Part 24 (1/2)
All of that would happen if she didn't keep Will safe.
Swallowing, she somehow felt that the liveryman was a better listener than Mrs. Jacobs. ”I know. I'm sorry to put you in such a predicament, but I'm so worried about the General.”
He nodded. ”I can understand why. It would be mighty hard on me to wait as a loved one went off to war.”
”I promise I'll stay in safe places.” She lied. ”I-I just want to ensure he stays out of danger.”
Combing a few thin gray strands of hair over his head, the liveryman nodded. ”Mayhap I should go with you.”
She shook her head and clutched at the man's s.h.i.+rtsleeve. ”Please, don't trouble yourself. Plus, if Will doesn't see you, then I won't tell him you helped me. He'll never know.”
”Oh, my lady, I don't care about that. And I don't care about the man's wrath, if he has such a temperament. But I do understand love. Please don't be reckless.”
At that Erva couldn't hold back and hugged the small man in a tight hold.
Within a few minutes she sat upon a white horse with amazing blue eyes that the liveryman-Amos, she finally found out his name-had said was deaf. She didn't trust herself to sit sidesaddle, so she sat astride the beast, first making sure her petticoats were under her. G.o.d, she might have to invent panties, knowing how useful they could be when riding a horse.
Finally she was off, trotting through the cobblestone streets, trying to remember her way to the pier. Well, even if she forgot entirely, she did have the noise from the Royal Navy, continually firing off cannons every few minutes. After a little time alone with the horse, she got it to cantor, while she tried to remember how Will had used his hips to ride more comfortably with the horse's stride. G.o.d, she wished she could be with him now. Fear p.r.i.c.ked her skin, making her feel feverish and as if she might cry at any moment.
Down at the docks there were lines of soldiers, horses everywhere, and the huge sailboats, the Man of Wars, slicing through the water aiming at Manhattan. The smell of the sea mixed with gunpowder a.s.saulted her nostrils, making her blink. The pier itself was not much other than a few docks, where not a boat was tethered. The sandy beach that surrounded the wooden planks glowed gold, and might have been a serene scene, if it weren't for the red-clad soldiers, preparing for war, on the rocky soil. On Manhattan, across the mighty Hudson River, smoke spiraled to the blue sky, and Erva saw lines of redcoats on the island as well. Too many lobsterbacks to make heads or tails who was whom. She tried peering into the crowd of men around her, all seeming to be hot, and many now openly gawking at her. She supposed she did look a sight in her all white dress, white horse, and her hair hanging over her shoulder, without even a hat. She hadn't thought of wearing gloves, she'd been too much in a hurry.
G.o.d, how could she find Will in all this?
”My lady?”
Erva faintly heard a shy, female voice call out.
”Lady Ferguson?”
She finally spotted a pretty blonde waving and walking toward her in a rush.
”You are the Lady Ferguson, je?”
The woman's German accent was now noticeable. Erva nodded.
In a light blue dress and matching hat, the woman curtsied, while Erva kept staring down at her from her horse's height.
”I am Friederike Riedesel. My husband-”
”Mrs. Riedesel?” Erva interrupted, because she knew who she was. Friederike was the wife of one of the most brilliant Hessian officers to come to the continent for the war. And she went everywhere with her husband, including their children.
”Je, that is my name. Has your man spoken of my husband? By the by, I know of the announcement and congratulations on your wedding with General Hill.”
”Thank you,” was all Erva could think of to say. She was breathless because she couldn't believe she was meeting a woman who'd kept a pristine diary of her doings here during the war. It was thanks to the woman before her that many historians knew so much of what life was like for the Hessians as well as camp followers. But also whirling around in Erva's mind was the fact that everyone seemed to know from some announcement that she was getting married to Will. It was making Twitter look slow. However, more than anything she wanted Will beside her. Her fear of what might be happening was overcoming her.
Friederike reached up a hand to Erva. ”I am very pleased to meet you.”
”Likewise,” Erva said while shaking the hand offered. ”You haven't happened to see General Hill, have you?”
”This morning, before the battle, je.” Friederike smiled shyly as she took back her hand, placing it over her heart. ”He seemed most happy.”
Erva felt her cheeks begin to burn, although she was already warm from the early fall sun. But she pressed on. ”You wouldn't happen to know how I could find him in all this, would you?”
Friederike's grin widened. ”You worry over him already? How sweet.”
Erva forced herself not to roll her eyes, but just nodded.
”Well, my lady, I'm sorry to say, that he will be most hard to find in the midst of this. You will have to wait. Wait with me. My children are at our home, and I have no one to talk to.”
Erva didn't think she could merely wait, but if she sat then she could think of a plan to cross the river that lay between her and Will in the meantime.
After ensuring the white horse to a safe stable, Friederike showed her to an open tent, where under it a dark wood table sat with four matching chairs. On the table was an a.s.sortment of late fall fruits-apples and some berries. Cheese and some kind of crusty bread were close by too.
”Eat, my lady.”
Erva looked at Friederike who seemed to be wincing.
”My English is not so good. I'm sorry.”
Erva smiled as she sat opposite the pretty lady. ”Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut.”
Friederike perked up, her eyes wide, and she clutched over her heart. ”You speak my language?”
”Only a little. I'm sorry.”
Friederike's blue eyes glistened with sudden tears. She blinked rapidly and clutched her handkerchief to face. ”I'm so sorry, my lady, for my outburst. But I've been so lonely for a woman friend. And here you are, not only are you marrying a man my husband highly respects, but you speak my language.”
Erva wished she could say how nice it would be to become her friend. But she couldn't have Will stay in the war another moment. Still, she had to say something.
”Ich fhle mich sehr geehrt,” Erva said, relaying she was honored.
Friederike waved her kerchief in the air as she silently wiped at her tears. ”I'm very happy now.”
”Me too.”
”Will you eat with me then? I know it is much past the lunch hour, but I couldn't eat earlier. Too worried. Now that the battle seems to be pa.s.sing, I think I can eat. You?”
Erva glanced at the sun in the sky. It was the afternoon. G.o.d, she'd slept for hours then, and trying to find Will hadn't been a piece of cake, taking much longer than she'd wanted it to. It must have been around two in the afternoon. She should be hungry, but she touched her belly, feeling uneasy.
”I would love to eat, but I'm so nervous. Do you get nervous for your husband in...?” Erva gestured toward the sound of the cannons and the occasional far-off musket shot.
”Oh, yes. I get nervous every time. I was much more nervous when I was first married, I remember.” Friederike leaned forward conspiratorially. ”I know I should not ask, but I was most nervous when I was with child. Could that be why the lady refuses to eat?”
Erva knew she truly blushed then, and shook her head. ”I-no, I'm not.”
Friederike's smile s.h.i.+mmered with mischief. ”It is none of my business anyway. But I do like babies.”
More as a gesture to rea.s.sure her host that she wasn't pregnant, Erva picked up an apple and ate it while thinking of how to cross the Hudson. For the next hour or so Erva went out of her mind as she listened to Friederike gossip about some of the British officers' mistresses, then confide how much she'd wanted a friend, as she kept circling around the subject of having children.
Finally, Erva was thinking of swimming across the Hudson-hey, it wasn't nearly as polluted as it would be in two hundred years-when she heard her name called out again. This time by a deep voice she recognized.