Talons of Eagles Read Online Free PDF

the porch floor, where it broke with a crash and splash of just pulled, cool well water, and stared at the woman in amazement and disbelief. “I don’t believe that.” He finally found his voice.
    She shrugged her shoulders. “Why would I lie? I don’t mean to impugn his bravery, for Cort is a very brave man. One of the first to volunteer for the Gray. It’s just . . . well, these things happen.”
    â€œDoes he know that you . . . ah ... ?”
    â€œThat I know? Certainly. What it means is that neither of us shall ever ask the other for a divorce. He will be discreet and so will I.”
    â€œWith your, ah . . .”
    She laughed at the expression on his face. “Our lovers? Yes.”
    â€œJust the one child, Anne?”
    â€œNo.” Anne knew Jamie MacCallister and knew him to be a man of honor. He would keep his silence; although, she felt he might tell his wife. That was all right, for Anne trusted Kate as much as Jamie. Kate had always treated her well. “No,” she repeated with a long sigh. “Page has a twin brother.” She laughed sourly. “With good hair,” she said bitterly, remembering the words of Selma, her personal maid, that terrible stormy night the twins were born. “He isn’t black, but neither is he white. But he is Negro. That is very plain. I never held him. He was given to a woman in the slave quarters who lost a child, and some years later, when he was, oh, I don’t know. Time goes by so swiftly. Anyway, he was sent north on the Underground Railroad. I don’t know where he is or what he looks like or even if he made it across the line to freedom.”
    â€œYou ever think about him?” Jamie asked softly.
    Anne smiled sadly. “Yes. Not as often now as I used to, but yes, I do think about him.” She sighed and straightened up in her chair, squaring her shoulders. “I should write my memoirs and have them published. I could make a fortune, but then, I’m already worth several fortunes.”
    â€œYou’d better invest in something outside of the South, Anne,” Jamie warned.
    She smiled. “Oh, but I have. I have this clever little man in Richmond who has been secretly investing sums of my money in factories up north. I own a factory that makes uniforms, another that makes guns, and yet another that manufactures boots and shoes. And I own bits and pieces of several other factories . . . all located far above the Mason-Dixon line.” She gave Jamie a strange look. “You believe the South will lose this war, Jamie?”
    â€œYes. After several long and bloody years. The North has the manpower, the money, and the factories.”
    â€œAnd the South has . . . ?”
    Jamie poured another glass of water. He drank it down and set the glass carefully back on the wicker table that was between him and the woman. “Slavery is wrong, Anne. No man has the right to own another human being in bondage. But the Federal government does not have the right to tell individual states what they can or cannot do. That is really what this war is all about: central control of our lives. Total control of our lives. If I obey the laws of God, and observe a moral code here on earth, the government has no business interfering in my life. That is why I chose the side of the Gray.”
    â€œAnd your sons?” Anne asked gently.
    â€œFalcon is fighting for the Gray in Texas. I suspect Jamie Ian will choose the side of the Blue and so will Matthew.”
    â€œFather against son,” Anne murmured.
    â€œAnd brother against brother,” Jamie added. “This war will cut deep across the country, Anne. It will leave bitter scars that will last for many, many years, perhaps forever. But a person must always do what they think is right.”
    â€œNo matter what the consequences?”
    â€œNo matter what the consequences.”

4
    Oddly enough, there was no tension at supper that evening.