Megan’s elder sister Kathin was in the hidden loft above the Loren kitchen. The tiny room sizzled and stank with sweat.
"I’m sorry we couldn’t make you more comfortable," she said to the young Negro woman on the rumpled cot.
"‘S all right," the woman said. Her breath labored as she brought her infant to her breast.
"It won’t be much longer," Kathin said. "Our friends will move you to the next station as soon as they dare. I’d have put you in the cellar where it’s cooler, but we haven’t felt safe using that hidey-hole since the Governor’s warning that the Confederates might be moving north again."
"We fine," the young mother said tiredly. "See? He sleepin’ now. Don’t know it’s hot. You go ahead on."
"Rest well," Kathin whispered as she left.
The door at the foot of the steps opened at her slightest touch. The weight of the cupboard that concealed it swung it closed behind her. The kitchen felt cool after the swelter of the loft. Kathin heard a scuffling noise from the adjacent dining room and she grabbed a skillet. With the skillet raised above her head, she skirted the kitchen worktable and stepped through the doorway to the dining room ready to conk the groundhog that sometimes sneaked in through the cellar.
"Edwin!"
Edwin Amadeus Brown lounged at the dining table resplendent in Union blue with one booted foot on the table, the other extended toward her and serving as a hat-rack. The
pale blond waves flowing to his shoulders looked thinner than they had when he rode away in ’61. Other than that, he seemed little changed.
"Where the hell have you been woman? I’ve waited twenty minutes."
"In the necessary." Kathin lied knowing he would not have checked the outhouse. He preferred chamber pots emptied by others. "Why are you here?"
"I’m often in the neighborhood to escort supplies and recruits from Carlisle Barracks," he said. "The whores in town are most accommodating," he added with one brow cocked as if anticipating her reaction. When Kathin did not react, he kicked his hat up into his hands and muttered, "Only came by today because I’ve a couple local telltales in tow. A gentleman must guard his reputation," he said as he donned his hat then took a step toward her.
Kathin raised the skillet, her habitual fear of him diluted by his absence.
Edwin sniggered. "Is that anyway for a dutiful wife to greet her husband after two long years of war?" He wrenched the skillet from her hand then forced her into a rough embrace. Kathin pummeled his chest with her fists. He laughed and ground her breasts against him. "Keep it up kitten. You know I love it when you fight me."
Kathin went limp.
