Chapter 74 Meeting The Past

Mrs. Tavington's eyelids fluttered open, looking at the spot usually occupied by her husband in their bed. She was disappointed that she hadn't awakened in his arms this morning, yet grateful at having awakened feeling well rested. She turned over on to her back, yawned, then stretched.

Laying there quietly for a moment, Melanie smiled as she thought about the last two weeks of married life. Since the evening that she and Will had come to an understanding of what they both wanted and needed from each other, life, and marriage, their time together had been complete bliss. The young woman even thought she felt happier now than months ago when they first were married.

Indeed, their couplings had been randy and romantic. And on the two occasions that Melanie had been too sick with the pregnancy to have relations, William had respected that and let her rest. There were even a couple of occasions where she had felt sick, but wanted her husband so badly that the lust overtook the sickness and allowed her a few moments of romance with Will.

The girl swung her legs over the side of the bed. Seeing that they were bare, she giggled at remembering that she was naked. Then she blushed furiously, recalling their coupling last night. The couple had been having fun many of the nights of the last two weeks finding different positions in which to accommodate a greatly pregnant belly during relations.

The young wife washed up and began to dress. As she did, she thought about how thankful she was that William and Major Wilkins did not get into any serious trouble for escaping probation to come home. Both had been hastily pardoned when they showed up at Camden to admit their escape. The Generals in power had received word that they would have to start paring down British forces in South Carolina as part of the Yorktown surrender agreement, so they were likely to be discharged by the Spring anyway. And at this point, no one was going to put up a huge fuss over two officers that had broken a parole agreement.

Melanie carefully descended the stairway not wanting to risk a fall at this late stage in her pregnancy. Her eyes scanned the great room, looking for William.

"You're awake, Madam," Diedre called from across the room. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Just something light, please," Melanie answered as she crossed the floor. "Thank you." I'll probably end up throwing it all back up anyway, she thought to herself.

Melanie walked to the office where she found General Tavington at his desk writing. "I missed you this morning," she said quietly from the doorway. "I thought we would have time to lie together in bed this morning."

The officer looked up from his work. "I awoke early and couldn't get back to sleep. I rode the plantation this morning then met with Mr. Andrews."

William got up from his desk and walked around to the front of it. There he embraced his wife and kissed her, his hand dropping to rest on her swollen belly. "You and the child need your sleep."

Melanie slipped from his grasp, looking back to smile coyly at her husband. Then she turned away from him. "Well, I just wanted some time alone with you this morning. We won't have a lot of that once the baby is born."

The general came up behind her and slid his arms around her, her head tucked under his. From there, both hands slipped down to her abdomen and rubbed it. He kissed her neck, then his lips went to her ear. "Can you wait until late this afternoon?," he murmured. "I have to go down and work on something in the mill. I'll stop early and we can spend the last of the afternoon and the evening together."

"Mmmm…..that sounds nice," whispered Mrs. Tavington with a smile.

Just then a knock on the doorframe interrupted their interlude. "General," Diedre said with a curtsy, "A messenger just brought this." The servant handed the letter to the officer.

Tavington read the short letter to himself, then frowned. Melanie watched as he read it again, then moved to his desk.

"What is it, Will?"

He didn't answer. The officer starting looking through a satchel near his desk trying to find something. His wife began to worry.

"William?" she tried to get his attention, her voice clearly frightened.

"It's nothing, Melanie. We'll speak in a minute. I just need to find…," Tavington's voice trailed off as he opened a large map on his desk.

The young woman sat down in the chair on the other side of the desk and waited, watching her husband intently. She gazed at him as he looked intently at the map spread on his desk, his index finger moving across it trying to find a point.

He sat down and wrote out some distances. The officer sighed, put his elbow on the desk then rested his chin in his hand. Tavington, looking down still, looked as if he was trying to recall something.

A patient Melanie sat, gazing at her husband. She hoped that he hadn't been recalled to duty so soon, especially with the birth of their child six weeks away. As she sat, the baby within her belly began kicking and moving, as if it could sense the mother's apprehension. Mrs. Tavington's hands went to her stomach.

"It's alright, darling," Melanie said, looking down at her pregnant belly. She caressed it trying to soothe the child within.

That got Will's attention, making him look up at Melanie. He dropped what he was doing and came around the desk in concern. "What's the matter?" asked the General, kneeling in front of his wife.

Mrs. Tavington rolled her eyes and smiled. "Oh…it's fine, Will. He's awake now and kicking furiously."

William placed his hand on his wife's abdomen and felt the child kicking and punching busily. "He is quite playful this morning, isn't he?" Will commented.

He began to rub his wife's belly gently. "There, there," he said, "All's well."

Melanie smiled at her husband and felt engulfed in a warm feeling, as if she was well protected. She now felt that he would be a good father—much better than his own father was to him.

The baby kicked a few more seconds then settled down. Melanie and William smiled at one another, amazed that the child had become quiet at their urgings.

"You've been home three weeks and he knows your voice already," Mrs. Tavington remarked. "He knows his papa."

