Over the next several months, Ruth Moore and Marcus Tapp danced an elaborate minuet around just exactly what the nature of their relationship was. Ruth knew just what she wanted out of the relationship with her baby's father, but as the time drew nearer for their child's birth, Marcus Tapp remained infuriatingly inconsistent.
Shortly after the Bordons had departed to join the Queen's Rangers, Tapp had reverted to his previously aloof self, leaving Ruth to return to her duties with the Tavingtons as if nothing had happened. She saw very little of him in that first month, nor did they make love again during that time.
But then one fine spring morning, as Ruth was walking alone to the vegetable market, Marcus suddenly appeared beside her on horseback as if he'd never been away from her side. He'd taken her up on his horse to finish the marketing, then they'd gone for a ride culminating at the park overlooking the harbour, where they'd ended up making love behind a blooming magnolia.
After they'd finished, Ruth had plucked a blossom, which she had tucked in her Bible once she'd returned home, so she'd always have a keepsake of that idyllic day.
For the next two weeks, they'd spent each night together, with Ruth either joining him at his billet or, more often, with Tapp sharing her room at the Tavingtons. The Tavingtons, for their part, benignly tolerated Tapp's frequent appearances in their home, with Charlotte being willing to do anything that would increase Ruth's chances for an eventual marriage.
However, Marcus disappeared once more for a week and a half this time, before showing up again at the Tavingtons one night, with no explanation of his absence, this time being around for another two weeks before taking off again.
This on-again, off-again pattern continued for the rest of the summer leading up to Ruth's confinement, to her utter vexation. Early one hot summer morning, after Tapp had spent the night with her following a week's hiatus, he left to take a detachment out on patrol duty. After watching him ride away through her window, she went downstairs for breakfast.
As she passed the dining room on her way to the kitchen to eat with the other servants, she saw the Tavingtons already having their morning tea.
"Ruth," Charlotte Tavington called out as she caught sight of her maid.
"Yes, Miss Charlotte?" she replied, stepping slightly into the room, her profile now ungainly in late pregnancy.
"After breakfast, I want you to meet me in the nursery," the older woman said. "I've been wanting to get some needlework done and we can do it in there while little Will sleeps."
"Yes, Miss Charlotte," Ruth replied. "I'll see you upstairs shortly."
After Ruth had moved on, Tavington turned to his wife and said, "Was that Tapp I heard leaving just a little while ago?"
"Yes, I heard him come in late last night, after her not seeing him at all for about a week or so," Charlotte said, her voice betraying a note of slight irritation. "He's been doing this all summer - he'll spend several days with Ruth, then disappear again without explanation. I imagine it must exasperate Ruth so, not knowing what his intentions are toward her."
"Not so much so that she gives him an ultimatum," Tavington observed. "He's obviously meeting some need she has." He chuckled lewdly as he though of which obvious need that was.
"I'd like to see him make up his mind to do the right thing by her and give her a wedding ring," Charlotte declared. "That's why I've allowed him to stay here with Ruth without interference. But it all seems as if it's for naught, as he seems content to come and go as he pleases without commitment."
"If you want my opinion, I think Tapp does want to do the right thing, but he's having enough of a difficult time to go ahead and take that final step," Tavington opined. "I think every time he comes close to asking for her hand, it unnerves him and he disappears yet again."
"I think you may be right," Charlotte said, smiling. "I'm thinking the birth of their baby might be what it takes to get him to finally do it."
"You may be right," Tavington replied noncommittally, knowing that there was little to recommend marriage to a man of Tapp's temperament and class, considering there was no inheritance for him that hinged on him producing an heir.
"I would like to see Ruth settled before the war ends," Charlotte said. "If we're going to go to England when the war is over, she'll need to have some sort of situation in place before we leave."
"I'm sure the two of them will come to an agreement," Tavington said, as he wiped his mouth and got up to leave. "Now, I must be off, my dear, as duty awaits."
Half an hour later, Charlotte entered the nursery to find Ruth changing little Will's clothes.
"It's a good thing we made all those baby clothes at the fort," Charlotte remarked, once her baby son was dry and clean once more. "It seems as if little Will produces enough dirty linen to do a wash every day." Reaching her hands out for her son, she said, "Here, let me feed him, while you get started on the mending."
