Leigh Ann's Civil War by Ann Rinaldi

Author:Ann Rinaldi [Rinaldi, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

One morning, the third week in April, I was having a dream about Louis, about him taking me to the confectionery in town for ice cream and me wanting peaches on top of it. I was just about to put a spoonful of peaches into my mouth when that hooty owl of Louis's flew in the door and perched on his shoulder and Louis said, "Wait, we have to pray now. We have a lot to pray about."

It was a warm, pleasant dream. I find the dreams I have right before I wake always are. I opened my eyes. From my bed I could see out the front windows that it was all gray and misty outside, so it had to be very early. Still, I heard voices from below on the verandah. I got out of bed and knelt by my window. There, below, were Johnnie and Viola, saying goodbye. He was all spiffed up in his cleaned and ironed uniform. She was in her blue silk morning wrapper.

He was leaving us today. Ordered to help defend Richmond. Their words were muffled in the misty air. Then they kissed, a long and agonizing kiss. Johnnie took the reins of his horse from the groom, mounted, and swiftly rode off down the drive. Viola stood there, one hand to her mouth, watching him go.

I thought how cruel love is. I thought how Mother and Father hated each other. How Teddy and Carol could have conducted their marriage by telegraph, for all the love that lay between them. Oh, there was physical attraction. I could see the yearning between them for that. I was old enough to know that my brother Teddy, besides being attractive to women, had manly strengths and needs, and vigor. And Carol was as a kitten in his arms. I knew he loved her. I sensed that she had already broken his heart, because he could not make her love him. And Teddy did not like losing disputes.

But these days his problem with Carol took a back seat to other concerns.

I know he wrote to Grandmother in Philadelphia, telling her to be prepared, one of these days, for the arrival of his sisters, his wife, and perhaps even the wife of his brother, Louis. That he was corresponding with the owners of warehouses in Augusta, Newnan, Griffin, and Macon, inquiring as to who had room for his goods.

He and Louis had already shipped their prized horses to a friend of Louis's in northern Maryland, a Yankee who had a horse farm there. My brothers had, in the last couple of years, purchased thoroughbreds from Savannah, with the intention of raising horses after the war.

And Teddy was still courting Theophile Roche. The Frenchman had been invited to supper a few times since December. Teddy was counting on him to keep the mill running at full capacity even when the Yankees came.

I had not seen Mr. Roche for many weeks, though Teddy spoke of him often. He came

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