Fire by Night (22 page)

“It’s so good to see you,” she said, rolling down her sleeves and smoothing her hair. “What brings you here?” Although Julia suspected she knew all too well what had brought him—her father.

“Why, I’ve come to see you, of course. Here you are, all alone in Washington, and you haven’t even visited us once. You promised you would, but you haven’t. So I came to see you.”

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket as if to blow his nose, but Julia caught a whiff of the cologne that permeated the cloth and knew he was using it to cover the stench of sickness. She watched him glance around the foyer and saw it as he must see it. He would report every shabby detail to her father in Philadelphia. Julia longed to take the congressman someplace else to talk, worrying that Dr. McGrath would come thundering down the stairs any minute. But there was no place to go. The doctor’s office was in its usual messy state. Today, even his chairs were stacked with papers.

“This is quite a place,” Rhodes said. “I’ve never been to a military hospital before. I must say, it looks most unpromising from the outside. Perhaps, if you could spare the time, you might give me a tour of the inside?”

Julia glanced at the stairs again. There was still no sign of Dr. McGrath. “I would love to, Congressman, but first I need to know if you’ve ever had the measles.”

“You mean the childhood disease? I really couldn’t say.”

“Well, we’re coping with an epidemic of it at the moment. The army moved all the stricken soldiers out of their camps and sent them to the hospitals in order to stop the spread. I would hate to have you contract it, too. Perhaps you could come back next month and take a tour?”

“Next month? Julia, just how long do you plan on working here?”

“For as long as I’m needed.”

He looked dismayed but quickly hid it behind a broad smile. “Listen, my dear. The thing is, I’m going home in two weeks. I promised your father I would see how you were faring and maybe bring you home for a little visit, too. What do you say?”

The mention of home brought a wave of homesickness. The doctor’s earlier accusation had struck its mark. Julia was discouraged and disappointed with the menial drudgery of nursing work. Giving sponge baths and fanning patients to cool their fevers had not been very rewarding. She’d found little satisfaction in doing tasks her servants had always done at home, such as changing bed linens. The little joy she had found came from talking with her patients—and that had just earned her a reprimand from Dr. McGrath.

Julia longed to go home to Philadelphia with Congressman Rhodes. But knowing that the doctor would celebrate her departure made her all the more determined to stay. Besides, she couldn’t quit now after the other nurses had just risked their own positions to stand up for her.

“Shall I talk to the Acting Surgeon on your behalf?” Rhodes persisted. “See if I can get you some time off?”

“No, no,” she said quickly. “Getting time off won’t be a problem.” Coming back would be. If she left now, the doctor would never let her through the door again. “Give me time to think about it. I’ll let you know.”

Rhodes opened his mouth as though he might argue with her, then seemed to change his mind. “As you wish, my dear. In the meantime, Mrs. Rhodes insists that you come for dinner on Saturday, and I’m afraid she won’t take no for an answer. She is so eager to see you again.”

“I’d be very happy to come.”

“Splendid. I’ll send a carriage to fetch you at six. Your father told me where you’re staying.”

Her father. Julia’s suspicions had been correct. He was the source of this new campaign to pressure her.

“Tell Mrs. Rhodes I look forward to seeing her.”

On the evening of the dinner at the congressman’s house, Julia dug down to the bottom of her trunk and pulled out the only party gown she’d brought to Washington—and discovered that it was wrinkled beyond wearing. At home she would have given it to the servants to freshen up, but Julia didn’t have any servants. She recalled, yet again, Nathaniel Greene’s accusation that she couldn’t do a thing for herself and hurried downstairs to borrow an iron from the landlady.

The cook was preparing dinner on a blazing hot stove, so Julia worked gingerly, remembering how she had burned a hole in one of the bed sheets with an iron that was too hot. Loretta and Belle had taught her how to test the irons by spitting on her finger and touching it to the metal, and she took care to do this. But the process was long and tedious. The skirt of her gown had yards and yards of fabric in it, and the space she’d been given to work in the hot kitchen was cramped.

When the dress finally looked presentable, Julia raced upstairs again and begged the girl who lived in the room next door for help with her corset laces and hoops. Ironing had taken so long that Julia had to hurry with her hair—and the steamy kitchen had made it so curly it was nearly impossible to tame. Every time she brushed it back to pin into a bun, more loose curls would spring free and fall around her face. There wasn’t time to fix it. She heard the congressman’s carriage arrive.

Julia glanced in the mirror and saw that she didn’t need rouge. Her cheeks were still rosy from working in the hot kitchen. She stuffed her feet into her dainty evening slippers and found they barely fit after spending so much time on her feet at work. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled to calm herself, then gathered her cloak and purse.

The landlady and all the boardinghouse girls were preparing to sit down for dinner when Julia descended the stairs. They stared at her, openmouthed.

“You look beautiful,” one of them said in awe. “Like a princess in a fairy tale.”

“Thank you.” As the coachman helped Julia with her coat, she saw in the hall mirror that it was the truth. In her gown of pale green silk, which draped flatteringly around her shoulders and bosom, she was a different woman from the prim nurse in the highcollared mud-brown dress.

When she arrived at the congressman’s house it was like entering another universe, worlds away from the dismal hospital and boardinghouse. His home was awash in glimmering candlelight and the sweet aroma of fine food and wine. Soft piano music blended with the distant sounds of laughter and tinkling china and the ring of fine crystal and silver.

“You look lovely, my dear. Simply lovely,” the congressman said in greeting.

Mrs. Rhodes embraced her and kissed her cheek. “Julia, it’s so good to see you again.” A liveried butler took her cloak.

