Rebel (Civil War Period)

Chapter 5..

8th January 1863

I am eighteen now, and the war is still not over. Will it ever be?

Papa has moved us not to New York, but to Missouri. We live in a pretty town house here in Hartville, and I have quite grown to like this life here. Father's brother, Uncle Adam, and his family live here, too. He has three children; Fred, who is 20 and temporarily at home, Lisa, who is 14, and Eva, who is three.

I do not admit this, but I still dream of Jasper Whitlock. Is he still alive? I have to believe he is, for otherwise I think I will go insane. I cannot ask anybody after him, for how would I explain where I had gotten his name from? I never get to see the newspapers, and all I know is that the war seems far from over.

I so sincerely hope that I get to see William again soon. I miss him. The last time I had seen him had been more than two years ago... During this time only Papa had seen him.

I hear a rider nearing... that has to be William!

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"William!" I exclaimed and ran down the stairs to him, having to take care not to trip over my petticoat. William smiled brightly and dismounted his horse. "Georgiana! What a beauty you have become!"

I threw my arms around him, and he lifted me up and twirled me around. When he put me down he kissed my cheeks and said: "It is so good to see you again, dearest sister."

"I missed you, William. How have you been these two years? Your letters have become scarce lately."

"Indeed, and I am sorry for it. But I had less and less opportunity to write you as time passed, and if I had, it was difficult to find a way sending it to you."

I lowered my voice. "Will you explain the on-goings to me tonight, when Papa and Mama are at sleep?"

My brother laughed. "Oh, my dear Georgiana. You have always been the most curious of you three sisters, and the smartest, too. I will try my best to tell you everything I know."

I kissed his cheek. "Thank you. Now come, you must be hungry and tired."

"Oh, aye, I have missed Sarah's culinary skills." We walked into the warm house arm in arm, and I was so glad to have my brother back. It diverted me from my other longing...

At night, when Marianne had declared to be tired and went to bed and Susannah soon gone after her, it was only William and me left in the salon. I took a seat beside him on the couch. "It is so good to have you back, William. I worried about you these years. Will you have to go back?"

"Eventually, yes, I will have to." He replied. "But for now, I am just glad to be with you again. So tell me, Georgiana. Have you found yourself a fiancee yet?"

"No, nor do I intend to." Because something was keeping my heart...

"Oh, Gina, I am not surprised. You have always been a little rebel, and a woman who can take care of herself. Which is why I do not see the point in keeping information from you, as our father intends to do."

I would finally hear something about the war, and maybe I would eventually understand why brothers were fighting each other.

After I had said goodnight to William, I went to my room and stayed awake for a long time, writing in my diary by the candlelight. It had to be way past midnight when I finally laid down the quill and stretched out my tired limbs.

I was just walking over to my closet to change into my night dress, when I heard an awkward noise. It was like a thud, and it came from outside. I went to the window and looked outside just as a canon ball hit the house opposite the street and destroyed the roof.

I let out a scream, and within minutes, the whole house was awake. No, not only the house, the whole town. People were running in the streets, screaming, children were crying.

"William, you come with me. Those are Confederates." My father yelled over the noise coming from outside. "Anna, you and the children go for the forest, we will find you later."

My mother took Susannah by the hand and the four of us ran out the back door. It would have been an easy thing to do to just run to the forest and hide beneath the trees. We would have simply had to take the horses and leave.

But it went wrong.

We were just at the back gate when we saw the Confederate soldiers coming towards our house from that direction. "We can't leave that way, Mama!" I called. "We have to go through the town!" And hope that we will make it, I added in thought.

"No, we have to go this way!" She protested and fiddled with the lock of the gate.

"Mama, there are Confederates coming that way!"

"If we go through town, we'll get shot, fool!" She yelled at me, and hurried through the gate. Susannah and Marianne followed her, but I hesitated. Too long. A canon ball hit the wall and destroyed the passage. I heard screams from the other side, but I could not go and make sure that my family was alright, for I saw that another troop of soldiers was coming up the street the other way, and if I would not get off these premises immediately I would be trapped.

So I lifted up my skirts and ran towards the main gate, out into the streets where the people were wildly running around, gun and canon shots mingling with the noise of screaming people. It was strange how calm I was. Maybe it was because I knew that hysteria would not get me very far. I had no time to look for any relatives of mine, even if I had been able to make them out in this chaos. Somewhere in the darkness was the forest, and it was there I would run to now.

Houses were collapsing beside me, canon balls hit the ground, shots filled the air and smoke stinging in my eyes. I nearly let out a cry of relief when I had finally reached the woods. My aching legs carried me further and further, until I had no idea where I was anymore. I could not be too far, though, as I still heard the screams and shots. But I was thinking clear enough to worry about my family, to realize that soldiers were probably swarming in this forest... that I was completely alone and helpless.

I slowed down a bit, my lungs feeling as if torn apart, but kept on walking. I let out a quiet yelp when suddenly a horse appeared out of the darkness before me.

"Georgiana." Jasper Whitlock's silver eyes sparkled in the moonlight as he looked at me with what looked like relief. "Come." He held out his hand to me, and I barely realized what I was doing as I took it. He pulled me up behind him as if my weight was nothing to him, which was not hard to believe with his muscles. Even the shock could not cloud my relief to see him here, alive and well. Automatically, as his horse began to canter deeper into the forest, I wrapped my arms around his middle. I tried to ignore the fluttering of my heart, but only with mediocre success. Then I immediately felt guilty for having such thoughts while my parents and siblings were in danger.

"My family..."

"There is nothing we can do, Georgiana. Those are not my men attacking the city, so I have no power whatsoever. I only came to save you."

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