CHAPTER THIRTEEN

August 1781

"Oh come on Ben. Come back to my house. I have four sisters, all incredibly beautiful. You would a wonderful time!"

"Brady, I have my own girl to go see about no offense to your sisters" Ben Davidson laughed. "I have been waiting for this moment for three years."

"I know mate," Brady chirped. "Your girl sounds wonderful, filled with life and spirit. I need to get myself a Felicity."

"She has a very pretty friend," Ben put in. "With blonde hair and blue eyes, she's sweet, and makes a delicious lemon cake."

"There has got to be catch, great women like that don't grow on trees," Brady laughed.

"Yes," Ben replied. "I am sad to say she is from a Loyalist family."

"Oh dear," Brady sighed. "We would have to kidnap her, and convert her."

"It's not so much her," Ben answered. "But her father. He is very wealthy. His oldest daughter married some English chap."

"Colonist men aren't good enough for her?" Brady exclaimed. "Well we must have something those Brits don't have because we are licking them good in this war. It will only be a matter of time before they surrender."

"I hope so," Ben said. "For years all I wanted to do was leave my apprenticeship with Mr. Merriman and fight for the Continental Army. When I finally got there I started to miss Felicity, and Williamsburg so much. Now I finally get to go home."

"Well I don't think that once you get home this time, that you will be missing the field hospital too much," Brady replied. "I won't miss being cooped in this wagon either."

Ben and Brady were in a large wagon carrying various travelers back to Virginia. Some had been released prisoners. Others were like Mr. Merriman delivering supplies, and some were like Ben and Brady, wounded soldiers finally stable enough to make the trip home. For three weeks Ben and Brady had spent their days cooped in the back of an overcrowded wagon right in the midst of summer. It was a lot like the hospital tent, with passengers getting nauseous from the heat, limited water, and hardly enough room to lie down and sleep. They often stopped at homes for the night. The families were very kind to the young men who had fought for freedom. Ben had thought his new limp and cane would be a turn off, but the ladies he met when they stayed the nights were always very kind, fascinated by him, for he was a war hero, sort of. As the trip went on, it grew roomier when passengers were dropped off. Williamsburg was the one of the last stops. The only good thing about the trip was that it was bringing Ben home.

Ben owed his very life to his new best friend Brady Barlow. The first day that Ben enlisted he met Brady, whose father was a ship designer for a large company. Though Ben thought that Brady's endless sense of humor, and jovial attitude made a good time, the two never talked much or got really close until the day Ben got shot in the thigh. Ben and Brady were both running together through the woods when both were shot. Ben was shot in the thigh, Brady in the arm. When Ben fell he smashed his forehead on a log, causing a concussion. He was bleeding heavily in the thigh, and where he had hit his head. With a bad arm, Brady had managed to make a makeshift bandage for their wounds, and for the gash on Ben's forehead. Then he slung Ben over his shoulder like a dead animal carcass, balancing him on his shoulder, so his bad arm didn't have to do much. Fortunately, Brady was a stocky, burly, guy with immense strength. He got them the medical attention that they needed. Ben could have easily bled to death in the woods, if it wasn't for Brady Barlow.

"I must repay your kindness," Ben had begged his friend when they were both recovering at the hospital. "I owe you my life."

"Nah mate," Brady always replied. "Tis for a fellow Patriot, and Virginian."

"I want to do something," Ben pressed.

"Buy me a few pints of ale down at the tavern when we finally get to go home and away from this hell," had been Brady's reply.

Now they were nearly home, and Ben could fulfill Brady's wish. During their stay at the hospital, while they built up their strength so they could make it home, the two became close friends. They recalled times they had seen each other back in Williamsburg, such as Brady had been in Mr. Merriman's store, and vaguely remembered him, and Ben thought he remembered seeing Brady back at one of the parties. Going to parties and dancing seemed very long ago.

Ben would entertain Brady by telling him stories of Felicity and her horse Penny, and about their time running the store together.

"Felicity is the bravest and most loyal girl I know," he would say. "There is nothing that she won't stand up for. She is as true as can be,"

"You speak of this Felicity as if you were madly in love with her," Brady had replied. "Is their anything she does wrong?"

"She can't cook," Ben replied.

However in the back of his mind he knew that Felicity might have moved on. She was pretty three years ago when he left. As a sixteen year old she was probably absolutely gorgeous, men were probably lined up to see her. He hadn't been able to write her for so long, he wouldn't blame her for forgetting him, and now he had a cane and a limp on top of things.

But he had been dreaming of her for three years. Brady said that a loyal woman would never leave her boy, and that she was probably just waiting for the day when they would be reunited.

