He kissed her quickly and nodded at Mabel before leaving. Abbie could not fully suppress a sigh. She felt an odd mix of relief and disappointment that they had been interrupted.
The moment she reached the children’s room Noah smiled at her where he was tucked neatly up in his bed. The rest of the children were asleep, or pretending to be so she spoke quietly to Noah. Not only did she not want to disturb them if they were sleeping, but did not wish to scold Noah in a way that could lead to teasing later if they were not really asleep.
“I understand your fascination with these bugs but it was wrong to go outside without letting anyone know what you were doing.” She held up her hand to stop his words when he opened his mouth. “I know you are growing but you are not grown, certainly not grown enough to go out at night all on your own and with no one knowing where you are.”
“How grown do I have to be?”
“A lot more than you are now. Something else, dear. You will have to let the bugs go in the morning.”
“Why?”
“Because they will die in that jar.”
He gave the jar a horrified glance. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
She sighed. “Because the ones I caught died in the jar. They are not made to be held in ajar to light up a room.”
“You used to catch lightning bugs?”
“I did. My da would go with me.”
“Okay. I will set them free in the morning. ’Night, Abbie.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“What else will you not do?”
“Go out without letting anyone know I am and where I am going.”
“Very good.” She kissed his cheek and made her way to her own room.
“Did you find him?” asked Julia as Abbie began to undress.
Startled, Abbie swung around to stare at the woman. “You startled me. I thought you were asleep.”
“I was. Almost. It is difficult to get comfortable at the moment. So, find him?”
“Yes. He was out back catching lightning bugs.”
“Oh, I did that a few times when I was very young.”
“So did I, but I believe he is now clear on the fact that he needs to tell someone what he is doing so they don’t panic when they can’t find him. And that it would be a good idea not to go out alone.”
“Oh, good.” Julia closed her eyes. “People were afraid and worried that the major would get angry since he gave the children into our care.”
Climbing into bed, Abbie fought to relax. She was growing too close to young Noah. That could cause him pain when she had to leave. She had little doubt it would cause her some. Yet she doubted she would be able to draw back now. She smiled faintly when she thought how Noah would not allow it.
At some point soon, she would have to decide what she should do about the boy. She was not wed so could not really raise him as her child even if she found a home to take him to. It was sad, but she had to face facts. A young unmarried woman would have a difficult time raising a child, not to mention how suspicious it would make many about whether he was actually adopted, or whether it was just her trying to hide her own misdeeds by pretending he was.
Deciding such thoughts would make sleep difficult she turned her mind to Matthew. There were problems there too, but he was a bit more pleasant to think about. Abbie knew where they had been headed when Mabel had interrupted them, and she now feared she would have followed him there willingly. It was something she had to think about. Matthew had not even made any mention about how he felt about her, she thought crossly.
Flipping onto her back she stared up at the ceiling and sighed. Thinking about Matthew was not much better than worrying about Noah. It was going to be a very long night. She was getting very tired of those. She badly wanted to go back to a time when worries and fears did not disturb her rest.
Chapter Six
“Damnation, this is getting ridiculous,” complained James as he mounted his horse and joined Matthew in riding back to town. “Maybe we should just quietly move out. This town is not worth this.”
“Cannae do that,” said Matthew. “The major thinks it is better to stand firm.”
“He hasn’t seen what is gathering.”
“True, but we have gathered a goodly number of soldiers as weel. All the scouts have returned.”
“I know. Reckon the Rebs are just deciding when and how to come at us.”
“Slow thinkers.” Matthew grinned when James laughed.
“Or they know we are spying on them and hesitate just to make us relax our guard.”
“True. That is verra possible. But for all they ken, we are getting weel prepared for a battle.”
“They may be right although being well prepared isn’t always a guarantee of winning.”
“True again, but I think we have done weel. Still it is a puzzle that they have made no move for a month now. Might as weel get back to headquarters and leave them to it. They cannae be that indecisive. They cannae puzzle over it too much longer either. It is never good to have an army sitting about for too long.”
James grunted in agreement and waved at a few men as they rode through the guard posts. Matthew also took time to greet a few. It was comforting to find the guard alert. He could not shake the feeling that they were headed for a hard fight.
His thoughts veered to Abigail and he wondered if he should warn her. That would be against orders but he was becoming more and more uncomfortable about giving her no warning. He did not like leaving her unsuspecting and unready. He would feel better if he knew she was at least keeping her weapon close to hand.
When they reached the house the major now claimed as his headquarters, Matthew and James went in to make their report. As they entered the office, Matthew studied the man behind the desk. With his head bent over some papers, it was all too evident that the man was beginning to lose his hair. Matthew hoped that was the man’s only loss to the war. Major Cummings was a good man, a fine officer who was neither too harsh nor too kind. He was also an excellent strategist.
“Are the Rebs still there?” Major Cummings asked as he looked up from the paper.
“Aye, sir,” Matthew replied. “They have added a few more men but the constant trail of men coming in has ended. We just cannae figure out what they plan.”
“But they have enough to attack?”
“They do and they also have a cannon.”
“Damn. Well, we have three so we ought to be able to counter that. How many men?”
“Hard to say, sir,” said James. “Not easy to count them, but I would say they have enough.”
“MacEnroy?”
“Aye, sir. There are at least several companies in the camp. I even recognized one or two men as ones who led a couple of skirmishes against us.”
Major Cummings rubbed his hands over his face. “I am weary of skirmishes. Little clashes where we kill each other, farms and towns get destroyed, and too many who are not even soldiers end up dying. God alone knows what is going to be left of the people who lived in these hills.”