Home of the Brave (7 page)

He looked back. “Are you
serious?”

“I think so.” She nodded.
“Yes, I’m serious. I’d like you to see me naked. It gives me chills
just thinking about it.”

“It might make me lose
control.”

“I might not care if you
lose control.”

He looked back again but
didn’t reply nor did he alter his course.

“At least you’d know for
sure that I’m a virgin,” she said petulantly.

“And then you wouldn’t
be.”

“But I’d have something when
you go to Texas.”

“A baby with no father? Like
your mother?”

“I was actually thinking of
the memory,” she grumbled. “You can be a real bastard some
times.”

“I can be bastard most of
the time if I really try.” He looked into her eyes for several
seconds. “What makes you so sure that I’m going to leave
you?”

She shrugged. “If you felt
the same way about me that I feel about you, we’d be
married.”

He didn’t answer.

“Or at least we’d be making
love together,” she grumbled.

He chuckled. “You’ve become
preoccupied with that subject lately.”

She closed her eyes. “It
isn’t just lately but it’s worse lately. I can’t think of anything
else.”

He looked surprised. “I
thought only men felt that way.”

“That’s because women
lie.”

He laughed.

“It’s true. Remember what
you said about hearing Caroline making sounds of passion from the
next room?”

He nodded. “Caroline is…” He
shook his head. “I don’t know.”

She looked at him. “I’m
almost thirty years old, Tom, and in spite of my ribald reputation,
I’m still a virgin. I don’t want to dry up and die a virgin. If you
don’t want me for a wife, take me as a mistress.”

He thought for a few seconds
before he answered. “If I was still in the army, or if I was going
to stay here in a civilian job, I’d marry you tomorrow, Jane. But
Texas.”

“Oh. So you’ve decided that
it’s me or Texas?”

“I haven’t decided anything
except that I’m not going to be trapped by sex.”

“I’m not trying to trap you,
Tom; I’m just trying to get what I can of you while I
can.”

“To quote you, this is not
the kind of decision that should be rushed. Why are you
rushing?”

“It’s not me, Thomas, it’s
my biology,” she replied. “My head says wait but my body says
now.”

“If I can wait, you
can.”

August 30, 1828

West Point, New
York

Cadet Major Robert Van
Buskirk was making his bunk when his brother William stopped in the
doorway. “Well, well. An upperclassman at last.”

“What do you want,
William?”

“Who says that I have to
want something?”

“You always want something,”
Robert replied. “If it’s money, you can forget it. I gave my
inheritance to Thomas.”

“No. I don’t need
money.”

Robert pulled the last
wrinkle out of the blanket to make it tight as a drumhead then
stood up. “What do you want, William?”

“Classes don’t start until
tomorrow so I thought you might like to have a beer with me in
town.”

“No, thank you.”

William came in and sat down
on the bunk, undoing all Robert’s work.

Robert looked disgusted.
“I’m not five years old any more, William. And I don’t mind
remaking the bunk.”

“When are you going home
again?”

“I just got
here.”

“I didn’t ask you when you
got here,” William said, giving his brother a warning stare. “I
asked when you’re going home.”

“Hallowe'en, I suppose,”
Robert replied nervously.

“I can’t wait that long.
You’ll have to go next weekend or the weekend after. I’ll make sure
you have one of them free.”

“I need my weekends to
study.”

“One word from me and you’re
off the honor roll,” William warned.

“You don’t have that kind of
power,” Robert said uncertainly.

“Ah, but you’re wrong there,
Brother. I’m not the only cadre member with secrets, and I know
them all. That gives me power.”

Robert sighed. “What do you
want?”

“Only to know if there are
any unusual guests at Van Buskirk Point.”

September 1,
1828

Van Buskirk Point, New
Jersey

“Thank you, Abraham,” Marina
said. “I’ll take care of her.” She walked into the barn and opened
the last stall then knelt in the hay and put her hand on the young
woman’s back. “Look at me, Carlotta.”

Carlotta Ramirez Dubois
turned her head slowly toward Marina. Both eyes were black and her
lip was split. Blood from her nose had stained the front of her
torn blouse. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know where else to
go.”

“Did William do this to
you?” Marina hissed.

The girl shook her head. “My
father. I went to Bill but he turned me away.”

“Can you walk?”

“Yes.”

Marina helped her up. “We
have a summerhouse that we never use at the back of the property.
It’s reasonably clean, except for a few spiders that may have moved
in recently. I’ll take you up there and then I’ll come back down
and get you some clothes.”

~

Carlotta was sitting on the
edge of the couch with both hands around a teacup. She was wearing
a summer dress of Anna’s, and the cuts on her face had been washed.
“My husband threw me out and I had nowhere to go,” she said in a
monotone. “So I went home. I mean, I went to my father’s
home.”

“I gather your husband found
out about you and William?”

Carlotta shook her head. “I
haven’t been with Bill since that day you sewed me up. It was
another man. My husband was supposed to have gone to France to see
his ailing sister. But he got off the ship at Boston and came back.
He must have been suspicious for some time to have made such
elaborate plans.”

Marina sipped her
tea.

“I was tied to the bed when
he came in,” Carlotta began. “You don’t want to hear this, do
you?”

Marina shrugged. “Only if it
makes you feel better. But it isn’t possible to shock
me.”

