The Fragrance of Her Name Read Online Free PDF Page B

And strangely, her young lips desired suddenly to receive kisses from this hidden mouth that endeavored to speak her name. And it was her name that echoed in her mind as it fell silently from his lips. In the next moment the fog had cleared, the dream was gone. And so was the Captain.
    "Captain?" Lauryn called. But he had vanished, leaving her trembling and confused. Leaving her lonely and longing for…something…someone.

 
    Chapter Two
     
    "Ladies and Gentlemen" the porter announced. "We're carryin' a load of convalescin’ soldiers with us today and the good doctor who's tendin’ them has asked me to inquire…are any of you ladies willin’ to give him a hand in the wounded car?”
    Leaving her reminiscences, Lauryn's hand rose immediately in volunteering. She smiled as she looked to her Nana, now suddenly wide awake, to see her waiving a dainty hanky at the porter.
    "We'd be more than willin’ to help out, sir," Nana assured him. But as Lauryn helped her Nana to her feet she was very disappointed to see that only one other woman in their particular passenger car had volunteered. The eyes of the other contributing woman met Lauryn's and she smiled, raising her eyebrows in disapproval as she, too, looked about at the other passengers. No doubt the lingering memory of the danger of the influenza scared them. So many people had forfeited compassion for fear over the past year.
    "Good thing all the fine soldiers that fought and died for our freedom weren't as uppity as most of us southerners seem to be," the woman stated quite loudly as Lauryn and her Nana followed the porter out of their car.
    The train car with the convalescing men in it was stiflingly hot. So many men lying or sitting about in such cramped uncomfortable quarters. And it was hardly more than a glorified boxcar to boot. The door was open, allowing fresh air to enter the car and revealing the passing landscape. A makeshift fence of sorts had been rigged across the open door to allow for the men's safety. At a glance, Lauryn discerned that these men were not recently wounded as she had expected. These were men who had been convalescing somewhere else for a long, long time.
    "Ladies! Bless you!" a man in a white doctor’s coat greeted as he approached them. "Our poor boys need waterin' and just plain carin' for and I can't keep up with it any longer on my own. I'm Doctor Nelson," he announced, offering his hand to Nana, her being the obvious matron of the group and thereby deserving the first respect.
    "Virginia Kensington" Nana answered, smiling at him. "We're glad to serve these valiant men however we can."
    "Lauryn Kensington," Lauryn told him as he shook her hand.
    "Betty Anne Wilson," the third woman offered as he then took her hand.
    "Ladies, y’all are angels. Sent from Heaven and that's all there is about it!” The Doctor did, indeed, look tired and Lauryn felt a pang in her heart…sympathy for a good man. "If…if you could just talk to a few of them. Listen to their stories…give them a sip of water now and again. These boys have been laid up in New Orleans for near to a month and they're gettin' itchy to get on with whatever life livin' they can."
    "Where are they bound, Dr. Nelson, and why move them at all if they're not fully healed?" Nana asked in a hushed voice.
    "Well, to be honest,” the doctor explained dropping his voice to a whisper, “These boys…they need to be home. All our boys do, of course. But home will heal the wounds these boys are carryin’ far better than any medicine I ever could administer. We call them the ‘blue boys’ down in New Orleans. Home and family…best medicine there is for what’s keepin’ these boys down. And well…the flu is still lingerin’ down there, as you ladies well know. Much worse than further up. And…these young men are weak and I don't want them dyin’ from some insipid disease when they've struggled so hard to survive this long. New Orleans is still too infectious with the weather