Chapter One

Teague Oaks Plantation

South Carolina, 1867

Constance arranged the mix of roses, daylilies, and greenery with capable hands, but her mind would not settle to the task. The dratted war had been over for two years, but memories lingered to haunt her. She'd lost almost every man who ever meant anything to her in the War Between the States, a seemingly never-ending battle between brothers, fathers and sons, and even husbands and wives. She still mourned her father and brother, but the loss of her handsome, virile husband weighed heaviest on her heart.

After barely enough time for a proper wedding and a week of seclusion in June of 1864, Lord John Ashmore had been recalled to his Union regiment and forced to return to Maryland and his duty. Two weeks later word arrived of his death at Monocacy, better known as the Battle that Saved Washington, a conflict with few actual casualties, but leaving Lady Constance Teague Ashmore a widow. Her hopes for a child from their brief time together faded away a few weeks after his death and her grief doubled.

A month later, Constance found she was an only child as a brief notification arrived from Andersonville Prison stating her brother's date of capture and his subsequent death from wounds obtained in battle. Steeling herself against succumbing to the overwhelming pain, Constance helped her father arrange to retrieve William's body and plan a proper burial at the plantation. Then, because of wandering marauders and bands of undisciplined troops, Constance was sent by her father to reside in the Charleston townhouse for safety.

Soon after, Constance became an orphan. A neighbor brought word her father died attempting to fight off a group of scavenging soldiers who raided Teague Oaks for food and the few remaining horses. They buried him quickly, as they were fleeing their own home which had been burned to the ground. She never even knew which side the soldiers supposedly fought for – or if they were deserters turned thieves. One small saving grace, to her way of thinking, her mother was not alive to suffer such agonizing grief, having passed with pneumonia a few years before. There were days when she envied her mother such peace.

* * * * *

Several weeks after the death of her father, her secret career began. Lady Constance Ashmore agreed to become a Yankee spy.

Approached by Sir Thaddeus Kenward, a gentleman well placed in diplomatic circles, he suggested Lady Ashmore to be in a particularly interesting and extremely helpful situation. Her father's property and background, a plantation owner from South Carolina who believed firmly in State Rights, guaranteed her a position in Southern society. Her widowed status to a slain Union officer with family and property in Maryland would ensure her safe passage on Northern soil. She would be accepted on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Sir Kenward made it sound simple as he enticed her to attend, circulate, and listen at Southern social events. He asked her to then pass along whatever tidbits of news she might overhear from the wives and sweethearts of Southern officers and influential businessmen.

Torn, her loyalties divided between the ideals of her father and her hatred of slavery, she originally said no – until he played his ace, as her dear departed daddy would have said.

Kenward pointed out that a Union victory was a foregone conclusion. But perhaps she could assist in bringing this bloody war to a more rapid conclusion, and thus help other wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters keep the men they cared for living long enough to return home.

Feeling she really had nothing left to live for herself, and seeking a way to end the awful conflict which personally cost her so much, Constance finally decided to accept, and she jumped headlong into the new challenge.

Proving quite adept at chatting up other ladies and procuring information as she danced with various gentlemen, Constance quickly grew as a valuable asset to the North. She even became quite stealthy and could sneak into rooms to secure documents or copy down meeting locations and supply routes and escape. If caught, she had a ready string of patter to distract the observer and explain her presence. Enjoying the distraction of such games, Constance found her adventures a stimulating way to work through her sorrows and, at the same time, help her struggling nation.

But lies and deceit eventually demand a price, her mama would have reminded her had she been there and if Constance would have listened.