“Thank you, sir. But you are the one who has brought a treasure to me. I am in your debt.”
Walter looked at me and Christian and tipped his hat. “I had no idea, sir. I was just bringing her home.”
I laughed and burrowed my face into Christian’s neck. He smelled the same—of warmth and musk and tobacco.
“You did, sir,” he said to Walter. “You did.”
Christian took hold of my horse and gave instructions to his men. We mounted the horse together and let it walk us back slow so we could talk. My hands were wet with sweat, so I was glad he held the reins. A late-summer haze draped the road in front of us, and the air was still.
I leaned against him. “I was going to start writing letters to find out what had become of you,” I said. “I had to find out one way or another whether you were dead or injured. Maybe you’d even come through one of my field hospitals.” I gripped his arm in front of me. “There were times when I thought you had.”
“You’ve been a nurse, then?”
“Yes. Been at Vicksburg for nearly a year.”
“A year! I’ve seen the reports. I hate thinking you’ve been through such hell.”
My heart swelled as I saw the cane fields, the plants gold tipped and green, stretch out from both sides of the road. The last time I’d seen this parcel of Catalpa Valley, I’d been with Papa. The last time I’d felt this safe and loved had been at Fortitude.
“When did you leave Lower Knoll?” I asked.
“Only a day or two after you did. I was so afraid for you I didn’t want to go. I even had Templeton do some riding around to see if anyone had seen you. Where did you go?”
“I left with Poney on the supply run and made him promise not to tell anyone.”
“I couldn’t wait—had to report to Colonel Eshton’s regiment. I was gone from Lower Knoll before Poney returned.”
“He got hurt, Christian. It probably took him a while to get back.”
“Hurt?”
“Yes.” I wondered if I should tell him how, but there was no reason to keep it from him. “We drove into the middle of a battle. He was shot. I managed to dress his wound and get us behind the lines to a field hospital. That’s how I ended up becoming a nurse.”
His arms tightened around me. “I’m sorry you have been in danger. If something had happened to you, I would have blamed myself. You left because of me.”
“Please don’t,” I said. “I made the decision to go on my own.”
“I wanted to look for you, but then I realized I didn’t have to. I knew you would be here, at least in spirit until you came in person. I just had to find a way to get here.”
“It was a risk,” I said. “Coming south, this deep into the Confederacy.”
I felt him kiss the back of my head. “Someone taught me that a person takes risks for what and whom one loves.”
I smiled. “Yes.”
Christian stopped the horse before we reached the house.
“Jeannette, please. I don’t want to be in a room with other people just yet. Let me look at you and talk to you. All right? Only you.”
I knew where to go. We tied up the horse at the post near the gallery, and I took Christian by the hand. We walked behind the house and down the lawn to Papa’s gazebo, among the old trees where I’d sat with Calista. The small structure was in need of paint and care, but it was still there and sturdy. We sat, and Christian looked and looked at me like he couldn’t get enough of the sight of me. He removed his cap. I wondered how it had ever fit, because his hair had grown long and bushy. His thick brown beard was also unkempt. If he hadn’t been in uniform, I would have thought him as wild as his eyes. For some moments we said nothing. I reached out and touched his beard and stroked the side of his face. I didn’t need for either of us to say anything. My mind was at peace and whole. I felt calm and clear. I was home. He was alive. It was enough for me to sit there acknowledging these gifts and to be content.
“You said you saw Colonel Eshton in Tennessee?”
“Yes. He said you had gone to New Orleans.”
“I’d heard a group of infantry were headed there to attack the city. Eshton gave me a letter of recommendation, and I managed to find a troop that allowed me to travel south with them. Once down there we used shallow-draft transports to get us through the bayous. There was a fleet of ships ahead of us.”
“How bad was the fight?”
“That’s just it, Jeannette. There wasn’t much of one.”
“Why?”
“The force that was supposed to guard New Orleans got sent to Shiloh. The city was totally defenseless.” Christian unbuttoned his uniform coat and removed it. The day was growing hotter, and he rolled up his shirtsleeves as he spoke.
“The people were dumping all the town’s goods into the river. I couldn’t believe it. They were burning the cotton, emptying the warehouses. They dumped molasses, sugar, even the wine and whiskey. Crowds got on top of the levees and were screaming at us, just howling with pure rage. You can imagine, Jeannette, how it felt to hear those screams. I kept thinking I should have been with them. Not as a rebel but as a citizen of New Orleans. I wasn’t sure if I could fight them.”
I did understand and took hold of his hands. “You must have been so torn,” I said.
“Yes. I couldn’t take part in destroying the city. I prayed constantly that I wouldn’t have to. And then a man named Lovell—he was the Confederate commander—he knew he was badly outnumbered, and he withdrew his troops.”
“Thank goodness.”
“I was grateful, I’ll tell you that. We established a headquarters. The commanding officers appreciated that I was from the area and knew the land and its resources. That’s how I learned that the plantations were being raided—some of them even burned. There was a Major General Banks who knew about the raiding and the looting, and he was worried about the waste of cotton.”
“Why would he care about that?”
“He was from Massachusetts. Had worked in a cotton mill when he was a young man. He said nearly two-thirds of the cotton mills in the North were closed because they couldn’t get any cotton from the South.”
“Calista said they’ve been making homespun here—the rudimentary fabric.”
Christian nodded. “Yes, I told Banks about Catalpa Valley. I said if he could give me a regiment of men, we could ride west and secure it and its products for Union use. He liked the idea right away. And he approved of my plan to free the slaves because he thought it would be hypocritical if we didn’t. We’d be no better than the rebels, he said. Within days I had my troops, and we made it to the property, found everything intact. We’ve been here since.”
He pulled me closer to him. “Jeannette, there’s something else I have to tell you.”
“What, Christian?” I could see on his face that he was trying to work something out. “What is it?”
“My men know I’m not white. I don’t hide it anymore.”
I stood so I could hold his face in my hands and look at him. I wanted him to see my eyes, to know how proud I was. I kissed him on the forehead and held him to me. “How did you come to that?”