Okay guys and dolls! I know it's been forever and a day since I updated but you all know life happens. And boy has it ever. Sick kids, sick adults, sick computers and some insane even by Ohio standards weather! But I'm back now so please give me some love!

I really fought with this one. Esther can tell you how many times I wrote it, only to scrap it and start over. I lost sleep, I lost hair, but I never lost hope. So without further adieu...

10.

On a cold but sunny January day, Captain Bordon stood silently, leaning against a tree on watch and maybe day dreaming about his wife just a little bit. It was too difficult not to. Ever since the day he decided he was keeping her and committed himself to her, he thought of little else.

He caught himself worrying for her just as he knew she was probably worrying over him. Mainly, because the troops were moving and a battle was about to take place. Bordon trusted that Teddy could handle breaking camp and moving alone; she had done so many times before. But there was always danger in that- even for a camp follower. Bordon was missing her terribly and hoped that he would have a chance to see her before they joined Tarleton where he was trying to cut off General Morgan's Continentals at the Broad River.

That's not to say Bordon was love sick in constantly thinking of his wife. But he knew he had much to make up for and he had some planning to do if he wanted to have any semblance of a comfortable life with her. He was unsure of where they would end up if he stayed in the military. They could get orders to Canada or when the rebellion was over maybe they could settle somewhere in the Frontier.

Teddy wasn't completely opposed to the idea- even with the knowledge of the hard work the Frontier-Canadian or Ohio, would require. And when she told him it couldn't be any harder than living as an army wife and she would gladly do that as well, his heart soared and he knew without a doubt, that Teddy was his girl. He married the right woman, even if he hadn't known it at the time.

But the truth was, Bordon longed for England. And even more than that, he longed for a little peace. So many of his friends had been killed already. He was tired of fighting, tired of training, tired of moving from pillar to post, tired of all the political shit that always seemed to be piling up and pulling him in all directions. He no longer gave a damn about capturing Ben Martin- who it was recently discovered, had been their "Ghost" the entire time. The two rebels were one and the same. Martin had made a fool of Cornwallis, because of that, Tavington was on the war path and Bordon could give a shit less.

Just weeks earlier the Green Dragoons had raided the home of a Mrs. Charlotte Selton in the hopes of drawing Martin out. Mrs. Selton was Martin's sister-in-law and it was thought that she might be hiding his children. When Colonel Tavington discovered the house was empty, he shot all the slaves and burned the entire property to the ground.

When the Dragoon's were still unable to capture Martin, Tavington received intelligence regarding the identities of Martin's men. Tavington began raiding along the Santee River, burning rebel homes and even killing a few civilians. That particular morning, he ordered a raid on a village that was known to aid the Colonial Militia, burning the church down with the entire village population inside. Bordon wondered for a moment how long it would be before they were receiving the retaliation from that brutality.

Simply put, Bordon was burnt out and secretly hoping that one day he could take his wife back to England to charm his family as she had charmed him. Then he would give her everything she could possibly want. When he told her this, she laughed and ordered a bathtub big enough for two and a massive bed like the one they shared but failed to take advantage of at Middleton Place. What Teddy didn't know, was that his estate in Scotland had all that and much more. He could only imagine her reaction to the library.

Bordon had already written to his brother Richard, hoping to gain his support. Richard was only two years older than Andrew and many times as children they had worked together, ganging up on their parents and wearing them down to get their way. It worked with things like choosing horses to buy, schools they wished to attend, holidays with friends. His brother even defended Bordon when the earl bulked at purchasing his captain's commission. Now he was hoping that his brother would side with him once more.

While Richard always trusted Bordon's instincts regarding what his "little brother" sought in life, Bordon was still conflicted about what he would tell his parents. How could he explain that although he found himself in these strange circumstances, he was content with it? Would his father actually cut him off? It wasn't so much that he feared their rejection of him anymore. He didn't want them to reject his wife. But if they made him choose, he knew what he wanted and what he wanted was Teddy. Only Teddy.

And so in the last few months Bordon had made a greater effort to get to know Teddy on a more personal level. And she seemed to respond to it by being a little more patient with him. She no longer snapped at the stupid or insensitive things he said. Instead, she would simply ask him to clarify his meaning rather than fly off into one of her annoying and irrelevant little tangents. It was entertaining sometimes to watch her periwinkle eyes narrow for a split second as her mind processed her thoughts, but at least now she could bite her sharp little tongue before going on the defense.

Bordon also felt as though he had allowed himself to become closer to her as well, dropping his gaurd a bit, letting Teddy actually be his wife. In doing so, he found that he enjoyed her attentions and rather than dread it, he looked forward to seeing her each time he returned to camp. She was smart, had insane skills with a needle and thread and was very compassionate towards the younger soldiers in the camp. Some of the lads being so young, they looked to his wife as an adoptive mother, seeking advice or just a friendly face to talk to.

Although Teddy was always misplacing her own belongings, she had a knack for foraging for things that were thought to be impossible to find. It was almost like a game and sometimes he caught himself asking for unreasonable things, challenging her to find them. As an officer, Bordon couldn't ask for a better wife.

One night, he returned to find that Teddy had managed to get her hands on a bottle of the much coveted Madeira and a well read copy of Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. At first, it continued shocked him to think of his wife reading such a book. But he creatively turned the tables on Teddy when he climbed into bed beside her as she started to read and asked her to skip to the "good parts." The look on her face was priceless. That was when Bordon recognized that expectant look for what it really was.

