The Tory's Daughter, page 19
Hannah’s heart skipped. He spoke as though he knew the name. “Yes. He is my brother.”
The colonel gave a small smile. “Interesting.”
“Why do you say that?” Joseph asked. Both his hands supported her shoulders now.
“Because I’ve read the original reports on Private Cunningham. He was the son a Loyalist.”
He did know Samuel! “Yes. And I was the daughter of one. Please, where is my brother now?”
The colonel looked from Hannah to Joseph and back again. “Here.”
A sharp intake of breath didn’t keep her head from spinning, or from that same air being released as a sob. “Here?” Samuel was alive? She’d found him? Perhaps a loving God did indeed exist.
“Yes. He’s served under me for a few months now. A fine soldier.”
Hannah clenched her teeth to keep control of the sudden surge of emotion that threatened to break from her. She leaned into Joseph and soaked up his strength. Samuel was alive, and she’d found him. How could she make herself believe it?
“Can we see him?” Joseph asked, speaking her heart.
“Yes. I shall send someone for him. Wait here.”
Colonel Hardy left, and Hannah twisted to Joseph. She had so much she wanted to say, to thank him for helping her, to tell him how unbelievable this all was, but words collided in her head before they could be birthed.
Joseph wrapped her in an embrace, making it easy to close her eyes and let warmth roll to her cheeks while they waited another eternity.
Oh, where was Samuel?
The tent door swooshed behind her. “I was told to report to...” The voice was deep—so much like Myles’s. But Myles was dead. “Excuse me, mister. I must have misunderstood.”
“Samuel?” Hannah pivoted to the lanky youth nearly as tall as Joseph. Dark hair hung over his brow, obscuring, along with the shadows of night, his familiar features, but she still knew him. “Samuel.”
His mouth hung open. “Hannah?”
She nodded and threw herself at him with a squeal.
He staggered back a step and gripped her hard. Almost as hard as she held him. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I came to find you.”
“Where’s Mama?”
Hannah gripped him tighter. All she had left. “Not now. I can’t tell you right now.” She wanted to hold on to this moment. This feeling of perfect happiness.
~*~
The hundreds of tents sat silent, and the campfires had died hours ago.
Joseph had chosen a site for their bedrolls not far from the colonel’s headquarters, not far from where they had visited with Samuel long into the night.
Hannah slept in the blue haze of approaching dawn. She’d taken a while to fall asleep after hours spent with her brother, swapping news and stories, but she’d slept soundly since. As far as she was concerned, they had succeeded. She’d found Samuel and would never have to be separated from him again. Reality was not so kind.
Joseph had not thought beyond finding her brother, either, but the boy was still a levied soldier. He wasn’t free to walk away.
Joseph clenched his jaw against a yawn but his eyes still watered. He’d hardly slept thinking about today—about what he would say to Colonel Hardy, what arguments he could make. Oh, Lord, help me. Please give me success. For Hannah’s sake.
Instead of feeling peace, uncertainty drove Joseph to his feet. He moved to the dead coals and dug for any hint of life. In the very heart of the largest charred log, he found a tiny glow of red. Just like his faith had always been. Small. On the verge of fading. But still there.
He found some kindling and blew softly. With some coaxing the ember grew and then flickered into a flame. A few minutes later he added a small log to the kindling and watched the blaze spread.
If only his trust in God’s plan for his life were so easy to stoke.
“What is Thy plan, Lord?” Or do you even have one for me?
Footsteps preceded Samuel’s voice. “You are awake early.”
Joseph nodded. “You, too.”
“Didn’t sleep much last night.” Samuel pulled up a short length of stump next to Joseph’s. “Thinking too much.”
“Me, too.”
“What have you been thinking about?”
Easy enough to summarize. “Your sister.”
“Hannah will be all right. She has you. And I’m glad for that.”
“She has me, but I don’t think she will be able to walk away without you.” And chance losing him all over again. The war was far from over.
