"Really, how so?" inquired the colonel, taking Braden from Lady Tavington and holding him in his arms close to his chest.
"Well," Jae began, "since I have my history book with me, Jula and I could show it to you; that way, you would know what was to happen before it did and prevent certain things from happening, and by doing so, alter history to the favor of the British."
"Hold on though, Jae, there is a catch."
"What is it?" Jae asked her sister.
"This can happen only provided that your book hasn't unwritten itself."
"What are you two trying to say?" questioned Col. Tavington. "What happened to us at the end of this war? What was the result?"
"The colonials won." Jae replied in a flat voice.
"Yeah," Jula replied, "But it must have been some fluke or something. The only reason they won was because the French actually did show up towards the end of the war and saved the colonials' butts. However, if things work out, we can change that..."
Jae nodded and said, "Let me go get my book.."
Disappearing from the room for two minutes, Jae returned, book in hand, with a smirk on her face.
"Check this out, sir. I think you'll find some very important information in here."
"It's all there?" Jula asked excitedly.
"Yup."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several hours later, Col. Tavington walked out of his chamber, smirking from ear to ear.
And the lord general thinks he knows everything... Well, we'll just see about that...
"So, did we help you out?" Jae asked coming out of the room behind the colonel.
Col. Tavington nodded.
"Yes. Yet, I would prefer to keep this between your sister, my wife and I."
"No prob." said Jula, coming up to stand behind her sister.
"We didn't really plan on sharing it with anyone, at least not yet." said Jae. "But Cornwallis might have to find out..."
"Not yet he won't. He doesn't need anything more to hang over me."
"True. But what if he gets suspicious of us?" Jula asked.
"Well, I guess you're just going to have to keep your profile low; and if he finds some things out, which, unfortunately, I'm sure he will, you'll just be sure that he doesn't know as much as we do."
"Wow, you are arrogant, aren't you?" said Jae.
Col. Tavington shrugged as his wife came up to stand next to him, holding their son as she looked up at her husband and smiled, shaking her head.
"Yes, you are an arrogant devil."
"Sorry, I can't seem to help myself."
Jae rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Now what are we going to do?"
"Well, you can watch Braden while William goes to camp to see his men."
"Where will you be?"
"Resting." she replied simply. "However, since Braden has already had his nap, he'll want to be up, so if you two could just watch him for a couple of hours, it would be much appreciated."
Great, and if we mess up, we're totally dead. This isn't just any kid. This is Butcher Boy's kid..
"Sure, no problem." said Jula.
No problem? Jula, are you nuts!
Lady Tavington smiled.
"Thank you."
No wonder Col. Tavington listens to her...
"I'll bring some of his things over to your chambers; I heard from William, who had a brief meeting with Cornwallis after he met with you two, that you'll be receiving new ones, but you won't receive them until later this evening."
Jae and Jula nodded.
"Alright, we'll be waiting there for you then."
Jae and Jula went to their room and waited for Lady Tavington to meet them with her son.
"Great, we're dead." Jae hissed.
"Uh, why?"
"Jula, don't you get it? This is Col. Tavington's son! If we screw this up, we'll be having a morning appointment with the gallows!" Jae practically shouted.
Jula shrugged.
"Jae, you're too paranoid. He's just a baby; he can't even walk yet. How much trouble will he really get into. Besides, even if things do get a bit difficult, the lady is nice enough. She's not going to fry your head in a pot if you can't stop him from crying."
"Yeah, whatever."
"Hello?"
Jae and Jula turned to see Lady Tavignton standing in the entrance of their room, holding Braden and a couple of blankets.
"Here he is. There are a couple of toys wrapped in the blankets for him. Oh, and by the way, he's crawling now, so you might want to watch where he goes."
Jae nodded.
"Alright, no problem."
Lady Tavington smiled, handing her son to Jae, setting the blankets and toys on the bed, and replied, "Thank you. It will be so relieving to have some time to rest."
Jula laughed softly.
"Glad we could help."
Lady Tavington nodded and left the room.
Jae stared down at Braden, who stared up at her with his father's icy blue eyes.
"Well here we go.."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One hour passed.
"He's not so bad." Jae commented as she watched Braden crawl around on the floor. "Even crawling, he's not getting into anything."
"That's cause we have nothing for him to get into."
"True... hey, put that down buddy!"
Braden had grabbed hold of Jae's cell phone and was chewing on the antenna.
