Charlie nodded his appreciation to young Maguire. "Well, George, you look like a man who needs some sleep. Turn your responsibilities over to one of the other companies. Then you and your men turn in. We will be handing these three over to the civilian authorities. They are no longer soldiers and they will have to be charged by the local civilian government."
"Yes, Sir, right away." The young man stood and smiled at Rebecca. "Thank you for the hot coffee, Ma’am."
With a crisp salute he left the room, which remained quiet as everyone considered the new problems that had just arisen. Finally there was a small voice.
"Papa?"
"Yes, Em?"
She put her spoon down and looked at him very seriously. "Papa get da bad man?"
"No, honey. Captain Maguire got the bad men. Papa has to go and figure out what to do to punish them."
She climbed up into his lap and placed her hands on his cheeks. "Papa spank da bad man."
"No, honey. Papa will have to do something else. These men were too bad to just spank them."
Em settled herself back on his knee and picked up her spoon, her little brows coming together as she considered it. "Bewy bad man," she mumbled around another spoon of cereal.
--*--
Richard and Charlie, preoccupied with the fact that Davison and his men had been captured, hurriedly finished their breakfasts and departed to interview the criminals. This left Rebecca with a very distressed little girl.
"Mama Becca, Em good. Papa fowgot pwesents." Em’s face was a portrait of confused disappointment.
"Oh, sweetheart, Papa is very busy. He will give you your present later, I promise. How about this? Shall we go see what Papa brought back for the wedding?"
"Pwesents for wedding?"
Rebecca laughed and picked up the little girl. "Yes, in a sense. These are the things Mama Becca needs to have a proper wedding to Papa." Rebecca turned to Elizabeth. "Would you care to join us?"
The little girl settled happily in Rebecca’s arms. She was growing like a weed with the good food Sarah had been feeding her. Soon she would be too heavy for Rebecca to pick up easily and carry around. "Mama Becca? What is wedding?"
"Good question. I do wish I had an answer you would understand." She gave it further thought as she continued down the hall. "It is a party, Em."
"Good. Em likes pawties."
Elizabeth chuckled as the two women proceeded to the back parlor to examine Charlie’s acquisitions. Entering the room, they were confronted by a sizable pile of bundles, bags and boxes, all heaped rather haphazardly in the middle of the room. Rebecca immediately went to the bell pull and summoned Lizbet, Tess and Reg.
"It appears absolutely everything that Charlie brought back was just piled here. I do believe I will need at least one pot of tea to get through this Herculean effort." Elizabeth’s eyes were sparkling with laughter. Rebecca was a bit overwhelmed.
"It is not funny, Elizabeth," Rebecca chastised playfully as she placed Em on the floor and continued to stare at the pile. "You would think he could have labeled things a little better."
"My dear, this is Charlie –– the man who never shops. I think he has had Jocko do all of his shopping, except for the fittings of his clothes and boots, for years. We are fortunate he managed to get everything on your list, dear." Elizabeth was poking at the pile, shifting bags and examining boxes. "It will get much better once we get the cases of wine and kegs of brandy out of here."
Rebecca looked closer at the pile. "Good Lord, is Charlie planning on getting the entire county drunk?"
"Well, there is the gentlemen’s bachelor party the night before the wedding." Elizabeth smirked.
Rebecca stood up, giving Elizabeth a very serious look. "Oh, I had forgotten about that. Do you think Charlie will have such a thing?"
"I think Richard will probably insist. That man will take any opportunity to celebrate, and if he can do it at Charlie’s expense, well, so much the better, according to him."
"As long as Charlie is in proper condition for the wedding the next day, because if he is not I will take it off Richard's hide myself."
"My dear, please leave me some of that hide." Elizabeth continued to poke among the packages. "By the way, I believe Mrs. Carter said something about being a seamstress. Perhaps we should ask her to join us?" Just then, Lizbet, Tess, and Reg appeared at the door.
"You rang for us, Miss Rebecca?" Lizbet was in the lead. Tess immediately took charge of the youngster, who had disembarked from Rebecca’s arms and was using the pile of merchandise to play a small version of king of the mountain. Reg, fully aware of how much stuff was piled in the middle of the floor and fearing that he was about to be told to put most of the heavier stuff away, was trying to make himself invisible.
"Yes, we must sort through these things and determine what needs to be put away," Rebecca looked at the man standing quietly in the corner by the door. "Reg, I am sure you will see to that right away."
"Yes’m." Reg rolled his eyes as Rebecca turned away. He had hauled most of this stuff into the parlor from the wagon last night. Now he would have to haul it again. He already hurt.
"Tess, could you go find Mrs. Carter and ask her to join us? You can leave Em here with us." She turned to Elizabeth. "Thank you for reminding me. Mrs. Carter offered to assist in preparing for the wedding, as did several of the other women."
"And Lizbet, you know I will depend on you heavily in the coming weeks. So, please, consider yourself part of the wedding party. Dr. Walker needs some tea to get through this; perhaps you will bring enough for all of us –– and Lizbet, bring cups for you, Tess, and Reg."
Elizabeth looked at her friend. "Good thing Mrs. Williams is not part of this little wedding party. She would faint if she knew you let your servants drink tea with you."
"Remind me to tell her the next time I see her."
Elizabeth snorted as she picked up a package that was clearly a bolt of cloth.
"I think you may want to look at this." She handed Rebecca the package.
Rebecca opened the package and smiled at the contents. It was beautiful ivory semi-sheer voile that would be the outer shell of her wedding gown. "It is beautiful."
"Yes, dear, it is. What are you planning, if I may ask?"
"Mrs. Cooper had a lovely picture of a dress I thought would be appropriate. Mrs. Carter agreed, and said that she could make it for me fairly quickly. It has a simple underskirt of palest blue satin with a voile overskirt that is gathered to the waist over one hip. The bodice is more of the blue satin with ivory lace, with a scooped, off the shoulder neckline. There are lace rosettes around the skirt. Simple, elegant, and I love it."
Mrs. Carter entered as Elizabeth was describing the dress. "Ah, Mrs. Gaines. I see the supplies have come. Let us get them sorted out and we can begin cutting the pattern today."
Silently, Reg trudged in and out of the room, carrying cases of wine and kegs of brandy downstairs to the cellar.
--*--
Jocko knocked gently on the door of Esther White’s room. A soft voice bade him enter. "Good morning, Esther. Are you feeling any better, dear lady?"
"Good morning, John. Yes, I am. Thank you. Please come join me." She patted a place next to her on the small davenport.
"I, um, I wanted to check and see if Dr. Walker had taken care of you, if there were any problems." Jocko was nervous. What he really wanted to tell her was that Davison had been captured, but did not quite know how to do it.
"Yes. Dr. Walker and Mrs. Gaines have been very kind to me. I am feeling much better. I do believe I will make a full recovery." She paused, glancing down at her hands. "John, I am so sorry for the way I spoke to you when you first found me."