The Vicky Series: Book 3: Living A Dream

Chapter 07 Part 1

I am almost certain I will be seeing you again in the near future and you must not worry for me. As you know from experience, a shoulder in a sling looks much worse that it really is. Honestly, my dearest friend, I am recovering well. I am rather sleepy though, so I shall end this.

Fondly,

Penelope Gordon Schmidt

P.S. please tell Reuben that I am glad he was not here. While I know he would have had the sense to drag me off the street when the trouble began, my poor heart cannot begin to fathom the pain of losing him. He is all I have left, my heart, my son. Tell him I love him and I may see him again soon.

Quin finished the letter and let his hand drop. His eyes finally left the letter and when they settled on his wife he was startled to find her gaze fixed intently on him. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and let out a long sigh.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I...I was watching as you read the letter. I heard it in your voice I think, as much as I saw it in the set of your shoulders. When you got to the part about the man pulling the gun you stumbled as your read and you wiped at your eyes. You've been troubled by something for a few days past and when you stumbled...I just...well, I just knew."

"Henry and I have been afraid something like that would happen to one of the families sooner or later." He sighed. "What's not in the letter is that Henry met with those five soldiers and pleaded with them to reconsider sending their families somewhere safe. They argued until he told them he was sending Penelope away. There are no civilians left at Camp Babbitt."

Vicky had reached for her coffee more for something to do with her hands than for any desire to sip the lukewarm beverage. She felt a shift in the air and forced her gaze away from the black liquid in her cup. She met his eyes and her heart ached.

"I've been trying to find a way to tell you for three days but I can't put it off any longer." He pulled a second letter out of her tunic and held it out to her.

She stared at the letter in his hand like it was a snake before she reached out with a trembling hand to take it from him. A sense of foreboding settled like a thick gloom over her. She didn't look up, she couldn't bear the anxiety she saw in his eyes. She set her coffee on the little table by the bed and held the letter a moment, just staring at it.

This single page was going ruin her happiness. She drew a breath and squared her shoulders as she unfolded the venomous piece of paper. She read it quickly and felt her heart break. She closed her eyes and took another breath to steady herself. Perhaps she misread. She read it again more slowly. The terrible words had not changed.

Bvt. Maj. Q E McClintock was ordered to bring reinforcements to Camp Babbitt. He and the troops were ordered to march out...she looked blankly at the paper in her hands. Quin, her dearest Quin, was marching directly into that horrible mess...at first light...tomorrow.

"But these are mostly boys! They're not ready! They'll need supplies and uniforms. Surely the army knows this!" Her façade of control snapped and her voice escalated with the panic rising within her.

It was happening again! This war would no doubt claim many husbands and brothers and sons before it was over. But it wasn't fair. She'd already given a husband to the cause, her first love and father of her children...children that would never know the man she had loved so dearly. And now they were asking her to do it again.

"Yes, the army knows that." He answered softly.

He wasn't sure what surprised him more, her outburst or his calmness. Since he accepted his commission, he worried how she would react if he received combat orders. He worried if he would be able to leave her. Now that the time had come he still wasn't certain. That bothered him. Doubt was never something he had ever allowed himself the luxury of feeling about following orders.