Jula took the phone from him, handing him one of his blankets, of which he began to chew on the corner.
"Gross, baby drool!" she said, handing the phone to sister.
"And you think I want it?" Jae asked.
"it's yours."
Jae took the phone, holding it with her fingertips, and set it down on the bed.
Jula smirked, but her smirk quickly disappeared when she looked over and saw Braden chewing on a book she had put in her sister's bag. Quickly, she took the book him and handed him his blanket, but he only stared at her, as if silently demanding to have to book back.
"Dude, you gotta stop hangin' out with your dad; you're starting to act like him. Now stop lookin' at me like that."
Picking Braden up, Jula began to spin him around in her arms. He giggled.
"Aww, he's so cute when he does that!" said Jae.
"Yeah, he is!" Jula replied with a laugh.
Just then, Braden made a gurgling noise and spit up on her.
"Ok... that's not cute!"
Jae laughed.
"It looks nice on you."
Jula rolled her eyes and Braden smiled.
"Twerp."
"Well, we definitely know whose son you are." said Jae, walking over to Braden and her sister with a cloth. "Here Jula."
"Thanks." she replied in a flat voice.
Braden gurgled and spit up again on the cloth. Jula wrinkled her nose.
"Jae, is there another cloth?"
"No, but I can go find one."
Leaving the room, Jae went to go find a cloth.
"Well, well, who do we have here?" a voice whispered softly in her ear.
Jae jumped and whirled around, only to meet the gaze of Gen. O'Hara.
"Oh, it's you."
"Listen," O'Hara said forcefully, placing his hands firmly on Jae's arms, "I'm willing to give you a second chance.."
"Why? Can't you see that the game is already over?" Jae replied. "You lost. Now let me go."
Jae tried to wrench out of the general's grasp but he held her fast, pulling her even closer to him.
"I know your little secret, Miss Barrington, did you really believe you could hide it? I saw you the night you arrived, and I thought you looked a little...out of place.."
"Let go of me!"
But O'Hara only held her closer, his face less than an inch from hers as he leaned forward in an attempt to kiss her, but just when his mouth touched hers, Jae bit his lip, and the general pulled away howling.
"You little..."
Jae smirked.
"I know."
"You devilish brat!"
"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I really must be going."
Jae pushed past the general and continued on to find a cloth for her sister.
Five minutes later, she arrived back in her room where Jula was chasing Braden around and under the bed.
"Man, do you have any idea how much work he is?"
"Yeah, that's why I don't want kids. Although I have to admit, I'm kinda starting to like the little guy. He must have his dad's charm, or whatever you call the colonel's villainous appeal. Not that I'm attracted or anything. I'll openly admit that he's very good looking, and I do like the villainous characteristics. But he's already married, and way out of my league on the age factor."
"True enough. Well, it's your turn now. Have fun!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the time Lady Tavington had arrived to pick Braden up, both girls were flagging on energy. However, both of them had to admit that they had enjoyed watching him. Sure, he could be a handful at times, but he was just as equally amusing with his little antics and facial expressions. Not to mention, his piercing eyes held an interest all their own. And now, he was finally tired out.
"Here, my lady." said Jula handing Braden to his mother.
"Thank you. I hope he wasn't too much trouble for you two."
"Oh no, not at all." replied Jae with a smile.
Honestly, the kid is already starting to grow on me...
"Well, again, thank you, and if it isn't too much to ask, I was wondering if you could watch him again tomorrow."
"No problem." replied Jula.
Lady Tavington smiled.
"Very well, it should be at around the same time tomorrow."
Jae nodded.
"Alright. Sounds great." she replied.
Now, what are we going to do?
"If you two desire to do so, you may wander around and explore the estate for a couple of hours. Just be sure not to get in the way of any of the officers, and stay on the grounds."
Jae raised her left eyebrow slightly.
Well, she's creepy; mind reader...
"Alright, thanks." Jula replied.
Lady Tavington nodded and left the room with Braden.
"So, where do you want to go?" Jula asked her sister.
Jae smirked.
"Camp."
"Jae. do you want to die?" Jula asked. "Col. Tavington is there, and somehow, I don't think he'd like us showing up while he's working."
"He doesn't have to know."
Jula sighed in exasperation.
"Fine, but if we get in trouble, I blame you."
"Ok, just as long as you come."
"Well I'm not going to sit around her all day!"
"I know. Let's go."