Mrs. Tavington hooked her right hand around her husband's neck and pulled his face up to hers. She gave him a soft, loving kiss. "William," she whispered lovingly.

With that, the general stood up. "Well, I've just made a decision."

"About what?" asked Melanie.

"The letter," began General Tavington, "I've been called back to duty—"

"William!" Melanie exclaimed, her hands covering her mouth.

"It's a short assignment," he said, trying to sooth his wife before she got more upset. "It's administrative, not combat."

He saw his wife breathe a sigh of relief and continued on. "I have to go decommission Magnolia Camp. It's part of the agreement to move our troops out of the colonies."

"I see," she answered.

"I have to do that, then report to Camden for a meeting," he informed. "I'll be gone three to four days."

Inside, Melanie was disappointed. William had only been home three weeks and now he was leaving again. She knew full well from back when she was with Alexander, that three to four nights would sometimes turn into a week or more depending on circumstances and situations. But she kept it inside trying to be stoic, as she had agreed to support Will and stand by his side.

With his wife quiet, he knew something was wrong. "I know you're upset about this Melanie."

She took a breath and composed herself. "Yes, but I swore to support you so I will not raise a fuss about this. But, I don't think I am out of line to admit that I will miss you while you're gone, even though it won't be for that long."

"Well, I can remedy that," William said as he pulled Mrs. Tavington to her feet and into his arms. "Why don't you come with me? I won't ride. We can take the coach. I just don't want to leave you again, even for just a few days, after having been gone for months. Can you travel?"

"Oh Will, I want to go with you," she answered. "I don't see why I can't travel. We're not going to be gone very long. And as long as we are near towns and villages in case anything should happen."

"Everything will be fine," Will said. "We will stay at the Inn in the village."

"When do we leave?" she asked.

"Tomorrow morning."

"I'll pack a few things for us."

~/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/~

The next morning, the Tavingtons set off for Magnolia Camp. It didn't take long after their departure for a sleepy Melanie to rest her head on her husband's shoulder and fall asleep. As she slept, Will tried recalling as much of this camp as he could.

Magnolia Camp had been built just outside of the small village of Magnolia, South Carolina. It was about halfway between Charles Towne and Camden on a road that wasn't considered a main thoroughfare, so the village remained small. It was started by the British a few years ago as a hospital camp, then it had grown into a small, semi permanent encampment. The British had hopes of turning it into a fort but couldn't build it due to the war and men needed to fight.

This particular camp was also the encampment in which Tavington and Melanie, along with Bordon's body, had been brought to after the ambush at the creek. The cemetery at the edge of the village had been expanded with war dead. Major Alexander Bordon lay at rest there.

Will wondered how Melanie would hold up being in the camp where she last laid eyes on Bordon, which was his dead body in his uniform, cleaned up as best as possible, before the lid was nailed onto his coffin. He half hoped that visiting his grave on what was just a few weeks past the one year anniversary of his death might help her to get over him more. Although, he had been pleased with the progress she'd made in her grieving process for Bordon, and she seemed even better now that she was pregnant. He would stay by her side and help her through it.

They made it to the town of Magnolia before sunset and checked into the village's inn. They had dinner, then Melanie retired to bed early as Will looked over files and his list of things to do at the camp tomorrow.

The next morning, they rode the short distance in the carriage to the camp. Melanie looked out over the British tents and the gravestones surrounding the area and couldn't seem to recall any of it. William reminded her that she was consumed with grief at the one and only time that she'd had occasion to be in that camp and therefore probably didn't remember much of it.

The morning was cloudy as General Tavington and his wife walked out to Major Alexander Bordon's grave. Melanie held a small bouquet of flowers as William held his arm about her protectively as they walked.

Once at his grave, Melanie stayed stoic, not wanting to cry over her dead lover in front of her husband. But Will knew that she wanted, and that she needed to. The two walked up to it together and William helped his wife to place the flowers at the cross. She took a few steps back and let her husband grieve again his fallen second in command in private.

As she stood back, she watched her husband at first as he knelt down in front of the cross. She watched him as his fingers traced the name etched onto the wooden marker. Melanie had known by his actions and words that Bordon had been a very important figure in Will's wife, but to see him kneeling at his grave in quiet reverence told her just how much he had meant to her husband. The young woman felt tears coming to her eyes and trying her hardest to stay composed, she turned away from the grave, unable to watch her husband there anymore.

After a few moments, William walked softly up behind Melanie and wrapped his arms around her. Instinctively, his hands went to her abdomen, as if checking that everything with the baby was alright. Since they two had come to their understanding of sorts two weeks ago and he'd felt the baby move that night, it seemed he had been unable to keep his hands off her swollen belly, whether just to caress its roundness or to feel the child within move.

"Would you like to go over there now," he whispered tenderly in her ear.

"Yes. I'm ready," she answered.

Melanie took her husband's arm as he led her back over to Bordon's grave. He helped her to kneel down before it, then stepped back a respectable distance to leave her alone with the dead Major. William glanced over from time to time, making sure that his wife was alright.

"General! General Tavington!," someone yelled across the cemetery. William turned toward the voice to see a young lieutenant waving his arms at him. "You're needed right away!"

