Free Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

tub. “What’s so hellishly important about Cole tending those men anyway? Surely other doctors are there to bandage up those men.”
    “There are other doctors,” Alaina conceded. “But it seems they were all in demand today.”
    Roberta sensed her cousin’s growing irascibility and changed the subject, though not adroitly. “You must have learned a lot about Captain Latimer.”
    “I hear the other doctors talking.”
    “You spy on them?” Roberta queried, leaning close.
    Alaina glared. “I do not! I’m just not deaf, that’s all! They don’t care who’s around to hear.”
    “Tell me more about Cole,” Roberta urged.
    “Cole?” Alaina looked at the other woman wonderingly.
    “Is he rich?” the older cousin questioned excitedly. “Real rich?”
    “How should I know?” Alaina snapped. “I only know that he can afford to pay me three dollars a week for cleaning his apartment, and he never seems to have a shortage of money.”
    “You didn’t tell me you cleaned his apartment!” Thoughtfully Roberta tucked her tongue in hercheek. “I bet Daddy doesn’t know about it either.”
    “I can ill afford to turn down three dollars for a few hours work,” Alaina said crisply. “And I see nothing wrong with it since Captain Latimer is not there when I am.”
    “You mean he trusts you in his apartment alone?”
    “And why not? I’ve never stolen a thing in my life!”
    “But he can’t be sure of that.”
    “He was confident enough to give me a key.”
    “A key? To Captain Latimer’s apartment?” Roberta’s interest rose with every passing second. “How do you manage to work all week at the hospital and then clean his apartment, too?”
    “I do it after work the nights he has duty. He doesn’t live far from the hospital, so I don’t have to go far out of my way.”
    “And where does the captain live?” Roberta sweetly inquired.
    Alaina looked at her suspiciously.
    Smiling pleasantly, Roberta warned, “If you don’t tell me, Lainie, I’ll inform Daddy you’re cleaning that Yankee’s apartment. I don’t think he’ll approve. He might not let you work there after he finds out.”
    “I don’t know what you have in mind, Roberta,” the younger girl snapped, “but I really don’t care. If you want Captain Latimer so much, take him.”
    “Where does he live?” Roberta questioned eagerly.
    Alaina shrugged. “Pontalba Apartments. Anything else you’ll have to find out from the good captain himself.”
    “You’re mean, Lainie,” Roberta pouted. “You always did like to tease me and be hateful about things. You’re getting just what you deserve for being so spiteful.”
    “Da’ ye say now?” Alaina retorted, affecting the Scottish burr of her father. “The truth ne’er hurt me nane, but ye’ll na be hearing more aboot his lordship from these here lips!”
    Roberta sulked for a long moment, but realizing even a fine pout would not impress her cousin, changed her tactics. “I’ll ask Captain Latimer when he comes.”
    “Comes?” Alaina straightened in the tub and grasped the linen cloth more firmly when it threatened to fall from her bosom. “You mean Captain Latimer—is coming—here—despite this evening?”
    Roberta was the epitome of angelic goodness now that her tirade was spent. “Didn’t I tell you, Lainie? He wrote that he’d try to make it next week if the invitation is still open.” Her voice took on an edge of command. “Now you be sure and tell him next Friday is just fine. Daddy said it would be.”
    Alaina wrinkled her nose as if she smelled something sour. “What do you see in that Yankee, anyway?”
    “Everything.” Roberta laughed gaily. “But most of all, a way out of this miserable hole!” She leaned forward, her dark eyes asparkle, and spoke as if she confided a deep, dark secret. “Did I tell you that he addressed the letter to me and signed it simply, ‘Cole’?” She hugged her knees and rocked in sheer joy.
    “Not until now,” Alaina