The Lieutenant's Promise (6 page)

Standing still for a moment, Em watched her family work. The last time they’d all done so was before Pa’s death, before Ma grew so big with Harvey in her belly that she couldn’t work.

Levi was like the Pied Piper, and they were his lemmings. If it kept her family this happy, she’d willingly follow him off any cliff.

“All around the cobbler’s house, the monkey chased the weasel…” Levi worked on, seeming oblivious to the change he’d wrought in her family.

The field was finished in what seemed like no time at all, except that the sun was high in the sky. Ma had gone inside earlier to put together some cold fried chicken and pickled beets, and Susie carried out a pitcher of cool water for everyone.

Levi unhitched the mule and led him to the water trough, then tied him in the shade while the others sat under a tree.

Em fanned her bonnet in front of her face, unable to keep her eyes off Levi. He looked so…ordinary wearing plain clothes rather than his uniform. She wouldn’t have thought herself to be one of those silly girls who swooned over a uniform, but perhaps she was.

Yet ordinary didn’t described how handsome he was. Even with his hair slicked back with sweat beneath Pa’s old straw hat, with lines of clean skin showing on his face where sweat had cleared a path, Levi was the best-looking man she knew.

He caught her watching him and offered her a smile. “What’s next?”

She blinked. “Next?” Had he been reading her thoughts?

“The next chore on our list.”

“Oh, of course.”

“I’ll be weeding the tomatoes, if you care to join me,” Tom said.

“Em will be taking the potatoes into town,” Maggie offered, grinning at Em and wrinkling her nose.

Grimacing back, Em said, “I’m certain Tom would appreciate your assistance, Lieutenant. We’ve had a bad infestation of worms on the tomatoes this year, so you’ll need to deal with those while you weed.”

Levi put his hat back on. “Should you make the trip alone?”

She sighed. “I do so several times a week during harvest. It’s perfectly safe.”

“It was safe before they ran the governor out of Jeff City, but times are different now. You know this as well as I do. I should accompany you, at least during the time we’re staying here.”

“It’s really not necessary.”

“It’s part of the reason we are here. Not necessarily the safety of your family, but to keep an eye out. Delivering crops into town is the perfect excuse for observing what’s happening in the area.”

Maggie grinned at Em and wrinkled her nose again, then hopped to her feet. “I’ll go put Harvey down for his nap now.”

She’d better hurry off. If it weren’t for Levi being there, Em would have given her a sound scolding.

~*~

Rocking side-to-side with the rumbling wagon on the rutted road, Levi couldn’t understand why Em could seem so friendly one moment, and so standoffish the next. She couldn’t object to having help on the farm. That meant she must dislike him, personally.

That suited him. He didn’t need anyone pining after him when he went into battle. Bad enough his mother and sisters were so afraid of him being killed. Em could save her worries for her brother.

He needed to pay attention to the reason he was in Wilson Creek. “Who’s the proprietor of the general store?”

“Mr. and Mrs. Harris own it.”

“Are they sympathetic with the southern states?”

She shrugged. “They never speak of it one way or the other. How can they? They can’t afford to lose the business of any of the families.”

“Everyone has an opinion, whether they say so or not. Watch their eyes, their mannerisms when the subject comes up. You said Mrs. Dutton discussed her sons while she was in the store.”

“Yes, with Mrs. Harris.”

“And how did Mrs. Harris react?”

“I wasn’t watching her for reaction. Her voice stayed as even as if they discussed what flower bulbs to plant in the fall.”

From the tone of her voice, Em was obviously still upset with him. She remained quiet the entire ride into town. She did give directions to the general store, and hopped down from the wagon before he could assist her.

When she unlatched the tailgate and reached for a bushel, he crowded her aside. “Please let me. What will your neighbors think if I let you carry these?”

Hands on her hips, she glared. “Maybe they’ll think we want to get the wagon unloaded and home before dark?”

“In that case, you go inside and conduct your business while I unload and we’ll be finished in no time.” He didn’t look to see if she rolled her eyes, or opened her mouth to argue, but lifted the bushel and walked away.

Em followed him inside. “I brought potatoes again, Mr. Harris.”

“Excellent, Miss Gilmore. I’ll be right with you.”

Pointing toward an open doorway in the back, Em showed Levi where to set the bushels. Within a few minutes, he had them all inside. He wandered about the small store while he waited. He was disappointed there were no other customers, but that would make his job too easy. When he’d circled the space, he ended up beside Em at the counter.

Mr. Harris looked up. “Well, now, Miss Gilmore, I don’t believe I’ve met your friend.”

“He’s my cousin—”

“I’m her beau‑” Levi said simultaneously without thinking. He bit his tongue as soon as he heard his words.

Em’s expression shot arrows of anger at him. She turned back to Mr. Harris. “Lieu‑Levi Lucas is my mother’s cousin from St. Louis. We…met a few years back and have been corresponding since.”

Mr. Harris lit up. “I see. Are we to expect a wedding soon?”

“No!” Em clenched her fists at her sides.

“We’ve agreed to wait until Tom comes home so he can take over the farm,” Levi said hurriedly, “ which will allow Miss Gilmore to return to St. Louis with me.”

Levi could see her arms shaking and he almost laughed. If she wanted to be contrary, he’d give her a run for her money.

“Wonderful! Will you be staying long, Mr. Lucas? I’d be relieved to know there was a man on that farm.”

Em chewed her lower lips but kept quiet.

Levi needed to be vague so Em didn’t have explanations to make when he returned to his company. “I can only stay a short time. I wanted to help with the harvest over the next few weeks, and getting the fall crops in the ground.”

Mr. Harris finished tallying in his book. “Did you need anything while you’re here?”

