She’d left one candle burning, its meager light throwing shadows against the wall. Jesse would make a run for it, but would he come for her? He had no reason to. She’d made it very clear she wanted him to wait for parole. She would only slow him down. He might send for her later. If not, they would have to live apart for the duration of the war. Three years seemed a very long time to wait, but unlike Jesse, she was in no danger. Unless they suspected her of being a spy, the worst the Union forces would do is banish her from the state, an unlikely punishment for merely being married to a Confederate soldier.
If he came for her would she go with him? St. Louis was safe. She knew Confederate forces would never invade it. She and Janet rubbed along well enough even if they now fell on opposite sides of the conflict. Leaving with Jesse now would be like voluntarily stepping into the nightmare she’d found herself in upon making the leap through time. Once again they would be on the run, the Union Army in pursuit, the odds stacked against them. The stakes would be even higher, for an escaped prisoner didn’t have the same protections as a newly captured soldier. And while they might have ignored her before, as a local caught up in the battle, if they caught her helping a prisoner escape, she would face the consequences—banishment if she was lucky or possibly imprisonment herself.
Why was she even worrying about it? He wouldn’t come for her. He’d made it quite clear where she fit in his priorities and she wasn’t high on the list. Nothing new there. Her father had cared so little for her and her mother that he’d gone to a war zone and gotten himself killed. Her first serious boyfriend in college had expected her to uproot herself and follow him to a different school. And she wouldn’t even think about Brett, who had thought she was a possession to use and abuse. He had been a serious mistake in her judgment.
She lay there while the storm raged outside and the candle shrank beside her. She should change into her nightgown and try to get some sleep. If Jesse escaped, Union troops would search the house. She had to be sharp enough to give them no reason to suppose she had helped him.
Diamond dragged herself to her feet, but instead of changing, she pulled her backpack from the wardrobe. Her knife and pepper spray were already in her pocket, but her other twenty-first century items were wrapped and buried in the pack’s bottom, beneath her modern clothes. She added a spare chemise, petticoats, stockings and drawers. Then she blew out the candle and crawled back onto the bed. It was too hot to lie under the covers, anyway.
She may have dozed, but it seemed as if almost no time had passed when she heard the rap of a rock against her window. It’s just hail. She pushed herself to her feet and ambled over to the window. Another rock came before she reached it, a sharp tap against the glass. She ran the last two steps and gazed down into the yard below. A shadowy figure stood beneath her, hand raised to throw another pebble.
A bolt of lightning split the sky and his hand dropped as he spotted her. She pressed a finger to her lips, hoping he saw it before the light faded, leaving them in clinging darkness. Grabbing her boots and her backpack, she tiptoed down the stairs, snatched her cloak from the peg, slipped on her boots and eased out the back door.
“The storm provides good cover, but how did you get out of the jail?” she asked as she drew up to Jesse.
“I haven’t time to explain. I have to meet an ally at a nearby bar, but I couldn’t leave without seeing you.” He opened his arms and Diamond snuggled within them breathing in his familiar scent. He was dripping wet and with the rate of the falling rain, her cloak would soon soak through. “Come with me,” he whispered in her ear.
“Where?”
“Down South.” He paused. “Or out West.”
“Out West? What about your commission?”
“That was all my father’s idea. If Jack can desert, why can’t I?”
“Jack’s been disinherited. You want your father to leave everything to Janet?”
“Why not? We have your dowry. We can leave this craziness behind.”
Would he really do it? Abandon his fellow soldiers and start a new life with her? Another burst of lighting lit the yard. Jesse looked tired, and she glimpsed a bandage wrapped around his hand.
“We don’t have much time. It may already be too late to make contact.”
He had taken a risk coming here for her. “What if we can’t get out of the city?”
“I know you’re afraid, but we will find a way.”
“I’m not afraid,” she said from force of habit. What a lie. She feared more than
