And One Wore Gray (27 page)

Every southerner there stood. They stared at him for a minute.

Jesse saluted the group. They saluted in return. “Colonel Cameron and Colonel Cameron. Blue and gray. Don’t that just beat all!” Captain Farrow murmured.

“If anybody else has got health complaints,” Daniel advised quickly, “now’s the time to voice them.”

Davie Smith took a step forward. “I ain’t got no health complaints, Doctor,” he told Jesse. “But you saved Billy’s arm, and we’re all beholden to you.”

“You don’t need to be beholden to me,” Jesse said. “I’m a doctor, and I took an path. I drained his arm of all the poison and I pulled out the lead. But if he doesn’t take real good care of it how, infection will set back in, and he’ll be right back where he started. It’s up to you all now. Make him keep dry and clean. I won’t be around later to see to him.” Jesse turned to his brother. “How’s my patient doing?” he asked Daniel.

“Drunk as a skunk.”

Jesse grinned and walked over to where Billy was lying on a pallet of straw. Billy smiled broadly for him. “Hello, Doc!”

“Hello, Billy. How are you feeling?”

“Like I could whomp the whole Yank army,” Billy admitted, still with his grin in place.

“Well, I think that you’d better lay low on that for a little while,” Jesse advised.

“Maybe. Till I sober up, at least.”

Jesse unwrapped the bandaging, looked the arm over carefully, and then rewrapped his handiwork with a gentle touch. Billy watched him all the while.

“What are you doing on the wrong side, Doc?” he asked.

Jesse paused just a second, then went on wrapping Billy’s arm. “Son, I’m not so sure there is a ‘right’ side or a ‘wrong’ side. There’s just a point of view here.” Finished with his task, he stood and saluted Billy. “Whatever, I hope to see you when this war is over.”

“Yes, sir!” Billy saluted in return.

Jesse walked back to Daniel.

“You’re leaving,” Daniel said.

Jesse nodded. “I have to. You know that.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Come with me. I’ve permission to have a few minutes alone with you.”

Daniel’s brows arched high. “They don’t think I’m too dangerous to be out with you?”

“I’m allowed to talk to you in an empty room across the hall.” He knocked against the door, then saluted the entire room of men again.

“Colonel Cameron!” They said en masse, saluting him once again.

Daniel was surprised to see the faintest hint of a flush touch his brother’s cheeks. “Watch it, fellows,” he said gruffly. “They’ll be in here accusing me of all manner of things. Gentlemen, take care.”

With that, he slipped through the door that a guard had opened for him. It was a new man, Daniel noticed. A big one. He had to be almost as tall as old Abe Lincoln himself. He towered over Jesse and Daniel and they were both a very tall six feet two inches.

And he was built like a gorilla, with a flat, stupid face.

“He can fight like a lion, so they say,” Jesse advised Daniel wryly.

“So he’s in honor of me, huh?”

“I imagine. I was told to warn you.”

Daniel grinned as they slipped into the room across the hall. It was very much like the room where he and the others were kept, but it was very small. He imagined that it was where the female prisoners were kept when they were housed at Old Capitol.

For a moment he and Jesse stood staring at one another. They’d seen each other in surgery, and they’d worked together over Billy’s arm. Daniel was long accustomed to helping his brother when they’d both been regular cavalry out in the West. But there had been guards in attendance this time, and after the surgery was finished, Daniel had accompanied Billy back to their room. Jesse had suggested that Billy be isolated in a hospital bed, but Daniel felt certain that Billy would much rather be among his own people. At any rate, they’d never really had a moment to say anything personal, and standing here, they both started to grin. They embraced, holding tightly for a moment, then stepped back.

“Jess, it’s good to see you. Damned good to see you. You came in the nick of time. Did the colonel reach you about my whereabouts?” Daniel asked.

Jesse shook his head, watching his brother curiously. “Nope. A certain young lady told me where to find you.”

Daniel stiffened just like a poker. His words fell
from his lips like cubes of ice. “So you met the little bitch.”

“Brother, what a way to refer to the lady! She speaks so highly of you!”

“Yeah, I’ll just bet,” Daniel said. “Did she mention how I happen to be in here?”

“She more or less mentioned that she felt responsible.”

“Oh, yes. She was responsible. I’m just curious. Did she mention just exactly what she did?”