The time she added the tent fly, the kiss at the stables, her behavior at the ball, all the times she made supper for his men or did something nice for them. When Teddy gave him that look he always felt like she wanted something from him- that she was trying to wheedle something out of him. He was wrong. It was never done as a power grab or to manipulate him as he originally thought. Instead, that whole time, all she wanted was his approval.

Soon after, Bordon began to enjoy doing little things to seek her approval as well.

At Christmas he had managed to surprise her with a small bag of pecans and a few oranges. When Teddy oh'ed and ah'ed over the precious fruit and then promptly asked him what it was, he realized she had never eaten an orange before. She carefully watched him peel the orange after he stopped her from biting directly into it. It made the entire experience of sharing the orange all the more amusing for him, and he actually laughed at her expression on her first taste. It was odd how things had changed so quickly between them. He would probably never figure it out.

Still, even with that little bit of closeness, some topics had to be approached carefully- such as her relationship with Ram. Bordon didn't want the gory details but there were certain things he wanted to know. As Teddy began to disclose the details of her life to him, Bordon began to see a different side of his wife.

He was saddened to find out that his little Teddy- for reasons she never fully understood- had always been the black sheep of her family. It had been tough for Teddy growing up in a home where she never seemed to fit in. Even worse, was trying to fit into a community that held her to different standards because she was a minister's daughter. She was always expected to behave, could never just be herself, not knowing who she could trust or who might report to her father any misdeeds she might have committed- imagined or real. As a member of the English Peerage, Bordon could relate to some of that.

Teddy had never truly been happy in Trenton and when her younger sister Emily died, she felt like she had nothing left to keep her there. When she met Ramsey Edwards, she saw the dashing, young captain as a way to escape her unhappiness at home. At the same time, Ram needed a wife. Running off to marry someone her parents didn't exactly approve of, was just one more way for the young girl to get even with their high handedness. And so, at the tender age of seventeen, Theodora Whelan became an army wife.

Luckily for her Teddy confessed, Ram treated her very well. And although she was so young at the time, she eventually came to love her first husband much in the same way she came to love Bordon. Teddy also told him that sometimes it still made her feel guilty; as if she had replaced Ram with another.

As easy as it was to gain intelligence from his network of spies and scouts, prying into his wife's emotional state was an entirely different issue, but Bordon had to ask, "Why do you feel guilty, love?"

Teddy smiled faintly and said, "Because I loved him… And I love you…..yet I can't help but wonder if he would think I replaced him. With you, everything just happened so fast."

"Have you replaced him with me?" Bordon asked when she told him that.

"No, Andrew," she answered with a heavy sigh. "No. As much as the two of you had in common…..as good friends even, the two of you are night and day. Ram would be making jokes right now in an attempt to comfort me or try to cajole me into bed and make me forget whatever I was anxious about. It used to drive me mad. Especially when the topic of discussion was a serious matter. But….you're not like that at all. And that's a good thing, Andrew."

"All things considered, I would think myself very fortunate to have found love twice in one lifetime," he said after giving it some thought. "Most people are not even fortunate enough to have found it once."

Bordon found out that Teddy had actually wanted children with Ram- very badly. But a few months into their marriage Ram contracted a case of the mumps. Never having the disease as a child, it settled on Ram in a savage way, rendering him unable to sire children. When Teddy told Bordon about it, he was blown away, considering that women usually took the blame for a couple's infertility.

In Bordon's experience men usually wanted children for two reasons. One, because they needed an heir to inherit their estate and two, because their women folk insisted on it. If a man's wife wanted a child, then it seemed the man also wanted a child. Bordon always thought he fell into the first category, but he had been wrong about that too.

This whole time Bordon assumed that it was Teddy who could not conceive.

Now, realizing that it just might be possible to have children with her, Bordon was filled with a myriad of mixed emotion. Then it dawned on Bordon that he would be agreeable with fatherhood if it weren't for the fact that he and Teddy were in the middle of a damn war.

Even with the danger of a war, their married life was certainly favorable for a happy event to take place. What little amount of time they were able to spend together always allowed for it. Whether Bordon was home for one day or one week, he and his wife always seemed to have time for their mutual pleasure. He was starting to become accustomed to it now and couldn't believe that at one time he had resigned himself to a life with anyone other than Teddy. Bordon also realized Teddy could already be with child but it was probably too soon to know for certain.

In fact, just before he left for the patrol he was now on, he had taken her hard and fast amid the paperwork and quills on his desk. At the time, it was meant to be a last minute romp to hold them both over until they were together again. But later Bordon had to admit-even if just to himself- that it had been rather satisfying to know, that as Tavington was chewing his arse over his smudged reports and blatant tardiness, Teddy was probably in the tub trying to scrub her very inky bottom. And when Tavington suggested that perhaps Bordon needed a new blotter, it was all the captain could do to keep his composure. The thought made him chuckle to himself and he glanced over his shoulder to see Tavington squatting in the creek bed, shaving. If only Tavington knew where those reports had been…

With his new understanding of Teddy, Bordon soon decided that instead of rambling through life with her as Ramsey Edwards had done, he would make plans. Plans that would not only see to their future as a couple, but would also see his wife taken care of in the event of his death. Changing his will and contacting his brother were a start, but he still had a few details to take care of. He would not leave her hanging as her first husband had. And from that point on, all of their future dreams and plans were always spoken of as in 'someday, after this war is over'.

"Someday, Andrew, after this war is over….." she'd say.

"Perhaps if I get orders to Canada…" he would ponder aloud.

"Someday…"

"After the war…."

And so on it went. Someday. After the war.