“I doubt there will be much choice in the matter.” The young man rested his elbows on his knees and dropped his head forward. “I sometimes wonder if there will ever be a way out. I hardly remember home and family anymore. Seeing Hannah…” Samuel craned his neck to look at his sister’s sleeping form tucked in her bedroll. “Seems more like a dream. Maybe that is why I was afraid to sleep. Didn’t want to wake up and find out I had imagined her.”
Joseph tried not to consider what it would be like to never see his children again, or Rachel and Andrew. To never go home. To go years without knowing if they had survived. No word. No hope.
“Thank you for this much.” Samuel grinned at him, but it couldn’t mask his pain. Or his fear.
“She would have found you with or without me,” Joseph said.
“Maybe. Hannah is strong. Always has been. But finding me is only half of what she’s had to go through. Learning about what happened to Myles. That wouldn’t have been easy for her. And leaving here…”
“Nothing is written in stone yet.” Joseph tossed another log on the fire. He couldn’t let Hannah suffer another loss. “We’ll speak with the colonel. He seems a good man.”
“Aye, he is. But…” Samuel shrugged and looked to the dancing flames. “I guess we shall see.”
The sun worked into the sky and another soldier set a pot over the fire to brew some coffee.
Hannah tossed a few times before waking. She came to the fire with a smile on her face. A genuine one. What Joseph wouldn’t give to keep it there. “Good morning, you two.” She stooped behind Samuel and wrapped her arms around him before pressing a kiss to the side of his head. “How could you let me sleep? Have you been here long?”
“No.” Samuel stood and hugged her properly. “Can’t stay long, either. I have to report to my lieutenant for duty this morning. And I think we have some drills later today. I don’t know when I’ll have more time. But I will find some. I promise.”
Hannah remained speechless as her brother kissed her cheek and saluted a farewell to Joseph. As soon as Samuel was out of sight, she turned. “They can’t keep him any longer.”
Joseph cupped her hands in his. “We might not have much choice in that.”
She jerked away. “No. They’ve already taken too many years. They can’t have more. They can’t have his life.”
“Hannah.” He braced her shoulders.
She shrugged away.
Joseph held up his hands. “Losing our tempers and making demands will not help Samuel. We will talk with Colonel Hardy. But we need to reason with him.”
She nodded stiffly. “All right.”
They both looked at Colonel Hardy’s tent. There was no sign that he’d woken yet. They would have to be patient.
For a couple hours they waited, Hannah looking like a cannon with its fuse burning into oblivion.
Finally, the colonel emerged from his tent fully dressed and with several officers.
Hannah beat Joseph across the camp. “Colonel.”
“Yes, Mrs. Garnet?”
“I need to speak with you.”
“I imagine you feel as though you need to, but I can save you the effort. You have had your reunion with your brother, but that is all. We need him.”
“Need him? He’s still a boy!”
Joseph touched her arm with a downward stroke. “Easy,” he whispered.
Hannah took a breath, and Joseph stepped forward. “With due respect, sir, he has already given you six years.”
The colonel’s eyes sharpened. “He has not given me anything. That service was to his country. Just as mine has been.” He folded his arms tight against his chest. “How long have you given, Mr. Garnet?”
Joseph opened his mouth, ready with an answer.
“You said yesterday that you rode with Colonel Gansevoort and General Herkimer,” Colonel Hardy continued. “You did not serve under them, though, did you?”
“No, I didn’t, but that does not mean I haven’t fought for this country or sacrificed for our freedom.”
“Our freedom? Or yours, Mr. Garnet? Tell me truthfully, how far from your farm have the battles been that you’ve fought?”
Oriskany was ten miles.
Fort Schuyler wasn’t much farther.
Always on the defense. Stopping the British and Tories from coming near his home and land. Never in attack to push the British from the colonies. He had never been a part of the larger war. Like Daniel. Like Samuel.
