Free Shadow of Dawn by Debra Diaz Page A

you.”
     
    “Is anything wrong, Catherine?”
     
    “No,” she said. “No.”
     
    “You sound as if you have a cold.”
     
    “No. Well, the air was rather chilly last
night.”
     
    “How was the wedding?”
     
    “It was lovely. I wish you’d gone with me,
Andrew.”
     
    He made no response.
     
    “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I promised to
help Hester with supper tonight.”
     
    “Catherine.”
     
    She had half risen. She stopped, startled, at
the seriousness of his tone. “Yes, Andrew?”
     
    “There is a certain part in that book you’re
reading which you will come to shortly; I can’t remember exactly
where it is. You see, I’ve read it before, though I did not enjoy
it then half as much as I enjoy listening to your reading of it. In
the part I’m referring to, Dr. Manette tells Lucie of his anxiety
that, because she is young, she not waste her life caring for
him.”
     
    He turned a little away from her as he spoke.
He continued, “Her life has changed; it’s no longer normal because
of what has happened to him. He tells her that if her life is in
any way incomplete, he cannot be happy.”
     
    Catherine sat as if turned to stone. Her lips
went dry and almost felt as though they would crack as she forced
herself to speak. “What are you saying, Andrew?”
     
    He got to his feet and strode slowly across
the room. “I know that…I have changed. I am not the man you once
knew. I hope that things will improve. If not, I intend to release
you from our marriage vows.”
     
    She did manage to rise. “No, Andrew! You are
my husband. Do you think I could live with myself if I let you go
away just because…because you believed I couldn’t cope with your
injuries?”
     
    “I don’t want to be pitied, Catherine. You
had thought of an annulment, hadn’t you?”
     
    She gaped at him. “You heard what Sallie
said!”
     
    He shook his head. “Mrs. Shirley overheard
the conversation and thought it best to let me know. I do
appreciate your loyalty, more than I can say, but neither of us can
possibly know where this will lead.”
     
    “But where would you go?”
     
    “To my family in Alabama, of course.”
     
    Catherine shook her head. “You must give this
time, Andrew. It takes time to build a marriage, even when there
are no difficulties such as those we face.”
     
    “My only concern is for your happiness.”
     
    “I understand that, and I thank you for it.
But I believe we can be happy together.”
     
    “If you really mean that, then perhaps we
can. I’ve said all this because I don’t want you to be in despair.
You seemed sad when you came in. I could hear it in your voice.
Rest assured that I will never stand in the way of your happiness.
You have only to tell me.”
     
    Catherine thought of the past night, and how
in spite of her resolve to make a life with Andrew, she had longed
for freedom, had wished that she had never married him. And here he
was offering to sacrifice his own happiness for hers. Shame covered
her from the depths of her soul.
     
    She walked toward him resolutely. She reached
out to touch his arm, a little surprised that he did not flinch or
try to move away. She lifted her face and kissed his cheek where
the black scarf covered it.
    “You are my husband,” she repeated softly,
before she left the room.
     
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
     
    T he next morning
Catherine resumed her work at the hospital. Wounded soldiers
flooded into the Virginia hospitals every day, and most able-bodied
women helped to nurse them. It was grueling and dreadful, often
heartbreaking work…but how much more dreadful, she often thought,
for the men who bore such ghastly wounds. The less-seriously
injured were sent to recuperate in private homes rather than
hospitals.
     
    Catherine often worked without even stopping
to eat. She assisted the surgeons, ran errands, cleaned floors,
changed bed sheets, fed soldiers who were too weak to hold a fork,
held their heads to give them water,