The Sword (8 page)

She turned to go to the bedroom, when suddenly she heard the sound of horses. She quickly ran to the door, and despite the cold she threw it open.

Bordering their tiny yard were the parade grounds, and a troop was coming in—and then she saw Jeb! He swung out of his saddle, gave some orders, tossed the reins of his horse to one of the men, then hurried toward the house. Flora could see his blue eyes sparkling yards away. He bounded to her, swept her up, and swung her around. “How’s my very favorite girl? I’ve missed you so much! I bet you didn’t think I’d make it in time.”

“I wasn’t sure, but Ruby was positive.” She took his heavy overcoat.

Jeb kissed her lovingly and said, “I’m going to thaw out a little.” He went to the fireplace, holding his hands out to warm them.

“Did you see any Indians?” she asked as she hung his coat on the back of a cane-back chair to thaw out and dry.

“Not a one. I think they’re all hunkered down for the winter, which shows that they’re smarter than the 1st Cav. What’s been happening around here?”

“Nothing much. We’re going to have a good dinner tomorrow.”

“That sounds fine! I’m tired of eating stringy antelope.”

Flora scrunched her nose and made a sour face, thinking about eating stringy antelope. “That man Turley, the one so sweet on Ruby, brought her a turkey, so we’re going to have turkey and dressing with sweet potato pie.”

“My favorite!”

As he stood there warming his hands by the stove, Flora was aware of the strange feeling she had. She called it an expansion, but that didn’t adequately describe it. She just felt more alive, more energetic, so much happier with Jeb. When he came into the room or when she touched him, the love she felt for him seemed to grow
larger and larger. She went to him and took his rugged hands and held them to her cheeks. “You’re so cold.”

“My hands are grubby and dirty. Flora, you’re going to freeze yourself.”

“I don’t care.”

“One of the men asked me what it was like to be married. One of the younger fellows. He must have marriage on his mind.”

“What did you tell him, Jeb?”

“I told him it was like going to heaven here on earth.”

Flora laughed and lightly pulled his beard, something she often did. “Well, your supper may not exactly be heaven on earth. Ham and beans.”

“Better than antelope. Oh, I’m so glad to be home for Christmas with you, my best love! I got you a present, but you can’t have it until tomorrow morning.”

“I have presents for you, too, Jeb. So yes, let’s wait until tomorrow.”

He picked her up and squeezed her and said, “I’ll go clean up, and then I’ll eat. But I’ll hurry, because I’m ready to go to bed,” he added mischievously. “I haven’t slept with you for two weeks. In fact, I may skip supper.”

“You’ll do no such thing! Ruby tells me that if I don’t feed you a good supper when you get home, I’m headed straight for the pit. Or you are. Or someone is, anyway. No, I want you to eat, my darling. I’ll wait.” She smiled at him. “After all, I haven’t slept with my very own stove for two weeks, either, and I want you to be nice and full and happy when we go to bed.”

The next morning, Flora arose early. As she dressed, she could smell the sweet scent of burning oak. Jeb never seemed to get tired. Even after long patrols, he came back with boundless energy. Quickly she finished dressing and did her hair. She went in to find that he already had big hot fires made in the fireplace and also in the cooking stove.

“Can’t have too much fire after those snowy prairies,” he said.
He came over and kissed her. “When do I get my present?”

“Anytime you want it.”

“I want it now, then,” he said boyishly.

“I want mine first,” Flora said.

“All right.” He walked over to where he’d thrown his camp bag. He sorted through it and pulled out two packages, one larger than the other, wrapped in brown paper. “This one first.”

Flora took the larger of the two packages and tore it open. Inside she found a bolt of beautiful emerald green muslin with tiny white flowers.

“You look so pretty in that color. I know Ruby can make you a dress fine enough for a queen.”

“Oh Jeb, it’s perfect! Thank you so much, my darling.”

“Here’s the other present.” He handed her a small velvet box.

She opened it and found a necklace with a gold chain and a tiny cross of emeralds that matched the fabric perfectly. “Oh my goodness, Jeb, it’s absolutely beautiful! But however did you pay for this? It must have been a dear price, indeed.”

“No, you are the pearl of great price,” Jeb said, fastening the necklace around her neck. “And its beauty cannot compare to you, Flora, my dearest.” He kissed her tenderly.

Then she said excitedly, “I have two presents for you, Jeb.” She went back into the bedroom, came out with a box, and handed it to him. “I think you’ll like it. She watched as he opened the box and then laughed as his blue eyes lit up. “You didn’t expect that, did you?”

Jeb pulled out the golden spurs. One of the other officers had ordered them for Flora, so she had been able to keep them a secret from Jeb. “Now you can be the most dashing cavalier of all, riding around with your golden spurs. But promise when you wear them you’ll always think of me.”

“Flora, my girl, these are something!” Jeb rubbed the gold admiringly and said, “No one else can beat this finery. I’ll be strutting for sure.” He looked up at her with his ever-present boyish grin. “And who else would I think of but you? I think of you always, my dear.”

“I knew you’d like them, and they suit you, Jeb.”

“Thank you, thank you, Flora. So … where’s my other present?”

She rose and came to sit on his lap. “Well, I’m afraid that you can’t actually have that one until around August.”

