Chapter 3: First Kiss, First Love, First Wound

Christian finally returned to the house and entered to see Emma sitting in the living room. Christian beamed a smile at her, which he returned.

"Hey, Emma. It's pretty late. Shouldn't you be getting ready for bed?" Christian asked.

"I don't know. I'm feeling a bit restless."

"Is something wrong?" Christian asked in a concerned tone.

"Well," Emma replied, "I have two things on my mind."

"Well, why don't we talk about it? Maybe I can help."

Emma began to well up a little bit, and Christian could see it. "Well…I'm still worried about our parents. The war is really escalating and I'm just worried if we'll ever see them again."

Christian sat down next to her and held her in his arms. She leaned her head against his shoulder and began to let a few tears out.

"It'll be just fine, Emma. I promise you. God is watching over us and our parents. I'm sure he'll protect them." Emma smiled and looked into Christian's eyes. "What was the second thing?"

Emma felt her heart leap up into her throat. "Well…it's about…you."

"Me?"

Emma nodded her head and wiped some of the tears from her eyes. "Yes. I've been thinking about you and me back home, and I can't help asking you…do you love me?" Christian went silent for a moment. "I don't want to put you on the spot, but I just want to know." Christian smiled at the young woman before nodding his head. "Yes, Emma. I do love you. Very much so."

Emma began to tear up again, but she had a smile on her face. "I was hoping you did." she said. "I love you too, Christian." When Christian heard this, his heart sang. He had wanted to hear that for so long and now those words had finally reached his ears. He and Emma looked each other in the eyes and, for a third time, began to lean toward each other. Their eyes began to close as their lips drew near and finally, their lips met. Christian felt his spirit soaring as he held his love in his arms. They ended the kiss and stared each other in the eyes and smiled. Once again, Emma leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I've never felt this strongly about anyone before in my life, Emma. I can't tell you how happy you've made me…I love you."

"I love you too." And their lips met again. They sat together for a few more minutes, simply enjoying each other's company. "Well, it's getting late. We should probably get some rest."

"Okay, Christian." The two stood up and Christian led Emma to her room. Before entering, Christian gave her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled at the feel of his lips. "Goodnight, Christian."

"Goodnight, Emma." And with that, he left for his room. Both of them began to fall asleep happy that their feelings for each other were mutual. But their peace wouldn't last very long. At about eleven o'clock, Christian awoke to a low 'boom' in the distance that was quickly followed by a loud 'crash'. He shot up and ran over to his window and heard many more 'booms'. The crashes that followed were accompanied by clouds of dust. These were artillery shots. Christian knew exactly what was happening; they were under attack by the British Army. Christian quickly got out of bed and started to change into his uniform. He quickly ran to the living room where he had left his musket. As he was loading, Emma came into the room.

"Christian, what's happening?" she said in a voice of terror.

"Well, you know what you heard about how the British were going to attack any day now? It looks like that wasn't far from the truth." Emma's eyes widened as when she heard this. As Christian was about ready to walk out the door, she grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. She looked deep into his eyes and placed her hand on his cheek. "Remember…be careful."

"I will." and Christian pulled her into a kiss as he embraced her. While they were kissing, Anna came into the room and saw them while they were embracing. When the two broke the kiss, they turned to see Anna smiling at the two. Her smile was wiped away by the sound of a cannonball smashing into a building. "Alright, I need to go. Anna, wake Andrew up. We're going to need all smithies working at full capacity."

"Alright."

"Okay." Christian then turned to face Emma again. "I'll be back."

"Okay, Christian. I love you."

"I love you too." After giving Emma a kiss on the cheek he left for the battle. Emma looked over at Anna who was wide eyed and smiling.

"You two…" Anna said and Emma nodded with a smile on her face. The two girls embraced each other both in tears of joy. Suddenly they began to hear gunshots and their smiles faded. Emma began to breathe a bit heavily, knowing that the one she loved was out there.

"I'll go wake Andrew and the others…It's going to be fine Emma." Anna said and left to go wake everyone up.

Meanwhile, outside, the battle was heating up. Christian ran for the wall with his gun in hand as cannonballs fell all around him. He managed to reach the top of the wall where he got a good look at the British army. There must have been at least 5,000 enemy soldiers on the field. He was absolutely mesmerized at the size of the enemy that he didn't realize that he was standing in plain view of them until a musket ball flew passed his face. As soon as he snapped out of it, he ducked and prepared his shot. He had prepared small charges of gunpowder so that he wouldn't have to worry about how much powder he was putting into the flintlock. As soon as his gun was ready, he stuck his head over the wall and fired his first shot at the British army, the most powerful army in the world.

As he took cover again and began to reload, he saw a thirteen-year-old boy sitting there in tears. It was the boy that Christian had trained back at the barracks. Christian went over next to him, crouching all the way as to avoid being shot by the Brits.

"It's going to be alright, boy." Christian said in an attempt to calm him. "We'' this is some fix we've got isn't it? Listen, I know you're scared, but just think of this as…on-the-job training."

"Yes, sir." the boy said in a shaky voice.

"Alright, now follow me. We're going to meet up with a friend of mine." The two crawled over to where James Watson was reloading his weapon. "James!" Christian shouted. "Ah, just in time. We're losing quite a few men. Who's this?"

"This is one of my trainees…uh…what's your name?"

