Surrender to the Fury Read Online Free PDF

Nick hadn’t been around children much, but this small imp could easily occupy a place in his heart.
    “What are you doing in my papa’s bedroom?”
    Nick shot a quizzical glance at Aimee. He had no idea he had been given the master bedroom. “This is one of the few bedrooms fit for use,” Aimee explained as she started to shoo Brand from the room. She didn’t want her son and Nick together longer than necessary.
    “Wait,” Nick ordered. “I haven’t met your son yet. I’m Captain Drummond.” Smiling broadly, he held out his hand to the boy.
    Brand peered resentfully at Nick’s blue uniform, not too young to recognize an enemy when he saw one. Many Union soldiers had stopped at Tall Oaks during the past few years, and he had been taught to be wary of anyone wearing a blue uniform. “I don’t like you.”
    “Brand!” Aimee cautioned, looking fearfully at Nick. She knew so little about him, she had no inkling what his reaction would be to Brand’s mutinous outburst.
    “It’s all right, Mrs. Trevor.” He carefully addressed Aimee in a formal manner for her son’sbenefit. “So your name is Brand,” he said, kneeling before the boy. “My uniform is blue because I’m a Union soldier, but that doesn’t mean I’m here to harm you or your mother. On the contrary, I intend to see that you get enough to eat during my stay here. Can we be friends?”
    Aimee couldn’t believe Nick was taking so much time and effort with her son. She had hated him for so long, it was difficult to imagine him possessing redeeming qualities.
    Brand’s small face grew solemn as he studied Nick. He was very young when his papa went away, and he hardly remembered him. Since then, he’d known no other adult male well. Naturally distrustful, he wanted desperately to accept Nick’s friendly overtures but feared offending his mother, who seemed to have an aversion to anyone in a blue uniform. Rather than hurt her, Brand remained mute.
    “He’s shy,” Aimee offered, sensing the reason for Brand’s reticence. The sensitive child was too young to remember Beau, yet old enough to know a Union bullet had deprived him of a father. “So many of the raiders who stopped here wore blue uniforms. They threatened our existence and left us nothing to eat. Often we had to flee for our lives when we saw them approaching.”
    “I’m sorry,” Nick said, rising to his feet. “I promise you have nothing to fear from us.”
    Nothing to fear? Aimee shuddered at the thought of what Nick’s reaction would be if he found out Brand was his son. She would live in a state of constant anxiety until he and his men left Tall Oaks. “May we go now?”
    “Of course. Tell Lieutenant Dill I said to assign one of the men to carry water up for my bath.”
    Aimee turned to leave, but Brand hung back, as if there were something he wanted to say but didn’t dare. Nick noticed the boy’s troubled expression and asked, “Is there something you wanted to ask me, Brand?”
    Aimee frowned, trying to guide Brand from the room. But the child dug in his heels and refused to budge—until he had asked the question that had burned on the tip of his tongue since the moment he saw Nick’s blue uniform.
    “Yes, sir,” Brand said with the guileless innocence of a five-year-old. “Did you shoot my papa?”
    Nick blanched. He barely heard Aimee’s sharp intake of breath as he grappled with Brand’s question. What could he say to this small child who had been deprived of a father’s love by a Union bullet? Yet the question demanded an answer—one a small child could understand. He dropped down to one knee, seizing Brand by the shoulders.
    “No, Brand, I didn’t shoot your papa. In war times, terrible things happen, things that most men wouldn’t think of doing during normal times. I don’t like killing, but I’m doing what I think is right for our country. So was your father. He died a hero, son, never forget that. Only God knows which of us is right One day