Carlotta began to cry again.
“What am I going to do?”

Marina put down her cup and
crossed the room to sit beside Carlotta on the couch. “You’re going
to stay here until you’re feeling better, then we’ll decide what’s
next.”

“My father will be looking
for me.”

“He won’t find you, unless
you want him to. You can cook for yourself here in the kitchen or
you can have your meals with us. You can be as private as you like.
No one here will mention you to any outsiders. I
promise.”

“I don’t have any money for
food or clothes.”

“You don’t need any money.
I’ll buy you whatever you need.”

“Why are you being so
kind?”

Marina shrugged. “I,
impetuously, ran away from home once and was in the same sort of
situation that you’re in. A friend saved me. I’m paying her back by
helping you.”

September 15,
1828

West Point, New
York

“Come.” William Van Buskirk
put down his pen and sat back as the office door opened. “There you
are, at last, Brother.”

Robert came in and closed
the door, but remained standing. “I have an examination this
morning that I had to study for.”

William put his feet on his
desk. “How was the trip?”

“Awful. I spent most of
Saturday getting there and most of Sunday getting back.”

“And?”

“And there were no
guests.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Only Mother
and Aunt Nan were there. I had to lie to Mother and tell her that
I’d forgotten my pocket watch. I don’t think she believed
me.”

William dropped his feet
back to the floor and picked up his pen. “You’re dismissed,
Cadet.”

September 27,
1828

Van Buskirk Point, New
Jersey

Marina held Carlotta’s chin
up. “I don’t think it’s going to scar.” She stepped back and once
again examined the younger woman’s face. “You’re as pretty as
ever.”

“I need to get out of here
before your family comes for Hallowe’en,” Carlotta said.

“Yes,” Marina agreed.
“William may come and it won’t be as easy to hide you from him as
it was to hide you from Robert.” She handed Carlotta a purse.
“That’s enough money for you to live well for a year or modestly
for five years. Decide wisely.”

“I’ll pay you back.”
Carlotta wiped a tear from her cheek.

Marina raised her hand. “If
you can, that’s fine. If you can’t, that’s fine too.”

“I have an idea for a
business.”

“Where?”

“Washington. But I need a
building. Is there enough here to buy one and have it
remodeled?”

“What kind of
building?”

She shrugged. “Something
like a big house, I suppose.”

“We have a hotel in
Washington that we wish we didn’t have. You can use it rent free,
if it might be helpful. I think the current lease is up in
February.”

“A hotel?
Really?”

“Don’t get too excited,”
Marina chuckled. “It’s only three stories with eight bedrooms and a
small dining room. There’s a parlor in the attic that was once two
bedrooms that you could convert back easily.”

“That sounds
perfect.”

Marina smiled. “I’ll make
arrangements for you to stay there until the lease expires. But
this will be our secret until then.”

“Are you sure about
this?”

“Yes.”

“What will your husband
say?”

“He’ll grumble because he
and his friends use it as their home-away-from-home when they’re in
Washington, but he’ll get over it. Should I ask what kind of
business you were thinking of starting?”

“It might be better if you
didn’t.”

“That’s what I
thought.”

October 31, 1828

Van Buskirk Point, New
Jersey

Anna Van Buskirk walked out
onto the porch. “Good morning, Father. Happy Halloween.”

Yank was sitting in one of
the rocking chairs. “Good morning, Anna. Did you sleep
well?”

“You know me, I never sleep
well.” She pulled her jacket closed across her chest. “Burr. Aren’t
you cold?”

Yank shook his head.
“No.”

“What are you doing out
here?”

“Just enjoying the autumn
leaves.”

She sat down beside him.
“Voting begins today in Ohio and Pennsylvania.”

“Does it?”

She sighed. “Let’s get this
over with.”

“What’s that?”

“I know that you’re upset
with me for working with the National Republican Party.”

“You must mean the
Anti-Jacksonian party.”

“If you insist.”

Yank rocked his
chair.

“So, are you going to say
anything?” she asked after a long silence.

“You’re twenty-one years old
which makes you a grown woman, Anna.”

“I’m twenty-two, actually,
Father.”

He waved his hand
dismissively. “I can’t understand why you’d want to get involved in
politics on either side.”

“Since I can’t vote, what
other choice do I have to influence the world I live
in?”

“Bah.”

“What does bah
mean?”

He looked at her. “If the
majority of women wanted the right to vote, they’d have
it.”

“That’s ridiculous,
Father.”

“Is it?” He stopped rocking.
“How do you explain the fact that women lost the right to vote in
this state?”

“Men decided
that.”

“How could men have decided
when women outnumber men by a significant margin?”

“Simple. In 1807, when the
New Jersey constitution was amended to deny women the right to
vote, husbands prevented their wives from voting.”

“Bah.”

She was silent for a time.
“Aunt Nan says that if Andrew Jackson’s elected you might accept a
position in his cabinet.”

“We’ll see.”

“I can’t believe that you
could be a Democrat, Father,” she fumed.

“I’m not a Democrat, Anna.
I’m just too old to be a soldier and too young to retire to this
rocking chair. Besides, it isn’t worth discussing since we all know
that Andy Jackson has no chance of being elected.”

“That’s not what Secretary
Clay says.”