She heard Theo’s steps thundering back down the stairs and knew he would see to the task. Lucy pulled on an older gown shewore for doing chores around the house. It was plain, faded pink from the rich burgundy hue she had loved when it had been new. No one would know which side of the rebellion she was on if they judged her on the color of her attire alone.
Quickly snatching a few coins from the jar on her desk, she stuffed them into her pocket along with the toothpick case she hadn’t even realized she had carried in her hand upstairs.
Her mother was in the kitchen, frantically stuffing a basket full of an assortment of food. It held everything from the peaches she had set on the windowsill to ripen to half a loaf of bread, slices of meat, and a small round of cheese. Theo ran inside with a cider-filled waterskin held in his hands.
“Just in case you get thirsty,” Cleta said when Lucy lifted a brow at the waterskin. “Your father said for you to see him before you go.”
Lucy rushed down the steps to the hidden room, shocked once again that it existed beneath the storeroom. It was cooler there, and several candles and two oil lamps lightened the otherwise dark space.
“I’m ready to go, Papa,” Lucy said as she took in the fact that Branch had moved his chair to the other side of the cot and wiped a rag soaked in the rum over Thomas’ wounds, making the man hiss air out between his teeth.
Lucy grabbed a rag from the stack on the table, twisted it into a rope, and set it beside Thomas’ head on the mattress. “He’ll need something to bite into.”
Branch nodded and caught her hand in his, but remained quiet.
“Tell us each step of the plan, Lucy,” her father said, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up past his elbows in preparation for digging the musket balls out of Thomas.
“Theo and I will go down to the river, to the broken wharf no one uses. There is a small rowboat there, hidden beneath it.We will row across to Cooper’s Ferry and go directly to the stable and ask for Whitley. Under no circumstances are we to give the message to anyone but him. The Coopers are known Loyalists and to be avoided if possible. Whitley will take the case with the message, and we can return.”
“You make it sound like you’re attending a meeting with the ladies from church,” Branch said, sounding both irritated and fearful.
“Not with Theo along,” Lucy said with a cheeky smile that made Thomas grin and both Branch and her father scowl.
“Just be careful, Daughter.” Ward kissed her cheek as he picked up the forceps and a scoop used for dislodging musket balls.
“We will be. I promise.” Lucy turned and started up the stairs, but she couldn’t leave. Not until she had hugged Branch around the neck and kissed his whiskery cheek, embarrassed to have done so in front of her father, but not regretting her action at all. Branch was careful not to touch her with his bloody hands, but the look in his eyes, even glazed as they were with pain, let her know he intended to have a kiss he deemed suitable upon her return.
“Don’t you dare die tonight, Lucy Carlson,” Branch growled at her.
“I don’t plan to, Sergeant Barton.” Lucy tipped her head to him, then raced up the stairs, grabbed Theo’s hand and the basket, kissed her mother’s tear-streaked cheek, and stepped into an undertaking she felt ill-prepared to face.
Ten
“Don’t let go of my hand, Theo,” Lucy warned quietly as the two of them left the safety of their home and walked around to the front of the building, as though they were out for a stroll to the market.
Plenty of merchants were still open and selling their fruits, vegetables, flowers, and baked goods.
Lucy didn’t hasten her steps, as she wanted to. She and Theo wandered among the stalls, while Lucy kept an eye out for the two ruffians she had seen watching her through the shop window on numerous occasions. She hoped Branch had hit them hard enough to scramble what few brains they possessed.
Finally, she and Theo made it to where the wharves jutted out into the river. Lucy turned and headed north, ambling along as though they were just out for a summer stroll.
“Is it that one?” Theo asked in a hushed tone as they neared a wharf that leaned to one side with a broken board jutting upward on the end of it. It appeared so rickety, she thought a strong wind might topple it.
“Run down there to see if the boat is where it’s supposed to be,” Lucy said, releasing Theo’s hand, then pretending thebreeze had caught her cap and nearly blown it off so she could turn and look behind her. No one followed them, at least that she could see. She slowly turned back to Theo and the wharf, taking in all her surroundings. Across the river, she could see people getting onto the ferry that would bring them into Philadelphia.
“It’s there, Lucy,” Theo said, running up to her.
“Good. We’ll walk down there, get in the boat, and row across. Simple as that.” Lucy took Theo’s hand in hers again, not that she was worried about him getting lost. It was because she needed the comfort the feel of his small palm pressed against hers brought to her.
Lucy was glad her father had told her to change, or she would have completely ruined one of her favorite gowns. The mud was thick and deep, so she tossed her shoes into the boat.
“Hold the basket and waterskin, Theo,” she said, handing the basket to him, then bent her knees. “Climb on.”
Under other circumstances, Theo would have whooped in anticipation of her giving him a ride, but he quietly did as she asked. Lucy straightened and shifted Theo so he rode higher on her back, then waded in her stocking feet through the mud that sucked at her with each step. Theo would have been sucked into the muck and might not have made it through.
Each step dragged at her, but she finally made it to the side of the boat and held it with one hand to steady it as Theo set the basket and waterskin in, then climbed off her back onto one of the boat’s wooden seats.
Lucy untied the rope holding the boat to the wharf and tossed it into the boat, then summoned all her strength and gave the boat a shove into the water. As it moved away from the bank, she yanked her skirts up in one hand and used the other to hop in, legs hanging over the side until Theo helped her pull her petticoats weighted with mud and water into the boat.