A few minutes later, Charlotte casually said, "I saw Sergeant Tapp leaving this morning. He'd not been to see you in awhile, had he?"
"Yes, I was kind of surprised to see him," she said "He'd been gone a week this time." She frowned as she pulled out some bad stitches to start over, then said, "He's been doing this for months now, ever since the Bordons left. First, he acts as if he loves me, then, for no rhyme nor reason, he becomes distant and aloof, after which he disappears for days on end. After which, he'll turn up again, as if nothing had happened and it starts all over again. I love Marcus dearly, but I'm afraid I just don't understand him at all! I don't know what he wants."
"That's just it," Charlotte told her. "I don't think he knows what he wants, either." Pausing to put the baby on her shoulder to burp, she added, "But I do know that he cares for you, probably more than he's cared for anyone, and that it probably scares him."
"Do you really think so?" Ruth asked in a hopeful tone.
"I think it's a rather safe bet," Charlotte said. "I'm guessing if he didn't care a thing for you, he'd have never come to your aid when Mistress Bordon wanted to adopt your baby,"
"Yes, that's true," Ruth said. "I've thought of that and this is why I'm trying to be patient with him; to give him time."
"Have you asked him about his absences?" Charlotte asked.
"I did, once," Ruth said. "It seemed to irritate him and he made some vague reference to his duty keeping him busy." Sighing loudly, she added, "But I know it's not just that."
"Men can often be rather enigmatic, I know," Charlotte said, smiling. "They often run from what is best for them."
"Colonel Tavington didn't run from you," Ruth pointed out sourly.
"William was ready for marriage when he met me, I think," the other woman said. "I suppose all men are different." Laughing softly, she added, "I did have a bit of a time getting my first husband to propose, though."
"I'll just be satisfied if it happens before the war ends and he goes back where he came from," Ruth said.
"I'm sure it will," Charlotte said brightly. "Just keep praying about it."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Early one steamy morning late in July, Mary Bordon awakened as soon as the sun had come up. Even inside the tent, it was too bright to sleep and even if it had not been, the quickly rising morning heat would have awakened her in any instance.
James had left before the sun was up, as they were moving yet again, this time by ship down the river to Yorktown. He would make sure the hussars under his command were ready to embark later that day.
As Mary sat up, stretching on her pallet, she hoped this would be the last move. Portsmouth was supposed to have been the last move, where Cornwallis had intended to construct a fortified base at a deep-water port. But James had told her the previous night that the Lord General had found Portsmouth inadequate for his needs, so they were to move, yet again, to Yorktown where fortifications would be made.
Since joining the Queen's Rangers, they'd been perpetually on the move, with both Tarleton's and Simcoe's men frequently detached from the main British forces to go on raiding expeditions, mainly to capture rebel supplies.
Mary felt dizzy and nauseated as she rose to awaken Susan for the day. She'd not felt all that well for several days, which she'd attributed to the beastly summer heat. Before she could step behind the partition where her only daughter slept, the nausea became so overwhelming that Mary needed to find the chamber pot, fast. Reaching it just in time, she threw up the remnants of the previous night's dinner, after which she sat back down on her pallet in order to collect herself.
Though Mary had not had a monthly in about two months, she didn't allow herself to think that she might be pregnant, not wanting to get her hopes up. It was more likely that she was coming down with one of the common sicknesses that had made its rounds through the army during the summer. Still, though, it would not hurt to check in with the doctor to see exactly what was wrong with her.
Two hours later, she had her answer. When she'd first arrived at the medical tent, the doctor had been busy getting the patients ready for the trip to Yorktown. But, at last, he'd been able to give her an examination and had told her the news she'd been afraid to even hope for.
Mary nearly floated back to her tent, where she found an exasperated James Bordon. He stood outside as she approached with hands on hips.
"Where have you been, Mary?" Bordon demanded. "Susan said you'd told her you'd be gone only a few minutes and it's been two hours. I was worried that something might have happened to you."
"Nothing is wrong, James," she said, beaming. "Nothing at all. In fact, everything is so, so right!"
"What is it?" Bordon asked, bemused.
"I'm…going to have a baby, James!" she announced. "I'm with child! Finally!"
"Are you sure?" he asked, opening his arms for her.
