Home of the Brave (2 page)

Anna gave him an angry look.
“You’re only opposed to him because General Jackass is a friend of
Aunt Nan and Father.”

“I’m saying it because it’s
true,” Robert argued. “In his first annual address to the Congress,
Adams warned our Representatives not to be ‘palsied by the will of
their constituents’.”

“He’s a tax and spend
liberal in conservative clothing,” William added. “When Jackson’s
elected President, he’ll refocus on the core issues that this
country was founded upon.”

Anna threw an egg at William
and stood up. “I can see that I’m no longer welcome in this
family.”

“Oh Anna, please don’t get
into one of your snits,” Yank begged, looking up pleadingly at his
daughter. “It’s Easter.”

She glared at him for a
moment then stalked across the porch and went into the house,
slamming the screen door behind her.

Tom chuckled. “That girl has
used up more doors than the whole family has in two hundred
years.”

Yank looked at Marina. “Go
talk to her.”

Marina shook her head. “It
won’t do any good. She’ll say something that makes me angry and
we’ll get into a huge fight. She might listen to Aunt
Nan.”

“Not me.” Nannette raised
her hands and shook her head. “Anna’s tongue is too sharp and her
mind is too quick. Whenever she and I disagree, she leaves me
stammering.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Caroline
said. She got up and started for the door then turned back. “Watch
little John, Jack.”

Jack chuckled. “Thank you
for reminding me, my dear. Without your prompting, I might have let
him wander off to drown in the kill.”

She gave him a murderous
look and went into the house.

“Women,” Jack
said.

Marina kicked
him.

“Don’t you just love family
get-togethers,” William laughed, shaking his head. He was peeling
the egg that Anna had thrown at him.

“Nothing is more important
than family,” Tom replied in a defensive tone. “You’ll learn that
some day, Billy.”

“Of course, Uncle,” William
replied in a sarcastic tone. “I always enjoy spending my holidays
listening to Anna fighting with everyone, or to Mother and Father
argue, or to you and Aunt Nan insulting each other, or to Jack and
Caroline sniping. What fun.”

“William,” Marina chided.
“That is no way to talk to your uncle.”

“I’m a grown man and not a
child to be spoken to that way,” William replied heatedly. “And
Uncle Thomas knows perfectly well that I hate being called Billy.
He only does it to get my goat.”

Tom waved his hand
dismissively. “If you were truly a grown man and not a child, a
small thing like that wouldn’t get your goat, Billy.”

“Let me see about luncheon.”
Nannette said, getting to her feet. “Will you help me,
Thomas?”

“With what?”

“Luncheon.” She tossed her
head toward the front door.

He stood up. “No. I’m going
out to the barn and talk to that damn darky kid. He’s the only
person that gives me any respect.”

“He shouldn’t,” Nannette
grumped. “You don’t even know his name.”

“‘
Course I do.” Thomas
limped down the steps. “It’s Abraham Van Buskirk. That’s a name I
can never forget.”

Yank watched his aunt and
uncle as they left and shook his head. “It isn’t supposed to be
like this.”

“But it always is, Dad,”
Robert replied. “You need to stop trying so hard to bring us all
together at every holiday. We all have our own lives
now.”

“Very well, Robert,” Yank
replied. “Your mother and I will continue to come here for holidays
when duty permits. The rest of you can come or not as you
wish.”

“That’s no different than it
is right now,” Robert argued.

Yank spread his hands. “What
do you want me to say? That none of us should ever come here
again?”

Robert got up. “I should
have known better than to try to have a reasonable conversation
with you, Dad.”

Yank turned toward Marina
for help.

“Don’t look at me,” she
said. “You’re the one that allowed them to talk back to adults. I
would have slapped their faces.”

“I shan’t be staying for
Easter.” Robert went into the house.

Jack picked up the baby.
“Come, Little John. Let’s go watch the ducks.”

“I’ll come with you,”
William said through a mouth full of hard boiled egg. He joined his
brother, leaving Yank and Marina alone on the porch.

Yank watched them as they
walked away and then sighed deeply. “When I was a boy I used to
think it would be wonderful to have a mother, a father, brothers
and sisters.”

“I wasn’t terribly fond of
my parents or my brothers and sisters and I’m even less fond of our
children,” Marina replied.

“You’re not terribly fond of
anyone, Marina.”

“Which reminds me. Have you
told me that you loved me today?”

“Yes I did. When you first
woke up. For the four thousand eight-hundred and thirty-fifth
time.”

She nodded. “Okay. I
remember now. I suppose that obligates me to stay here instead of
running off like my spoiled children.”

Yank smiled.

“They’ve had everything too
easy.”

“I’m sure that life will
challenge them soon enough.”

“That’s not what I mean,”
she said. “The very idea that Thomas and William would throw away
their citizenship is beyond my comprehension.”

“My grandfather’s Uncle
Abraham said much the same thing when my grandfather resigned his
commission in the British army and joined the Continental
army.”

“What are you
implying?”

“Nothing. I’m just making an
observation.”

“Well, no matter what anyone
else says or thinks, if my sons become Mexican citizens they will
no longer be my sons,” Marina pronounced.

“I suppose that, since the
revolution, you’re a Mexican citizen, Marina.”

“I’m an American by choice;
nothing else matters.”

April
8, 1828

Washington, District of
Columbia

At the sound of a knock on
the door of her room, Anna Van Buskirk stopped unpacking her
suitcase. “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Nancy,” a female
voice said through the door.