“Why don’t you tell me?”

“Let’s suffice it to say that she used every last power known to women.”

Jesse grinned suddenly. “She seduced you. And you fell for it.”

Daniel felt a tightening rip through his muscles. A pulse that he could feel beat against his throat. “If you weren’t my brother—”

“But I am your brother, and I told all the powers that be here that I’d be safe in your company. Who knows—maybe I can beat the tar out of you.”

“And maybe you can’t,” Daniel warned.

But Jesse was still laughing. “Jesu, Daniel. She was glad because she thought that you were safe. Hell, it’s drafty, the walls are dank, there are rats, but you’re probably eating better than half of the Confederacy. I’d be just as glad if they managed to keep you in here for the rest of the war.”

“They won’t, Jess, you know that,” Daniel said softly.

“God in heaven, Daniel, be careful! You push things too far, and they’ll hang you, and there won’t be a thing in the world that I can do about it!”

“Jesse, don’t worry about me. I will be careful. I’m always careful. Damn you, you can’t take on the whole weight of the war and the weight of worrying about me too!” Daniel told him.

“I’m not taking on the whole damned war, Daniel.”

Daniel smiled ruefully. It was all so hard for him; it had to be harder for Jesse. “Jess, it’s me you’ve got to quit worrying about.”

“Do you ever stop worrying?” Jesse demanded.

No, he didn’t. Daniel tried again.

“You know that I’m good, and you know that I’m careful.”

“You know, she was right, your Mrs. Michaelson. You are better off in prison, Daniel.”

“She isn’t my Mrs. Michaelson. Is that what she told you?”

“Oh, I think she’s yours, all right. And yes, I think that, more or less, she told me something like that. She was very impressive. She’s got to be one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen—”

“Then there’s your wife,” Daniel reminded him politely.

“Yes, of course. Kiernan is extraordinary. But this Callie shines—”

“Just like a beacon,” Daniel agreed. “Until you’re right betwixt her teeth and she clamps down hard.”

“What was that you were betwixt?” Jesse asked.

“Damn it, Jesse, I—”

“Seriously, she is fascinating, Daniel. When I leave here, I am going to try very hard to ride by and tell her that you’re safely locked up. And that if we’re both lucky, they’ll keep you locked up—and alive—until the war is over.”

Daniel slowly crossed his arms over his chest. Goddamn, if it wasn’t so easy to see her in his mind’s eye all the time. If she didn’t haunt his dreams. If he didn’t see those eyes with their captivating silver luminescence! Hear her voice, the whisper of her pleading.

And if he didn’t remember what it was like to make love to her. To stroke the silk and softness of her flesh, drown within the flaming bounty of her hair.

Not again. She’d never seduce him again. Never.

But the dead-set determination could not erase the dreams. He clenched his hands. Yes, he was going back one day. They could finish what they had started. He could strangle her. Hang her up by her toes. Take a horsewhip to her. No, have her drawn and quartered …

Touch her …

“If you go by, Jess,” Daniel said softly, “just remind her that I’m coming back for her. It may take some time. But I’ll be back.”

Jesse had never seen Daniel so heated with emotion. Not in all the years he had known his brother. His fingers wound into fists that still trembled while he spoke.

“Daniel, you can’t hate her for being on the other side!”

“I don’t hate her for being on the other side.”

“Daniel, think about it. Things could work out. You have to remember how Kiernan hated me. I did everything that I could for the longest time—”

“Well,” Daniel interrupted politely, “you could have changed sides.”

“Other than changing sides,” Jesse said dryly, “and she still hated me. But if you could just realize that
we’re
not at war with each other—”

“That’s just it, Jesse. We never want to realize it, you or I. But we are at war with each other. And I am—thoroughly and completely—at war with Mrs. Michaelson.”

Jesse started to speak, then changed his mind. “Well, I’ve got to head out of here. Take care of your friend. And if you should get out and get home, give my love to Kiernan and to our sister and to my baby.”

“Sure, Jess. And if for some reason you get there before I do, you do the same.”

“Right.”

“And Jesse.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for Billy. I’m grateful that I’ve got a Yank doc for a brother.”

“I took an oath, and it’s just like your word when you give it. I have to save life—any life—when I can.”

“I know, Jesse. Hey, God go with you, brother.”

“You too, Daniel.”

