Brings the Lightning (The Ames Archives Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

to voice the fear her words had raised in him. “You… you said something about Ma?”
    Her eyes brimmed with moisture as she nodded. “She caught pneumonia. She died just after Christmas. It was like she… she didn’t want to fight it… almost as if she didn’t have anything left to live for, after we heard about both of you.”
    He hung his head for a moment, unable to speak. At last he said hoarsely, trying to swallow the lump in his throat, “Who told you I was dead? I was hurt in a skirmish last November, but I was back on my horse inside a month.”
    “It was a nurse at Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond. She wrote, saying you died of wounds, and were buried in Oakwood Cemetery. She even gave us your grave number.”
    “That’s the hospital where they sent me, right enough, but I was only there for a few days before they kicked me out. They said they needed my bed for someone worse hurt.”
    “Then they must have mixed up your records with someone else’s.” Tears began to drip down her cheeks. “That’s… that’s just about the saddest thing I ever did hear. If only you’d written, so Ma had known you was alive!”
    “I did, Katie! I’ve written every single month since I went away.”
    She shook her head. “We got maybe five, at most six letters from you ever since you went to Virginia. We’ve had none at all since September last year.”
    “God
damn
those field post service slackers!” He stopped himself as he realized there was nothing at all he could do. They were all either dead or paroled by now—and besides, it probably wasn’t any one man’s fault. He shook his head. “That’s the war for you. It worked both ways. I had only four letters from you since I left Tennessee two years ago, and five from Ma and Pa.”
    “We all wrote to you every month, too—sometimes more often.”
    “I guess part of the problem was me being a scout and courier. I moved around so much, your mail must’ve had a hard time catching up with me.”
    They looked at each other in a long and bitterly painful silence. At last she sighed. “You’d better take your horses round to the stable, then. Old Mose is working for us now. He’ll look after them for you.”
    “Mose? You mean Mrs. Eliot’s hired hand?”
    “Yes. She couldn’t afford to keep him after she lost her job at the schoolhouse. That’s not all she’s going to lose, either. Her farm’s being auctioned for taxes next week. They say she’s three years in arrears.”
    “How’d she lose her job?”
    Katie shrugged. “Not enough children to warrant two teachers any longer. Too many of the older ones went off to fight. The younger ones had to work on the farms to take their place. I did that here for half a year, until Pa hired Mose and I could go back to school to finish.”
    “Where is Pa?”
    “He went to Nashville on county business. He’s one of the Commissioners now. He’ll be back tomorrow. You’d better let me meet him an’ tell him you’re alive before he sees you. He’s been awful sorrowful since Ma died. I’d hate for the shock to… well, you know. His heart ain’t strong these days.”
    “Yes, I see. I’ll stay out of sight until you’ve told him I’m home. Say, Katie, I thought I saw a blue-belly here a short while back, just before I arrived. Who’s he?”
    She flushed as she flared up, “Were you spying on me?”
    “No, just looking over the place from the hillside up yonder. I wanted to see what it looked like before I rode up. I guess it’s a habit I got into during the war, being a scout and all.”
    “Well… He’s a lieutenant. Used to be with the Third Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Infantry until they disbanded in February. He’s working for the Quartermaster’s warehouse in Nashville now, based here in Sparta to buy supplies from around the area an’ send them in. He’ll be discharged soon. We… we’re fixing to get married next month. You won’t make any trouble about that, will