“No, thank you. We’d best be on our way.” She turned and marched out, leaving Levi to trail behind.

Levi climbed onto the wagon bench beside her, grateful he didn’t have to fight for the reins for a change. He wasn’t about to speak, knowing she was ready to explode after he’d called himself her beau.

“Why?” she finally asked.

He wasn’t about to play innocent. “It was the first thing that came to mind.”

“You couldn’t say you were Tom’s friend, or the new hired hand?”

“I suppose I could have, if those had come to mind.”

She made a noise somewhere between a growl and a squeal. “Do you realize what I’ll have to cope with when you leave? They’ll assume I was jilted, or that I sent you away, which would make me appear to be the most foolish girl in the county, seeing how few men there are of marriageable age nearby.”

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I did tell Mr. Harris we’d agreed to wait until Tom came home, so it’s reasonable for them to think I went back home to wait.”

“As long as they don’t see Tom in the meantime.”

That was something he’d forgotten. “At least Mrs. Harris wasn’t around to hear. It might not be as bad as you think. Mr. Harris will forget the discussion in no time.”

Now he wished he’d thought before speaking in the store. Or waited to let her answer the question. But he wasn’t a man who waited for others to take the lead. His superior officers had noticed that early on after he enlisted, and had promoted him quickly.

Em was like him in that way, first to step up when the need arose. He was used to taking orders, but she probably hadn’t since her father had died. All Levi’s efforts to be helpful likely had the opposite effect on her. “It must be difficult for you to have someone around who is used to running things. I imagine your hired hands never told you the best way to do something.”

She sighed. “Jasper had worked for us long enough before Pa died that I didn’t bother to tell him how to do things. Most of the time I didn’t need to tell him what to do. He knew the routine better than I did.”

“And now some stranger finds fault with everything you do.”

“Sure seems that way.” She plucked at her skirt. “Do you?”

“What? Find fault with you?”

“Yes.”

“No, not really. You take risks that worry me. You are smart, but sometimes I fear you aren’t considering how smart your opponent is.”

“Perhaps I don’t consider anyone my opponent.” She glanced up at him around the brim of her bonnet. “I’m not fighting any battles, unless you count the locusts and tomato worms. Mr. Harris will buy anything we produce, so there’s no race to be the first to harvest. We only need to gather the crop before it turns bad.”

“Times are changing, at least for now. We have no way of knowing whether General Price will make a stand somewhere or push on until he finds our camp. What we do know is he and Governor Jackson won’t sit back and allow anyone else to control Missouri. Right now, your farm lies between the two armies. You cannot be too cautious.”

What scared him the most was knowing when the rebels came through, all the smarts in the world wouldn’t help Em keep her family and farm safe.

CHAPTER SIX

A few days later, Levi woke at dawn as usual and went to the house for a cup of coffee. He found Em at the stove frying up some eggs and pork steaks. “Good morning,” he said. “What’s on the schedule for today?”

She dished the eggs onto several plates. “I’ll start weeding in the vegetable plots and see how much daylight I have left when I finish.”

“I think Tom and I should go south a ways and look for signs of Price’s men.”

Em paused in her work. “Do you think they’re coming soon?”

“I have no idea when they’ll come. I expected it before now, but my guess is they are gathering more men in Arkansas.”

“I thought Major Clanton sent men south of here to watch for the rebels.”

“He did. But he doesn’t expect Tom and me to sit on our tails and let Price get this close to Springfield. We want to catch them as far away as we can.”

“Do you plan to be gone long?”

He considered the distance they might need to cover, then nodded. “As far as I know, Major Clanton stationed men along the Wire Road. I think Tom and I’ll go southeast toward Nixa. We don’t know which route Price will take when he moves forward.”

“I’ll pack some food.”

Levi and Tom left an hour later. The morning was warm, the air not having cooled much overnight. They avoided the neighboring farms so as not to attract attention, following a narrow path through woods and rolling fields.

Whistling softly while he walked beside Levi, Tom went quiet for a bit before speaking. “Is there something between you and my sister? Something more than just flirting?”

Levi considered his words carefully. He couldn’t deny the attraction between them but didn’t want to worry Tom. “Nothing has been said between us. Besides, I seem to rub her the wrong way.”

“She’s at her happiest when she’s bossy. If you want her to like you, keep getting on her bad side.”

That made him chuckle. “I do that without even trying. Even if she were attracted to me, I couldn’t expect her to follow the army around for a few years. That’s no life for a woman.”

“You could get stationed somewhere where she’d be able to live.” Tom picked up a rock and tossed it down the path.

Levi had considered it one night while lying in his room in the barn. “What would she do all day? She’s used to being busy all the time.”

“I dunno. Take in mending? Sew baby clothes?”

Baby clothes. A family with Em. It was a nice dream, but for now, only a dream. “I can’t think about it until I can offer her more than simply being a lieutenant’s wife.”

Tom scratched the back of his neck. “Well then, you’d better not let her get the wrong impression. She hasn’t had a beau before, so she might make more of your attention.”

Had he been paying her the wrong kind of attention? He thought he’d been keeping his feelings inside. “I’ll do my best not to let her get hurt.”

~*~

A horse came up the drive the next morning while Em was hauling water to the tomatoes. Rufus ran barking toward the sound. Em rounded the house to find Walt Dutton dismounting. Hadn’t he gone to fight with General Price’s men? A wave of clammy chills washed over her. Why was he here? “What can we do for you, Walt?”

“I’m looking for Tom.”

“He’s not here.”

“He’s been gone awhile, and I ain’t seen him with the loyalists ‘round here. Where’s he gone?”

“He’s gone to school in Chicago,” she said, giving the lie they’d agreed upon when he enlisted.