"Thank you. I'll be right there," Tavington yelled back. He looked over at Bordon's grave to see Melanie looking up at him. She'd heard the shouts for him.

"It's alright, Will," she called. "Go ahead. I'll be fine."

"I'll be in the administrative tent," he said, looking down in concern at his wife.

"I'll find you," she said, giving him a reassuring smile.

William left, leaving Melanie absolutely alone with Bordon's grave. She too, traced the letters on his marker and began to cry hard. She had thought back over the last year, and had spoken to him often, and repeated much of that as she cried now. After nearly an hour, the young woman kissed his marker, then used it to help pull her pregnant body up to standing.

The girl had finally stopped crying and wiped her eyes. She stood now after saying good bye to her fallen lover. Melanie walked a few yards away from the grave then turned back a last time to look at it. She noticed a woman with a boy of about six years of age coming toward the grave.

The woman and boy stopped in front Alex's grave. Melanie had only seen the woman once before from a distance at Fort Carolina. She knew her to be Mrs. Bordon.

A whirlwind of emotions hit Melanie all at once. Sadness. Jealousy. Longing. Fright. Mostly panic. She wanted to flee back to her husband's arms. And as she turned, Bordon's wife called to her.

"Did you know him?" Mrs. Bordon asked.

Melanie stopped in her tracks. She knew she couldn't run away now. She took a deep breath and composed herself, then turned back toward the grave. The general's wife took a few steps closer to Alexander's resting place, but yet kept her distance, just not wanting to be too close to her dead lover's wife.

"Um….yes," she said. Melanie knew she couldn't stammer, that she needed to sound confident, as if she had nothing to hide; nothing to be guilty of.

"He was my husband's second in command," answered Melanie.

"You're Mrs. Tavington?"

"Yes."

"I didn't think the colonel was married," Mrs. Bordon remarked, sounding truly befuddled.

"Oh, he is a General now," Melanie corrected with a soft voice. "We've only been married since last May."

"And you're with child," Alexander's wife said.

"Yes," Melanie said. "I'm seven and a half months along." Instinctively her hands moved to her swollen abdomen, caressing it lovingly.

"But you look like you are due any day now," Alex's wife commented. Melanie said nothing, waving the remark off as she had heard it so many times.

"Well, I really should get back to my husband," Melanie bid nervously. "He will be waiting for me."

As Melanie tried a second time to leave, she was once again stopped by her lover's wife calling to her.

"Mrs. Tavington, I'm sorry to keep you," Mrs. Bordon began, "but I need to know something."

Melanie swallowed hard and turned back again to face Alex's wife. "Yes?" she answered.

"Your husband wrote a very nice letter to me after Alex died," she stated, "and told me of the circumstances of his death. Has he spoken to you of his death?"

"Actually, the dragoons were escorting me back to my home when it happened," Melanie informed. "I was a prisoner at Fort Carolina and had been released."

"You were there when he died?"

"Yes, William and I were both with him when he passed," she said flatly, trying not to show any emotion.

"Did he have any last words?" Bordon's wife asked. "Did he have a message for me or his boy here?"

Melanie's mind flashed back to the last moments of his life. How she was holding him in her arms. How he groaned in so much pain. The agony in his eyes. How he took a last breath, looked at her and told her that he loved her. She suddenly felt guilty that this woman's husband's last words were words of love for his mistress. Mrs. Tavington just couldn't tell her that-she didn't have the heart to.

"Uh…he was in so much pain that he couldn't speak," Melanie lied.

Mrs. Bordon said nothing back. Melanie felt like she needed to ease the woman's disappointment in not getting the answer she wanted.

Mrs. Tavington lied a second time. "Please be assured that we tried to comfort him as much as we could. We held his hands and were at his side."

"I'm sorry, the general is waiting," Melanie said, just wanting to get out of the uncomfortable situation as quickly as possible.

"Yes, I understand," Mrs. Bordon said. "Thank you."

Mrs. Tavington nodded her head. Just as she turned to leave she heard Mrs. Bordon call to her yet again.

"You must have loved him very much," Bordon's wife remarked in a sad voice.

These words stopped Melanie in her tracks, broke her heart, and brought tears to her eyes. Unable to stem her flow of emotion, she turned back to face her lover's wife anyway.

"Yes. He died in my arms," Melanie answered, her voice breaking as she finally dissolved into tears. "I'm sorry I'm so sorry!"

With that, Mrs. Tavington started walking swiftly as she cried back toward the white tents of the British. Soon she lifted her skirt and was running. As she neared the canvas city, she saw her husband's tall form appear from a tent. The young wife fell into his arms and promptly fainted.

One of the doctors there at the hospital was called to examine the woman. Melanie came to and told Will what had happened and the doctor deemed that she had experienced too much excitement and stress for one day and that it had exhausted her in her late pregnancy stage.

Tavington promptly put her in the carriage and sent her back home, sorry and feeling bad now that he had brought her. He would feel better knowing that she was at home resting. He would ride on to Camden and finish his business there alone.