Obedience
The next morning at breakfast, Cordia’s mother wanted to know if everything was okay between herself and Carey. Though it seemed like a prime opportunity to completely enlighten her mother, Cordia did not do so. She simply replied that nothing had changed between herself and Lt. Adams; their relationship was just as it had always been. Jane took this as good news and finished the meal with a smile on her face.
As soon as the post office had opened that morning, Cordia had been there, letter in hand, ready to inform Will of everything that had transpired. “Good morning, Mr. Wheeler. How are you this morning?”
The older man smiled at her, his spectacles sliding down his nose. “Just fine now, my dear. Long as this sun don’t burn me alive!”
It was intolerably hot outside again already, and Cordia completely understood the sentiment. “Yes, I am certainly looking forward to some nice fall weather! Mr. Wheeler, I need to get this letter out right away, if you don’t mind, sir,” she said handing over the letter she had penned to Will just the night before.
“Yes, Miss,” he replied, taking it from her and checking the postage. “It’ll go out this afternoon. It was lots easier to get mail to Grant’s folks when they weren’t movin’ around so much. Now that Vicksburg has fallen, well, might be a little tougher,” he added, glancing down at the recipient.
“Yes, sir. Thank you, kindly,” she said, nodding and smiling at the sweet older gentleman. She briskly made her way out the door and back toward home. Though she had considered going to call on Susannah, she decided not to. The last thing she felt like doing was discussing her wedding plans.
Just as Cordia turned the corner, the door to the post office flew open again. Mr. Wheeler looked up, and realizing who it was said, “Oh, you just missed your fiancée!”
Carey nodded, surveying the room to see who else might be present. One customer was turning to exit, and he knew he would have the opportunity to rather candidly discuss with Mr. Wheeler why he had come. “Yes, I know,” he replied. “May I ask what my love was doing here so early on a Thursday morning?”
Mr. Wheeler chuckled. “Same thing most people do here, mailing a letter.”
Carey wasn’t amused. “Yes, I sort of inferred that. Can you please tell me who the recipient is?”
Mr. Wheeler looked a bit confused but saw no reason to withhold the information. “She writes to her friend Julia’s brother quite often, Will Tucker. You know ’m, Jaris’s other cousin.”
Of course, Carey knew precisely whom he was speaking of. He had watched Cordia go in and out of the post office dozens of times while he was drilling on the adjoining square. Being a suspicious man by nature, and an incredibly jealous one, he realized he needed to get his hands on that letter. “Mr. Wheeler,” he said, leaning in and lowering his voice to just above a whisper. “I am going to need to confiscate that letter and any other letters that Ms. Pike may attempt to send to Mr. Tucker. I have reason to believe that the safety of the town may be at stake.”
Mr. Wheeler’s eyes widened. “Due to Miss Cordia Pike? Your fiancée? You don’t say?”
Carey’s patience was waning. “Dammit, Wheeler,” he spat, banging his hand against the counter. “Do not ask me to disclose confidential military information. It is vital that you follow my directives. Otherwise, I don’t want to think about the possibilities. Please, do not jeopardize the safety of our citizenry!”
Stunned, Wheeler handed the letter over to Carey, his eyes frozen open in astonishment. Carey took the letter and slipped it into his shirt breast pocket. “Thank you,” he said gruffly. “I will be back weekly to check for more correspondence. Be sure to collect all of them; do you understand?” The old man nodded obediently. “Very good.”
Carey turned to leave, the letter burning a hole in his pocket. Just as he reached the door, he turned back to face the postmaster who still had not moved. “And, Wheeler,” he added, “this information is highly confidential. Do not disclose the matters of this conversation to anyone. Understand?”
Mr. Wheeler nodded his head again as Carey flew out the door, practically running into his Aunt Margaret in the process. “Oh, Carey!” she said smiling. “How are you?”
Carey was extremely disgruntled at finding out that Cordia had been corresponding with Will and in a hurry to read the letter. The last thing he wanted to do was exchange pleasantries with his aunt. Nevertheless, he had a reputation to uphold, so he took a deep breath, plastered a winning smile on his face and declared, “Aunt Margaret! How lovely to see you!”
“Yes, you as well. I was just about to drop a letter to Will. I mentioned you in it!” she teased.
This had Carey’s attention. “Oh? How’s that?” he asked.
“Yes, I let him know all about how you and Cordia are engaged. He’ll be so happy for you both, I’m sure. Cordia’s become such a good friend to Julia these past years. It’s a shame she can’t come and visit, what with Julia’s illness flaring up. Hopefully the cooler weather this fall will improve her disposition.”
Carey had stopped listening after the first sentence, a broad smile brightening his face. “Oh, yes, lovely,” he exclaimed, hoping that his response fit his aunt’s entire comment and not just the first portion. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to the troops.”
Margaret was a bit puzzled, not exactly sure what Carey thought was “lovely,” but she nodded. “Have a pleasant day!” she called after him as he made his way back toward the men he commanded.
Carey chuckled quietly to himself. Not only was he holding the only potential cry for help his betrothed could possibly hope to muster, his aunt had taken care of sending word to his possible rival that Miss Pike was no longer on the market. Though he was still curious to read Cordia’s letter and see precisely what was going on between the two of them, he was assured that, once Will received his aunt’s letter, it would no longer matter.
He had a feeling that Cordia’s letter would leave him a bit nauseated, however, and after reading through it quickly and finding his suspicions were true, he crumpled it in his fist. He had not quite reached the soldiers he had left drilling on the square, and as much as he wanted to rip the paper into tiny pieces, he had no way of disposing of them just now. He shoved the document back into his pocket, planning to watch it burn in his wood stove later that evening.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