"Quite sure," she replied, glowing with joy. "I've just come from the doctor. He was busy and I had to wait for him to examine me. That's what took me so long."
"Oh, this is wonderful news!" he said, hugging her close. "See? I told you it would happen in its own good time!"
"You were right, thank God," Mary breathed. "Perhaps all it took was us leaving Tavington's command."
"Perhaps," he agreed,
"We should be holding our baby around the end of February, if my calculations are right," Marry added. "I can hardly bear to wait."
"The war should be over by then, God willing," Bordon said. "And perhaps we'll be settled in a permanent home by then."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
On the same hot July morning that Mary Bordon found out she was pregnant, Sergeant Major Marcus Tapp was making yet another interminable circuit around the perimeter of Charlestown. The duty itself was largely uneventful, as most of the rebel forces were either at Ninety-Six, quite a few miles to the northwest, or up in Virginia chasing Cornwallis' forces.
Tapp occasionally dealt with small groups of rebels attempting to get into the city to perform acts of sabotage. Tavington had given him free rein as to how to deal with such miscreants, so he simply strung them all up from the nearest tree. It was much simpler than when he'd been sheriff in New Jersey, where he'd had to take such lawbreakers to trial.
He had acquired a fearsome reputation in Charlestown and in the surrounding areas, soon becoming known as The Devil on Horseback. People would scatter when he and his hand-picked group of dragoons rode into view, and mothers threatened their misbehaving children with a visit from Marcus Tapp if they did not mend their ways.
William Tavington rarely rode patrols himself these days, confining himself mainly to administrative duties. From what Ruth had told Tapp, the Colonel's mind was now focussing on liquidating most of Charlotte Tavington's assets in South Carolina. Tavington wanted to ensure they'd have a tidy nest egg once they left the state at the end of the war, which now seemed most likely to lead to a rebel victory.
Marcus Tapp was also looking ahead to prepare himself for life after the war. As well as engaging in the King's business by rooting out rebel infiltration in and around Charlestown, he and his men took every opportunity to pillage and plunder. Tapp took 75% of everything stolen at the end of each day, with the remaining 25% divided among his men. He knew it was important that they profit as well, as it ensured that they'd keep their mouths shut about what they were doing.
He'd also set up Molly and some of the other camp whores into a house of their own, which was heavily patronized by British soldiers in Charlestown. Tapp got a healthy percentage of the earnings there as well. Being transferred to Charlestown had been a very good thing for the ambitious Marcus Tapp.
After several months of this, Tapp had built himself up a very nice nest egg that would allow him to take his time in finding a suitable position after the war. He'd already written to inquire if he'd be reinstated in his former sheriff's position in New Jersey, but it seemed as if his services were no longer desired because of him serving in a Loyalist unit. No matter, he'd thought when the reply came. He knew there would likely be opportunities in Canada, as many American Loyalists were already beginning to move their families there.
Inevitably, his fearsome reputation in town attracted a lot of women to his side. Some women offered themselves to him in order to spare their men folk from the hangman's noose, while others simply wanted the thrill of being with a dangerous man. He accepted a fair number of these offers, especially during the times he had pulled away from Ruth, but he occasionally came home to Ruth's bed reeking of the scent of another woman.
On this July morning, Tapp was thinking about Ruth as he and his men made a routine circuit around the city. He'd stayed three nights with her this week at the Tavingtons and knew the time was getting close for their baby to be born. It could come at any time now, Ruth had told him when he'd left the house that morning.
Marcus Tapp was scared witless of the impending birth of the child he'd planted inside of her in an evening of passion nine months ago. He did not wish to have any vulnerabilities that his enemies might use against him.
Yet, his naturally insatiable curiosity was nonetheless looking forward to the birth, to see what kind of a person he had sired. He'd lost a little sister when he was ten years old, and wondered if his own get would resemble her.
Later that afternoon, after he came out of Molly's brothel, after picking up his weekly share of the take and getting a bit of relief to calm his nerves, he was met by a dragoon private, who was not part of his marauding band.
"Sergeant Major Tapp!" the young man called out. "I'm glad I finally caught up with you! I've been looking all over town for you!"
"You've found me," Tapp said impatiently. "Now, what is so important that could not wait until I returned to my billet?"
