Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (39 page)

The two shook hands then and James showed
them in to the parlor of the cottage. “Please be seated, gentlemen”
he said as he stepped into the kitchen to get a third chair.
Joining them he raised his eyebrows as he looked from one to the
other.

Hancock spoke then saying “John here tells
me that you have some correspondence that might encourage Spain to
enter the war on our side against Great Britain.”

James looked at Revere who nodded and said
“Ian told me all about his contacts in Spain; three of them I
believe, including King Charles III himself?”

“That is true.”

Hancock whistled then, and shaking his head
in wonderment he said “If they need to get to France, I can help. I
know a man who is in Providence even now who can get it there for
you. Have you any instructions about that?”

“I do, sir. They are with the package
itself. Shall I get it?”

“Please do, James. We are anxious to help.
So this package needs to go to France to get to the right people in
Spain?”

“Yes. There is an extensive courier network
at our disposal there which reaches all over Europe. We need only
get the package to an agent who will be waiting daily in Nantes.
All instructions are included for contacting her. Ian even included
several gold sovereigns to pay for anyone’s time who needed that
along the way.”

“James, your package will be delivered
unless God Himself intervenes.”

***

Stuart and Rebecca danced yet another minuet
at the gala, and she was having as good a time as she had when she
spent an evening with Ian. She knew that she was becoming more
enamored with Stuart every day, and wondered if he felt the same.
There was the same feeling like a gentle electrical current when
she touched him that she had experienced with Ian. She found that
she was thinking less and less of Ian and more of Stuart. He was
courteous and attentive, but had made no overt moves regarding
her.

They all had prevailed on Cosette to come
and had wrangled an invitation for Sheriff’s Deputy Lucas Ross who
had escorted Laura. The two were getting along nicely and Laura had
to admit that she liked Lucas as well as she had James. Thelma
Millhouse and Laura’s mother Merriam were there as well. Stuart and
Lucas danced with all of them so that none had to stand around all
night as there were more ladies in attendance than men due to the
war.

Cosette asked “Thelma, why are the British
hosting a gala after suffering such an awful loss at Saratoga?”

“They are trying to keep everyone focused on
their occupation of Philadelphia, dear.”

“Why they lost thousands of men to gain a
city already evacuated.”

“Exactly why they are having this gala. We
are supposed to be too stupid to recognize their blunder. If I have
learned anything at all by observation it is that General Howe will
not last long as commander in chief after Saratoga dear. Watch and
see. Saratoga may be all that was needed for France to come into
the war.”

Unnoticed, a scrub woman with a mop and
bucket watched from a mezzanine above the dance floor. It had been
easy to gain entrance, coming to the back door and saying that she
had been summoned to clean up after a sick guest. She seldom took
her eyes off of Cosette, and noticed her sweet charm as she
accepted several dances with young boys. Even just as an observer
from where she was, it was soon easy to see how Cosette was able to
easily put the boys at ease in spite of her exotic and
sophisticated beauty. She would deliberately misstep soon after one
of the boys did, and would roll her beautiful eyes and cover her
mouth and laugh at her missteps just to put the boys at ease.

Several times she would laugh and hug one of
the women she had come with as they shared a comment. Although some
single adult men asked her to dance, she never repeated a dance
with even one of them, always managing to accept one of the boys
invitations again, which they were lining up to do soon after she
had begun to dance with them. She never made a misstep when dancing
with one of the men either. She did it all with consummate grace,
effortlessly and in such a way that everyone was charmed by her,
and none resentful, even the adult men who had only gotten one
dance each with her.

Priscilla shook her head in absolute
amazement thinking
she is the kind of vampire I want to be. I
hate my life and I hate living with the coven. Why couldn’t I have
been forced by one such as this Cosette instead of Stefan? The
answer is that she would never force someone. She is a princess
among vampires no doubt, maybe even a queen. I could learn to love
living as she does. The others will not hear about her from me.
Maybe if I watch her long enough I can learn some of the things
that she does so well. I wonder if she has a mate. It is not this
handsome man who accompanies her everywhere. He is human, and they
don’t have that kind of connection. I wonder if her mate is as
wonderful as she is and if they belong to a coven somewhere. Oh, to
be part of such a group! If they are as wonderful as she seems to
be it would be more like a family.