Anna slipped the latch,
opened the door and went back to her unpacking.

Nancy Vreeland came in,
closed and latched the door. “How was Easter?”

“Boring.”

“What happened?”

Anna shook her head.
“Nothing.”

“Don’t give me short
answers. You were supposed to stay in New Jersey all
week.”

“I never said
that.”

Nancy sat down on Anna’s
bed. “Yes you did.”

“No I didn’t. I said I might
stay all week.”

“Well if you’re here now you
didn’t even stay for Easter.”

“I left on
Saturday.”

“If I’d known you weren’t
going to stay I’d have gone with you.”

Anna bumped the dresser
drawer closed with her hip then knelt to push the empty suitcase
under the bed. “You didn’t miss anything.” She stood up, walked to
the vanity and began unpinning her hair.

“Was Jack there?” Nancy got
off the bed, picked up the hairbrush from the vanity and took over
the job of letting Anna’s hair down.

“Yes.” Anna looked at her
friend in the vanity mirror. “And so were Caroline and little
John.”

“My sister said that they’re
not getting along.” Nancy began brushing Anna’s long, brown
hair.

“If you’re harboring some
hope of a divorce, let it go. Divorce is unthinkable in our
family.”

“Caroline might demand
one.”

“Jack’s just like my father.
He would never agree to a divorce under any
circumstances.”

“What if Caroline had a
lover?”

Anna turned around. “Does
she?”

“I don’t know.” She put her
hands on Anna’s shoulders and turned her back toward the mirror. “I
was just asking, what if.”

“My mother abandoned us,
took God only knows how many lovers and did unspeakable things. But
my father took her back without as much as a cross word. Jack’s the
same way. Forget him. He’s married forever.”

Nancy sighed. “I would have
liked to be your sister-in-law.”

“I’d love to have you as my
sister-in-law,” Anna replied. “What happened between you and
William? You never told me.”

“I never told you because I
knew you wouldn’t approve.”

“Of what?”

“Never mind. Let’s just say
that William scares me and leave it at that.”

“William’s just conceited,
he’s not dangerous.”

“You have no idea what
you’re talking about, Anna.”

Anna turned to look at her.
“What?”

Nancy shook her
head.

“He seduced you?”

“The easy answer would be
yes; but the truth is that I gave myself to him
enthusiastically.”

“What?” Anna gaped at her.
“You slept with my brother? I asked you and you said that you
didn’t.”

“I didn’t sleep with him.
Sleeping is probably the only thing we didn’t do.” She rolled her
eyes. “And I didn’t do half of what he wanted me to do.”

“What did he want you to
do?”

“I’m not comfortable
discussing this with you, Anna.”

“You said that he scares
you,” Anna grumbled. “In view of your confession, that bears some
explanation.”

“I shouldn’t have said
anything. Please. Can we talk about something else?”

Anna turned back toward the
mirror. “What makes you say that Thomas doesn’t like you? I thought
you had him pretty interested in you last summer.”

Nancy sighed. “Until he
found out about me and William.”

“Thomas isn’t as unbending
as Jack.”

“Oh really? Tell him you’re
having an affair with a married man and see what
happens.”

“That’s
different.”

“When does Robert graduate
from West Point?”

“He’s a junior, or whatever
they call it. And if you started seeing him you’d surely run into
William. He’s an instructor at West Point.”

“I don’t think we’re
destined to be sisters, Anna.”

“Thomas is still a
possibility; if you don’t mind going to Texas.”

“Texas?”

“He’s bought land in Texas
and he’s planning to go there soon.”

Nancy giggled and shook her
head. “Uh-uh. I’d rather be horsewhipped by William in New York
than ride a horse to Texas with Thomas.”

“I think they go by
boat.”

“To Texas?”

“I think so.”

“Hmm. Then I might give
Thomas one more try.”

April 20, 1828

West Point, New
York

First Lieutenant Thomas Van
Buskirk and his younger brother, Cadet Major Robert Van Buskirk,
were on the promenade overlooking the Hudson. The trees across the
river were clouded in the pale green of new foliage and a pleasure
barge from Manhattan was sailing placidly upriver on the gentle
breeze.

“William’s not in his
quarters,” Thomas said for the second time.

“Dad’s right,” Robert
replied, ignoring the comment for the second time. “William must
complete his service. You shouldn’t try to influence him
otherwise.”

“I’ll pay the government
back,” Thomas insisted.

“That’s ridiculous. It would
cost you far more than you have invested in the Texas
land.”

“Well then perhaps you could
come to Texas with me in William’s stead.”

“You mean drop out after
almost three full years?”

“How many times in the past
have you wanted to quit?”

“But I didn’t,” Robert
replied. “And next year I’ll be an upperclassman at the top of my
class.”

“I’ve never asked you for
anything before, Robert.”

“Well you’re asking too much
now, Thomas. I won’t quit. I’ve worked too hard and too long to get
where I am.”

“I’ve come to expect that
kind of selfishness from William, but not from you,
Robert.”

“It’s not selfishness,
Brother; it’s duty.”

“Bah.”

Robert shook his head.
“What’s wrong with you? Can’t you understand that we’re bound by
contract and by honor?”

“Now you sound like
Dad.”

“Thank you. I cannot think
of a finer compliment.”

“Damn it, Robert, this is a
once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Robert sighed. “I’ll give
you my share of Great-Grandmother’s inheritance and you can buy
slaves to help you, but I will not drop out of the Academy, Thomas,
and that is final.”