Free Home of the Brave by Jeffry Hepple

of his hand. “Annabelle, James and I can find another
place to see each other.” He turned to look into Marina’s eyes.
“You don’t think…”
    “I don’t care,” she said in
a scoffing tone. “But if you’re going to have a seat in Andy
Jackson’s cabinet it would be prudent to avoid any breath of
scandal.”
    Yank started to answer but
saw Thomas who was shaking his head in warning and nodded
instead.

December 31,
1828
    Washington, District of
Columbia
     
    “Happy New Year!” Anna Van
Buskirk squealed and threw her glass to shatter on the
floor.
    Senator James Carver walked
through the crowded ballroom, shaking hands and kissing cheeks.
When he reached the standup bar, he elbowed his way in beside Anna,
who was the only woman in a circle of many interested men. “You’re
making a fool of yourself, Anna.”
    “What do you care?” she
slurred.
    “Dear God. Are you
drunk?”
    “I certainly hope so. I
drunk enough drinks to have earned being drunk,” she giggled.
“These fine gentlemen haven’t let me pay for nary a one neither.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Is that good English? Isn’t it a rule that
one must never use nary and neither in the same sentence?” She
giggled loudly. “Oh dear me. I just did it again.”
    “I’ll get you a cab.” Carver
took her arm and started to guide her away from the bar.
    “Unhand me, sir,” Anna said
loudly, pulling free, and stumbling back. She raised her arm over
her head and tossed her head back dramatically. “I have just begun
to drink. Or is it drunk?”
    Carver looked around
nervously. “Please, Anna. You’re attracting a lot of attention. My
wife and I are here with a large party of my senatorial colleagues
and their wives.”
    “What’s that to
me?”
    “Why are you doing
this?”
    “Why? Lemme think. I know I
had a very good reason when I started. Oh yes. I remember now. I
was told that excessive use of alcoholic beverages could cause a
miscarriage.”
    “What?” He gave her a
wide-eyed stare.
    She hiccupped. “I said that
I’m drinking because I don’t wanna have your bastard baby,” she
said loudly.
    “Hush.”
    “Make up yer mind. Talk,
don’t talk.” She looked beyond him at the men along the bar. “Who’s
gonna buy me another drink?”
    Carver took her by the arm
but she twisted free again.
    “Look at what you’ve done,
Senator,” Anna slurred angrily. “Only a minute ago, all these fine
gentlemen wanted to buy me drinks. Now nobody will buy me a damned
drink. It isn’t fair.” She slapped at his hand as he tried once
more to take her arm. “You know what else isn’t fair? It isn’t fair
that when you get tired of me you just go on your merry way but I’m
left with a creature growing inside me.” She looked down at her
stomach. “Inside me. It’s disgusting. And it isn’t
fair.”
    Carver turned toward two
District of Columbia policemen who had finally arrived. “Get her
out of here.”
    “Yes, sir. Come along,
Miss.”
    “No,” Anna replied. “If you
want me out you’ll have to drag me out, kicking and screaming all
the way.”
    “Excuse me.” A man stepped
between the police and Anna. “I am Doctor James Winslow, a friend
of the young lady’s family.”
    “I never saw this man before
in my whole life,” Anna contradicted loudly.
    Annabelle Priest caught
Anna’s hand. “Doctor Winslow is my brother. Please let us take you
home.”
    “No.” Anna shook her head
emphatically and pulled her hand back. “Not until the new
year.”
    “Very well,” Annabelle
replied. “Perhaps you would agree to join my brother and me at our
table until then.”
    Anna looked at Winslow.
“Does your brother know that you’re in love with my
father?”
    “Yes, of course he does.”
Annabelle began leading Anna away from the bar. “Everyone knows
that.”

January 1, 1829
    Washington, District of
Columbia
     
    “It’s nearly noon. Time to
wake up.”
    Anna awoke then moaned as a
stabbing pain throbbed through her