Encounter at Cold Harbor (6 page)

“He’s dead, Colonel.”

Eileen Fremont’s voice was so calm that at first Nelson Majors could not believe he had heard correctly, but then, seeing the pain in the woman’s
eyes, he knew that he had. “I’m very sorry to hear that, Mrs. Fremont.”

“He developed blood poisoning, and there was nothing they could do for him.”

Again the colonel could only say, “I offer you my sincerest sympathy.”

Mrs. Fremont was silent for several seconds. Then, looking up at the tall officer, she said, “They told me that you visited him in the hospital, and that you spoke to the doctors to get him better care.”

“Well, yes, ma’am, I did do that.”

“It was kind of you.”

“I wish I could’ve done more.” The colonel shifted on his feet, not knowing what else to say. “Will you be going back to Louisiana, Mrs. Fremont, after your brother-in-law’s funeral?”

“The funeral was this morning. I’ve come about another matter, sir.”

“Another matter? What could that be?”

“About this notice.” Mrs. Fremont pulled a paper out of her reticule, the small purse carried by most ladies in the South, and held it up. “I’ve come to tell you that I’m taking the position.”

Nelson Majors had turned down three applicants already—they had been hard-looking women, he thought—and now he was quite prepared to turn down another one. He had seen Eileen Fremont’s temper and was not at all certain that she would be the suitable woman to care for Esther.

“Well, sit down, Mrs. Fremont, and we can talk about it.”

The woman took her seat, folded her hands in her lap, and said calmly, “How old is your daughter, Colonel?”

“Three years old. Her mother died when she was born.”

“I’m very sorry, Colonel.”

Almost desperately the colonel searched his mind, trying to figure out some way to put this woman out of his office. Finally he had what he thought was a fine idea. “I would expect that the woman who takes care of my daughter knows something about children—I mean, she should have had some experience.”

“I had a daughter, Colonel,” Mrs. Fremont said quietly. When the colonel simply looked questioningly at her, she said, “She died when she was just about the age of your daughter. She was two and a half. She died right after my husband fell at Shiloh.”

“Oh, I see.” It sounded trite to say, “I’m sorry,” over and over again, but Nelson Majors was conscious of a swift streak of pity for this woman. To have lost her husband and her only child so close together was a tragedy indeed. “That was very hard,” he said gently. “But won’t your family be looking for you back in Louisiana?”

“I have very little family, Colonel. I will be all right here. As a matter of fact, I prefer not to go back.”

“This isn’t exactly a health resort. Richmond is the target of all the Union armies. It may be invaded.”

“Well do I know that, Colonel!” Eileen Fremont did not seem troubled. She sat watching him, studying him. “Is there something about me that you dislike, Colonel? Is there some reason why you would not want me to be around your daughter?”

“Why, no, of course not … that is …” Nelson
stumbled painfully, then he said with a shrug, “Well, you do have a temper.”

“Yes, I do, and from what I hear from your men, you do too!”

Taken aback, he could only laugh. “You’re right there. I do have a temper, and you were perfectly right to be angry about the way your brother-in-law was being treated.”

“What exactly would you want from the woman you hire?”

“I’ll be leaving soon with the regiment. I don’t know when I’ll be back. I have two sons, Tom and Jeff, both in the army in my command. We’ll all be gone, but we don’t know for how long. My daughter’s being kept at a small house outside of town by a young woman—very young. Her name’s Leah Carter. Her family’s kept my daughter until now. We were good neighbors back in Kentucky.” He went on to explain that he had felt it was wrong for his daughter not to know her father or her brothers. He ended by saying sadly, “We may have done the wrong thing in sending for her, for here I have to go off to battle right away.”

Eileen Fremont said softly, “I think it was a noble gesture, Colonel. A man wants to see his children. If you would like for me to go with you and let your daughter see if she would like me, I would be glad to.”

“That’s a good idea.” Nelson Majors got up at once and grabbed his hat. “Come along. I’ll take you to her.”

He commandeered a wagon from the quartermaster, helped Mrs. Fremont in, and then climbed up beside her. “I’ll be gone for an hour or perhaps
more, Private,” he said. “Would you pass that word along to my officers?”

He then spoke to the horses, who stepped out with a sprightly gait. A cloud of dust began to gather behind them.

“It’s a rough ride, Mrs. Fremont.”

