Charlotte Tavington was taking a walk with Ruth around the perimeter of the fort when she felt a faint rumble in the soles of her feet. Her ears perked up immediately, waiting for the vibrations to turn into the sound of approaching hoof beats.
She'd expected William and his men to return to the fort last night and when they'd not arrived by bedtime, she'd become vaguely uneasy. Even though William had told her not to expect him to adhere to a strict timetable, as unexpected things often occurred to keep them away from the fort longer than intended, she still could not help but be concerned.
Charlotte had not slept well the night before, getting up several times to look out the window, imagining that she'd heard the sound of the returning dragoons. In between trips to the window, she had tossed and turned, imagining one dreadful scenario after another that might have kept her husband from returning. She'd even become nauseated with anxiety and had thrown up into the chamber pot at one point.
But with the coming of day, she'd calmed down to a great degree, reminding herself that worries always seemed worse at night. As the day progressed, her anxiety came creeping back to some extent as the day wore on, and so she'd decided to take a long walk around the fort to help herself relax.
As the vibrations became clearly audible, Ruth smiled and turned to her employer. "See, Miss Charlotte, I told you there was nothing to worry about. Here comes the Colonel now, I bet you."
"It could be Colonel Tarleton and his men," Charlotte pointed out, not wanting to get her hopes up.
"It could be," Ruth agreed. "But I suspect it's Colonel Tavington. I have faith."
Both women made their way to the gate to await the arrival of the horsemen. As the gates swung open to admit the soldiers, Charlotte's heart did a happy little thump in her chest when she recognized William leading the group inside, looking hale and hearty.
"I told you so," Ruth pointed out. "There he is, none the worse for wear."
Charlotte smiled at her faithful servant. "I will make sure to take heed of what you say from now on."
She rushed eagerly toward the spot where William usually dismounted when he returned to the fort, along with several other women who had come out to greet the returning dragoons. Some were the wives and family of the men, while many others were the ubiquitous camp whores looking for business among the returning dragoons. Charlotte knew they were an unavoidable part of life in an army encampment, but she did as the other respectable women did; she simply pretended they did not exist.
"Welcome home, darling," Charlotte said, reaching Tavington as he was in the process of dismounting and handing off his horse to a stable hand.
"I missed you," he breathed, as he took her into his arms for a long, searching kiss.
As they reluctantly broke apart, Charlotte looked over William's shoulder to notice Captain Wilkins with a little girl standing by his side as he helped a familiar looking woman down from her horse.
Tavington turned to follow his wife's gaze, then said quietly, "Now you see why we were gone longer than I'd planned. When we were in Pembroke, we got word of a partisan raid on the farm of Captain Wilkins' sister…"
At this moment Mary Miller caught sight of Charlotte looking at her. "Charlotte Putnam!" she called out. "Jim told me you'd be here!"
"Mary," Charlotte greeted, smiling in welcome. "And it's Charlotte Tavington now. The Colonel and I were married recently." Walking over to the other woman, she took both of Mary's hands into her own and said, "It's so wonderful to see you! You are looking quite well; the years have been quite kind to you."
"As with you," Mary responded. "I just wish our reunion was under happier circumstances."
"Charlotte, why don't you take Mrs Miller and her daughter to our quarters?" Tavington asked his wife. "Captain Wilkins, Captain Bordon, and I must go now to give our report to the Lord General, so Mrs Miller will have to wait for a short time before being assigned quarters."
"Of course, William, I'd be happy to," Charlotte said warmly. "It will give us a chance to get re-acquainted."
"Take your time," Mary agreed. "Charlotte and I have much to talk about."
"We shouldn't be too long," Tavington said, as he leaned down to give his wife a quick peck on the cheek.
Noting the concerned expression on her brother's face, Mary smiled and told him, "Go ahead, Jim. Susan and I will be just fine."
"Are you sure?" He hesitated for a moment.
"Very sure," she affirmed. "Go, now. The Colonel is waiting for you."
A few moments later, Charlotte Tavington opened the door to her suite and beckoned her guests inside. Turning to Ruth, who had been following at a sedate pace, she said, "Ruth, would you please bring up a pot of tea for us?"
"Right away, Mistress," she replied, turning to leave.
"Oh, and could you take Susan with you, if you don't mind," Mary put in. "Mrs Tavington and I need to have a private conversation."
