A Place of Peace (20 page)

“What about you, young man?” she called over to Alisander.  “Will you be staying, too?”

“Oh,” said Alisander.  “No ma’am.  As soon as Miss Melinda is taken care of, I’m to report back to Gallatin.  Alisander Fairfax, 2
nd
Kentucky Calvary, at your service,” he bowed slightly.  “We ride for the north into Kentucky under the command of Colonel Morgan.”

“Well,” said Mary, and Melinda could tell she was slightly impressed.  “I guess you two better come inside then before you go off, Mr. Fairfax.  I have just made fresh biscuits, and there is peach preserves to go with them.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” said Alisander.  “We humbly accept.”

***

They sat over their
biscuits drinking some mild tea that Mary had brewed.  Melinda told her the entire story of the burning of the farm, and Mary sat and listened, nodding in sympathy as Melinda finished her story.

“The Yanks have been down here thick as fleas on a hunting dog,” said Mary.  “I think there’s no point of fighting them anymore.  They just come and go as they please.  No regard for us common folk.  Coming in here and taking my cows.  Only got the few left.  They’ll be back and take them before long, then what will I do?  Eat hay?”

“I can help, Aunt Mary,” said Melinda.  “I can pull my weight.  I did everything on our farm after my father left for the army.  I can be useful if you let me stay.”

“Of course you can stay,” said Mary.  “I can’t turn you loose out there with those varmints crawling about.  A pretty thing like you,” her face grew somber.  “I would hate to think what might happen.”

Melinda let out a huge sigh of relief.  One less thing to worry about.  She felt safe again.  A twinge of fear began to chip away and gnaw at her as she looked across the table to Alisander, who was going on and on to her aunt about her peach preserves and how wonderful they were.  Each time he took another bite of his biscuit, he felt he had to stop and thank her again.  Mary finally grew so flustered at his compliments, that she turned bright red and offered to pack him a sack of biscuits to take back with him on the return trip.

He would be leaving.  Soon.  The fear of never seeing him again came back to her.  Who knew?  He might not even make it back to
Gallatin.  She thought of all the Union troops camped around Nashville and even the local bandits they had encountered.  She thought he might have actually been safer on the battlefield.

“A man at the hotel told us you might be in trouble,” said Melinda.  “Arrested?”

“Oh, that,” Mary laughed a little.  “Just some Yank thugs threatening me if I didn’t cooperate with their requisition of items in the name of the United States.”

“What if they come back?”

Mary lifted her shotgun.  “Then I guess I will refuse them again.”

***

Melinda stood on the
porch and watched as Alisander rode out of her aunt’s farm and back onto the road to wherever.  It had just started to rain: a gentle, warm, summer shower that settled the dust and made the fields glisten.  Alisander didn’t say much in the way of goodbye.  He simply doffed his hat, bowed to her, and kept insisting on what an honor it had been to escort her.  If he felt anything else for her, he seemed to conceal it.

She, however, felt terrible.  She found it quite amazing that her feelings could have been so strong after a few days of being together.  Now, she didn’t know if she would see him again, and she couldn’t stop the tears as they rolled down her cheeks.

Melinda sensed that Mary was standing behind her, and it was confirmed when a hand fell on her shoulder.

“He’ll be back,” Mary said.  “You can’t sit here and dwell on the what-ifs.”

“But what about father?” asked Melinda, voice quivering.  “What about him?  What if I never see either of them again?”

Mary tightened her grip and turned Melinda around to face her.  “Listen to me, girl,” she said.  “You are stronger than that.  You have survived this much.  You have come this far.  If they never come back, you will still be strong and survive.  It will hurt, yes, but you will survive.”

Mary was right, of course. Melinda realized that a woman like Mary would always be right.  She was a woman who had lived mostly on her own.  Her existence was not dependant on anyone else.  Melinda blinked back her last tears and cleared her throat.  She straightened up to her full height as the summer rain continued to trickle off the porch roof.  Alisander was gone now, out of sight and fading like a distant dream.

Chapter twenty

It had started to
rain when Colby saw the rider on the road ahead.  He was heading away from them and moving north up the road.  A soldier from the look of it.  Although from this distance and in the rain, Colby couldn’t tell if his uniform was gray or blue.

They had been traveling for a while now with Lilly dozing off and on as she sat beside him on the wagon’s seat.  She woke up as she felt the rain starting to fall.  As she pulled an already damp blanket tighter around her, she motioned towards the rider ahead.

