Love Held Captive by Shelley Shepard Gray

Author:Shelley Shepard Gray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2017-09-08T04:00:00+00:00

19

Johnson’s Island,

Ohio Confederate States of America Officers’ POW Camp

Ethan could practically feel Thomas Baker’s intense gaze. Stretching his legs out on his cot, Ethan tried to ignore the younger man’s fixation on the letter he held in his hand. After all, this wasn’t anything new. Thomas was alone in the world and had yet to receive a letter from a loved one. Consequently, he ate up everyone else’s news from home like a starving man being given a Virginia ham.

But that didn’t mean Ethan was always in favor of sharing his mail with him. Some news was meant to be private. Such as letters like this. Letters from Faye.

Wanting to draw out the anticipation of it, he ran a finger along Faye’s perfect handwriting. One day she was going to be Mrs. Ethan Kelly. One day he wouldn’t have to wait months and months to talk to her. He’d simply be able to roll over and pull her into his arms.

Thomas groaned. “You’ve been staring at that envelope for fifteen minutes, Ethan. When are you ever going to open it?”

Tearing his gaze from the letter, he glared over his shoulder at Thomas. “Whenever I feel like it. No offense, but it has my name on the envelope. Not yours.”

A flash of pain appeared in Thomas’s eyes before he spoke. “Yeah, all right. But at least answer me this. What are you waiting for?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh.”

Two cots over, Phillip Markham chuckled softly. “Guess he’s in a selfish mood today, Baker. Want me to read you part of my letter from Miranda? They had a fierce storm in Galveston last month. She described it in detail.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass, Lieutenant. While I’m sure Mrs. Markham’s account is real exciting, we had our own storm here yesterday.”

Phillip laughed. “You have a point there.”

“I’ll read you part of my letter, Baker,” Devin said. “My cousin has a new baby.”

“Thanks, Cap.”

Behind him, Ethan could hear Thomas walk over to Devin’s side. Seconds later, Devin was reading him a passage of his letter. It was obvious most of the men were listening too.

And that gave him the small amount of privacy he craved so badly.

Smoothing the envelope again, Ethan forced himself to wait another two minutes. Faye didn’t write all that often. It was likely he wouldn’t receive another letter from her for several weeks. He hated to rush it.

Which privately embarrassed him. Never would he have thought he’d be the type of man who put so much emphasis on a single letter.

Though it wasn’t especially constructive, sometimes he couldn’t help but reflect on where he’d been. He’d grown up a gentleman of privilege. His family had gained thousands of acres of land back when Texas was still a republic. His ancestors had nurtured their investment and tripled their wealth.

Consequently, before Texas entered the War of Northern Aggression, he’d lived a rather narrow and spoiled life. He’d had more servants than he could count to see to his every need. He’d been surrounded by beauty and comfort and had eaten well.

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