All is Fair in Love and War

Chapter 15

Seline knocked on the door to her father’s study and was bidden to enter. When she went in she was shocked. Her usually neat and well put together father was disheveled. His jacket was thrown over the chair, his waistcoat was unbuttoned, and his shirt was half unbuttoned. His usually neatly combed hair was almost standing straight up as if he had been trying to pull it out. He had a bottle of the bourbon that his friend Dr. Misner gave him for his birthday. A large tumbler was in one hand and the other hand had a pen. He appeared to be writing a note. Seline did not take a look at the note, but she knew that, he too, was up to something.

Seline sat in the same chair that she sat in earlier when she and her father met with Mr. Dells.

“Papa. I have an idea, but I need both your help and your blessing.” Seline’s father looked at her. He was a mess, but not quite as drunk as he may have seemed. Still she knew that he may be a bit more influenceable after having had so much to drink.

“What is this idea?” He put down the glass and the pen and sat back in his chair. She knew that her father would hear her out.

An hour later, after she had gone over the entire plan twice with her father and assured him that she could pull off her part, her father finally agreed. He told her to go upstairs and to get her two younger sisters. They needed to hurry.

Seline hurried upstairs and told Alice and Alene to grab their cloaks and riding things and hurry down to the kitchen right away. Ten minutes later, the four of them met in the kitchen. Rose had gone to bed early with a headache, and Mama was with Heather and Henni in the ladies' study working on the dress and other wedding items. With a quick wave for the girls to follow him Papa went out the door and to the stables where there were 4 horses saddled and waiting. Each one grabbed the reins of their horse and led it out into the yard.

“Where are we going this late Papa? Is there an emergency?” Alice said to her father as she checked her girth.

“Yes, and No. We must go quickly. We have a lot to do tonight.” With that he mounted his horse and started up the drive to the road. Seline was right behind him and the two younger girls mounted their horses and followed quickly behind. They trotted their horses at as quick a pace as the night would allow to the Evans farm. When they got there, Papa told the girls to stay on their horses and dismounted and went to knock on the door. Mr. Evans must have been up because he answered the door before Papa could even knock. “Harris, I don't have much time. I need to discuss something with you right now. Can we talk privately?” Harris nodded and motioned for Papa to follow him in the house. With a quick look at the girls sitting on their horses, he closed the door. The two men were in there for a short time. When they came out again it was with a bleary eyed Zeb in tow. He took a quick look at the girls and then turned and ran off toward the barn. Both men shook hands and embraced.

“I am very glad that we were able to work this out.” Papa turned away and mounted his horse. “We will see you tomorrow. We will be over after breakfast so I can explain to Ingrid.” Harris nodded again and waved to the girls then went back into the house. Papa pointed his horse toward the drive and started walking. “Aren’t we waiting for Zeb?” Alice asked.

Papa looked back and said “We will see him later.” and then he kept riding. The two girls looked at each other confused and followed behind. They rode on for quite a while. Just outside of town, they took a detour off the main road and stopped at a tiny cottage. Papa, once again, told the girls to wait on their horses. This time when he knocked on the door pastor Oliver came to the door. It was now very late. The girls were getting very tired, and the whole ride no one had said a word. As they sat next to each other on their horses, the twins reached out and held hands. Seline wrapped her cloak closer as the night air was growing chilly. Pastor Oliver looked very confused but let Papa in. They were in the house for a short time, and then both came back out. Papa walked to Alice and grabbed her reins. “Alice Pastor Oliver needs to ride Holly. You can ride with Alene. Papa helped Alice up behind Alene and Pastor Oliver got on Alice’s horse. Papa once again led the way. Pastor Oliver rode beside him. The two men chatted quietly while the girls rode single file behind them. All they could hear was their faint voices and the sounds of the cicadas in the evening air, sometimes the occasional owl hooted. They were on the other side of town now, and the girls were all cold and tired. The twins were also softly whispering to each other. Neither had any idea about why they were out here, or why they had gotten the pastor out of bed and were bringing him with them. Alene was sure that someone was sick and on their death bed. Alice thought that they need the pastor to remove a ghost. Their fanciful postulations were not even close, but Seline knew that they were almost there, and the girls would have their answer.

Soon they could see campfires through the trees. As they followed the road out of the trees, they came out to the encampment for the men who were heading off to training camp in the morning. These were the men that were going off to war.

As they came into the firelight, two soldiers ran up to Papa and asked him what they were doing there in the middle of the night.

“We are here to see Will Evans.”