Interloper
“Home. There was that word again,” Cordia thought as she heard Julia gush over Will being home. She was behind them now, walking more slowly. How difficult it would be to have him here and to pretend to everyone that they were just acquaintances, just friends. Yet, as she noticed Mrs. Adams coming out the front door to greet him, she knew she had no other choice. They all went inside, and she lingered in the yard a moment, trying to get herself together. It wouldn’t be the first time she denied the way she really felt. She guessed she could do it again.
Margaret was smiling and laughing, but it wasn’t the same as it had been before Jaris was killed. Now, her face seemed to have a gray tone to it. Even when she was truly amused, it never quite left her. She had gotten Will something to drink, and was trying to force food upon him, though he insisted he had eaten while he was making the trip from the train depot to the farm. He had walked the two miles, which seemed like nothing to him now, he was saying, having marched all over Southwest Missouri.
Julia was hanging on his every word. Now, she was asking questions about army life. He was explaining as best he could without getting into the more horrid details. Cordia stood over by the fireplace, just listening. Finally, Margaret said, “Cordia, don’t you want to sit down and join us?”
How long had she been standing there, she wondered. It hadn’t seemed that long, but they had been talking for a while. She had been studying Will’s face the whole time and not once did he even look in her direction. Now, he had stopped his story and was looking at her, too, waiting to see if she was going to oblige them.
Though part of her knew it would be easier to go home and not have to pretend, she could not bring herself to leave his presence just then. She went over and sat down in a chair beside Mrs. Adams, about as far away from him as she could possibly be. He continued his story without looking at her, which made her believe either he had lost feelings for her, or he was just incredibly good at acting like she was practically a stranger.
And then he was saying her name. She looked at him, questioningly. Apparently, she had not been listening. “What?” she asked. All three of them were looking at her.
“I said there were lots of men wounded much worse than me, ain’t that right, Cordia?”
“Oh,” she said, nodding. “Yes, that hospital was a horrible sight.”
He finished telling them about how he had been in the hospital until the end of September when they finally said he was well enough to go. Then, he told them how he had decided to come back to Lamar for a few days before going off to join the Union Army in Tennessee.
Cordia thought maybe Julia would protest, but she didn’t. She seemed to understand that it was his duty to go off and fight again. His aunt simply said, “Well, you be mighty careful.” Then, she excused herself back to the kitchen and some pies she had been starting to bake earlier.
Of course, Cordia wanted to protest—wanted to tell him she was never going to let him leave again. But she couldn’t exactly say that just now. Maybe she would get a chance to talk to him about it later. At that moment, she tried to concentrate on being happy he was there.
And then, a sort of a miracle happened, or at least it seemed like one to Cordia. “Julia,” Margaret was calling from the kitchen. “Could you come here for just a moment, please?”
Julia hopped up to go help her aunt. “I’m so glad you’re home, Will!” she said kissing his cheek as she bounded out of the room.
As she was leaving, Cordia was trying to think of exactly what she was going to say to Will in the few seconds she had. But before she could even open her mouth he said, “I wanna kiss you so bad, Cordia Pike.”
Her eyebrows went up with surprise. “What did you say?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said, smiling but looking away from her. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. Thought you might a lost a hand, though, having not heard from you.”
He looked a little ashamed. “I did write,” he finally said. “Just didn’t mail it.”
“Doesn’t do me much good then, does it?”
“Nope. But I’m here. For a while anyway.”
She nodded, not knowing what to say. Then, she heard Julia coming back into the room. Just before she came in, he slipped a folded piece of paper across to her. She grabbed it, wide-eyed—and shoved it into the only place she could think of in such a short amount of time—down her bodice.
At first, Will looked a little shocked. But then he began to chuckle. Cordia tried to look angry that he would laugh at such a thing. After all, what was she supposed to do with it? But, she ended up laughing, too. Of course, Julia wanted to know what was so funny, and neither one of them had an explanation. Eventually, she let it go and sat back down to hear more about Will’s experiences in the army.
“Well, I think I should probably be heading home,” Cordia said after a few more minutes. “I’m sure you want to spend some more time with your brother, and you don’t need me hanging around for that.”
“You don’t have to go,” Julia protested.
But Cordia couldn’t sit there across from him any longer and control herself. How she wanted to reach out and touch him, something she simply couldn’t do with Julia there. Then she had an idea. “You know, Will, my daddy has been itching to hear as much as he can about what it’s like being in the army. He would have enlisted himself if he wasn’t too old and too important to this town. Maybe you and Julia could come over after dinner and fill him in on your experiences?”
“That would be a lot of fun!” Julia exclaimed. “I haven’t left the house for so long.”
“All right,” Will agreed. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”
“Good,” Cordia said, smiling. “Then I will see you both around 7:00?” They both nodded. “All right, then.” She peered into the kitchen. “Goodbye, Mrs. Adams!”
The other woman shouted her goodbyes, and then Cordia turned and walked out the door, smiling. “I can’t believe Will Tucker is back in Lamar,” she said to herself as she climbed up into the carriage. “Now if I can only get him to stay.”
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