“I don’t mind.”

The colonel glanced at the woman beside him. He had already noted that she was very attractive. She wore a light gray silk dress that fitted her well and on her head a white, woven hat tied by a ribbon under her chin. He wondered about her age, and finally he thought it would not be wrong to ask. “What is your age, Mrs. Fremont?”

“I’m twenty-eight.”

She said no more until they were halfway to the house. Then she turned to him. “I very much appreciate what you did for my brother-in-law. You have a kind heart, Colonel Majors.”

Her words lifted the colonel’s spirits. “I wish I could have done more,” he said again.

They talked more easily after that, and Nelson Majors found himself thinking,
I believe this one will do. If Esther likes her, she’s the closest thing I can find to giving her a mother—at least for a while
.

E
sther whirled across the floor, holding her arms out to keep her balance. Her chubby arms and legs were dimpled, and her blonde hair fell around her face in ringlets. She tripped suddenly and fell on her face.

Leah dropped her sewing and crossed the room to pick up the little girl, saying, “Be careful! You’ll hurt yourself.”

Esther said, “No, not hurt!” and grinned happily, showing bright new teeth. “Outside!” she said, pulling vigorously at Leah’s dress.

“No, we can’t go outside now. I’ve got to start fixing supper.” She gave Esther a squeeze. “You always want to go outside. Maybe after supper I’ll take you out for a walk. Maybe we’ll see a bird.”

“See bird!” Esther echoed. She had taken to repeating everything she heard and was rapidly learning to put sentences together. “Esther go see bird!”

“That’s right, but after supper.”

The child seemed satisfied, and she toddled into the kitchen after Leah, generally making a pest out of herself as Leah began to pull the materials together for the evening meal. Then she said, “Horses!” and ran out of the room.

Startled, Leah put down the sifter on the table and went into the hallway. She saw Esther push
against the screen door and was glad it was locked. “Wait a minute, Esther!” she cried.

When she reached the door, Leah saw that it was Jeff, riding a horse with a Confederate cavalry saddle. Unlocking the screen, she grabbed Esther and stepped outside. “Jeff!” she cried. “What are you doing here?”

Jeff slipped off the horse expertly and tied the animal to the hitching post. “I came to see my baby sister. How are you, Esther?”

“Jeff! Jeff!” Esther ran across the porch and would have fallen down the steps if he had not leaped forward and caught her.

“Hold on there, sister!” he said. “You’re gonna skin your nose.”

He spun her around, and the child laughed with delight. She pulled at his hair, demanding that he play horsey with her as he always did.

“Can you stay for supper, Jeff?”

Jeff held Esther in his arms and looked over at Leah as though he never knew how to take her. “I guess so, if it won’t be any trouble. I’ll go down and fish in the pond while you’re cooking.”

“Take Esther with you, but be sure she doesn’t fall in.”

“Why, I wouldn’t allow a thing like that!” Jeff threw Esther up in the air, and she squealed.

“Again! Again, Jeff!” she said.

“If I finish, I’ll come down and watch you,” Leah said.

“Sure. I’ll take your pole too, in case you have time to fish a little.”

Jeff went by the barn, leading Esther by the hand. She would have stumbled, but he kept pulling
her up and laughing at her. “Come on now—you can walk better than that!”

Ten minutes later they were at the small pond behind the house. It was no more than thirty feet across, but it was filled with plump, small panfish. Jeff put Esther down and said, “Now, don’t you fall in the water.”

“Fall in the water!” Esther said happily. She sat down at once and began digging in the dirt.

Jeff watched her, grinned, then said, “Go on, get dirty. See if I care!” He baited a hook, swung the line up, and watched the cork float on the smooth surface. He watched Esther too, but she made no move to go toward the water. He got a bite, pulled a fish in, and showed it to the child. “Look, that’s a punkinseed perch,” he said. “We’ll have him for supper tonight, maybe.”

Esther reached out to touch the fish. Just as she did, it flopped out of Jeff’s hand, and her eyes went big with astonishment. Her lips trembled, and she began to cry.

“That’s just an old fish, Esther. Look!” He picked it up and put her tiny, fat forefinger on it. “See—it won’t hurt you.”

“Hurt Esther.”

“No, it can’t hurt you. Look, we’ll put this one on a stringer, and we’ll catch another one.”