“I see,” said Colby. 

“Maybe we should see if he’s a friendly,” said Lilly.

“I don’t think we should bother him.”

They had skirted most of
Nashville and were traveling up a rarely-used road that some of the locals had pointed out to them.  The Federal troop encampments were everywhere, but they mostly ignored them, and Colby began to feel bolder as he steered the wagon.  It was as if the troops were so used to seeing stray wagons from the locals that most of the time they weren’t worth pursuing. 

“Where are we?” Lilly asked, looking around at the landscape.  In addition to the drizzling rain, it was growing dark, and the shadows were growing longer around them.

“West of Nashville,” Colby said.  “We’re moving past those encampments, but if the rain picks up, we might have to stop because the road will be too muddy for the wagon.”

Lilly yawned.  “I just want to sleep.  It will be good to get into a real bed.”  She stretched. 

Colby squinted against the rain.  The rider looked as if he was turning, as if he had noticed them and was drawing a pistol from his holster as he turned.  Colby could see the dull gray glint even in the rain.  He didn’t know if that pistol would fire through the rain, especially if the powder had gotten wet, but Colby didn’t want to take that chance.

“Lilly,” he said.  “Get in the back and stay down.”

Lilly perked up from her mid-stretch and saw the pistol the rider was holding.  He had moved his horse to the side of the road, ready to let them pass, but also ready to shoot if he thought they might be a threat.  She started to reach for the rifle, but Colby stopped her.

“Don’t.”

Lilly frowned slightly, but withdrew her hands.  The wagon creaked closer to the rider.  Colby couldn’t make out the man’s features from beneath the wide-brimmed hat the rider wore.  The one thing Colby could make out though was the embroidered letters C.S.A. on the front of his hat.  He was a Confederate officer of some type.  Colby felt a little better, but he knew that some rogue Confederates were even more dangerous than the Federal troops they had been trying to avoid this entire time, since most lone Confederates in these areas were either deserters or raiders operating with impunity.

“We’ll just move on by,” said Colby.

“Maybe we should ask him about the road ahead,” suggested Lilly.  “He might be helpful.”

Colby didn’t think it was a very good idea, but Lilly was already motioning to him as they passed.  She didn’t seem to mind that he was holding a pistol in his hand.

“Excuse me, sir,” she said.  Colby sighed and pulled the wagon to a stop.  The rider gazed at them both and, after deciding they were not a threat to him, holstered his pistol.  As Colby got a closer look at the man, he saw that he was a cavalry officer of some sort.  The faded emblems on his uniform marked him as a corporal, but that was about all Colby could tell, other than the fact that the rider was young looking.

The rider nodded at them both as he scanned the road, making sure no one was coming up behind them. 

“Bad afternoon for a ride, don’t you think?” the rider asked, glancing up at the sky where the summer rain continued to stream down.  “Makes for bad roads for your wagon, I wager.”

“We’ll be okay,” said Colby.  “Trying to make it to
Gallatin.”

“
Gallatin?  I’m headed that way myself.  I’m with Colonel Morgan’s regiment.  2
nd
Kentucky Cavalry.”

“Can you tell us anything about the road ahead?” asked Lilly.  “Seen anything?”

The rider shifted his hat, causing a river to cascade off the brim.  “We came down from Gallatin two days ago.  Saw a lot of camped Feds.  No trouble, though, except from some of the locals, I guess.”

“We?” asked Colby.  “Who was with you?”

The rider shifted on his horse.  “Don’t know if I can say.”

“Listen,” said Colby.  “We seem to be on the same side here.  We mean no harm.  Just trying to get back home.”  He leaned forward from his wagon seat and extended his hand.  “Name’s Colby Dalton.  Used to be with the 24
th
Tennessee.  Up until Shiloh happened that is.”  He motioned toward his ruined leg.  “On the way home now.”

The rider looked at Colby with sympathy.  “Alisander Fairfax,” he replied, taking Colby’s hand and shaking it.  “I guess you’ve see it all.”  He whistled.  “Me too.  We’re riding up north when I return.”

“Well,” said Colby.  “This rain seems to be letting up a bit.  What brings you this far south without the rest of your men?”

Alisander seem to hesitate.  “I just had to bring someone home.  That’s it.  I was given leave to do so, and now I’m heading back.  Nothing else.”

Colby glanced at the sky.  “We’ll be making camp soon,” he said.  “You’re welcome to share dinner with us, if you have time.”

