddenly felt very much in the way: unwanted.  He spat in the grass and sat on the wagon’s bench.  It was almost as if he was just another piece of cargo to be hauled home.

***

Lilly
sat and glared
as Holcomb and Judith sorted through the boxes of goods as the wagon sat parked outside of the little hotel.  She clutched onto Colby’s arm and leaned against him, making a point not to speak or help Holcomb.

Judith gave Lilly a cursory glance but for the most part ignored her stares.

“I have to say,” Judith said.  “I think this about squares it.”

Holcomb nodded.  In the end, Judith ended up taking a few boxes of dried goods and some blankets, but it was nothing near thirty dollars’ worth in Holcomb’s opinion.  He figured she was taking pity on them.

After the wagon was lightened, Holcomb thanked Judith again and told her they had to get going.  Judith said she understood and waved them off.

Three miles down the road, Lilly finally broke her silence.

“Colby, darling,” she said softly.  “I think it’s time we said goodbye to John here and sent him on his way.”

“What are you saying?” asked Colby.  Holcomb glared straight ahead, focused on steering the wagon on the road.

“Just something to think about,” she replied.  “It’s just that we’re almost to Nashville, and I’m sure John’s wife must be missing him down in Murfreesboro.”

“Well,” said Colby, noticing the dark look that passed over Holcomb’s face, “that was always kind of the plan I guess.  We were going to part when we got closer to home.”

Lilly nodded.  Holcomb could feel her eyes boring through the back of his head.  She wanted him gone, wanted to keep Colby all to herself without the third wheel getting in the way.

They approached the outskirts of
Nashville during the late afternoon hours.  The sun began to cast long shadows along the road, and Holcomb knew they were getting close to having to stop for the night.

Holcomb pulled the wagon off the road.  Lilly, who had been dozing and leaning against Colby’s arm, seem annoyed at the sudden stopping of the wagon.

“Colby, may I have a word?” he motioned to climb off the wagon.  Lilly started to move, but Holcomb held up a hand.  “In private?”

Colby nodded and, untangling himself from Lilly’s clutch, hopped off the wagon.  Lilly sighed, but kept quiet as the two men moved away from the wagon and off into the shadows.

“I’m concerned,” said Holcomb.  He looked up the road towards the lights of Nashville.  “Moving through the city with this wagon could be dangerous.  I’m thinking we go around.  Try to avoid the troops moving through the city.  They see this wagon, we’re done, and it’s gone.”

“I agree,” said Colby.

“Another thing,” said Holcomb.  He took a deep breath.  “It’s obvious Lilly wants me gone, and I’ve been thinking.  Maybe it is time.  We can part ways before we get into Nashville, and I can make arrangements to get to Murfreesboro from here.  Maybe get on board one of the trains moving south.”  He paused, looking back at Lilly.  “It might be better anyway.”

Colby followed Holcomb’s gaze back to Lilly.  “Well,” he said.  “I don’t know what to say.  We’ve been through a lot you and me.  I would hate that you would leave because of Lilly.  I’m sure she’ll come around.”

Holcomb actually laughed.  “She’s fallen for you, son,” he said.  “She can’t let me get between you.  No, I think it’s best, and then you and her can move on to your farm, settle down, and ride the rest of the war out in peace.”

“I hope it’s that simple,” said Colby.  “I don’t know if the farm is even still there.”

Holcomb saw Colby’s hand move on its own to his pocket.  He knew Colby was tracing the outline of the locket there. 

“What about the girl in your locket?”

Colby smiled and pulled the locket out of his pocket, the silver glinting in the faint afternoon light.  He noticed that it caught Lilly’s attention, and now she was staring at them both from the back of the wagon.

“I think you’re right, John,” said Colby.  “It’s time to focus on what’s real.”  He nodded towards Lilly.  “But,” he continued.  “She needs to know about her father.  That letter needs to go to her.  She still needs to be told.”

Holcomb nodded.  “I agree, but finding her will be difficult, I think.”  He looked up, noting the darkening sky.  “We’ll camp off the road.  In the morning, I can walk on into the city to the train station.  We’ll say our goodbyes, then.”

***

Later that night, as
Lilly and Colby sat with their blankets wrapped around them despite the latent summer heat stretching into the night, Lilly began whispering to Colby.

“What did you two talk about earlier?”

Colby said, “Nothing much.  We should move around the city.  Too dangerous to travel through with the wagon.”

“I see.”  Colby could tell there was more she wanted to say, but she seemed to hesitate.  “What about the girl?”

The girl?
  Melinda.  “I don’t know,” said Colby.  “If I find her, I will tell her about her father.”

“Is that all?”  There was an edge to her voice.

“Yes,” said Colby.

“Okay,” said Lilly.  She put her head on his shoulder.  “I believe you.”

***

In the morning, Holcomb
was gone. 

Colby sat up, shaking the sleep off of him and unwrapping himself from both his blanket and Lilly, who had somehow managed to twine herself around him during the night.

He noticed some of the items in the wagon were gone, apparently Holcomb had taken enough with him to get to town and to trade if needed, but the majority of wagon was there, along with the horse, grazing quietly off near some trees.

Colby wiped the blur from his eyes.  How could Holcomb just leave like that?  Without saying goodbye?  The man had saved his life at least twice.  Colby owed him more than just a distant farewell hours after he had already left.

He pounded the side of the wagon.  Lilly, awakened by the sudden coolness caused by Colby’s absence, sat up.  “What’s wrong?”

“John,” said Colby, still hobbling around the side of the wagon.  He felt helpless, like he wanted to simply punch through the side of the wagon.  “He’s gone.”  He tried not to notice Lilly’s sudden smirk.

“Oh?  When did he leave?  He didn’t say goodbye?”

“No, Lilly,” said Colby, his voice cracking.  “He didn’t say goodbye.  I guess he thought it would be better this way, but still… the man saved me.”

Colby looked down the road in the direction of Nashville.  There was no sign of Holcomb in the distance, no faint figure on the horizon.  He must have left very late into the night, probably as soon as Colby and Lilly had fallen asleep.

“Go with God, friend,” Colby murmured.  He hoped Holcomb would make it to the train.  He hoped Holcomb’s wife would be waiting for him.  Colby looked back at Lilly, who was picking bits of grass off her skirt.

“Well,” she said, as she noticed Colby looking at her.  She smiled.  “Where do we go now?”

“Move around the fringe of the city,” said Colby.  “It was what John suggested.  I think he was right.”

“The fringe of the city?”  Lilly seemed shocked. “Do you know how many encampments are around the fringe of the city?  Where do you think the Yanks have their troops?  They can’t all be boarded in town, you know.  Every field and open space between here and Kentucky is full of camps.  What do we do?”

Colby scratched his head.  His leg was starting to hurt.  He felt very tired, like he could sleep for a month.

“Then we go through the city, I guess."

Lilly nodded and began to gather up the remnants of their camp.  Colby slumped against the side of the wagon, eyes closed.  Even though Lilly was still with him, he felt very alone.

***

The
meal was simple
but filling.  Melinda sat in the little dining space of the hotel lobby and sighed as the last of the meal was swept off the table by the hotel owner’s daughter.  Alisander sipped his coffee, making a face as the bitter taste crossed his tongue.  It seemed as if sugar was in short supply even at the hotel.