They hesitated, still awkward with these partings. They embraced tightly for a moment and drew away. And then Jesse was gone.

Daniel stared up at the ceiling, fighting the wave of painful emotions that washed over him. But within a matter of seconds, the gorilla guard returned to escort him back to his prison room with the others.

Billy was sleeping. Or Billy was passed out in an alcoholic stupor. Daniel sank down on the floor by Billy’s straw bed and closed his eyes wearily.

“Colonel Cameron!”

Captain Farrow was beside him, his eyes alive with excitement as he rubbed his stubbled cheek.

“What is it, Captain?”

“Something of grave interest, sir.”

What could have happened in the ten or fifteen minutes he was out with Jesse?

“Well?” Daniel said.

Farrow sank down beside him and plucked at a stray blade of straw.

“Billy’s Aunt Priscilla made an appearance.”

“So Billy had a visitor, huh? Before or after he passed out?”

“No, sir, he was plumb out when she arrived. But you’ve got to meet Aunt Prissy. She’s some girl.”

“Sir, I don’t—”

Farrow’s voice lowered to something that couldn’t even be called a whisper. “We’ve got a plan, sir. Seems Beauty knows where you are and he wants you out.
‘Aunt Prissy’ ain’t really Billy’s relative at all. She’s a friend to us here.”

“And?” Daniel said, feeling his heart slam against his chest.

“Well, sir, we think we’ve got a plan to get you and a few others out. General Stuart wants you back. Are you game, sir?”

Daniel grinned, leaned back, and closed his eyes tightly with gratitude.

“Sir?” Farrow repeated.

“Oh, yes, Captain! I’m game. You’ll know just how game. Tell me about this plan!”

Luckily, Jesse had been ordered to report to Frederick, Maryland. It was close enough for him to take the time to ride back by the farmhouse where he had first seen Callie Michaelson.

It was midafternoon when he rode by.

He found her on the front porch of her house. Curiously, she didn’t seem to hear him as he approached. Even more curious, she was just sitting there, barefoot, in a very plain gingham dress with a high collar. Very proper for the time of day, he thought with a slow nostalgic smile. It had been a very long time since he had lost his mother, but he could still remember the things she was so determined to teach his sister, Christa. “Never, never show bosom during the day, darling. Only after five may a lady wear a dress that is at all revealing, and then, of course, in the most fastidious taste!”

“Mother, I haven’t got a bosom,” Christa would reply. “Therefore, I can’t show it at any time.”

“Oh, but darling, you will have one, you will!”

“Yes, and Daniel and Jesse will grow hair on their chests. Maybe!” Christa would tease.

And their mother would sigh, and roll her eyes, and then she would laugh and swear that she was raising a
family of ruffians who were just playing at being gentry. Maybe that was true, but his mother could be the first “ruffian” among them because upon occasion, she would lose her austere dignity and slip off her shoes and go running through the grass with the rest of them. They had all adored her. To this day, Jesse was convinced that his father had died soon after she succumbed to pneumonia because no matter how he loved his children, he simply could not bear life without her.

Maybe death was easier for them now. He wondered vaguely if they could look down from heaven and see that he and Daniel were on opposite sides.

They would understand, he thought. They were the ones who had taught their children about conscience and dignity and moral duty and …

Honor.

He smiled slightly as he approached Callie. Yes, his mother might well approve of her. Her collar was high, her feet were bare.

“Mrs. Michaelson.” He called her name softly. He was nearly upon her at the steps to the broad porch and she still hadn’t noticed him, despite the fact that her eyes were wide open. She seemed so lost and vulnerable and waiflike.

She gazed at him. Her eyes widened and a look of panic flashed through her eyes. She leapt to her feet nervously, almost like a child who had been caught with something that she wanted to hide.

“Colonel! Colonel Cameron!” she gasped.

He frowned, dismounting from his horse. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Michaelson, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“I’m not frightened.”

She was lying. No, she wasn’t, Jesse determined. She was very startled, but she wasn’t frightened. She had been seriously caught off guard. By him—in particular. He wondered why.

“I didn’t think that I could come back, but as it is, I
have to report to Frederick. I thought that I’d stop by instead of writing. I wanted to let you know that, yes, Daniel is in Old Capitol Prison. He’s well, and with any luck, he’ll stay there.”