The first thing Ben planned to do when they arrived back in Williamsburg was get his wound checked, and get some more ointment. It was extremely important that one kept an eye to make sure the wound healed without infection. Then he was going straight to the Merriman's. The wagon unloaded near the center of town.

As soon as Ben stepped out of the wagon he panned the town for Felicity. It was bustling, a lot more busy than it had been when he left three years ago.

"Well I'm going home Davidson," Brady said.

"Meet me tonight at the Raleigh Tavern," said Ben. "I want to start buying you the pints that I promised."

"Sounds delightful," Brady said and gave Ben a hug and a happy pat on the back. "We will have lots to drink to tonight, Now go fix up your leg, and go see your girl."

Ben only had to limp a little ways to get to the apothecary. He had gotten very accomplished at using his cane to get around. He was still in a lot of pain, and was quite bitter at first, until he saw that he was far better off than most at the hospital. Not only did he have a wonderful girl to come home to, but he still had a leg, he could still walk, he probably would never be able to run, or dance, but he was always too clumsy for dancing anyway. Ben sighed when he found that he had to go up a flight of stairs to the doctor's office. He didn't fancy stairs much anymore, however the faster he hobbled up the stairs, the faster he would be to Felicity.

"Doctor Williams?" Ben noticed the office door was open. He knocked and poked his head in.

"Doctor Williams is out playing warrior doctor up in Baltimore," a man sitting behind the desk replied. "I'm Doctor Matthews. You are stuck with me instead."

"Well if you can take a look at my leg, so I can get home to my sweetheart, then be my guest," Ben said.

"Of course, come in lad," Andy replied.

Ben gimped on in. He was used to the drill of doctors looking at his leg, worrying about infection. One doctor early on, had told him he would probably loose the leg. Ben would not allow that to happen, and he had showed him.

"You boys are doing a fine job out there," Andy said as he examined Ben. "You probably didn't have any military training at all."

"None," said Ben. "Just the cause I believed in. I am actually just an apprentice, but sometimes a cause is all you need.

"Tis so," Andy mumbled. "This is healing nicely. How's the pain?"

"Dreadful, extremely uncomfortable sir," Ben replied.

"Has anyone given you anything for it?" Andy asked. Ben shook his head

"They barely have enough medicines to ward off infection let alone pain."

"I'll fix you up with some then," Andy replied. "Tis my effort for the Patriot cause."

"Oh that would be great," Ben said relieved that finally something might take away the sharp pain that went all the way into his knee that he had been forced to live with. "What is it?"

"A gorgeous lady and bottle of wine," Andy teased.

"Well I have a gorgeous lady, and I am supposed to go meet a friend at the Raleigh Tavern tonight," Ben laughed.

"Then you are your own doctor," said Andy. "I might go down there tonight. Do you play cards?"

"I haven't played in three years," said Ben. "I would be very rusty."

"Oh good you can play against me," Andy said. He was happy that more men were coming back into town. The war had been taking all the fun loving men, and had left a bunch of wimpy, forgettable, duds. "Seriously, I will give you the recipe for a tonic you can make with gin and some herbs. You can drink it at night before bed, to relieve some of the pain, it will probably knock you out though."

"I don't think anything will knock me out tonight," Ben went on as Andy wrote. "I just got back into town. I have to meet with my boss, but first thing is to see my girl."

"Of course," Andy agreed. "You love her?"

"Indeed," Ben agreed. "She's lively. She rides horses, loves the outdoors. Why if women could fight, she would have been first in line."

"I do love talking of women," the doctor said. "Women and gambling are my favorite subjects carry on."

"I haven't seen her since she was thirteen, but she was very pretty then. We often worked together. She was funny too. She could think of a comeback to anything, and quickly too. She could never cook very well though. She made me this pudding cake once, it wasn't cooked all the way through, and she forgot the eggs, I ate it anyway just to make her happy. I could never stand to see that girl upset."

"I guess the war will make you eat almost anything," Andy observed.

"Oh yes," Ben nodded. "The food at camp makes the uncooked pudding cake seem like a feast."

"Well here is your recipe, you can get everything for it downstairs. Mix it up whenever you feel it is needed, and keep an eye on your wound, clean it twice daily," Andy instructed. "Go to your girl, have your uncooked pudding cake. "

"That cake just keeps sounding better and better," Ben said. He could imagine how silly it would be if he asked Felicity for one of her uncooked pudding cake with no eggs specials.

"If you feel up to it while you are at the Raleigh tonight, don't hesitate to play a hand of cards," said Andy. "Drink your tonic first."

"Yeah right," Ben laughed. "I will have enough trouble playing cards and handling the ale I will drink. I'll see you down there-"

"Andrew, you can call me Andy," the doctor said shaking his new friend's hand.

"Andy," Ben finished and took his cane. "I'm Ben. Ben Davidson."

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