Southern Beauty

chapter 3


arly in the morning, the fatigued David, Preston, and Jacob came to an opening in the woods. There lay a vast plantation and a Confederate’s home. Jacob and Preston, who fought over the harmonica and the chewing tobacco throughout their trip, were speechless now. Fascinated by the scenery, they deeply inhaled the exhilarating country’s fresh air. David, confused at the sight, motioned the men to halt.

“What’s the problem McPherson?” asked Jacob.

“There’s no one here. It’s desolate. No slaves, no soldiers, it’s not right,” he replied in a hushed tone.

“Do you think it’s a trap? Do they know we’re coming?” Preston asked with concern.

“Well, if it’s a trap, we’re going to be the mice. Let’s go get our cheese.” David said digging his heels into his horse. Preston and Jacob followed behind.

The men vigorously bolted through the front gate.

“Let’s split up,” David ordered.

Each of the men entered from opposite sides of the house. Jacob opened the servants’ entrance door in the back of the mansion. He stepped into the kitchen and found stairs to the cellar and headed down. Preston stepped through the front door with David and made his way toward the stairs to investigate the second floor, while David continued his search on the main floor.

Suddenly, a woman’s scream echoed through the halls. David darted upstairs from where the shriek of terror had come. He grasped the oak railing with clenched fingers to pull himself up the stairs faster.

“Keep your dirty Yankee hands off of me!” Johanna cried recognizing the uniform as she fought to loosen Preston’s tight grip. A glimpse of a handsome figure standing in the room’s doorway made her tremble, not with fear, more of delight that made her tender skin tingle. Preston’s strong hold began to suffocate her; she gasped for air.

“Sure looks like you have your hands full, Preston,” David grinned as he began to approach the defenseless Johanna. Pulling her away from Preston, he drew her close to him, pressing her flawless texture next to his. Her emerald eyes gleamed at him and filled his insides with a strong burning flame that ignited as he took a deep breath. His mind helplessly searched for a sense of reality. He could smell her sweet perfumed skin. He felt a desire to taste her red lips upon his own.

“Where’s Lieutenant Colonel Lee?” Jacob interrupted. “I’ve searched the whole premises, he’s not here, but I did find this nice aged wine in the cellar. Anyone care to share it with me?” Jacob asked as he held up the wine bottle.

McPherson looked back down at Johanna and pushed her away from him, keeping a tight grip around her arm. Furious with himself for desiring Johanna, he stepped back away from her and stared her down.

“Where’s the Lieutenant Colonel, Miss?” Preston asked her as he undressed her with his provocative eyes.

Johanna stood her ground, “Well, let me think, he could be milking our cow, having tea at Miss Patricia’s, or he might be at Fort Moultrie planning to kick your a…”

“That will be enough,” David interrupted her. Johanna smiled sarcastically.

“What’s your name, beauty?” McPherson asked as she once again stood next to him.

“And wouldn’t you like to know?” Johanna boldly asked, surprised by her lack of fear. She made her way to the door.

David grabbed her arm, pulling her fragile body once again to his muscular one. “Yes, I would,” he said in a soothing monotone that made her whole body quiver.

Johanna couldn’t shake the force he had over her. Her heart pounding against his chest made her feel weak. As she pressed her lips together, she slowly broke the silence that awaited her words. “It’s Johanna, Johanna Lee.”

“What is this?” Preston asked as he scanned a letter that had been sitting on her dresser.

“That is mine, give it to me!” Johanna insisted, horrified that she could be so foolish to leave her uncle’s letter sitting out since she had packed her things earlier, including secretly hiding Lee’s map.

“She’s got the map! Where is it?” Preston asked with authority. Johanna was silent. David grabbed the letter to read it himself.

“Do you have the plans, the map?” David questioned her.

“I don’t know what he was talking about, I couldn’t find anything,” Johanna lied.

“She’s lying,” Jacob chimed in.

“Well, let’s see,” Preston grabbed her belongings she stuffed in a trunk that sat on floor next to the bed. He pulled out clothes, a photograph of her parents, the Blackwood’s Magazine and a Harper’s Weekly. “You read this rubbish?” He held up the Blackwood’s Magazine.

“Where is this inn?” David asked her.

“I will never tell you,” Johanna stared at David. She knew that her uncle was talking about the cottage her uncle and father came upon when they were playing hide and seek when they were children.

It was a special place for the Lees. Her parents and she would go there on retreat to get away from the daily life of the high society stresses that came from being a Lee. She remembered just sitting by the fireplace and reading to her parents. Johanna and her uncle dubbed it Otter’s Cottage because Johanna had been reading a book on otters and became so fascinated with them she asked her uncle if she could have one for a pet. She remembered him laughing at her question. The cottage was a desolate location by the river. A perfect place she thought, no one even knows it exists. Not until now.

“I think we should search this entire place until we find the map,” Jacob said.

“We don’t have time. Jacob, do a thorough search of this place. Report back here in five minutes,” David ordered with out taking his eyes off of Johanna.

“Look at these,” Preston whistled as he held up Johanna’s undergarments. David watched Johanna’s face turn red.

Johanna grabbed her clothes out of Preston’s hands, “You are a foul creature, a protégé of the Union no doubt.” She made David smile. Something he hadn’t done in a long while.

Jacob returned, “I couldn’t find anything. She had to have taken it already. Did you search her?”

“I will do that,” Preston licked his lips as he neared her.

“That is not necessary,” David halted Preston with his arm. “We’ll just have to take this Southern beauty with us instead.” Frustrated for blurting out such a thing he shoved her on the bed.

“Over my dead body!” Johanna exclaimed as she tightened her fists, to pull herself up off the bed.

“That’s okay with me,” David teased her with a half smile forming on his tanned face, pushing her back down. Slowly she pulled her long golden curls out of her face so she could see once more the vile men who stood above her. She tightly gripped the ends of her vivid yellow dress that matched her hair preventing it from lifting up.

David pulled out his revolver and pointed it at Johanna. Everyone in the room stood in shock by David’s harsh actions.

“Okay, Miss Johanna Lee, pack your things, you’re coming with us,” said David.

“What? This is mad! What will we gain by taking her?” Jacob questioned David’s sanity.

“If she wants to live she will show us how to get to this inn,” David looked at his men. “As soon as we get what we came for, we will release her, but for now she is detrimental to our mission.”

“Are you sure you know what you are doing?” asked Jacob in a whisper.

Preston laughed at David’s irrational behavior in making his brazen decision, “now he is thinking like a soldier.”

David eyed both men without answering Jacob. He was unsure if he had made the right decision but refused to acknowledge it. He had just set their course in motion and wasn’t about to turn back now.

David stared down Johanna who now looked frightened. “Miss, you are now a prisoner of the U.S. Army.”