Orphaned at a young age and dirt poor ever
since, just as her life seemed to be as bad as it could get, she
had been forced to cross over and become a vampire. She sighed
deeply as tears formed and began to course down her cheeks while
the music played on.
I thought that my lot in life had to
improve because it was so bad. Little did I realize that it would
get worse, and permanently so….

Ian spent the winter at Valley Forge as a
hunter and courier once again. The Continental Congress re convened
in Lancaster Pennsylvania after evacuating Philadelphia well ahead
of the British Army. Later in the winter they moved again to York.
He carried messages to and from those cities all winter long and
provided game as well.

The winter began with Washington’s part of
the army numbering some ten thousand, but one fourth of those died
of disease or illness by springtime. A German by the name of
General Friedrich Von Steuben came to assist Washington and he took
over directing the day-to-day activities of the American Army
there.

Washington was free to plan strategies with
his other senior officers, not to mention that he was required to
appear from time to time at various functions hosted by influential
patriots. Needing their support and good will, he spent some time
during the winter months each year attending to things like that,
which he regarded as a necessary evil.

Von Steuben drilled and organized and
trained the Continental Army for the first time ever. He completely
reorganized the camp and one of the first things he did was to lay
out the Valley Forge camp latrines where the lowest elevation was.
For the first time ever, bayonet fighting was taught formally and
properly. The Continental Army had only begun to have a lot of
muskets equipped with bayonet lugs and bayonets when the French had
stepped in the previous year with money and weapons. Whereas the
soldiers had until then mostly used them as a spit for roasting
meat, they now were taught the science of proper combat with a
fixed bayonet. Ian observed that they became far more cohesive,
effective, and confident from that time onward due mainly to Von
Steuben’s iron discipline. This helped matters because it kept the
troops occupied and there was no time for malcontents to stir up
rebellion at the harsh conditions.

One amusing incident that he had seen stuck
in Ian’s mind involving Von Steuben. He could not speak English at
all and required an interpreter. He would get so angry at the
soldiers at times that he would curse them in the German tongue
then with a face red with anger he would urge the interpreter to
repeat the curses and insults to the officers in English. Ian later
learned that this was a common occurrence.

In May, General Benedict Arnold returned to
duty at Valley Forge, his leg being healed. Ian had already
departed, having been a courier, and having hunted and provided
game steadily for some five months for the American Army. He
resolved to travel to Boston and pay a visit to James and Melissa
on his way to see Moon Owl.

***

Arriving late in the day, he found that no
one was at Melissa’s cottage so he walked into Boston, intending to
go to Faneuil House to learn what he could. There he read postings
of various events and saw Samuel Adams. He came to Adam’s table and
said hello to him about the time Paul Revere walked in and spotted
him.

“Ian McCloud” Revere called across the room
as he walked smiling toward the two men. “By Heaven Ian, it is good
to see you again. Were you in Pennsylvania then with
Washington?”

“I was, Paul. I kept them in venison at
first, but they quickly went through all that I could find and for
my part, they finished the winter on rabbit, partridge, and
squirrel meat.”

“If anyone could find game, you could from
what I hear.”

“Well Paul, they did not object to giving me
slugs and powder as long as I kept bringing back meat!” The two
laughed heartily at that and then Ian asked the whereabouts of
James Barrow. Being told that Revere had seen James and Melissa at
the Old South Meeting House, Ian took his leave and departed, only
to see the two approaching, arm in arm smiling broadly.

“Ian! You are a sight for sore eyes! Where
have you been man” James said as they gave each other a mighty bear
hug and slapped each other on their backs. Ian turned to Melissa
and took off his hat then saying “Good evening Melissa. You look
wonderful and that is a new dress if memory serves me.”

Laughing delightedly she stepped forward and
hugged him, kissing his cheek. “James bought it for me not a month
ago. You have not changed one bit Ian.”

