Suspicion
Will had seen the militia out making patrol rounds as he made his way toward the Adams Farm. They had not seen him or else he would have probably been interrogated and would have had to lie so as not to tell them where he had been. He finally made it back to the barn to tie up the horse, relieved to see that there were no lamps lit in the house. He snuck in the back door and made his way to the makeshift bedroom he had been sleeping in. However, as he crossed the kitchen, he saw Julia sitting up in her bed in the room beyond. He sighed, and she stood up to follow him into his room.
“Well?” she asked, closing the door behind her.
“Well, what?” he asked, taking off his hat and coat and throwing them over the back of a chair.
“Aren’t you going to tell me where you’ve been?” she asked a bit too noisily.
“Not so loud!” he said, sitting down on the cot and taking off his boots. “Why do you care where I’ve been?” he asked, as any older brother would. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”
She crossed over to stand in front of him. “Will, how do I know you didn’t just ride off to set the courthouse on fire?”
He couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Why would I do that?” He looked at her and could see by her expression that she was seriously concerned. “I was just out for a ride,” he finally said.
She did not accept his explanation. “Why would anyone get out of a warm bed and go for a ride at 1:30 in the morning when they are supposed to be on a train in a few hours?” she asked.
“Julia,” he said, plopping himself back to lie on the bed. “I wasn’t tired. I went for a ride. Now I am tired. Please stop asking me questions, and let’s get some sleep.” He closed his eyes, hoping that she would acquiesce and leave the room, but she didn’t budge.
Instead, she pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down. He opened his eyes and could tell by the solemn expression on her face that something was truly bothering her. Finally, she spoke, “Will, I was standing behind the door when you and Cordia were in the cellar. I heard what Cordia said to you. I know where you went. I just don’t know why.”
He sat up then, shocked to know she had been eavesdropping without him realizing it. “You heard that?” he asked.
She nodded her head. “How could you do something like that to Jaris?” she inquired. “How could Cordia? I just can’t believe you would betray your own cousin by sneaking off with the woman he loved.”
Will shook his head. He had been doing everything he could to avoid this conversation, but now here it was. How was he going to make Julia understand that he wasn’t just fooling around with Cordia? “Jules, it’s not what you think,” he began.
But she wasn’t finished. “Can you imagine if it would have been Aunt Margaret who overheard that, or Uncle Arthur? Even Jane or Isaac? They would have likely shot the both of you! How could this have happened in such a short amount of time? You’ve only been back a couple days, and you didn’t even see Cordia that much.” She was shaking her head slowly back and forth, bewildered.
“It didn’t,” he began again. “It didn’t happen in a couple days. I mean, not that it took long to happen when it did,” he said, thinking back to how quickly it seemed he had given his heart to Cordia. “Julia, you don’t understand. And I’m not sure if this will make it better for you or worse, but I fell in love with Cordia before I even left. And she was in love with me then, too.”
“What?” Julia gasped. “She was in love with you before you left for the war? But what about Jaris? She was engaged to be married!”
“I know, I know,” he tried to explain. “But Julia, she didn’t love Jaris. I mean, she loved him—they were the best of friends—but she wasn’t in love with him.”
“Why didn’t she just say ‘no’ when he asked her to marry him?” Julia said, folding her arms across her chest.
“It’s complicated. Their families expected it. She felt trapped.” Will wasn’t sure that Julia was mature enough to understand the situation, but he was hopeful she had read enough romance books to comprehend.
“Well,” Julia began, “I can’t believe I am about to ask this about someone I thought of as my very best friend, but was she hoping he would die?”
Will gasped. “Of course not!” he proclaimed. “No, not at all. She was planning on telling him after the war, before the wedding, but she didn’t want to send him off to fight all demoralized. She didn’t want to marry him even before she met me. But then, when we met, well, we kind of just fell in love.” He stared intently at his sister’s face. She seemed to be a little bit more accepting of what he was saying than she had been before. “We were writing each other—well, she was writing me, and I was writing back but not sending the letters for one reason or another—but Jaris didn’t know. He had no idea. Of course, I felt bad about it, but I also understood her reasoning. I can’t imagine what it would be like out there fighting and finding out that your girl doesn’t really love you after all. But Julia, you’ve got to believe me. I love Cordia, and she loves me. We got engaged tonight. I’d like to shout it from the mountaintops, but we’ve got to consider everyone else’s feelings. And we are. No one else knows. Please, just try to understand.”
Julia listened without saying a word. When he was finished, she still sat and looked at him for a few minutes before she finally spoke. “It’s just...” she began, “it’s just a little hard to grasp.” He studied her face for a few moments, seeing her work over everything he had disclosed. Finally, giving a small smile, she reached over and hugged him. “I guess, the most important thing to realize is that my big brother is engaged to be married. Congratulations!”
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