Acts of Courage (9 page)

TWELVE

Laura, we need to talk.”

Laura looked up from the figures in her father’s account book. Mira stood in front of the desk. She was quieter than usual, and there was an urgency in her voice.

“I just have two columns to finish here, or should we talk first?” Laura asked.

“No. It’s not that pressing, but I’ve been trying to find you alone, and you hardly ever are.” Mira sat down in the captain’s chair and waited.

Laura rechecked her figures and continued with the next page. She was pleased to see that business was improving even more, now that spring had come. As many as sixty boats docked at the Landing every day to transfer their supplies to wagoners who travelled the portage route. Dozen of the sailors and business people stayed at the inn or stopped for a meal at the tavern. With the business doing so well, Father would be able to start up his farm that summer. Laura closed the book, satisfied to have completed her work. Then she turned to Mira.

“It’s Josh, Laura,” she said. “He wants to marry me in June.”

“At fifteen!”

“Lots of girls marry at fifteen, and I’m almost sixteen.”

“And how old is Josh?”

“Eighteen. Anyway, that’s not the problem.”

“Really. I thought he was barely seventeen. And if that’s not the problem, what is?”

“Well, I haven’t let him speak to Father yet. We’re waiting for James to return. You know how Father’ll want the eldest to marry first.”

“That doesn’t matter to Father or me. Besides, you know there’s nothing definite between James and me. I was silly to think there even might be. Besides, he said he would be back by now and he isn’t!”

“We could wait, Laura.”

“You don’t need to wait for me, Mira, but you certainly do need to wait! I can’t think of many girls who’ve married at fifteen.”

“We don’t want to wait, Laura. I love Josh and I want to be with him. He’s built a cabin already at the back of his father’s acreage. He hopes to buy more land next to it.”

“Well, you and Josh had better tell Father and Sally your plans. Josh is a fine young man, but you’re both much too young to think about marriage yet.”

Mira left with a smile. It seemed she’d hardly heard a thing Laura had said.

Josh was a robust young farm lad. He obviously cared deeply for Mira, but he was far from being the rich farmer Mira had hoped to meet. Still, they would have enough. Laura was happy for her sister. She felt certain that Sally could easily talk her into waiting a couple more years.

Then she thought about herself. A young businessman passing through on the boats last week had invited her to dinner and she had refused. She was almost twenty-one now, and if she kept refusing invitations from all men, they’d soon stop asking.

Laura knew that Elizabeth had received a letter from Thomas Mayo a couple of weeks ago. He told her of his upcoming marriage this summer to a girl who had moved to Great Barrington after they had left. At least Thomas had had the decency to write and tell Elizabeth. He hadn’t just left her wondering—like Red and James had.

From the hall, Laura could see a man at the counter in her father’s office. She moved closer to see. She grabbed the side of the door to steady herself. Her heart was pounding, and her legs had gone weak. James Secord rushed over and clasped both her hands.

“Oh, Laura, I’m so happy to see you—so happy to be back.”

“I’m pleased to see you, too, James. But you were gone so long. Much longer than I expected.”

“But I explained in my letters—”

“Letters? What letters?”

“Didn’t you receive my letters?”

“No, I didn’t!”

“But I sent them with two special deliveries of supplies to my store. I suppose Josh or that other boy my brother hired unpacked the supplies and misplaced them.”

“I received no letters and don’t blame it on Josh.” Laura’s voice sounded angry.

“I suppose they’re sitting under a bag of sugar on my shelves. I’m sorry, Laura.” He still held her hands in his.

“Under a bag of sugar! That’s the worst excuse—Oh, James, I was so worried about you. Phoebe said you were well, but then…for so long, there was no news.”

“Laura, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry! And now, I’ve so much to tell you. I’ve just come off the boat and I came straight here. Could we go somewhere to talk? It’s a little cool for a picnic yet.” He gave her a big smile and hoped she remembered.

“I guess so,” said Laura. “No one will be in our parlour.”

Laura led him down the hall.

“Laura, I wanted to speak to you last fall—”

He hesitated and cleared his throat. “But I felt I had no right…my business was in such poor shape.”

“And now?”