“Well you have. You get prettier each time I
see you and I must say that the two of you make a handsome couple”
he said with a brilliant smile.

“Ian, I sent your letters to France.” He
lowered his voice then as he said “Hancock came to me when Revere
told him about the letters.”

“Good. I think there is a chance that they
will do some good. We may yet get Spain to weigh in on our
side.”

“What did you tell them? They were all
written in Spanish.”

“I told them that they stood to gain Florida
and Alabama because the French would enter the war before they did
and would occupy the British fleet enough to make it possible for
them to reclaim that territory.”

“That was taking a chance wasn’t it?”

“You don’t know Henri Lafayette and the
influence he has in France. Was I not right? Here we are in the
spring of 1778 and France has formally been our ally since
February. I just read that Howe resigned and was replaced by Henry
Clinton.”

“We read that yesterday.”

“That makes the third commander the British
have had since the war started while we still have our original
commander, General Washington.”

Melissa spoke then, saying “Ian, you talk
like James does now.”

Ian raised his eyebrows as she continued
“Both of you now say ‘we’ when referring to the Continental Army
whereas you always used to call them ‘the Continentals’ or ‘the
Americans’.

Ian looked at James gravely then and began a
slow smile as he looked at Melissa again “Why you are right,
Melissa! We have become Americans without even knowing it!”

***

The rain fell softly at the chalet in
Zurich, dripping steadily from the gables of the large house.
Celeste sat with Celine in a chair near a window in the kitchen,
absently looking out the window as Celine played with her hair.
Marie came through on the way to the back door and Celeste called
to her.

“What is it?”

“Please sit with me a moment, Marie.”

She pulled another of the kitchen chairs
over by the window and sat down, looking expectantly at Celeste.
Celeste fixed her eyes on Marie’s and sighed deeply, saying “Ian
has asked Moon Owl to marry him, Marie.”

Marie raised a hand to her mouth as she took
a deep breath, eyes wide. “You are sure about this?”

Celeste sighed deeply and nodded her
head.

“Do you know when this will happen?”

“After the war is over, whenever that
is.”

“That may be years yet. Surely Cosette may
find him before that.”

Celeste’s eyes began to tear then and soon
tears streaked her cheeks as she whispered “It is not fair. It is
just not fair to Cosette or to Ian. Oh, how cruel this is becoming,
Marie! I…I just cannot bear it.” Marie scooted her chair closer so
that she could take Celeste in her arms then. The sound of the rain
increased as it became a heavy downpour and Celeste wept on Marie’s
shoulder.

Little Celine knew that her mother was sad
and struggled to reach her with both hands. Celeste separated from
Marie and drew her close then as the infant put her little arms
around Celeste’s neck, kissed her cheek softly and stroked her
hair.

“You know mama is sad, don’t you baby?”

Celine said “Mama sad, Ian and Cosette” as
the two looked at her in amazement, being as she had never said a
sentence.

“What is Ian doing, baby?”

Celine put both hands on Celeste’s cheeks
and stared into her eyes as Celeste’s stare went blank momentarily.
In seconds she re-focused her eyes and turned to Marie wide-eyed
and somber as she said “He is thinking about bringing her to
cross over
now, before marrying her.” The rain now had
become a deluge and the sound of it increased dramatically at the
window where the three sat.

***

Bartholomew eyed Pricilla privily; taking in
her petite frame, sensual lips, her dark curly hair and big pale
blue eyes he began to feel the stirrings of lust once again. Since
he had finished his
imprinting
, she had not come near him or
any of the other males. She had woodenly submitted to having sex
with him twice to preserve his libido at Yvonne’s insistence, and
had since become withdrawn, even morose at times it seemed. Clearly
she was neither interested in him or any of the other males in the
coven. Often she would stay away over the course of a day or two
and then return, with no particular explanation of why she had been
absent. Some of the coven females had refused to pair off with a
single male and had instead taken up with several of the males, so
Bartholomew had not gone without female companionship, but he was
far more attracted to Priscilla than the others.