Julia wondered if this was how explorers felt when they returned to civilization after spending months in the wilderness. She was immediately drawn back to her familiar world, to the warmth and music and laughter, like a bird to her beloved nest. She didn’t care what Mrs. Rhodes’ motive was for inviting her, she was simply grateful to be back. Indeed, why had she ever left?

The congressman tucked Julia’s hand beneath his arm as he led her toward the party. “Come, my dear. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

She walked with him into the drawing room, exulting in the feel of her billowing hoops and whispering petticoats. There were several other guests in the elegant room, most of them mature couples her parents’ age. But Mr. Rhodes led her to a young man in his mid-twenties, lounging against the fireplace. He gaped at Julia as she approached, wearing a look of surprise on his face that surely matched her own. It had never occurred to her that the congressman would conspire to play matchmaker. She was so astonished she nearly laughed out loud.

“Julia Hoffman, I’d like you to meet Hiram Stone.”

“I’m delighted,” Hiram said, beaming.

“The pleasure is mine.”

He was a very attractive man with light brown hair and a neatly groomed mustache. She watched him bend to set his glass on an end table and saw grace and strength in his tall body. Broad shoulders filled his expensive, hand-tailored suit. But what drew Julia to him irresistibly was his easy smile. Laugh lines curved naturally from the corners of his blue eyes as if his cheerful good nature was habitual. After spending the last few months with a scowling, disheveled doctor and desperately ill patients, it was a refreshing change to be with a man who was healthy and happy.

“Hiram is a graduate of Yale, my alma mater,” Congressman Rhodes said. “He was a first-rate oarsman on their championship crew team.”

“Congratulations,” she said. That explained his athletic build.

“Julia is the daughter of a dear friend of mine in Philadelphia— Judge Philip Hoffman. Since you’re both new to Washington City, I thought you might have something in common.”

Hiram hadn’t taken his eyes off Julia since she’d entered the room. She remembered Dr. McGrath’s crude words about the effect she had on men and couldn’t stop the heat from rushing to her face. But Hiram was a gentleman, unlike the boorish doctor, and she saw only admiration in his eyes. And surprise. When he’d come alone to the dinner party, he’d likely never imagined that his blind date would be so pretty.

“Now, if you’ll please excuse me,” the congressman said, “there’s someone I must see.” He patted Julia’s hand and hurried away to greet another guest.

“He plays the role of Cupid rather well, wouldn’t you say?” Hiram asked with a grin.

Julia couldn’t help smiling in return. “All he lacks is a bow and a quiver of arrows.”

“They’re serving punch over there. Shall we get some?” Hiram took Julia’s elbow as they crossed to a table with punch and hors d’oeuvres. She couldn’t help brushing against him in the crowded room, and the excitement she felt was new and altogether thrilling— so much so that she struggled to make polite conversation.

“What brings you to Washington, Mr. Stone?”

“It’s Hiram. And may I call you Julia?”

“Please do.”

“I’m here on business. My family owns a manufacturing firm in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and I’ve come to negotiate a military contract with the army.”

Julia knew she should show interest in his work and inquire about the nature of his factory, but curiosity overruled her manners at the mention of Hiram’s home state. Dr. McGrath was from Connecticut, too. If she could learn the truth about his mysterious past, perhaps she could use it as ammunition against him. The doctor would never be able to bully her or intimidate her again.

“I’m working for a physician from Connecticut,” she said. “New Haven, in fact. Isn’t that where Yale University is? I wonder if you’ve heard of him by any chance—Dr. James McGrath?”

“Sorry, I can’t say that I have. But New Haven is a good-sized city,” he said, smiling, “and I’ve managed to stay healthy enough to avoid doctors. Congressman Rhodes told me earlier that you did nursing work in a military hospital. What made you decide on such an unusual pursuit?”

For a long moment, Julia couldn’t recall the reason. Then she thought of Nathaniel Greene and the unflattering words she’d overheard him saying in this very house. “I guess it all started at Bull Run,” she finally replied. “My uncle and I rode out to watch the battle with Congressman Rhodes. The preparations that the army had made for all the wounded soldiers proved horribly inadequate …and I wanted to help.”

“So you’re not only lovely, you’re kindhearted, as well. I like that.”

“Tell me about your work.”

Hiram spent the next few minutes explaining how his family’s business planned to convert to wartime production once he succeeded in winning the army contract he’d come to negotiate. But Julia found nothing arrogant or boastful in his nature. She thoroughly enjoyed his company and his conversation, and when dinner was finally announced, she was pleased to learn that they’d been placed alongside each other at the dining table. He escorted her to the room and helped with her chair.

To Julia, it seemed as if years had passed since she’d enjoyed such a feast, and she had to remind herself not to bolt down her food the way everyone did at the boardinghouse. She’d learned after her first few meals there that if she didn’t reach and grab and gulp the stingy portions the way the other girls did, she would leave the table hungry.

As they dined, Hiram proved adept at lively conversation. He was graciously polite and careful to include the other dinner guests seated near him, but he gave Julia the greatest portion of his attention. Most of the table talk centered on the war—the naval battle last month between the
U.S.S. Monitor
and the Confederate ironclad
Virginia,
near Norfolk, and the horrific battle that had taken place on April 6 at Shiloh, Tennessee. Then the conversation shifted to General McClellan and his current campaign to march up the Virginia peninsula and attack the Confederate capital of Richmond. Hiram was such an attentive companion, Julia found herself confiding in him.

“To be honest, I’m quite worried about what might happen when the army reaches Richmond. My mother was born and raised there, and I still have relatives in the city. My cousin Caroline is my age.”

He briefly pressed her hand, his brow furrowed with concern.“How inconsiderate of me to gloat over Richmond’s imminent capture. How easily one forgets that our enemies in this cursed war are our own countrymen. Tell me, do you think your family will be able to evacuate safely?”