Friends
It was almost unbearable for Cordia to know that Will was in town but that she could not see him. She realized she could have found an excuse to go over to the Adams Farm. But she also thought that she should give Julia some time to spend alone with her brother. Likewise, she had found out the day before how extremely difficult it was to be in the same room with Will and just pretend he was a simple acquaintance, the brother of a friend, the cousin of her lost love.
Instead, she spent the day with Susannah. Her friend had not been the same since her husband went off to war. Susannah had always been one to worry about every little thing, but now, she was sure that her husband had been killed or was going to be killed soon. Every day that went by without a letter from James brought more horrifying images to his wife. And it didn’t seem to matter how many times Cordia explained to her friend that the post moved very slowly these days, especially out of moving army camps, she still insisted that he was dead or dying. Needless to say, spending her time with Susannah was not something that Cordia enjoyed anymore, but it did give her something else to think about. And seeing the two boys run around and play in the yard, so carefree, gave her hope for the future. Still, she spent the whole day sulking, thinking about how unfair it was that Will was so close, and yet, she still could not even see him until dinner that evening.
Mrs. Adams had stopped by on her way to the market that morning to tell Jane that they were all happy to be invited to dinner and that they would be bringing one of her famous apple pies for dessert. They would be stopping by around 6:00. To Cordia, that seemed like a lifetime from now. Standing in Susannah’s kitchen, helping her fold linens and clean up after her two sons, she began to dream of what life would be like for her and Will someday, after this cruel war was over.
“So, was it hard for you, seeing his cousin and all?” Susannah was asking.
Cordia had, once again, not been listening. “Excuse me?” she asked.
Susannah was used to her friend’s ways. “Always lost in your thoughts, Cordy. Have you heard a word I have been saying?”
Now, Cordia really had not been listening for at least a half an hour, but she took a stab in the dark. “Of course. I know how much you are missing James,” she said.
Susannah nodded, and Cordia felt relieved that her guess was accurate. “But what about Will? I asked if it was difficult for you to see Jaris’s cousin and not miss him something awful.”
“Oh,” Cordia sighed. Pausing from the stack of tea towels she was folding, she looked down at them, studying the embroidery. It was so difficult for her not to be completely honest with Susannah. Since they were about five years old, they had shared every secret. Even when Susannah got married, she told Cordia exactly what to expect on her wedding night—something no one had ever even mentioned to her before, not even her own mother. Keeping a secret of this magnitude from Susannah was one of the hardest things Cordia ever had to do. But she also knew she couldn’t bear to tell Susannah the truth either. So, she thought about Jaris for a few minutes, trying to remember how sad she had been when she first heard that he had been wounded. “Yes,” she finally said, a few tears streaming out of her eyes. “It is difficult for me to see Will, but I am happy that he is home.”
“When is he going back?” she asked, wiping the dinner table off with a damp cloth.
Cordia thought for a moment. He hadn’t really said. If she had her way, he wasn’t going. But she could hardly say that. “He didn’t say,” she answered.
“Well, maybe while he’s in town, we can introduce him to Sally Canes. You know how awful it was for her not having a beau leaving when all the rest of us did. Too bad her mama’s such a good cook. She has such a lovely face.”
“I don’t think he will be in town long enough for anything like that,” Cordia replied. She glanced into the small living area of the house at the clock. Only two o’clock. How could she possibly last another four hours? And then, to make matters worse, Susannah started talking about how difficult it was going to be for her to find another husband after poor James died in battle.
Finally, at half past four, Cordia could take it no longer, and she went home to help her mother and Frieda prepare dinner for ten. As she walked the half mile to her house, she was thinking about various ways to get Will all to herself. She was hoping that no one would volunteer to help her change his bandage again; that was one way. Surely there must be something else that she could do.
She had to cross over a bridge that spanned a large fork of Muddy Creek and through a wooded area behind her house. Though Lamar was being settled fairly rapidly, the area right behind the Pike house had yet to be occupied, mostly because of the creek and the fear of flooding. Still, it was easier for Cordia to make her way from Susannah’s house through this little scenic area than to stick to the city streets. The little narrow footbridge that crossed the creek here was one of only four bridges that spanned this waterway that encircled the town from the northwest. There was one more just as narrow a few miles down the stream and then two that carriages could cross, one just west of town, one just to the north. Though Cordia didn’t think any raiders would try to invade Lamar soon, she often wondered, if they came from the direction of Kansas, which of these bridges they would choose. As she made her way gingerly across the creaking wood, she hoped it would not be this one. The raiders would end up directly in her own backyard.
As the two-story brick structure came into view atop a gently rolling hill, Cordia’s mind left the idea of war and marauders and again her mind returned to Will and the idea that perhaps, someday, they would have their own home and family, once this war was over.
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