AN: I have changed the historical facts of this war slightly. Only when it comes to the timing and when it ended. I will explain my reasons for this when the story is finished.
Also I will try to write as fast as I can because I understand how cruelly I ended chapter 27 :-P lol! As we gamers say: owned!


The battle of Cowpens had indeed been a great turning point for the British troops. General O'Hara practically begged the lord General Cornwallis to call for surrender. After some more stubbornness the lord General finally surrendered to General Washington. Cornwallis refused to attend the surrender ceremony, he was feeling unwell and send O'Hara instead. In no time South Carolina was cleared from the redcoats.

Benjamin and Charlotte got married and lived on her plantation for the time being. Of course Eliza and all her siblings came with them except for Gabriel and Anne who were staying in Pembroke in order to reconstruct the town and with this also their own house. In the upcoming weeks everyone would be extremely busy reconstructing their houses and villages. As was the Martin family, working on a house of their own with the help of friends.

Eliza had been emotionally absent during all these month's after the war. She thought that William would have come for her by now… But he had not… And every day that he did not come felt like a day where the chance of his death became greater and greater. She dared not ask her father to go and ask around who died on the British side or even if he had seen her husband on at the battlefield. She feared his reaction after she had told him that she married the Colonel and was now waiting for him to take her away.

"How could you?" he whispered "You… You are my child".

This was his only reaction. After this he had hardly spoken a word to her for weeks. Aunt Charlotte tried to sooth things but without success. He did not feel anger with his daughter, he was just incredibly disappointed and hurt. Eliza wished that he got angry so they would at least communicate. But this cold and distant attitude he had around her these days was more than she could bear.

This is the reaction she had expected from Gabriel also but the war had changed him, calmed him down if anything.

"I have to admit little sister…"

"I'm older than you" Eliza frowned as she interrupted Gabriel.

"Nevertheless… I was angry at first when I expected this was going on. Nathan told me what he saw that night at aunt Charlotte's plantation… I wanted to kill him Eliza. And when I reached Pembroke and saw the destruction he had brought, I went after him".

Gabriel paused for a second to study Eliza's face. Guilt and anxiety were showing.

"But… he had the upper hand, I was just a militia soldier and he was a well-trained Colonel, I didn't stand a chance and yet… he didn't kill me. I never wondered why because I knew it was because of you. But you see…" Gabriel paused and took in a deep breath "I don't think I would have shown the same mercy in his situation… So I cannot be angry at him. And I trust you know your heart as I know mine" he said as he glanced over at Anne for a second and smiled absently.

"Gabe, have you seen him at Cowpens?" Eliza asked in a worried voice.

"No I have not, I'm sorry dear sister. I cannot tell you if he is still alive" Gabriel answered her as he placed a small kiss on her forehead.


About six weeks after this conversation with her brother, she finally decided to gather up her courage and speak with her father. Benjamin had started talking to her again the last couple of days. Pretending like nothing had ever happened and they should just continue as they were. It gave her hope that perhaps he was willing to help her out, to find out if William Tavington was still alive or not.
It was already nighttime when she entered the living room of their new home which was built exactly on the same spot where their old house had been. The fields were still intact so it was no more than logic to build their new plantation house on the same grounds.

"Father?" she asked in a nervous voice as she entered the room and saw that her aunt was also present. Charlotte smiled at her niece and Eliza smiled back.

"Eliza" he stated as he took off his glasses and put away the book he was reading. He was sitting in one of his rocking chairs which after many attempts finally seemed to not break down.

Eliza sat herself down and exhaled slowly. "I want to talk to you about Colonel Tavington" she said.

Her father said nothing but instead nodded. "Go on" he quietly said. Eliza was surprised by his reaction, he didn't get angry or refused to talk about it. Instead he nodded in agreement. She relaxed a bit more and sat back in her chair.

"I know that you feel that I've done our family wrong. Because I married the Colonel behind your back and that he is the enemy. But… when he took me… I did not plan to fall in love with him, nor he with me. But it happened…, I wished many times that it did not, but it did" she said as she changed her gaze back and forward between her father and the carpet on the floor.

She sighed and paused for a second.