"I could show her the gardens after I bring the tea, if you like," Ruth suggested. "Or I could take her to the kitchen for something to eat."
"The gardens will be fine," Mary decided. "I imagine we'll be eating dinner as soon as the men return, and I don't want to spoil her appetite. But you may give her a little snack, however."
After the maid had left with young Susan, whose curiosity had overcome her natural reticence, the women settled themselves on the sofa.
"William said there had been a partisan raid on your farm?" Charlotte began hesitantly. "I assume that is why you've come to the fort?"
Turning to Charlotte, Mary asked, "May I be perfectly frank with you, because what I have to say is rather disturbing."
Noting the pained expression on the other woman's face, Charlotte said softly, "Yes, Mary. We're old friends; of course you can speak freely to me. And I know it must be something serious, considering you sent your daughter from the room."
Taking a deep breath to steel herself for what needed to be said, Mary stood up and walking to the window, facing away from Charlotte. In an almost inaudible voice, she whispered, "I was raped."
"What!" Charlotte exclaimed, not quite believing what she heard. "What happened?" Indicating the sofa, she urged, "Please sit down and tell me."
After resuming her seat, Mary turned to the other woman and murmured, "I hardly know where to begin. It's hard to accept that I've lost my husband and had my virtue compromised all in one day."
Patting her friend's hand in sympathy, Charlotte said, "Take your time."
After a long pause, Mary gathered her courage together and began talking. "Did you know that Ben Martin is the leader of a rebel partisan group?"
"Yes, William had mentioned it to me," Charlotte affirmed. "That was the reason he went to Pembroke the other day. He was looking for more information about the group, as they'd apparently formed only within the last week or so."
"It would seem as if one of their goals is to harass Loyalists," Mary opined. "And I would imagine they picked our place first because my husband Thomas ran a horse farm. They rode up yesterday, all of a sudden, and demanded that Thomas just give them our horses! When he refused, they killed him!"
"I'm so sorry," Charlotte said sorrowfully, leaning over to give her a hug, while Mary paused to collect herself once again.
"I didn't see it happen, thank God," Mary told her. "Jim told me what the blacksmith had told Colonel Tavington."
"Where were you when it happened?" Charlotte asked.
"I'd heard them riding up when I was inside the house," the other woman said. "I went outside onto the porch in time to see them ride over to the stables. I stayed there with Susan to see what was going on, wanting to keep her out of harm's way. It was then that some of the partisans came over to the house to see what they could plunder."
Heaving a gusty sigh, she continued, "Two of the partisans noticed me and hung back after the others went into the house. They began taunting me, talking about me as if I were some common street trollop. One of them came up to me and shoved me over the railing so that my bum poked up into the air. He told me what he was going to do to me with Susan standing right there! I don't think she quite understood what he was about to do, but she did know he was going to hurt me in some way."
"How horrible!" Charlotte said, patting her hand again in commiseration.
"I had one of my slaves, Maisie, take Susan inside, so she'd not have to see it," Mary elaborated. "I'm not sure if they'd killed Thomas by this time, but the stable was still surrounded by quite a few partisans, so he'd not have been able to get away to help me, in any instance. I don't think he ever knew what happened to me."
After a pause, she plunged ahead, "No sooner had Maisie and Susan gone into the house than he violated me." Clutching at Charlotte's hands, she cried, "It was so horrible! It hurt terribly as he made no attempt whatsoever to be gentle. It felt like he was tearing up my insides."
"I'm surprised that Ben would allow his men to do such a thing," Charlotte told her. "He's always been a perfect gentleman around me and had brought up his sons to be as well."
"It shocked me, too," Mary admitted. "I knew he had rebel sympathies, but I never thought he'd ally himself with men like that."
"Did you know who the men were?" Charlotte asked.
"They were mountain men, I'd guess," Marry said. "They were dirty and they smelled as if they'd not bathed in months. I know they weren't from Pembroke or anywhere nearby."
"They were likely some of the ones Ben served with in the last war," Charlotte speculated. "My sister told me that Ben came home from that war a very different man from when he left. She said that there were times she felt that she didn't know him any longer; that he had a dark side."
Charlotte sighed loudly, once again glad that she'd not given in and married Benjamin Martin.
"What is it?" Mary asked.
"I was just thinking once again of how glad I was I never married Ben," Charlotte told her. "He'd asked me several times after both Elizabeth and my first husband had died."
