Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up! I had (once again) a terrible fit of writer's block! However, I think I have recovered, and things in this story should be well on their way once again!
Chapter Twenty: One Month
I spent the next few days with Abigail, helping with little Josephine. To my great relief, Abigail had finally consented to allow Dr. Stanton to examine the baby, whom he deemed in perfect health.
"Good," Abigail said, stubborn as ever. "Then I won't have to see you again for a while."
Dr. Stanton mumbled something that sounded to me like, "Thank God," took his pay and left. After Abigail had fed her fussy baby and put her down for a nap, she turned to me, a serious expression on her face.
"What is it?" I asked, even though I knew in the back of my head what she wanted to talk about.
"It's been a month, hasn't it?" she asked me. "Since you saw your brother, I mean."
"I knew what you meant," I said, shaking my head. It had been a month. Today was the day, but I wouldn't be there when my brother came. In the time since William had discovered the letter from Nathan, he had not looked at me once, nor had he spoken to me. I missed him terribly, but kept replaying my conversation with Abigail in my mind. In the meantime, she kept reminding me that, "If he loves you, he'll come around." I trusted her, but I could not help but wonder what it was he would be coming around to.
"So what are you going to do?" she asked, ever persistent.
"Abigail, I don't know!" I said, a little too loudly. We both looked quickly to the baby, but fortunately my outburst had not woken her. "I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head. "I don't mean to yell at you, but I have no idea what to do, or even what I can do."
"Just remember what I told you," Abigail said, a knowing look in her eyes.
"I keep trying to tell myself that he'll forgive me, but he hasn't, and now the month is up!" I said, flopping down on the bed. "What am I supposed to do? I can't wait forever! And what if William captures Nathan?"
Abigail gave me a hard look. "I don't think he would do that to you. He may be mad at you, but I have it on good authority that he is still in love with you."
"And on whose authority would that be?" I asked harshly.
"His," Abigail had simply. I must have looked shocked, because she continued by saying, "You aren't the only person around here who confides in me."
"You mean you and William have been talking about this the entire time?" I asked, still to shocked to be angry or annoyed.
"I have known the colonel for a good long time," Abigail said. "And in that time, I have learned that regardless of the harsh way he carries himself, he is a good and honest man. Troubled, at times, but still a good one."
I continued staring at her. Finally, I asked her the only thing I could think of. "What did he say when you talked about it all?"
Abigail smiled, remembering the conversation that she and William had apparently shared. "Well," she said. "He came to me and said he trusted I knew what had happened. He knows that you and I are friends, and I suppose he expected you would come to me about this whole mess. So, I told him that I did know what had happened."
She pointed to my cheek, which had bruised slightly after William had smacked me. "And I gave him a piece of my mind about hitting you! But, anyways, he asked me what I thought he should do. He said that he loved you, but that he no longer knew whether or not he could trust you. Now, don't be angry, I did this for your own good. I told him the entire thing, from start to finish, about your brother. He seemed a little less angry after hearing the entire story."
"Did he tell you what he was going to do about it?" I asked her, leaning forward intently.
She shook her head. "No, he didn't tell me that. But he did tell me that he loves you, and that he doesn't want things to end because of this. He said that he would think it over and do whatever he felt was best for both of you."
I couldn't help but laugh at this. "You mean he'll do whatever is best for the British army!" I said. I knew that William led a soldier's life, and regardless of how we may have felt about one another, I was sure that his loyalty was first to his career and country, and second to me.
"Now don't you be like that!" said Abigail, sternly. "That man loves you, and you think that he would give that up for the British?" She shook her head, quite obviously disappointed in me. "You give him far less credit than he deserves."
I nodded, wondering whether or not she was right.
After that, the conversation just sort of stopped. I stayed for about another half an hour and then returned to my own quarters so that Abigail could get some rest, and so that I could mill over all that she had just told me.
When I got to my quarters, I was surprised to see a note laying on my pillow with my name printed on the front. I took it out of its envelope and read:
"Dear Charlotte,
Please meet me tonight behind the mansion at midnight.
William"
I reread the note, as though I could find some hidden meaning in the single sentence printed in front of me. What was William going to do? Why would he want me to meet him tonight? He wouldn't attack or capture Nathan, would he? Abigail said he wouldn't, but one can only take so much advice from a seriously sleep deprived new mother.
I passed the hours until midnight, lying on my bed, thinking. At one point I fell asleep, and when I woke it was already dark outside. I glanced at the clock that hung on my wall. It was already eleven o'clock. I could not believe that I had slept through all of dinner and well into the night as well. Perhaps this was my body's way of preparing for whatever was about to happen.
I got up and fixed my hair, twisting the long braid into a bun. I smoothed my dress and waited. I sat on my bed until forty-five minutes past eleven, when I at last left my room, shutting the door quietly behind me.
I walked through the dimly lit corridor and made my way down the stairs. There were a few soldiers still milling about in the dining room, drinking and smoking, but they didn't notice me slipping past the doorway. I hurried, in fear of being caught, to the small door at the back of the mansion, and I went out into the cold darkness.