For an hour, Jeff played with Esther and caught a few sun perch. Then he looked up to see Leah coming down the path toward the pond. “I got enough for supper,” he said when she stopped. “Do you want to fish awhile?”

“No, I’ll just watch.”

He fixed his eyes on the cork. It had always been easy to talk to Leah, but that was not true any longer.
Desperately he wondered what to say to her. Finally he asked, “Have you seen Cecil Taylor?”

“Just once. He came by the other day. He was with Lucy.”

“Oh!” Jeff had not wanted to bring up Lucy since she had been the cause of all the difficulty with Leah. Immediately he changed the subject. “Esther looks pretty! Is that a new dress she’s got?”

“Yes, I made it myself.”

“You did?” Jeff looked at it closely. “Well, isn’t that fine? I knew you could sew, but not this well.”

“It’s not hard to make a dress for a little one.”

Somehow their argument had frozen her up, or so it seemed. She sat looking across the pond. A snake swam from one spot to another, making a V-shaped ripple. It was headed away from them, but she warned Jeff anyway. “Look, there’s a snake! I wouldn’t want one to get to Esther.”

Jeff lifted his head. “Just a water snake,” he said calmly. “He wouldn’t hurt anybody.”

“All snakes are alike to me. I’m afraid of all of them.”

Jeff began to talk about snakes. He cast his eyes secretly upon Leah, who sat facing the water. He admired the smooth turn of her cheek and noticed that her eyelashes seemed thicker than ever.
She sure is getting pretty
, he thought.
But I wouldn’t dare tell her so. She’d bite my head off
.

This was not the first argument he had had with Leah. Their disagreements were usually over little things, but they had never stayed angry this long before. At least
she
was angry.

Then Jeff talked about how it had been back in Kentucky. He did this often, for that had been the
most pleasant time of his life. “You remember Ol’ Napoleon?”

“I certainly do!”

Napoleon was the huge bass that lived in a stream not far from Jeff’s old home place. He and Leah had spent a lot of time trying to catch that fish, but he was a wily breed.

Thinking of Napoleon, Leah seemed to relax slightly. “You remember we did catch him once? Then you let him go. I never did know why you did that, Jeff.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” He picked up a stone, looked at it, skimmed it across the water. It hopped four times, then sank quietly. Turning to look at her, he said, “I guess I just wanted to keep something the same. Everything else has changed, it seems like, and I wanted Ol’ Napoleon to be there when the war’s over.”

“I hope he
is
still there. I went down there just before I came back to Richmond, but I didn’t see him.”

“Sure hope somebody hasn’t caught him. I’m the one who wants to do that!”

“We will! As soon as the war’s over and you come back.”

Jeff glanced at her. She seemed somehow not quite so upset today. Feeling better, he said, “What would you do with him, Leah, if we caught him?”

That thought apparently had never occurred to her. “Why, I don’t know.”

Jeff teased her. “Would you eat him?”

“Eat Napoleon? Why, that would be like being a cannibal!”

“Well, we could have him stuffed. Then every time we’d look up on the wall, we’d see Ol’ Napoleon
and think about when we were kids fishing for him together.”

Leah laughed. It was the first time Jeff had heard her laugh since she had come back from Kentucky.

“I don’t think I could stand to see Ol’ Napoleon all stuffed,” she said.

“Well, then, we could get a big barrel and keep him in it. But it wouldn’t be right to keep a fish in a barrel either. They need to be free. I guess we’ll just go down to the creek and visit him.”

“Jeff …” Leah began uncertainly.

Was she was going to say, “I’ve been so foolish, and I’m sorry”? If so, she did not have the chance.

“Leah,” a voice called. “Come back to the house —and bring Esther.”

Jeff looked up. “Why, that’s Pa, and he’s got somebody with him. We better get back there.”

He stood and grabbed the string of fish and the poles as Leah picked up Esther. “I bet I know who that is,” he said as they started for the house.

“The woman? Who is she?”

“I better let Pa tell you.”

When they reached the house, Leah looked at the stranger and then at Colonel Majors. “Hello, Colonel!” she said.

“Hello, Leah. I brought somebody I’d like you to meet.” Turning, he said, “This is Eileen Fremont.” He looked back to Leah. “This is Leah Carter. She’s been the next thing to a mother for Esther ever since she was born. Leah, Mrs. Fremont’s going to help you take care of Esther.”