On to Richmond (84 page)

             
Thomas reached out for her hand.  “Lying to me was wrong, Carrie.  But,” he added in a firm voice, “I would have done the same thing if I had been in your place.”  He paused.  “You know I don’t agree with your position.  I can, however, appreciate your commitment to your belief.”  He stopped again.  Then he continued.  “What you have done has cost me greatly.  Yet, I know now that it would probably have come to pass anyway.  Slaves are running away everywhere.  Other slaves are being set free by the Union soldiers; many have been escorted to freedom.”  His voice became bitter.  “I was going to lose everything I’ve worked for one way or another.”

             
Carrie watched him quietly, uncertain of what to say.  “I’m sorry,” she murmured. 

             
Thomas squeezed her hand.  “What is done is done.  I’m sure we’ll have more to talk about, but for now, knowing you are safe and here with me is simply enough.  I forgive you because I love you.  We will deal with our differences because we love each other.  That’s what counts.”

             
Carrie smiled through the tears rolling down her face.  “I love you,” she said softly.  A huge burden had been lifted.  Their love would survive their differences.

             
“And I love you,” Thomas replied tenderly.  He leaned forward to kiss her forehead then stepped back.  “I believe there is a lieutenant who wants to talk with you.”

             
Carrie wiped at her tears as her father left the room. 

Within moments, Robert was striding into the room, a broad smile on his face.  “You sure you have energy left, Carrie?  I can come back later.”

              “I want you to stay.”

             
Robert smiled again and leaned forward to kiss her forehead.  “You’re sure you’re okay?”

             
Carrie nodded.  “It’s nice to know there is no metal still lodged in my body.”  When Robert’s face darkened, she knew he was thinking about what she had gone through.  She reached for his hand.  “I’m going to be fine,” she promised.

             
Robert nodded and then gazed down at her for a long moment.  Carrie stared back into his dark eyes.  The air seemed to pulse around her. 

             
“I love you, Carrie Cromwell,” Robert said roughly.

             
Carrie nodded.  “I love you, too, Robert Borden.”  It was the truth. In spite of everything, she couldn’t deny what her heart was feeling.

             
Robert leaned forward to kiss her forehead again and then pulled a chair close to the bed.  “I have something to tell you.”

             
Carrie watched him quietly. 

             
“I found God.”

             
Carrie held her breath and waited for him to go on.

             
Robert glanced at her and then continued.  “I think I have, anyway.  All I know is that God showed me He loves me.”  Briefly he described the incident with the wagon.

             
“What day was that?” Carrie asked sharply.

             
Robert frowned.  “It was January 7th” he said.

             
“That was the day I prayed for you,” Carrie said in wonder.  She told him what had happened.

             
Robert smiled and then continued.  “I would like to tell you I’ve changed how I feel about slavery.  I can’t say I have.  I’m trying to release the hatred in my heart, but I still feel it is our destiny to control the slaves.”  He paused.  “I can be nothing but honest with you.”

             
Carrie listened to him quietly.  She was learning to trust God.  She was also learning his timing was nothing like her own.  If she and Robert were meant to share a life together, God would work things out.  In the meantime she would try to trust him with her future by choosing to live fully in the present.  And living fully in the present meant loving Robert. 

             
“You know I love you,” Robert went on.  “You know I want to marry you.   But let’s not talk of marriage until this war is over.  I want us to be together, not separated by one endless battle after another.”

             
Carrie nodded.  “Let’s take one day at a time.  We’ll face the question of our future when it is time to face it. In the meantime, do I have to be content with mere kisses on the forehead, Lieutenant?”

             
His response silenced her for long moments. 

Carrie stood side-by-side with her father and Janie as the grounds surrounding City Hall filled with desperate, determined citizens.  Even as the crowd grew
, they could hear Federal guns pounding the batteries at Drewry’s Bluff, just south of the city on the James.  Large numbers of elite Richmonders had abandoned their city.  President Davis’s wife had joined their number.  The general spirit of the city was one of doom.  Yet a glimmer of hope flickered in the darkness. 

             
Governor Letcher had called volunteers to join companies of citizens for the city’s defense.   The response was immediate and tremendous.  Richmond might fall, but it would not go down without a fight.  If the military fell, there would yet be citizens willing to put their lives on the line for their beloved city - their beloved capital. 

             
Just then Mayor Mayo appeared beside the governor.  He raised his hands to get the crowd’s attention.  Finally he was able to speak. 

             
“Before God and Heaven, I will say to one and all, that if you want the mayor to surrender the city, you must get some other mayor.  So help me God, I’ll never do it!” 

             
For one significant moment, the cheers of the beleaguered city drowned out the booming of guns.

             
Richmond was not dead yet…

Read the first 2 Chapters of Book # 3 – Spring Will Come – starting on the next page!

CHAPTER  ONE

May 1862

             
The stillness was making Carrie nervous. She had stepped outside to get some fresh air, but the heavy sultriness surrounding her, clutching at her, offered little relief.   The yellowish tint of the sky, combined with the buildup of cumulus clouds on the horizon, spoke of an approaching storm, but there was more...  Carrie’s heart told her the ominous day was prophetic of what soon was to be released upon her beloved city.  Richmond waited with bated breath for the inevitable.  The tens of thousands of Union soldiers camped at her gates would soon no longer be content to just prepare for battle.   When would the fury of the Federal forces be unleashed against the capital of the Confederacy? 

             
Trying to control the nervousness clutching her throat, Carrie took several deep breaths as she looked down on the rapids swirling as the James River cascaded its way over rocks and boulders on its way to the Atlantic.  It never ceased to amaze her that she was gazing on the same river that flowed so placidly by her family’s plantation farther south. 

             
She never got tired of the view from Chimborazo Hill.   The elevated plateau of nearly forty acres commanded a grand view of the city.    She loved to stand outside and turn slowly as the different panoramas spread before her eyes.  Now as she stared down at the river, she looked farther south and watched the many ships in harbor, with the bridges spanning the river in between.   She turned east and gazed out at the long stretch of country - cultivated fields, forests and hills that spread as far as the eye could see.  Once again the fields of Cromwell Plantation flooded her memory.  Impatiently she pushed aside the pictures of her family’s home she had been forced to flee.  Now was not the time. 

             
Slowly she turned west and took in the splendor of the city.  She never tired of the church spires proffering their way toward heaven, the Capitol reflecting the rays of the sun, the factories and the wonderful homes giving Richmond its charm.  From here she could pretend the horrible overcrowding in the wartime city had not clouded the charm with litter, filth, and crime.  As she completed her revolution, she stared long and hard at Hollywood Cemetery.  Richmonders called it the city of our dead.   Carrie knew many fresh graves dotted the hillsides.  How many more would lie with those gone before? 

             
Carrie shook her head impatiently and pushed at the strands of black wavy hair that insisted on escaping the bun she captured them with each morning.  Daydreaming and imagining what was coming would do her patients no good.  She took another deep breath, then turned and reentered the hospital.

             
“See any Yankee gunboats out on the river, Miss Cromwell?”

             
Carrie smiled at the young soldier lying closest to the door.  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she scoffed.  “You know after the beating the Union received at Drewry’s Bluff a couple of weeks ago, they aren’t going to try that avenue again!”