"Mistress Tavington sent me to look for you," the private explained. "It's Miss Moore - she's in labour!"
"Thank you, Private," Tapp said sourly. "You have delivered your message. You may go."
After mounting up, instead of heading to the Tavington home, Marcus Tapp spurred his horse to the harbour. The moment of truth had arrived and he wasn't ready to deal with it. He headed for the same park where he and Ruth had recently made love. He dismounted by an iron fence that overlooked the harbour, then tied his black gelding to a nearby tree, where the animal bent its head to contentedly chew the grass there.
Tapp leaned against the fence, looking aimlessly out at the ships in the harbour as his mind wandered while he pondered just what exactly it was he wanted to do about Ruth.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Back at the Tavington home, Ruth Moore had been in labour for hours. As the day slowly dragged by in a haze of pain for the young woman, she became increasingly frantic as Marcus Tapp continued to remain absent from the house.
"Where is Marcus, Miss Charlotte?" Ruth wailed as another labour pain overtook her. "I need him here!"
"I sent Private Donaldson to find him hours ago," Charlotte told her. "Remember?"
"Then why isn't he here?" Ruth whined.
"Perhaps I'll go see what's keeping him," Charlotte promised. "Bessie will sit with you while I'm gone."
Charlotte found William in the dining room playing with their son as she came downstairs.
"How is it going up there?" he asked as she joined him at the table.
"Ruth has a while to go yet," Charlotte reported. "She's becoming increasingly agitated that Sergeant Tapp has not come to see her. I sent Private Donaldson out hours ago to look for him."
"Donaldson came by to tell me he'd found Tapp an hour and a half ago," Tavington reported. "He's had plenty of time to get here."
"Oh, dear," Charlotte said, frowning. "He's picked a bad time to disappear, I'm afraid. Ruth keeps calling for him."
Tavington sighed loudly. "Would you like me to go take another look, love? I promise you, I'll get him here."
"Thank you, darling," Charlotte said, kissing him on the cheek. "I can always depend on you."
Tavington rode out and searched fruitlessly for over an hour for the sergeant major before finally finding him at the harbour's edge, leaning up against the iron fence.
"Tapp," Tavington called out quietly after securing his horse to the same tree where Tapp's horse placidly waited.
Tapp turned slowly to acknowledge his superior officer. "Ruth sent you out to find me, eh, sir?"
"No, it was Mistress Tavington," Tavington said, chuckling.
The two men stood side by side in companionable silence for a long interval, both staring out to sea.
"For what it's worth, I think I understand what's going through your mind right now," Tavington eventually said.
"Do you?" Tapp said, raising one eyebrow sceptically.
"You are afraid of losing your freedom to live as you please if you take on the mantle of fatherhood," the other man supplied.
Tapp just looked at him, nodding in agreement.
"With some women, I think that would be a valid concern," Tavington said. "But from what I've observed of Ruth, it would be different with her." When Tapp did not comment, he continued, "She loves you, Tapp! God only knows why after how shabbily you've treated her, but there it is. I am quite convinced that she'll take you under any circumstances, without you having to sacrifice anything."
Tapp thought for a long moment, realizing the truth of Tavington's words. "All right, Colonel. Let's go back to the house."
As the two men entered the Tavington home a short time later, Charlotte was waiting for them at the door. She grabbed Tapp's arm and said, "Hurry! The baby is almost here!"
Marcus Tapp heard the thin wail of a baby's cry as he reached the top of the stairs a moment later. He hurried down to Ruth's door just in time to see Bessie come out.
"She's waiting for you," Bessie said shyly. "Go on in."
Removing his bearskin helmet, Tapp entered the room in time to see the midwife hand Ruth a small bundle wrapped in a blanket.
Ruth smiled shyly up at Tapp, then murmured, "Come meet our daughter, Marcus!"
After pulling a chair up to Ruth's bedside, Tapp looked down at the baby in Ruth's arms.
"She's beautiful, Ruth," he rumbled, noting that the baby girl did indeed resemble his long-lost sister. "I want to name her Martha, after my sister who died."
"I like that, Marcus," Ruth said, putting the newborn baby to her breast. "Martha Tapp, it is."
./\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Author's Note: Marcus Tapp was referred to as "The Devil on Horseback" by Margaret Lawrence, in whose books I first discovered him.