“I thought as much,” the colonel said. “I have already reported my numbers to General Washington, Mr. Garnet. He has asked for more men, not less. We are on the cusp of a great offensive. As we speak, General Washington makes plans with the French. So while I understand your desires to protect your family, I have orders, and I have men I am both accountable for and to. Good day.”
Joseph stood helpless as the colonel moved away with his officers. Hannah looked back and forth between him and them. “That’s it?”
“Hannah, I…” How could he explain what bound him now? He didn’t even understand it himself.
“Joseph, please tell me there is some way we can save my brother. You heard him, didn’t you? They’re marching into another battle. They’re sticking him in front of the British for target practice!” She pinched her lips together, and her eyes watered. “I cannot lose him, too. Not after seeing him again. I won’t let go. I don’t care what it takes. I want my brother.”
Numbness spread through Joseph as he opened his arms and Hannah stepped in. She trembled as she cried. And all he could do was hold her. What else did he have to give?
But himself.
Every muscle in his body tightened at the turn of his thoughts. Is this what you had in mind from the start, Lord?
29
Hannah wrapped her arms against her abdomen and the nausea within. “I do not care what it takes. I refuse to lose Samuel again.”
Hunter gave a low knicker and nudged her with his nose.
She stepped to him and hugged his neck. “I’ve never been so frightened.” Not for a while, anyway. Not since being slammed to the ground by a frontiersman who didn’t want his horse stolen. Who could have suspected how dependent she would have grown on that man? Her hope rested with him now—him and his God.
She glanced heavenward.
Hunter leaned his head in, an itch to scratch.
“I found my brother and he’s alive. Was that God’s work?” She rubbed the horse’s sleek summer coat, tawny in the sun. “And if He could do that for me, could He not also find a way to set Samuel free?”
Joseph always closed his eyes and tipped his head forward in prayer, so she did the same. “Dear Lord,” that was how Joseph addressed Him. But Andrew had also called Him Father. Hannah liked that image. Her father had loved his children. She’d like to think God did, as well. “Please, Father, give me my brother back. Don’t let them take him from me again.” She leaned her forehead into Hunter’s strong neck. “Please.”
“Hannah?”
She steeled herself and turned to Samuel and his wide grin—the one she’d always loved. Wonder and worry both struggled within her, making her ill.
“I just came from Colonel Hardy.” He held up two sheets of parchment.
“What are those?”
Her brother’s eyes glistened. “One is my discharge.” He sniffed, and a tear rolled free. “It says I am free to go.”
Hannah’s lungs seized. She couldn’t breathe. Her chest trembled with the attempt. Thank you, Lord! She threw her arms around Samuel and held tight. She didn’t have to let go. “I don’t understand. How did Joseph convince the colonel?”
“I wasn’t told. But he is still speaking with Colonel Hardy. Joseph said he’ll come shortly. As soon as he’s finished.”
Hannah pulled back to look up at her brother, and the papers in his hands rustled. “What does the other one say?”
“That one, Joseph insisted on. The colonel read it to me himself.” Samuel beamed. “It is a letter that says I have served honorably in the Continental Army and am due all the rights and respect as a vitrine of such.” He held it so she could see. “His signature is here, and this is his seal. My past and what papa did are no longer tied to me.”
“Then you can come back to the valley with us. You can have whatever life you wish.”
“Which is only what he deserves,” Joseph said.
Hannah looked past Samuel to where he stood. She let go and raced across the short distance between them. “Thank you, Joseph!” She flung her arms around him and pressed her lips to his. I love you!
He captured her against him, not just with his embrace, but with the caress of his mouth, moving as though to speak to her soul. Hannah replied. She loved this man more than she’d thought possible. She loved his sparring, his teasing, his warmth, his gentleness. She loved how he held her when she needed to be held, despite her. She loved his strength. She loved his love for the land. And for his family. And she loved that in this moment, she couldn’t doubt that he loved her, too.
