*** This is a relatively short, emotional chapter…sorry, Im getting all teary girly crap. I promise, more action will come. And as to the Evan/Gabriel debate, don't rule out the idea that Kristina wont pick either. Gabriel DID just lose his wife…I believe…maybe 3 months prior to this chapter? And Evan has to deal with the British. I shall say no more.
And thank you for all my faithful fans for continuing to review and keep me writing. I love constructive criticism as well.****
She slept well that night for the first time in what seemed like ages. She did not bring up the subject of her father to Gabriel. She didn't know where he was, if he was still alive. But she did not want to know at this moment. The British suffered an immense loss the day before, and it would hinder them greatly in the war. Her revenge was not taken, but that would come soon. All her girls had done well, Jane reported, and they even saved a few lives. Kristina now knew that Evan was on her side, and indeed he cared for her. And Gabriel, well, perhaps he cared for her as well. It seemed that the tide had changed, and the sun would soon rise once more in her life.
A loud bird chirped from outside, and she wrinkled her nose in frustration and turned over, moaning softly. Even though her eyes were shut, the sun tried to flood in.
"Miss Warwick, I believe its almost noontime." Her eyes shot open, and she slowly turned her back to see Benjamin Martin standing in front of her, his eyes glistening with happiness.
"And I believe this entire regiment deserves the chance to sleep in." He chuckled and sat on her bed as she sat up.
"I'm glad to see your okay," he smiled, taking her hand into his. "Gabriel and I were quite worried about you." She looked into his eyes and saw nothing but a strong sense of admiration. She knew not of anyone worrying about her for a long time.
"I'm just glad you both turned out alright. Mr. Martin, sir, I was wondering if you had the chance to look in on my..er…rescuer?"
His eyes twinkled. "AH, yes, your prisoner is more like it. He woke up rambling on about how insane you were and that we should let him go."
She bit her bottom lip.
"Don't worry, my dear, whatever plan you have for him is entirely up to you. He is, in fact, YOUR prisoner of war." He didn't know. If Evan told Benjamin Martin that he was the nephew of Colonel Tavington, he might change his mind.
Benjamin knew what she was thinking, but said nothing. He very well knew who her rescuer was, but that mattered not to him. He wondered, though, if the young man knew that Kristina had killed his uncle.
"We move out in a few hours to get the injured to hospitals. I found some breeches and a tunic for you to wear. I'm afraid dresses in the Continental army are hard to come by." To this she smiled, and he bowed and left her presence. She sighed deeply.
It took her only a few minutes to get decent, and she immediately left to go see her captive. She opened the tent to find him sitting in a chair with ropes binding his hands. When he took notice of her, he shook his head, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face.
"You truly listen to no man."
Kristina began to unravel his binds. "And it took you this long to come to such an epiphany?" When his hands were free, she rubbed them gently. "I'm sorry I did what I did. I knew not of any other way. You presented me with limited plans."
He took her hands into his, and stared intently into her eyes. "I could only think of my duty, of my betrayal to the crown. I now see the folly in my intention, but what now? My life, it seems, is in your hands. Should I worry?"
A glint of playfulness persisted in his smile. She nodded vigorously. "I will give you a last ultimatum, Evan Tavington. Go back to the British with the case that you were captured, or stay." To this she could not read his thoughts. She wasn't even sure what she meant by the word 'stay'. Her heart was so topsy turvy she couldn't have meant 'stay' with her, could she?
He opened his mouth, then turned as Gabriel opened the tent. Seeing the two so close to each other, Gabriel stopped. "Oh, they said you'd be here. I just wanted to let you know we're moving out now. I'm ….sorry for intruding." Not taking another look at the two, he turned around and walked out. Kristina closed her eyes, and took away her hands from Evan's.
"I'll get you some new clothes." She rushed from the tent to catch up with Gabriel, but he was no where around. She kicked the dirt, and went in search of Jane.
**
They mounted their horses side by side, along with the rest of the Continental Army. The Army was traveling north to Virginia, in hopes of meeting up with Washington.
Silence befell the two for a few moment as they trotted, but at last one spoke.
"Back in the tent, Kristina, I didn't know what you meant by staying here. I can't in good conscious stay with the Continental Army and fight my friends. So I deducted you meant stay with you" at the sound of this, she tensed. "But then I thought to myself, you are a highly complex woman who does not know what she wants right now, so that can't be it." He sighed. "So I assume you want me to stay with you until you figure out your life after this war. And to this I cannot say yes."
