Rebel (Civil War Period)

Chapter 13..

"Do not order us around like dogs!" I hissed at my husband. Katherine did not even dare meet his eyes, and she side-glanced at me for speaking so boldly. But every servant in this house was used to the fights of their masters - and I dare say that it was I who had their sympathies. "Learn to behave like a gentleman, for heaven's sake!"

"I don't need you to advise me on how to behave, wife! Now give those children to Katherine and come."

He looked ready to strike anyone coming in his way, and before it would be one of my babies, I would take the blow. Provocatively slowly, I got up and handed Felicity to Katherine. "Could you take her for a moment, please? And be so kind as to feed Jonathan for me."

Then I proudly walked past my husband, not shooting one glance at him. "What is it now?" I asked when the door had closed behind us.

"Felicity has awfully fair hair for the child of dark-haired parents." He hissed. It was not why he called me out of the kitchen, but it nourished his anger even further.

"She is merely two months old. She will darken."

"I dearly hope so, Georgiana, for if it turns out that she is a bastard, then help you God!"

"So what do you want of me?"

"You know what I want, bitch. It's been two months. About time that you're pregnant. So, are you?" I was certain that he squeezed my arm so tightly that no blood came through, and it took some self-control not to scream out in pain.

"No." I said with barely hidden glee. "I am not."

It was the first time he struck me. I had gotten used to his rapes, but that he dared to hit me was new. "You might want to be careful, Charles, with your treatment of me. It would take one word of my father's to end your career."

He went pale for a moment, then red again with rage. "I doubt you will dare to tell him. If you do, then be assured that I will claim that child of yours a bastard and not mine. See how you'll do then."

Maybe better than staying married to him. "Get away from me." I spat and turned on my heel back into the kitchen. Tonight I would be with my true husband.

At ten o'clock I went into the stables and saddled up Caesar. My children were safely with Katherine, and Charles was gone and wouldn't return until next afternoon.

I had failed to cover up the scratch on my cheek I had received when he had struck me. I hoped Jasper wouldn't ask.

I galloped through the dark forest, but I would not have needed any light. I would have found the waterfall blindly. It was a mild March evening, and I enjoyed the fresh air, the freedom. I got there early, but Jasper was there already, gallantly helping me from my horse and embracing me, kissing me lovingly and showing my heart how it was to be loved.

Then he took my chin into his hand, scrutinizing my face. I should have known that the man who loved me would notice it if I was hurt. "What happened, Georgiana, love? Did he hit you?" Cold anger blazed in his eyes. "What right has he to abuse my wife?"

"It's nothing, Jasper, really. I scratched myself."

"Georgiana..."

"Let's talk later, please." I begged, and he obeyed me all too readily. As he covered my body in kisses, he suddenly frowned and asked: "Have you been pregnant?"

I did not want to deny it anymore. The only question that remained was whether to tell Jasper the whole truth... I was so scared of what he might say. It had been surprising enough that he had agreed to marry, what would he do when he found out he had two children? Jasper was not the family type. I dreaded telling him. "Yes, I was." I gulped, then added: "Twice."

"Twice? How can you have you been..." He stopped himself, and I could see how his mind figured out the facts. I kept tears from my eyes - I did not want it to end so soon. I loved Jasper, I did not want to see him leave....

"I think you have to explain some things to me, Georgiana." He said, resolutely but with a hint of kindness at it. I gulped again and then sat up to be at the same level as he. "Jonathan and Felicity...they're your children, Jasper."

"Mine? How can your sister's child be mine?"

"It's not hers. When I knew that I was pregnant, my father sent Marianne and me away, and when we came back, she had to claim the child hers. Felicity isn't Charles's daughter, she is yours, just like Jonathan is your son."

The following silence lay heavy on me. Finally, Jasper said something. "I have a son. And a daughter. How old?"

Relieved he hadn't left me yet, I answered: "Jonathan will be one year old in two weeks. Felicity is a little more than two months old."

He shook his head in disbelief. "You kept it from me all this time?"

"What was I supposed to do, Jasper? I was unmarried and pregnant!"

"Love, I am not reproaching you." He laid his finger on my lips to silence me. "I find it remarkable you managed so well, and I am so sorry that I had left you alone during your hardships. To think that you took so much upon you... I should have never let you marry Lacey." His thoughtful expression turned resolute. "Georgiana, my love, you have to leave him. Your marriage to him is not valid, he cannot stop you. Neither is Felicity his. She is born a Whitlock."

"Jasper, how do you expect me to just walk away?"

"We are losing this war, Georgiana. It is only a matter of time, and then we would be able to be together anyhow. I will not wait so long, however. I won't see you suffer even one more minute on my account. I will leave the army - I have enough money to last us two lifetimes. Us and our children."

He did not leave me. I found it hard to believe, and I was swimming in such joy! He would leave the army for me, for our family. He recognized the two children he had never seen before as his.

"Georgiana, tell me only one thing; Can you leave him, and can you take both our children with you? You know it will bring shame and disgrace upon you."

"Yes, I do know. I will do it, however, when you tell me how it will go on once I did."

"I have a house in South Carolina. Go there, and as soon as I have taken care of my succession, I will follow you."

"Why not immediately?" I did not know why I was suddenly panicking, why I was suddenly so overly worried about him. I was scared that something might happen to him before he would reach me...

"I can't disappoint my army like that, Georgiana."

"Of course not. I'm sorry." I smiled. I should have known that he was so honorable and would never desert his men. "Our marriage is truly valid?"

"It is. You have nothing to fear, Lacey least of all. I will take care that he will not do you any harm, I promise."

Yes, he would. But the only way to really keep Charles from ever hurting me again and to always keep him away from Jasper's children was eliminating him. And of that, I would take care myself.

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