"Terrance Gladstone, sir."

"Right. You said you're losing men?"

"That's right."

Alright. Terrance, listen up. Here's how you load a gun." Christian took his musket and placed the muzzle by his side. He ordered Terrance to do the same. He then poured gunpowder down the barrel for about three seconds. He took a patch and placed it on top of the muzzle before pulling out his ramrod and jamming the patch down the barrel, sealing in the gunpowder. He then tossed Terrance a small amount of gunpowder that he had encased in a piece of paper and ordered him to place it in the flintlock. Christian's idea of pre-proportioned charges would eventually lead to the creation of the percussion cap in the 1830's.

"Alright, Terrance. Just think of this as one of the drills at the barracks. You're in one of the ranks and you're waiting for my order. Ready?"

"Yes, sir."

"James, are you ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Ready…Fire!" As soon as Christian yelled this, he, James, and Terrance stood up and fired down on the British troops. It was Terrance's first shot in anger at the Brits. Christian continued to 'drill' Terrance throughout the fight. The battle continued for another fifteen minutes. Suddenly, as they were reloading, a grappling hook flew over the wall and hooked onto the side. Christian immediately pulled out his knife and began to work on cutting the rope.

"What are you doing?" Terrance asked in confusion. "According to the rules of engagement, the enemy must be allowed to scale the walls so that they may have a chance to fight us on equal ground, so cutting the ropes is against—"

"It's also against the rules of engagement to attack a sanctuary! I don't think the rules of engagement apply in this battle!" Christian replied as he cut the rope and enemy troops scaling the wall fell. "Cut the ropes!" he shouted and everyone looked at him in confusion. "You heard him!" James shouted. "Cut the ropes!" Soon, all the men on the walls were shouting, "Cut the ropes!" and all did so. The British were outraged, of course, and began to bring up their grenadiers. As Christian and Terrance were reloading, Christian saw a large metal ball with a lit fuse land right next to James. "James!" he shouted as he ran over, grabbed the grenade and threw it back at the enemy. It exploded in the air, just beneath them but above the enemy, causing shrapnel to rain down on the British.

The British again changed tactics. They started up their artillery again and the line infantry fired off volleys between salvos, giving the American's a very small window of opportunity to fire. It also had a bit of a psychological effect on the troops, even Christian. The gap between salvos and volleys was sometimes inconsistent, throwing some of the men off and they would look over the wall as the British infantry fired off a volley. This happened to Christian. In an effort to quickly reload his weapon and fire, he completely forgot to wait for his window of opportunity and stood up just as the British fired off another volley. All of the shots hit the wall, except for one that went straight into Christian's stomach. He then fell to the ground and squeezed out the words, "Damn it all!" James and Christian ran to his side and began to try to heal his wound, but it was too great. As they were tending to him, they heard the men begin to cheer. James looked back over the wall and saw that the British were retreating. James immediately called for a stretcher bearer to take him to the infirmary. They did so. Anna was working in the infirmary during and after the battle and was there when they brought Christian in. she turned around to see him lying there with a large wound in his stomach and she placed her hands over her mouth. Christian looked over at her and Anna could see the fear in his eyes she immediately ran back to the house to get the others.

She ran inside the house to see Emma sitting here with Margret and John. "Everyone, come quickly! Christian's wounded!" Emma's eyes shot open and began to fill with tears. The three of them race for the infirmary and Anna led them to where Christian was laying. Emma gasped when she saw the wound in his side and tears began to stream down her face. She knelt down and grasped his hand as he looked over at her and smiled. "Hey, Emma." he said in a quite tone.

"Oh, Christian! What happened?" Emma asked tearfully.

"British line infantry made a lucky shot."

Emma was on the verge of weeping after seeing Christian's wound. "The British didn't give us much of a chance to fire," James said, "and when Christian stood up to fire, the Brits gave him a volley."

"Is he going to be alright?" Emma asked James.

"We don't know. The doctors will have to decide that."

The group was led outside the room while the doctors worked on Christian's wound. The surgery went on for about twenty minutes, but it seemed like an eternity to Emma. The whole time, she was praying that Christian would live. After she finished praying, one of the doctors came out and told them that Christian had made it. He was give bromine to kill the bacteria that causes gangrene, a medicine that wouldn't be use on a large scale until the latter half of the Civil War.

Emma went back in to see Christian lying on his cot with his abdomen wrapped in a bandage. She knelt down by his side and held his hand again. He stood up and began to brush his hand against her cheek.

"I thought you promised that you would be safe." Emma joked.

"Hey…I'm still alive." Christian replied and the two shared a long, passionate kiss. This was the first time John and Andrew had seen the two kiss and their jaws dropped. They had joked around about Emma and Christian becoming a couple, but they weren't serious about it. Now to see them actually kiss was a bit of a shock to them. Of course their reactions made Margret and Anna laugh and the two led their mesmerized boyfriends away, leaving Christian and Emma alone.

"Well, I should probably let you get some rest." Emma said.

"Yeah, that would probably be best."

"How long do you have to stay here?"

"About four days."

"Well, I'll make sure to visit you."

Christian smiled at his girl's little promise. Emma kissed his forehead before leaving. "I love you, Emma." Christian said.

"I love you too…I'm so happy that you're alright." After one more kiss, Emma left and Christian finally passed out due to fatigue.