“I’ve received the backing to continue with my store. Richard has helped me raise the money from friends of his. I’ve borrowed $800 from Andrew and James McGill from Montreal and, with new ideas from Richard, I’m confident. I’ll work hard and continue in the business.”

“I’m happy for you, James.”

“And I feel strongly—” He hesitated and, turning toward her, he searched her face with his eyes. She could feel the intensity in his voice, and she looked up hopefully as she waited for him to finish the sentence. “—about you, Laura. I’d like to ask your father’s permission to call regularly.”

“I’d like that, James.” Her heart pounded as she gave him a smile of encouragement.

James continued. “I thought about you all the time I was away, but I was determined to raise the capital for my store before I approached you. I’m afraid that’s the reason I didn’t write more often. But I missed you. How I missed you! And I love you, Laura. I know that now. Our time apart has only strengthened my feelings for you.”

He stood up then and reached out for her hand to draw her to him. As she stepped into his embrace, all the loneliness and pain of the preceding months slowly left her. He whispered, “I love you,” and kissed her gently on the lips.

Laura gazed back into his eyes but said nothing. She would tell him later how she had missed him. She would also tell him how much she cared for him. For now, though, she just tightened her arms around him and hoped he knew.

Part Three
Beaver Dams
(Beechwoods)

THIRTEEN

Laura and James had built a home in Queenston by 1801—just four years after they were married—on the site of the Ingersolls’ first canvas tent. It was mid-June of 1812 now, and the day was sweltering hot. The Heights loomed up close beside them to the south.

A green expanse of yard led eastward from the front door, down a sloped pathway of flat stones to the street of the town. A few blocks farther on, the Niagara River wound its way past the Landing. Their back door looked out toward the road to St. David’s. Their grounds were spacious, and a small cabin and bake oven had been built behind the house.

James’s prosperity had been recent. The store in St. David’s had continued to make only slim profits; so Laura convinced him to open another store in Queenston, and it had done very well. In the last few years, business had increased, and James was able to support his wife, two daughters, and one son without difficulty. They were content.

Laura was grateful for her healthy children. Elizabeth had not married until she was twenty-seven years old, although men were continually asking her out. In the end, Elizabeth married Daniel Pickett, a Methodist circuit rider, who had come to the area near Father’s farm. Laura thought he was a bit like James. Elizabeth was extremely devoted to Daniel. She even travelled with him on the circuit, which extended from Burlington Bay almost up to York. She planned to stop travelling once she had children, but the years passed and no baby came.

At last, a delighted Elizabeth had come to tell Laura the news that she was expecting a baby. Laura left her children in the charge of a neighbouring farmer’s wife, Mrs. Clement, in order to go to her sister before her time came. When Elizabeth finally had her baby boy, Laura remembered the Great Barrington days. How they had both changed since then!

Now war with the Americans appeared imminent, and Laura was concerned for James’s safety.

“You do look good in your sergeant’s uniform, James. You’re just as handsome as you were the day I married you—but I hope you won’t have to fight.”

James smiled, but answered his wife in a serious tone. “The talk is not good, but I can’t think that we’ll get pushed into war with the Americans over a battle that’s not ours.”

Laura reached for the supper dishes from the shelves above her bake table and carried them to the long wooden table in the centre of the room.

“It certainly isn’t our fault that the British are taking American sailors right off their sailing vessels and drafting them into the British navy to help them fight their war with Napoleon.”

“I know that, Laura, and they know that, but the Americans can’t strike back by sailing to Britain. The American fleet isn’t even strong enough to protect their own ships.”

“Why don’t the British stop?” Laura asked, brushing back a strand of hair that had escaped from her mob cap.

“The British should stop, but they feel the new states aren’t strong enough to fight back, and they need the men for their navy. The war with Napoleon has been going on for seven years now.”

“Surely the Americans won’t attack us to get even with the British.”

“All reports say the American war hawks are pressing their new government to take action,” James replied quietly.

Laura put the potatoes and asparagus down on the table and looked up at James as she spoke. “But surely they’ll not take out their anger on Upper Canada. What good would that do them? Besides, over half of us are Americans who came here long after the war. We have no fight with them. Their quarrel is with Britain.”

