In other news, I signed up to write stories for the Gazette on a freelance basis. It’s not the same as my old job, but it feels good to get my feet wet again.
I hope you are well and away from the worst of the fighting.
Yours,
Diamond
PS: We just heard that Amy eloped with your brother. You assured me you didn’t return her feelings, so I hoped you are not hurt by this news.
Jesse dropped the letter, his mind in a whirl. Diamond had avoided putting anything damaging in writing, but it appeared Jack had joined the bushwhackers. He’d always known Jack favored the South over the North, but couldn’t imagine his brother deserting. If the Union Army caught him, they’d shoot or hang him. Jack had gone back on his word. Why couldn’t he have waited until his term expired before switching sides?
Their father had always favored Jack, but he wouldn’t accept a betrayal of this magnitude. The harshness of Ian’s reaction didn’t surprise him. He thought his father had gone easy on Jack.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about Diamond’s decision to write for the Gazette. He was all for it if it made her happy and more at ease in the nineteenth century, but why now? Bryce Poole had offered to help her find a position on a St. Louis newspaper and she’d derided the suggestion as an inadequate substitute for her job as a TV reporter. Jesse still couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of plays being beamed through the air and showing up on little boxes in everyone’s homes, but writing for a paper, even in a big city like St. Louis, seemed a demotion. Writing for a paper in a small town was even further down the ladder.
Was Diamond afraid he would give her dowry to Janet? Did she intend to write for the paper as a backup plan in case she had to earn her own living? It hurt to remember she had only agreed to marry him because Bryce would not give the money to her without a husband to oversee her interests. Would she give up on the idea of writing for the paper if he asked her too? Not that it mattered, he wouldn’t ask it of her.
And then there was the postscript. He’d told Diamond the truth when he said he didn’t have feelings for Amy. But the elopement still felt like a punch in the gut, as if he and his brother were interchangeable. And Amy came from a wealthy family. Before the war, she’d known no hardship. Even since evacuating to Little Rock, she’d lived in relative luxury. Living as the wife of an outlaw would be a shock to her, and he felt responsible.
Frustrated, he tracked down Cole and found him by at his tent, cooking his meager rations over a fire.
“Go get yours and you can tell me the news over dinner,” Cole suggested.
Jesse wound his way through the tents, cook fires and soldiers to the commissary. After receiving his hardtack and salt pork, he grabbed his mess kit and rejoined Cole. Throwing the pork in the frying pan, he held it over the flames, hearing the fat spit and sizzle. Cole remained patient until Jesse’s food was ready.
“So what did your wife have to say?”
“A group of bushwhackers ran into some trouble with Union troops and retreated to Little Rock to lick their wounds.”
Cole shrugged. “Unfortunate, but that’s the risk we all take. Guerrillas don’t have the support of regular troops, but they are not bound by the same rules.”
“I think my brother, Jack, was one of them.”
“Jack? Thought he was fighting for the Union?”
Jesse took his time chewing a bit of grisly meat he would never have eaten before the war. “Sounds like he’s left the Union to ride with Quantrill and his men.”
“Well, good for him. Never set right with me that he fought for the Yankees.”
“My father is angry. He wanted to ensure we had someone on the winning side of this conflict.”
Cole took a swig of water from his canteen and chased it with a hit of whiskey. “So that’s why Jack signed with the North? Struck me as strange, him being pro-slavery and all.”
Jesse dug out his own whiskey flask and swallowed. The alcohol was about the only thing edible about the meal, but he was too hungry to be choosy. “I think Father miscalculated. Should have sent me to the Union and let Jack sign with the Confederacy.”
“You would have fought for the Northern Aggressors?” Cole asked.
Jesse nodded. “I’m in favor of states’ rights and consider myself a son of the South, but slavery should have been abolished years ago. I hoped it would never come to war, but I could in good conscience fight for either side.”
Cole glanced at the surrounding tents. “Keep that to yourself or you might find yourself shot in the back.”
“My loyalty is not in question.”
“Isn’t it? Will your father want you to desert and join the Union now?”
“No, Janet has convinced him to reconsider her engagement to Finn. When Finn insisted on a dowry, Father let it go since he never wanted the match, anyway. Now he will try to persuade Finn to marry Janet for her share of the estate and a future cash payment.”
“You wouldn’t have to pay me to take her on. Your sister is a fine-looking woman.”
“Forget about Janet. If Finn doesn’t take the deal, he’s a fool.”
“Stabbed through the heart.” Cole clasped his hands to his chest and sighed.
“That’s not all.”
“I don’t know if I can take any more.”
“Jack eloped with Amy.”
“Your Amy?”
“She’s not mine. But yes, Amy Verdine.”
Cole laughed. “That’s rich. She can’t have one brother so she takes the other. You wouldn’t happen to have another sister, would you?”
“It’s not funny. Amy’s not made for a life on the run.” Not like Diamond. Diamond had managed just fine, although he wouldn’t want to subject her to constant hardship and