"I love him. And I must know if he is still alive father" she stated determinedly as she looked him in the eyes suddenly.

Benjamin shot up from his chair and walked over to the fire place where he rubbed his temples to symbolize his frustration. "You love that man? How can you love that man Eliza!" he raised his voice at his daughter. Charlotte eyed the two, not yet ready to interfere in their… what would be a fight.

"It's very simple. He makes me smile, I make him laugh. He has been kind and shown he was genuinely interested in what goes on inside of me. He cares for me and has shown this on many occasions! Bad things could have happened to me when I was at the British camp, but he prevented each and every one of them!"

"He should not have taken you there in the first place! He is brutal! Incapable of showing mercy and you know this! You know the destruction he has brought to the Colonies!" Benjamin yelled in frustration.

"That is unfair! You know just as well as I do that the Colonial militia has been at least just as cruel as the British, if not a lot worse! You know the stories of loyalist's women ravished, children murdered and random targeting of loyalist civilians!" she yelled back at him.

Benjamin glared at his daughter dangerously. Even though he knew she was right. It didn't matter. In this case... it was personal.

"Please father!" Eliza begged through tear filled eyes. "Every day I do not know if he is still alive… if he is still coming for me, is a day when I feel like my heart will break out of my chest and shatter in a million pieces while I just stand there and watch" she was crying by now "I feel powerless… I need to know!"

"If he would still be alive, he would have let you know by now, or he would have come. He probably isn't alive anymore Eliza".

"Do you know something that I don't?" she asked in a terrified voice.

Her father kept silent and thought about the battle of Cowpens.

"Do you Benjamin?" Charlotte asked softly.

"No. Now let it go" her father stated in a cold and threatening voice.

"Let it go?" she asked in dismay as she raised her eyebrows "Just like that? Let the man I love… go?"

"The man you love is a redcoat! The leader of the Green Dragoons and the most brutal soldier these Colonies have ever fought against!"

"Well that's just rich coming from you!" Eliza said, loathing dripping of every word she spoke.

"And what is it, that you are insinuating?" Benjamin asked as he narrowed his eyes at his daughter.

"Fort Wildernis..." she said and regretted it immediately after she did.

Benjamin's eyes filled themselves with hurt and bewilderment.

"There is not… one day… that I do not… beg the Lord for his forgiveness" he slowly whispered.

"I know" Eliza quietly said "But why does Colonel Tavington not deserve the same forgiveness? Do you not think he has regrets about his brutal actions? Because I know he does... I have seen it myself. Why does he not deserve the same second chance that you got?"

"This is personal Eliza! That man tried to take my children away from me! And look at yourself! He succeeded in doing so!" Her father raised his voice once more and strolled around the room wildly.

"I fell in love! I cannot simply control my thoughts and feelings as if I am some cold block of stone, steady and unshakable. William… I mean… Colonel Tavington…" she stammered

"Enough!" her father interrupted her.

"Benjamin please…" Charlotte tried to help her niece.

"No! We shall speak of this no longer" Benjamin stated sternly. "I… I will try to find out what I can Eliza. And after that we will continue our lives as they were… as if this never happened" Benjamin stated.

Eliza nodded in agreement. She got what she came for, her father would use his connections to see if Colonel Tavington was still alive. She left the room the go to bed. As if she would get any sleep tonight.


Her father had kept his promise and asked around about the possible death of 'The Butcher'. His fellow militia men, nor the American regulars he knew, were able to tell him anything. He even managed to check the death list of the British officers. Tavington's name wasn't on there. Benjamin Martin honestly hoped that it would be. So he could leave all of this behind and this man would never come for his daughter. He sighed. All they could do was wait.

And after another six weeks there was still no word of William. Eliza sat on the porch at night, staring into the endless emptiness of the sky, feeling as if she was looking into her very own soul. Alone and empty.
It had been almost three months after the end of the war now. Three month's after their wedding and their one and only night together.

Where are you William? She thought in despair.


AN: Sorry that this chapter had no Colonel Tavington in it! Of course… we do not yet know if he is still alive ;-) *evil laughter echoing through my dungeons of despair*

I just feel this chapter is a necessary filler because we must know what happened with our Martin family after the war and the reactions of her family members to her marriage.