“Sometimes countries fight their battles on foreign soil. It wouldn’t be the first time…or the last.”

“But isn’t our Fort George entertaining the American soldiers at dinner tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Well, then, you’re worrying too much about rumours. Enjoy your dinner, James.”

“I’ll try.”

At the door, he leaned over and kissed her. Then she watched him mount his horse and ride around the house toward the main street. The backyard was still except for the smoke curling out of the bakehouse chimney. She turned then as Charlotte, her oldest daughter, came into the kitchen from the front hallway.

“Didn’t your sister come back with you?” Laura asked.

“Yes, Harriet is on her way. She can’t run as fast, and I had to run because I knew I was late to help you with supper.”

“It’s ready now. Put out the silver while I get baby Charles.”

Charles was already awake as Laura headed for the bedroom. Her brown-haired baby, more than a year old now, smiled as she took him from the cradle.

“Where’s Papa?” Harriet asked when they were all seated.

“He’s having dinner with the soldiers at Fort George tonight,” Laura explained.

“Is he in the army now?” asked Charlotte.

“Only for a short time. He’s a sergeant in the first militia regiment of Lincoln County, and his job is to train some local men for service in case there is a war.”

“Are we really going to fight?” Charlotte’s seriousness made her look older than her fourteen years.

“I don’t think so, but we need to prepare. If the enemy knows we’re ready, they’ll think twice about coming.”

“But the farm lads train for only three days a month, and now with the summer crops, they’ll be too busy even for that,” Charlotte protested. “Besides, Papa’s new store manager says there are more than seven million Americans and only around six hundred thousand Canadians.”

“God will watch over us, Charlotte, and besides, I don’t think there will be a war.”

A loud knock on the back door interrupted them. Laura opened it to find her brother standing there.

“Charles,” Laura smiled, “you came at just the right time. Here, take James’s place at the table. He’s gone to Fort George.”

Charles, a handsome young man of twenty-one now, was engaged to be married to James’s niece, Elizabeth Secord. Her father, Stephen, had died four years before. Elizabeth lived with her mother, Hannah, and her younger brothers and sisters in St. David’s, where they continued to run the mill.

Laura’s brother pulled young Charles’s ear as he walked by. Charles shouted out but smiled at his favourite uncle. The girls were also happy to see their uncle, who usually had a knack for making them laugh. Laura soon noticed, however, that he was not himself tonight.

After the meal, he spoke quietly to her. “Can we talk? Alone?”

Laura left the children in the kitchen while she and Charles went into the parlour. It was spotlessly clean, filled with Laura’s best furnishings. She sat on the small sofa while Charles sat in James’s large wooden armchair, stretching his legs out in front of him. His head was bent over, and he was frowning.

“Laura, Father’s sick,” he said directly.

“How sick?”

“We can’t be sure. He seems in less pain now, but it’s his heart. He has asked for you, Laura.”

“I’ll get ready at once, but I can’t leave the children until James comes home later tonight.”

“Laura, he’s never had the same strength since we left the farm, and that was more than six years ago. He took the loss of that farm and his dream of a settlement harder than any of us realized.”

“But he’s managed to provide well for the family at Government House Inn.”

“Over on the River Credit, it’s not like his own land. It’s a leased business. It might not have been so bad if they hadn’t cut him off right away when he couldn’t meet the quota for settlers. Fighting and petitioning for an extension took so much out of him. And then the new governor claimed back even the land he had cleared for himself. That was the last straw. That’s what really broke him. You were so busy with your own family, Laura, you didn’t see his grief the way we did. Some day I’ll buy back that land, so help me God!” He hesitated and was silent a minute before he continued. “But I’m afraid it’ll be too late for Father. When I told him my vow, he didn’t seem to care anymore. He just smiled sadly. He seems more at peace now, but he’s anxious to see you, Laura, and I’d like to leave tonight.”

“I’ll pack now. I hope James isn’t held up.”

“We can travel by horseback to Newark and catch a boat in the morning, and get to the inn tomorrow.” Charles looked at Laura sadly and continued. “This has been a terrible time. Tragedies come in threes, they say. I wonder what’s going to happen next.”