"Oh, my," Mary managed to say.
Before Charlotte could reply, there was a soft knock at the door.
"Come in!" Charlotte called out.
As Ruth and Susan entered the room with the tea pot, Mary turned to her friend and said in a low voice, "We'll talk more about this later."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
After dismissing the men for the day, Tavington headed over to the Lord General's office to make his report, accompanied by Captains Bordon and Wilkins. The three men found General Cornwallis having tea with General O'Hara as the general's aide escorted them into his office a short time later.
"Colonel Tavington to see you, sir," the aide announced, as the two generals looked up in annoyance at the interruption.
Not waiting for the Lord General to speak first, Tavington called out in an almost exuberant tone, "I have good news for you!"
Ignoring O'Hara's sour look of disapproval, he continued, "We have found and eliminated Benjamin Martin's major supplier." Indicating Captain Wilkins with a brief gesture, he added, "Thanks to Captain Wilkins' excellent information, we were able to quickly locate and deal with this problem without a single casualty."
Cornwallis acknowledged Wilkins' contribution with a slight nod of approval, then asked Tavington, "Did you engage directly with Martin's partisans?"
"No, but I imagine it won't be long before we do, now that they'll have to cross into our territory in order to get supplies," Tavington opined. "And this brings me to the second part of my report. While we were in Pembroke taking care of Martin's supplier, a rider came into town looking for Captain Wilkins to tell him that partisans were raiding his sister's farm."
Looking directly at Cornwallis, the dragoon continued, "This was the Miller horse farm, which, as you know, was recently contracted to supply our army with fresh mounts. We immediately left Pembroke, but by the time we arrived at the Miller farm, the partisans were gone, but not before killing Thomas Miller and ravishing Mistress Miller."
Wilkins winced at the mention of his sister's rape, but did not comment, knowing that Tavington could not leave any pertinent information out of his report.
"They only managed to steal five horses, however," Tavington reported. "The farm's head blacksmith was certain that the news of our impending approach kept them from doing any more damage or stealing more horses. From what he told us, I am confident that they were there only to plunder horses and as part of their goal to harass Loyalists. I believe that they didn't know about Miller's Army contract. But I did leave a detachment at the farm, in case the partisans decided to return to finish the job they'd started." After a slight pause, he concluded, "My recommendation is that a permanent garrison be assigned there to protect our interests."
"Thank your for your report, Colonel," Cornwallis said. "I concur that there must be a permanent garrison maintained at the Miller farm. I will make the necessary arrangements immediately, so that the remainder of your dragoons may rejoin you."
Turning to Wilkins, the general said, "Please accept my condolences for the tragedy visited upon your family."
"Thank you, sir," Wilkins replied quietly. "I have brought my sister and niece to reside at the fort for their own safety."
"Wise thinking," Cornwallis remarked. "I certainly hope they'll be comfortable here."
Returning his attention once again to Tavington, he said, "Good work, Colonel. Between you and Tarleton, we'll keep South Carolina firmly in our control and will soon be able to move on to North Carolina to do the same."
"Thank you, sir," Tavington replied, obviously pleased. "My desire is to strive to end this rebellion in the most expeditious manner possible." After a pause, he belatedly added, "And I am most fortunate to have two of the most able captains in the army assisting me in that endeavour."
"If you and Captain Wilkins will work together to compose a list of all the Loyalist families in the area, I'll pass it along to all units so that periodic checks can be made," the general said.
"Yes, sir, we'll start on it right away," Tavington said.
"That will be all, then, gentlemen," Cornwallis said. "You are dismissed."
As the three dragoons left the general's office, Tavington looked over at Bordon and had a sudden inspiration. "Bordon, why don't you go collect Mistress Miller and see that she is assigned suitable quarters while Wilkins and I work on that list. It may take us awhile, so make sure that she and her daughter have dinner as well."
"I'd be delighted sir," Bordon said, giving him a snappy salute in his eagerness to carry out this particular order.
"Excellent," Tavington responded. "Please also send my regrets to Mistress Tavington and tell her that I'll be along as soon as is practical."
"Right away, sir," Bordon said over his shoulder, as he was already hurrying off to do his superior officer's bidding.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Author's note: I've had a particularly rough week and I was afraid I'd not get this chapter posted in time. I ended up writing until about four this morning to get it done.
Next chapter as yet unnamed.