Ever so slowly, Joseph pulled away. Still, his hands cupped her face. He tipped his head against hers and filled his lungs. “I need to speak with you.”
She sank her fingers into his hair. “Samuel already told me. I just don’t understand how you did it. The colonel was so set when we spoke to him last. He said he couldn’t afford to give up a good soldier.”
“He can’t.” Joseph braced her shoulders.
“But…?”
“I told him I’d take Samuel’s place.”
“Oh, Joseph, no.” Not that. Everything spun back out of control. “You can’t do it. What about your land? What about your family—your children. James and Martha need you.” I need you.
“They have Rachel and Andrew, grandparents, and even Daniel and his wife. They don’t need me. The land, the cabin—between Andrew and Daniel, seed will still get planted in the spring and harvested in the autumn.”
She searched Joseph’s face, and saw the torture within. “What about me?”
“You have Samuel. He’s a man now. He will take care of you.” His arms fell against his sides. “You’ll be fine without me.”
“But I won’t.” Her hands lowered to the nape of his neck. She wasn’t sure if she should kiss him or shake him. Didn’t he know she couldn’t walk away from him, either? “You’re my husband, Joseph. You’re my husband and…and I love you.” So very, very much.
He blinked rapidly as though surprised. And then straightened away from her. “You can’t.”
“What do you mean I can’t? After all you have done for me and everything…” we’ve shared. Weeks of travel. Kisses. Nights only inches apart. “Wives are supposed to love their husbands.”
Joseph swallowed hard and shook his head. “That was a mistake. If there had been any other way to keep my family safe, I wouldn’t have let you marry me.” He took her wrists and held her away from him. “If you knew the truth…if you knew the truth, you would have encouraged Otetiani to take my scalp and burn down everything I’d ever built.”
Hannah fell back a step. “How can you say that? How can you even suggest—”
“I killed him,” Joseph whispered.
Him? The same him from his conversation with Daniel?
“I should have told you before now. Maybe that day at Fort Herkimer when you asked about Oriskany. I should have told you then.”
Hannah stared. Another step back. She didn’t need to hear any more. She already knew. And it wrung her. “Oriskany? Papa?”
Joseph glanced to where Samuel stood. “You need to hear it, too. You don’t owe me anything. Your pa and I fought at Oriskany four years ago. And I killed him.” Joseph wiped a hand down his face and closed his eyes. “I killed him.”
No. Anything but that. And yet she couldn’t doubt it. He’d told her before. In his silence. The pained look in his eyes. He’d confessed over and over and she’d never listened. Hannah clasped her palm over her mouth as though she could somehow contain the agony ripping through her and what had moments ago been overwhelming love for this man. How could she feel that now? What was she supposed to feel?
What did he feel?
Hannah waved her unsteady hand at him. “I don’t understand. Why all of this? Is that why you came with me? Is that why you made your promises? It was never about me, was it?”
“Of course it was about you.” He released his breath. “You were my neighbor.”
~*~
Joseph braced himself as Hannah fled into the woods. He couldn’t go after her and hold her until everything was all right again. That was no longer his place. He walked to Hunter before facing Samuel. “The horse is Hannah’s now.” Joseph had forgotten all about the foal he’d wanted to give her. Now it didn’t matter. She could keep the sire. “He’s already seen enough of this war.”
“Haven’t we all?”
Joseph wanted to agree, but it seemed premature. His life was no longer his own, and he was about to march into whatever offensive General Washington decided upon. He was a soldier of the Continental Army and would obey whatever orders he was given. For once he would look beyond himself and his family and fight for his country.
“I think you are wrong.” Samuel remained in place.
“About what?” Joseph had been wrong plenty of times, but everything seemed pretty straightforward in this instance.
“That we should blame you for Pa’s death. Hannah might struggle for a while, but she does love you. Any fool can see that. And how can a man be held responsible for what happens in the thick of battle? Unless you purposefully sought him out with the intent to murder him.”