“Don’t think that way, Charles.”

Laura left Charles in the study and called Charlotte aside to tell her about Grandpa Ingersoll. Then she hurried up the stairs with baby Charles to put him back to bed and to pack for the trip.

When she had finished, she left her bag on the bed and went back downstairs to help Charlotte and Harriet with the dishes. She gave Charlotte instructions for feeding the family for the next week and returned to her brother in the parlour.

Charles had drifted off to sleep. He still had a boyish look about him as he leaned his head against the back of James’s chair, and she was reminded of the days when she used to care for him.

Laura went up to the bedroom that she shared with James and the baby, who was sleeping quietly now. Kneeling by her bed and leaning on the soft feather mattress, she prayed silently for her father.

She was roused by the touch of James’s hand on her shoulder. “Are you feeling well, Laura? You were asleep!”

It took her a minute to remember why she was kneeling beside the bed. Then she told him about Charles’s visit.

“I know. He’s waiting for you downstairs.” James hesitated before he continued. “There’s no easy way to tell you this, Laura. War has been declared.”

Laura looked up at James and felt her chest tighten.

“Word came just before we sat down to eat. The British didn’t want to spoil our dinner with the American officers so they held back the news until afterwards. We took the Americans down to their boats and shook hands as we parted. We know it will be far different when we meet again.”

“Oh, James, I hate to leave you at a time like this, but I have to go to Father.”

James knelt down beside her and put an arm around her as he spoke. “Our officers will not be acting too quickly on this news, and I don’t think there will be any sudden attacks. Go to your father, Laura.”

***

As Charles and Laura entered the large front room on the main floor of their father’s inn, Sally came rushing forward to meet them.

“Laura, I’m so glad you’ve come. Thomas keeps asking for you. He knows that Mira can’t make it.” Mira and Josh had moved to the United States several years before and probably knew nothing of Father’s condition.

“How is he?” Laura quickly asked.

“Not so well. The pain came again but it’s gone now. The local doctor was away, and when we finally got a doctor who was visiting from York, he couldn’t do much. Your father’s getting weaker all the time.”

“Is he sleeping now?”

“No. He knew you were coming. He’s waiting.”

Sally led Laura to a small room at the back of the inn on the main floor.

“It’s cooler here than in the bedrooms under the eaves where we usually sleep, and it’s easier for me in the daytime when he’s downstairs.”

Laura opened the door and slipped into her father’s room. He smiled up at her as she came over and kissed him gently on the cheek. Spotting a small wooden trunk beside the window, she pulled it over next to his bedstead and sat on it.

“Not feeling so well?” she asked.

Lying against large feather pillows, he reached out his hand toward her and she grasped it firmly. She could not believe how much he had changed since she had last seen him. He was thin and pale, and even his voice seemed hoarse and weak.

“I’m so glad you’ve come, Laura. It’s been a while now…since we’ve had a good visit. How’s…the family?”

“They’re all fine, Father. They said to tell Grandpa to get better fast.”

“And the baby?”

“He’s fine, too.”

“Charles was really pleased when you named your baby after him.”

“I know, and my baby loves Charles. They seem to have taken to each other.”

Father smiled weakly.

“And how are things going at the inn?”

“Well, Sally and young Thomas can almost run the place without me now—and without Charles, I might add. He has this crazy notion we’re going to have a war with the states.”

“Well, Thomas is almost fifteen now,” Laura softly replied. She had noticed the concern in her father’s voice at the thought of war. He would have to know, but she planned to talk to the others about telling him. Perhaps Sally should be the one to do it.

“Yes, and Sam is a help, too.” Like most settlers, Father had freed Sam and Bett shortly after they had come to Upper Canada. They had moved a few miles away and had a cabin of their own on a small piece of land that Father still owned, back near the La Tranche River. But Bett had died a few years ago, leaving Sam alone, so he had moved to Port Credit to be nearer the family. He helped them with the daily chores.

“How is Sam?”

“He has been well. But last week…he took sick. Could be the smallpox. Folks are afraid to go near him.”

“Who’s taking care of him?”