July 16, 1861

The last of the ladies’ trunks slid into place on the back of the carriage two days later. Evelyn waved her fan in front of her sweat-glistened face and avoided looking at her cousin. Where her relationship with her aunt and cousin had been pulled taut, it now felt close to rupturing.

“I suppose you will miss all your suitors.” Isabella’s bitter tone sluiced through the sounds of the carriage’s rattling tack and the horses’ stamping hooves and jabbed her tender emotions.

Aunt Mary had been furious when Isabella told her Evelyn had gone to the Grady’s party, and her aunt had declared Evelyn was forbade to leave the house.

But then without much warning, Patterson suddenly pulled his men from Martinsburg, leaving only the First Pennsylvania to maintain order. With the removal of the sentries from the house, Aunt Mary immediately announced they would be leaving to visit relatives in Front Royal, inadvertently relieving Evelyn of her imprisonment, if not the shroud of their disapproval.

Evelyn let her eyelids droop along with her shoulders. “Why must you hate me so?”

Isabella mumbled something indecipherable but decidedly snide. Her fresh scent of rosewater drifted on the breeze, an inviting smell quite contrary to the razor-sharp pickets that had been erected between them.

“Hate you?” Isabella snapped open an ivory-handled fan and drew Evelyn’s gaze. Her eyes were pools of ice under drapes of honey-colored eyebrows. “Really, Evelyn. What a ridiculous thing to say.”

Evelyn studied her cousin, resplendent in her plain cobalt traveling gown. “By what other word would you name this bitterness?” The words popped out of her mouth as though of their own accord, and Evelyn seamed her lips lest they seek further damages.

“You are impossible.” Isabella rolled her eyes over the lacy tips of her fan. “I know you are selfish, as your actions clearly show, but I didn’t realize you were hampered by dull wits as well.”

A sharp prick pinched somewhere deep within her, and Evelyn could only stare at the young woman who was not simply family, but one with whom she had once longed to share a deep friendship. What had happened in the years since their girlhood?

“You truly don’t see it, do you?” Isabella’s shoulders slumped, much of the haughtiness slipping from her like a borrowed cloak. “I really shouldn’t expect so much of you. Even though you were allowed to attend schooling with me, your breeding doesn’t hold up to the expectations this family is under. I shouldn’t blame you for something you have no control over.”

Had Isabella apologized and insulted her in a single breath?

“However.” Icicle eyes probed her, and Isabella seemed to draw her superiority around her once more. “Your actions have brought us to a head. Your shameless flaunting with the enemy must come to an end. Whatever it is you are doing that you think is helping, I assure you it is not. You are doing nothing but hurting this family.” She softened and offered a slight curve of her lips, though Evelyn had begun to suspect these fleeting glimpses of tenderness were pure fabrication. “Please, Evie, do try to understand this has dire effects on mine and Lara’s futures. This sort of behavior cannot continue when we reach Front Royal. I simply could not bear it.”

The rustle of Aunt Mary’s skirts indicated she’d joined them behind the carriage. “Yes. It is past time we had this discussion, I’m afraid.”

Aunt Mary regarded Evelyn with a mixture of reprimand and sorrow. It was the disappointment, rather than the reproof, that felt like a brander’s iron.

“Forgive me, my dear.” Aunt Mary took Evelyn’s hand and squeezed it. “The traumas that befell us seem to have affected us each in different ways. I’m guilty of hiding away, refusing to see that the world of my youth no longer exists.” She released Evelyn’s hand and gestured toward her elder daughter. “Isabella has let her fear over an uncertain future turn her inside out, and even Lara has withdrawn into herself.”

The sudden gentleness of her aunt’s tone released a well within her, and it surged up to leak out of her eyes.

“I know that you are adrift,” Aunt Mary continued, the motherly tone one Evelyn had once longed for. “Your mother is gone, and my brother, God bless him, did the best he could with you. We have tried to give you the same advantages as Isabella, but I fear your”—she hesitated and then waved a hand—“your upbringing may have hampered those attempts.”

Evelyn clenched her teeth, not sure if her aunt truly meant comfort or not. The woman had a way of wrapping insults in velvet and serving them on a silver platter.

“So,” Aunt Mary said when Evelyn offered no response, “I have realized that the subtleties of our station are often out of your grasp. Therefore, as a kindness to you, I will speak frankly.”

Evelyn ran a dry tongue over her lips.

