“Fancy that, when all I need is one.” Her amusement matched her pleasure. They weren’t facing a looming separation after all. But he clearly wasn’t as pleased as she.
“I wish it were that simple—and safe.”
“Meaning you believe this entirely too dangerous.”
“It’s no secret what I think.”
“There are rumors flying around Chatham that the British mean to make an example of Chatham’s treasonous loyalties and reduce the village to ashes once you Continentals decamp. I’d rather accompany you and your riflemen.”
He looked away from her to the alert sentries on the bridge, his expression grim. “Be that as it may, I’ve been through New York’s neutral ground a time or two. It’s lawless. Filled with Loyalist and Patriot raiders who terrorize local residents. The worst of it being something could happen to you and I would never forgive myself.”
She fastened her eyes on the linen fringe of his shirt and tried not to think of the scars beneath. She’d not considered herself dying. Only him. Would she and Coralie become targets, moving with the army? Her chest was so tight she forgot she’d pocketed Lieutenant Gibbs’s letter.
Still, she said firmly, “I’d rather be with you than away from you, hard as it is, dangerous though it may be.”
The look in his eyes was anything but encouraging. “Start packing, then, as we’re to leave with only twenty-four hours’ notice.”
Rhys walked her home, the turn of events silencing them, perhaps even building another wall between them. Their linen closet kiss seemed like it never was. She stopped at the front door without asking him to stay on for supper or even a drink. There was simply no time. Their leaving was imminent. With a terse goodbye he turned away, and she retreated to the parlor to read the remaining letter.
The contents were quite bland, with Lieutenant Gibbs complaining of the boredom of army life and the many Hessian soldiers at Fort Knyphausen, which she knew was located along the Hudson River in Manhattan, New York. At least she knew his whereabouts, an uncomfortably close twenty-five miles. She stilllamented the capture of the former Fort Washington last fall. A great many Continentals had been taken prisoner and held on prison ships and in warehouses and other makeshift prisons in the area, all of them dire. But the floating hulk HMSJerseywas surely the worst, further depleting Washington’s troops.
She lit a candle, holding the letter over the flame to see if Lieutenant Gibbs had used any sympathetic stain like Coralie had. But it simply seemed a benign, terribly unromantic post and nothing more. Coralie wouldn’t miss it if she threw it away, but, conscience guiding her, Mae lay it on the hall table where her sister would see it once she was home from Morristown.
Restless, she wished James were here, wanting to share the news they were leaving soon. Or did he already know?
She went upstairs to her bedchamber to consider what needed packing and what would be left behind. What possessions from her six and twenty years would she choose?
Leaving Chatham suddenly seemed the most significant hurdle of her life.
twenty-one
The Army as usual is without pay; and a great part of the Soldiery without shirts; and though the patience of them is equally threadbare, the States seem perfectly indifferent to their cries.
George Washington
Soon the Chatham house was turned upside down as their coming journey loomed large. The village seemed to shrink to pin-sized proportions as New York’s wilderness opened up to them. Before returning Coralie to Chatham, James had informed her that she and Mae were to march with the army.
“How interesting we’re to be on the army’s coattails once they move—the esteemed Rifle Corps, anyway.” Coralie’s mocking smile held mirth. “A rather ironic turn of events, given I’m being escorted by the Americans to wed a British officer.”
“About which they know nothing.” Mae found it less amusing. “We wouldn’t be going at all except at the behest of Jon.”
“I’m sure in time Eben would have sent for me,” Coralie said in his defense. “What are we to do once we reach New York? In my excitement I can’t recall all that James told me.”
“We’re to go to Fort Montgomery first and reunite with Jon. His farm isn’t far from there. Only a couple of miles distant.”
“Fortuitous, that.”
“For now,” Mae said, folding a favorite apron, “we pack, hope, and pray.”
“All I care is that my wedding dress is in my trunk.”
“We’re allotted two trunks if the baggage wagon has room. As for me, I’ll take one trunk and rely on saddlebags. We’ll both be on horseback, remember.”
“I already envision being sore. You’re a far better rider. Perhaps I should rely on the wagon instead.” Coralie sighed. “How long will it take us to reach the Hudson Highlands?”
“I didn’t ask.” Mae bent to retrieve a dropped stocking and garter. “I suspect light infantry like General Harlow’s moves fairly quickly, even a few hundred men. We don’t want to slow them.”
“I hope we’re not mistaken for camp followers.” Coralie shuddered.