***

Lilly was asleep in
the back of the wagon as Colby and Alisander sat near the fire, watching it burn low.

Colby had told Alisander of the story of his wounding and capture.  Alisander seemed preoccupied through most of the story.

“There was this man I met at the field hospital,” said Colby.  “He was dying.  He had a daughter.  I told him I would find her, give her this letter.”  He pulled out the folded, blood-stained paper he had carried with him in his breast pocket.  “I promised him.”

Alisander smiled.  “May I see that?” he asked.  Colby handed the letter over and Alisander read it, holding it closely to the fire to take advantage of the available light.

“This man,” Alisander said, slowly folding the paper back and handing it to Colby.  “What happened to him?”

“He didn’t make it.”

“His name is Jacoby,” remarked Alisander.  “What about the girl?”

“Melinda.”

Alisander stared into the fire.  “I know where you can find her.”  He stared at the locket Colby had now handed him.  “This will destroy her.”

“How?  How do you know?”

“I escorted her to her aunt’s farm after her own farm was destroyed.  She’s there now.”  Alisander sighed.  “I left her there not five hours ago.”

“Is it close?”

“Just down the road.”  Alisander kept staring at the locket.  Colby noted the way he was looking at it.  It was the same far-away look Colby had when he had first gazed at it.

“She told me,” said Alisander.  “That her father had been reported as missing, probably captured.  But there was no word after that.”

Colby’s heart quickened.  Melinda was close, very close.  He could keep his promise.  He looked back at the wagon where Lilly was sleeping.  It might be a problem for her, though. 

“I have to take her the news,” said Colby,  “I promised her father.”

“I can do it for you,” said Alisander.  “It might be easier coming from someone she knows.  She’s been through a lot.  Lost a lot of people she loved.  I could maybe make it easier on her.”

“That would solve a lot of my problems,” said Colby, motioning toward the wagon.  “We could get on home.  To
Gallatin.”

“Glad to do it,” said Alisander.  “Though it won’t be easy.  I’ll go in the morning.”

***

Melinda sat on her
aunt’s porch, drinking the last of her coffee and watching the rising sun glint off the previous night’s rain.  She saw the rider in the distance, coming up the lane.  She recognized him immediately.  It was Alisander, but he should have been back in Gallatin by now.  If he was here, coming back now, there must be a problem.

She stood, setting her coffee down and heading down the porch steps.  Alisander Fairfax dismounted.  He approached the porch with sad, slow steps.

“Alisander?”

“Melinda.”  She rushed out to him, even as he was withdrawing the blood-stained letter.  She stopped, staring at the paper in his hand.

“What’s that?”  Her voice started shaking.  “What is that?”

“It’s your father…”

She had collapsed before he finished the sentence.  When her aunt came out to check on the commotion, she helped Alisander carry her inside and put her on the bed.

When she awoke, she saw Alisander sitting beside her bed.  He was looking at the locket with her picture in it, and he kept rotating it in his hands.  When he saw she was awake, he smiled.

“Melinda, I am so sorry,” he said.  “I know it’s a shock to hear this news.  But I thought it would be better coming from someone you knew than from a total stranger.”

Melinda sat up, the dull shock of the news settling in.  “I kind of knew it, I suppose.”  She sniffed a bit.  “Deep down.  I know I did.  He’s not coming back and now I can quit worrying.  Get on with things, as it were.”

“Melinda,” said Alisander, taking her hand.  Her skin was cool to the touch.  “I cannot stay here any longer.  I was waiting until you woke up, but I have to get back to my regiment.  I’m already overdue, but I needed to come back to tell you.”

So he was leaving her, too.  “I understand,” said Melinda.  “Thank you, Alisander, for bringing me the news.  But…” she hesitated for a second.  “Promise me you’ll come back, after…”

Alisander smiled.  “I will come back, Melinda.  I promise.”

***

They rolled up onto Colby’s farm late in the afternoon.  Everything seemed in its place.  The entire farm, untouched for so long,  seemed to breathe as they strolled around the small farmhouse, the barns, and the fields.

“This is it,” said Colby, sighing heavily.  “Home.”

Lilly wiped a tear from her eye.  She hugged Colby tightly.  “We’ll be okay,” she murmured.  “This will be a good start.  Our own place of peace.”

Colby nodded.  It would be a good start.  Let the war continue without them.  They would sit it out here.  On the farm.