Aunt Mary straightened herself, looking not unlike an officer about to deliver orders to his men. “Holding friendly conversations with lowly soldiers is unseemly. Attending parties you were not invited to shows low breeding. For heaven’s sake, Evelyn, you are gaining a reputation. Now, you may not have a care for your own reputation, but reputation may be all Isabella and Lara have left. When this nasty war is finished, and let us pray it is before we are reduced to poverty or worse, then a pristine reputation may be all my daughters have to secure their futures.” Her blue eyes glistened. “Please, tell me you understand this.”

Guilt stabbed her heart. Had she been consumed with trying to do something, anything, to help that she had put those she loved at risk? Evelyn drew a breath that seemed to hitch like wheels over rough cobblestone. “Forgive me. I never intended to cause you any distress. You and Uncle Phillip have done much for me. I only wanted to do something to help.”

Isabella placed a hand on Evelyn’s shoulder. “We are but women. It is not for us to dabble in these things.”

Evelyn slumped, her attempt at perfect posture forgotten. “But surely we cannot sit by and do nothing while the men in our family risk their lives.”

“And we will not.” Aunt Mary gestured to the carriage, which waited on their pleasure as the driver patiently stood by the door pretending not to listen to their conversation. “We’re going to my husband’s family in Front Royal and will be of use there.”

Evelyn tilted her head. “What use?”

Aunt Mary waved the question away like a pesky mosquito. “We will find something of value to occupy us, I’m sure.” She pinned Evelyn with a sharp gaze. “Something that does not involve inappropriate relations with strange men. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Aunt. Abundantly.”

Aunt Mary smiled as though the matter were settled, but deep within Evelyn’s churning heart, it felt anything but.

“Good. Then it’s past time to be on our way.”

Aunt Mary called into the house for Lizzy to bring Lara out, and the child quietly clutched her doll and gained her mother’s side while Aunt Mary once again relayed instructions to the servant for the care of the house during their absence.

Then, in a flutter of skirts and petticoats, Aunt Mary, Isabella, and Lara were situated in the carriage. Evelyn hesitated. Her father had told her not to travel, and with the coldness her family had shown her, she wasn’t all that interested in being locked inside the carriage with them.

“Evelyn!”

Aunt Mary’s clipped use of her name had her scrambling inside without the driver’s assistance. She plopped onto the plush seat as he closed the door behind her.

They clattered down the cobbled streets along with several other conveyances that Evelyn suspected were also filled with people hoping to move farther away from Federal control. A bur of worry wriggled under her skin until she could no longer contain it.

“Aunt Mary?”

Her aunt turned from the window, her smooth features and perfect hair a testament to the breeding she claimed was better than Evelyn’s own. How that was possible when Aunt Mary and Daddy shared the same blood and Mother had been a lady of quality, Evelyn didn’t know.

“Yes?”

“Daddy did not wish for me to travel because he said the warring states would make passage dangerous—”

“Worry not,” Aunt Mary replied, dismissing the question. “We will be safe.”

Evelyn said no more, wondering which of them would prove correct. For the sake of her raw nerves, she hoped Aunt Mary was right.

Travel proved far easier than she’d expected, and the farther they journeyed from Martinsburg, the more Evelyn decided Daddy had been overly cautious. By the time they’d traveled the forty miles to Front Royal, she was sure of it.

Front Royal extended past the carriage windows in a most picturesque village, nestled snuggly between the surrounding mountains like a young bird in its nest. They clattered to a stop in front of the Fishback Hotel, where they were immediately greeted by a young man in a pressed suit.

“Mrs. Lawrence,” he said, extending his hand to Aunt Mary to assist her from the carriage, “I have been instructed to see you and the ladies to the cottage in the rear. You will be more comfortable there.”

Aunt Mary stepped down with the lightest touch upon his hand as possible. “Thank you. And where is my husband’s brother?” She glanced around, obviously expecting they should be greeted by someone of greater importance than a rather willowy-looking employee. From her place in the carriage, Evelyn had a better view of the young man than she did of her aunt, but she didn’t have to spend much imagination to picture the look that graced Aunt Mary’s features.

The young man offered something by way of an excuse and then helped Isabella, Lara, and Evelyn down in turn before clasping his hands behind his back. He had a friendly, open face that was neither plain nor handsome, and Evelyn thought him rather pleasant. Especially since Aunt Mary was now glowering at him.