He paused then continued. "I will ride back to my comrades, and when this war ends I will seek you out. By then your heart will guide you to where it desires. In the meantime, I leave you with this." Bending over his horse slightly unto hers, he leaned in and kissed her cheek, then her lips, gently but full of promise for more to come.
Her head was pounding, but in a way she was quite glad with his decision. Time was something she needed, and he was giving it to her willingly. She still had not told him of the killing of his uncle, nor did she want to present that to him. She thought it would change nothing, since, in fact, Evan was nothing like his uncle. That would be something she would tell him when she saw him again.
He kicked his horse, and headed west. The militia took no notice, and she sighed. Her life was not getting simpler.
She kicked her horse forward, desperately searching for a comrade to talk to. Gabriel was only fifty feet ahead.
Catching up, he took no notice of her. Rolling her eyes, she spoke.
"Now really, are you going to be like that?"
He continued to stare straight ahead. "So you let him go back to those British bastards aye? With full knowledge of where we're headed and how many we have?"
Her headache was not improving. "Yes I did. With the full intent, I might add, that he do everything you just said, because secretly I'm also a British spy." She managed a cough out of him. "You really are quite the child sometimes, Gabriel."
It irked him that he treated her as one. "How do you not know?"
"Because I know him, and he is a friend whom I trust. Trust is two ways, Gabriel. Trust is believing one another, and not hiding secrets."
"So I suppose you told him that you killed his uncle?"
"How…how did you know about it?"
"Word gets around. I see now why you kept that from me, Kristina, but to not tell him? If he is such a good person, he will not care." She gulped, hoping his words to be true.
"Your right, I should have told him, and I should have told you who he was. But I know your temper, and I know you still wouldn't trust me."
He stopped his horse. "Did I lash out at him when I found out? No. I knew he couldn't be devilish if you volunteered to save his life. That's another thing you don't know about me, Miss Warwick. I do know the word trust. You just can't accept that."
He had her stumped, and she hated that feeling. His stomach felt nauseous. You are such a hypocrite, Gabriel thought. Here you are lecturing her on trust when you don't even have the nerve to tell her you killed her father. She deserves to know.
Silence reigned for minutes, which turned to hours. Side by side they walked on their horses, cold from the winter's breath but not daring to show it.
As the army stopped for the night, Kristina uncurled her bag next to Gabriel, a daring move.
"Will it always be this way between us, Gabriel?"
He pretended to be messing with his own bag. "I don't understand what you mean."
She was tired of his games, of her games. "We yell, then apologize, yell then share intimate thoughts, then we kill our minds trying to find faults in the other. I'm sick of it, as you should be. My life is complicated enough without you in it, Gabriel Martin. I need your honesty, I need reliance, and for some reason you have this annoying, uncanny ability to ground me when necessary. So what will it be? Will you start over with me?"
He was not ready for that. Indeed, they had shared things he would never have dreamed of, but what was she getting at?
"Both of our lives are complicated right now. I cannot know what the future holds, but I will agree that this bitterness cannot go on. If we are to start anew, I guess I should say something before we become official friends."
Her head cocked to the side in thought, and he took in a deep breath. No one was in hearing proximity, but he felt like eyes were watching.
"That day you were supposedly captured, when you fell before getting revenge on your father, I met up with him." Her heart stiffened. His pupils furiously jiggled from her left to right eyes. "I killed him."
Her mouth opened, but nothing escaped. Most of her existence depended on her lust for getting revenge. Her life was made up of it. He had now taken your mission in life away. Captain Doyle, the very essence of evil in her heart, was dead. It took her a moment to look at him, and what she said was not what she expected.
"Was this what you felt when you learned I had killed Tavington." He narrowed his eyes in surprise.
"Yes. That was why I was so rash with you the day we met."
She could only nod. She hated them, but the tears were coming regardless. Her vice now wavered a bit also. "So I guess we're even?"
How do you reply? Gabriel could not answer, but bit his lower lip as he had seen her do many a time. To his surprise, it felt good.
"Come here." He opened his arms and she laid her head on his chest. The two said nothing, and she did not cry. She could only stare into nothing. Her mind drifted to Ethan, to father, to Evan, to Gabriel. She recalled the night Gabriel found out about Ethan. Why was she so weak around him? Was she really such a cry baby…or worse…did he see her as one?
"Why is it that our conversations always end like this?" he whispered a few minutes later.
She did not move, but whispered back, "because we are hopeless."