Jeb stared at her for a moment. “What? What does that—in August? Are we going to have a baby? In August?”

“Yes, we are. Merry Christmas!” She watched him as he absorbed this, and she saw the intense pleasure come over his face. Flora had been a little worried about this, because though she and Jeb had always agreed that they wanted children, it was different when it became a reality.

But now Jeb’s blue eyes positively sparked, and he hugged her, hard. “Just what I wanted! You couldn’t have given me anything better! Think I’ll be a good papa?”

“You’ll be a wonderful father, just like you’re a wonderful husband,” she answered, rising to seat herself back in her own armchair.

Jeb, radiating energy as always, started walking the floor. He couldn’t hide his excitement, nor did he want to. He wasn’t a man who hid things like that. “The dragoons have a good carpenter. I’ll have him make us up a cradle and a crib and … and … some little tiny chairs and a table …”

Flora laughed. “It might be awhile before we’ll be needing all that, Jeb.”

Then Ruby came down the ladder that led up to the attic, yawning.

Jeb said in his booming voice, “Ruby, guess what? Me and Miss Flora are going to have a baby around August.”

“Well, ain’t dat fine.” Ruby grinned. “You wants it to be a boy or a girl?”

“Either. Or both would be just fine with me.” He winked and laughed. “I don’t care as long as it’s healthy and strong. You ought to get married and have a bunch of babies, Ruby.”

“I ain’t studyin’ about any of that foolishness now. I’ll be busy helpin’ Miss Flora to take care of your baby, Mr. Jeb.”

“That’s real good, Ruby. Miss Flora and I need you. That reminds me. I have a present for you, Ruby,” Jeb said. “It’s a surprise.” He went back to his bag and pulled out another package and said, “I’ll bet you’ll like this one.”

Ruby opened the package, stared up at Jeb openmouthed, and said, “Dis is the finest bonnet I ever saw in my livin’ life, Mr. Jeb.” It was a black silk hat trimmed with dangling jet beads and an enormous bunch of cherries.

“I’ve got something for you, too, Ruby,” Flora said. She went to a small table with a drawer and pulled out a package. She handed it to Ruby.

She opened it with obvious anticipation. “It’s a ring! Ain’t it pretty? And it’s gold just like my tooth.”

Jeb slid an arm around Flora’s waist. “I hope you like your presents, Ruby.”

“Why, a woman would have to be crazy to not like dis bonnet and dis here ring. Jest wait till Miss Alma Strong sees me. I’ll put one in her eye, I will. Now you two set back and lemme get dis turkey going. We’re going to have the bestest meal you ever had, Mr. Jeb Stuart, and you, too, Miss Flora, to go with the bestest Christmas I ever had.”

“Me, too,” Jeb said to Flora. “The best I ever had.”

That winter passed happily for the Stuarts. As Jeb had said, there were no reports of troublesome Indians at all. They had indeed gone into winter quarters.

Flora, as tiny as she was, began very soon to show. By early spring she had already gained so much baby weight she had to be very careful about doing any energetic housework or even taking long walks. She encouraged Jeb, however, to get out and ride around and visit with his men as often as possible.

He was not a homey kind of man. After he found out Flora was pregnant, he hung around the house most of the time, but Flora was reminded of a caged lion. He paced, he fidgeted, he
made unneeded repairs on the cottage just so he could hammer something and make noise.

Finally she persuaded him that he needed to ride the horses to keep them in good condition, he needed exercise, and he needed to be with the new 1st Cavalry as they were still a regiment in training. With ill-disguised relief, he started riding, some for pleasure and some patrolling, scouting around the countryside, learning the ground and the territory.

And soon he was called to his grim duty again. The 1st Cavalry got news from the frontier that the Cheyenne were raiding wagon trains, and in May they rode out to hunt them down.

It was a fine spring morning, even on the dreary plains of the border of Kansas Territory. The 1st Cavalry had been following a number of Cheyenne for nine days, their scouts finding clear tracks but always days old.

Jeb rode with two of his longtime friends who had joined the 1st Cavalry, along with Jeb, back in St. Louis: Pat Stanley and Lunsford Lomax. Their commanding officer was Colonel Edmund Sumner, and the men respected him as a good soldier and officer. Still, the men were restless, for they had thought they would find the renegade Indians before now.

“We’ll find ’em,” Jeb said confidently.

“How do you know?” Stanley asked.

“Because if we don’t chase them down, if they’ve got any grit at all, I’d imagine they’ll find us,” he answered.

Two days later his words proved prophetic. They had come into a small bowl of the prairie surrounded on three sides by small, smooth hills. That afternoon they stared into the west and saw three hundred Cheyenne warriors lined along one of them.

Colonel Sumner immediately shouted orders for battle formation, and the straggling column quickly formed up as the Cheyenne, screaming bloodily, started riding down the little hill. Jeb fully expected Colonel Sumner to order a carbine volley—Jeb
had already started pulling his rifle out of the sheath—when the commander thundered, “1st Cavalry! Draw sabers! Charge!”

The men, sabers glinting like steely death in the dying red sun, charged, screaming and yelling furiously. The line of Cheyenne riding toward them wavered, slowed … and then they turned and fled.