A light knock against his door startled him.
“Still awake, I see.” Aunt Mary peeked inside, dressed for bed, her long braid falling over her shoulder.
“Taking care of a few details.” Hamilton stood beside his desk, obscuring his letter.
“You leave in the morning?”
“At first light.”
Her eyes welled up, and her weak smile left him cold and ashamed. Could he really go to war while his aunt needed him?
“Aunt Mary, perhaps I should delay—”
“Don’t worry, my boy, I’m made of hearty stock. Mrs. Reed will come every day, and Ox and Moses are nearby. If I whistle, they will hear me.”
“I’ll only be gone three months, then home in time for the harvest.”
“Three months.” She leaned against the plastered wall. Uncle Laurence spent the better part of twenty years fixing up their home, honoring his promise to build her a “palace” if she left Virginia for the wilderness of South Carolina. “Is that enough time to excise your vengeance?”
“Vengeance?” He reclined against the side of the desk with a sigh. “Nay, I fight for the Cause. Captain Irwin brought me round to his way of thinking.”
“Then your pa and uncle will be proud.”
“Esther will not.”
“Hamilton, can I give you some advice? Do not be distracted by things you cannot change. She is a lady of noble breeding.”
“She was raised not two miles from here.”
“I’m surprised she returned from her society debut in London.”
“Perhaps she loves me.”
Aunt Mary crossed the room to embrace him. “Guard your heart. ’Tis all I ask.” She retrieved a folded document from herrobe pocket. “This fell from Laurence’s Bible when I opened it this evening for my reading.”
Hamilton reached for it. A copy of the Declaration.
When in the Course of human events...
“I shall treasure it.” Hamilton tucked the document inside his haversack. On the floor by the door, he’d readied his canteen and cartridge box along with his rifle and musket, bedroll, and paper and pencil to send word home when the opportunity presented itself.
To write to Esther, should words fail him this evening.
“I am proud of you.” Aunt Mary brushed her hands over his shoulders, then stepped back, wiping her eyes. “Though, dare I remind you, you are all I have left in this world. No children of my own. No parents. No husband.” Her tears glistened in the candlelight. “I love you more than if I’d given you life.”
“You have been good to me, Aunt Mary. Became my mother when I had none.” He kissed her cheek. “I will return to you, I promise.”
“I will cover you in my prayers. This conflict has robbed us both. But it is just a course in the vastness of human events. It will end, and peace will come. Fight in a time of war as the man you want to be in a time of peace.”
Hamilton nodded, tucking away her words of wisdom. “I will fight with honor. You’ve my pledge.”
She turned for the door, then paused. “Oh, I found the blade given to your great-grandfather during Queen Anne’s War. Laurence had hidden it away in his trunk. I believe he put it there ages ago, hiding it from your pa.”
Hamilton laughed. “On that score, you can be sure.”
“I put it on the kitchen table for you.”
When she’d gone, Hamilton returned to his letter, but his inspiration had dissipated.
