The Soldier's Lady by Susanne Dietze

Author:Susanne Dietze [Dietze, Susanne; Foreman, Janette; Meyer, Gabrielle; Seilstad, Lorna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781643526072
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2020-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

The boards creaked beneath Adelina’s feet until she and the corporal stopped in front of a door. The young man opened it. “This is Colonel Scott’s office, miss. I’m sure he’d want you to make yourself at home. If you need anything, I’ll be standing guard outside.”

She entered, and the door shut behind her. Something turned in the lock, and her stomach clenched. He’d locked her in. Was she now a prisoner?

Wrapping her arms around her torso, she fought the tears pricking her eyes. What if the colonel sent her home before she even started?

She glanced around the room and found the office sparse. A desk sat front and center with a chair behind it and another smaller one in front of it. A large map covered one wall, and she stepped closer to survey the terrain of the surrounding region. Stick pins with tiny paper flags dotted various locations. There seemed to be no pattern to them.

On the officer’s desk sat a neat stack of papers in the right-hand corner. On the left, a stack of books stood like soldiers between two makeshift brick bookends. Among the titles were Cavalry Tactics, Colonel Mann’s Infantry and Cavalry Accoutrements, and Essays on the Theory and Practice of the Art of War. There was also a thick volume of William Shakespeare’s Henry VI. She picked up the tome and ran her hand along the embossed worn leather. She admired the colonel for reading her favorite author, but even this addressed war—the War of the Roses. Did the man think of nothing other than war?

She slid the book back in place. Could she use his fixation on war to her advantage when he returned? He was a soldier, so she needed to approach the situation logically and mount a good defense both for herself and for the young soldier. Perhaps she should suggest they got off on the wrong foot and they simply needed to start over. But would the commanding officer see that as retreating from a fight? Retreating, she had to admit, wasn’t her usual manner of dealing with any given situation. She tended to speak before thinking. Before the war, her mother had constantly reprimanded her for a lack of acceptable decorum in social situations. “Ladies,” her mother had often told her, “do not express opinions, no matter how well intentioned or well informed they might be.” But how could she defend herself and the young soldier without expressing her opinion?

Despite her repeated prayers for a meek and quiet spirit, her speech got her in trouble much more often than it should. She offered up a prayer for wisdom to know what to say when Colonel Scott arrived. She needed that quiet spirit and words that would not irritate or anger him further.

Drawing in a deep breath, she returned to her surveillance of his desk in hopes she could glean something from its contents that would aid her in their upcoming discussion. The inkwell, pen, and blotter in the center all appeared to be well used and was probably military issued.

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