Free Everlasting Light - A Civil War Romance Novella by Andrea Boeshaar Page A

dollars for flour? Such an atrocity!”
    She knew it all too well.
    “Washington is trying to break us South Carolinians because the war started here. Can’t they see we’re already broken?”
    “Mercy,” Zeke muttered, shaking his dark head.
    “Oh, Michael …” A little sob caught in Alaina’s throat. Forgive? Believe? But it all seemed so hopeless. She put her head in her hands.
    “Now, Lain, don’t cry.” Michael pulled her against him. “Don’t cry,” he whispered against her temple. “We’ll think of something.”
    “What I think is that Miz Laina gots to go home.” Zeke took a firm hold of her elbow and jerked her out of Michael’s embrace.
    “Zeke?”
    Anger glinted in his eyes. “I be takin’ you home right now.”
    Alaina didn’t ask questions. She figured Zeke must have a good reason for behaving so strangely. Moving toward the door, she glanced at Michael and noted his curious frown.
    “I’ll come back, Mistah Michael, don’ you worry,” Zeke called from the porch, guiding Alaina down the steps. “I said I’d help with rebuildin’, an’ I won’ go back on my word. But Miz Laina’s gotta go home this minute or Mistah Braeden … well, he gonna have my hide!”
     
     

Chapter 9

     
     
    “Zeke! Don’t walk so fast!” Alaina couldn’t take a deep enough breath to keep up with the man’s long strides.
    He slowed his pace.
    “What in the world has gotten into you? And what did you mean when you said Braeden will have your hide?”
    He stopped on the road and faced her. “I knowed Mistah Braeden since we was born. We got our whuppin’s together when we was bad boys. Why, we didn’ even care we were different color till Mistah Braeden went to school and someone tole him different. After a while, Mistah Braeden said he didn’ care I’s black and he’s white. And I didn’ neither.” Zeke gazed at Michael’s dilapidated home. “And I know Mistah Michael too. I know he’s Mistah Braeden’s best friend, but Braeden and me … we’s tighter than best friends. I know how Braeden thinks, and I know there’s some things he won’ share with his best friend, no how! One o’ them’s his woman. If I stood by and let that happen, I’d get mine … right after Mistah Michael got his!”
    “Now, wait a minute, Zeke.” Alaina held up her hands, palms out. “Michael said he loves me and he wants to marry me. Everyone else has said Braeden is dead. Mama McKenna thinks he’s buried in a mass grave somewhere. She tells me to get on with my life and stop pining for my husband who’s never coming home. Michael’s told me the same thing.”
    Zeke seemed to listen while staring off into the charred remains of woods across the road.
    “For so long, I’ve been the only one who’s held onto any hope that Braeden will come home, but it’s rapidly diminishing.” Her vision blurred. “Maybe it’s true that if Braeden hasn’t come home by now, he never will.”
    “Miz Laina—” Zeke’s gaze swung back to hers. “—I can’t explain how I know this, but I know Braeden ain’t dead. When I saw Mistah Michael touch you jest now, I knowed it wasn’t right, just as if Braeden could walk through a door any time and see it fer hisself. Then we’d all be in some fine trouble.”
    The remark gave Alaina pause. Her husband’s possessive nature had always caused her to feel loved and cherished, although she’d never purposely provoke him to feel jealous. And what if he really was alive? Then Michael’s affection was sinful.
    They began walking again, but this time at a more leisurely pace.
    “Miz Laina, I think if Braeden is alive, he’ll be sure to get hisself home fer Christmas. He wouldn’ want to miss another one with his family.” A low, rumbling chuckle. “You know how Braeden always loved Christmas.”
    “Yes, he did.” Alaina recalled the only Christmas she and Braeden shared as a married couple. He’d been as excited as a child, picking at the goodies his mother