He offered her a smile all the same and lifted his hand toward a small pathway that led behind the large whitewashed inn. “Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence are preparing for your arrival. If you will please follow me, we will see that your trunks are delivered to your rooms posthaste.”

They followed him around the building, the sounds of rumbling carriages, nickering horses, and laughing children fading as they stepped behind the hotel and through a small garden. Fresh blooms in an array of whites, pinks, and reds fragranced the air with sweet scents that added to the pleasant nature of the carefully tended area. Evelyn filled her lungs, and her shoulders relaxed.

It would be good to be away from Martinsburg for a time.

Evelyn lifted her gaze to the unadorned building that would serve as their temporary home. Slats of wood coated in white paint formed a flat, rectangular structure with a squat roof and not the first shingle of porch for protection from the rain. Windows, delicate curtains flitting in the breeze, dotted the front of the structure on both floors.

Cozy, if not noteworthy.

The blue door, which matched the shutters flanking the windows, opened, and a heavyset woman stepped out into the late afternoon sun. She held up a pale hand to shield her eyes from the light, and her soft features spread into a smile.

“Ah! There you are. We had begun to worry.” The woman bustled from the house, the pearl buttons on her embroidered coral gown shining like little white orbs.

Aunt Mary hurried forward and extended her hands. “It’s good to see you, Hattie. I’m only sorry it cannot be in Washington.”

The woman gave Aunt Mary’s hands a gentle squeeze. “Harold and I are glad to have you. Surely these unpleasant circumstances will only last a short time. Lord willing, our home there will be just as we left it.” She turned to the three standing on the walk. “Ah! Isabella, my darling, you are as beautiful as ever.”

Isabella grinned the first real sunny expression Evelyn had seen on her in weeks. Yes, the reprieve from Martinsburg would do them all good.

“It’s lovely to see you as well, Aunt Hattie. I have missed you.”

The lady turned next to little Lara. “And my precious one!” She leaned forward, and two silvered blond curls slid forward on her cheeks. “I heard tell that Uncle Harold has some sweets in his pocket for the prettiest little girl at the hotel.”

Lara’s blue eyes widened.

“Go on in now and see him. I’ll wager you are just the distraction he needs.”

Lara squeezed her doll and went into the house, her gait much too controlled and smooth for a child on her way for sweets. At that age, Evelyn would have skipped around the adults and bounded inside like a deer. But then, perhaps that was the kind of thing Aunt Mary meant when she said Evelyn didn’t understand the ways of their station.

As the girl slipped inside, Hattie turned her attention to Evelyn. Her honey brown eyes remained friendly but lost most of their sparkle. “And this must be your brother’s child. Evelyn, is it?”

Evelyn dipped her head. “Yes, ma’am. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

The woman studied her for longer than Evelyn deemed normal, and she found herself wiping damp palms on her skirt.

“If you please, Hattie dear, we are travel weary and would be delighted to be afforded the opportunity to freshen up.”

Hattie blinked and turned quickly from Evelyn. “Oh, of course! Come now, we’ve had the rooms readied for you.”

The woman swished into the boxy house, Aunt Mary at her side. Evelyn and Isabella followed. After a brief tour of the parlors, study, and dining space, they ascended steep stairs to the upper level. Aunt Mary and Lara took one room, while Evelyn and Isabella were to occupy the other. Evelyn smothered the hope for her own space just as the same sentiment seemed to play across Isabella’s features.

The rest of the day passed in the uneventful chatter of a family who barely acknowledged Evelyn’s existence. By the time the evening meal ended, a pulsing throb had gathered at her temples, and she excused herself from her cousin’s half-hearted offer of a game of checkers, preferring to call an end to the day. Isabella preformed the customary regret, and they went their separate ways.

As Evelyn slipped under her sheets, the memory of Hattie Lawrence’s continued study of her pricked at her senses. Throughout the day, the woman had cast furtive glances she must have thought Evelyn didn’t notice.

Evelyn rolled to her side. The last rays of the day’s light crept through a small slit in the drawn curtains and cut a silver swath across the rose-patterned rug that spanned the divide between Isabella’s bed and her own.

Aunt Mary must have told her sister-in-law all about her unwanted niece. Evelyn threw the thin blanket over her head. Still, even under their distain, Evelyn could not turn her mind from finding a way to help and proving herself to her father.

But, as Isabella had oft reminded her, she was merely a woman. Such matters were left to men.

Evelyn huffed. Well, as the only man who had a care for her had abandoned her, then she had no choice but to find a way to prove Isabella wrong.