Thirty-two

“No, no, no,” I said moving across the green, waving my trusty notebook.

Two large men holding up a pole to erect the food tent for ball froze. The pole tilted at a diagonal.

I waved at them. “The food tent goes ten yards back.”

The men sighed and lowered the pole and carried it to the place I pointed out. When the food tent was finished, all the tents would be erect. While those men worked on raising the small tent, another team of men laid the wooden floor for the dancing in the middle of the large tent. Others set up round tables that could seat eight and high tops that could comfortably accommodate six people standing. I hoped there would be enough tables and food for everyone. I ordered extra of everything, and so far only a handful had canceled their RSVPs. This would be the single biggest event I had ever pulled off.

It was midmorning and despite the misplaced pole, the Blue and Gray Ball was coming together more smoothly than I expected.

Except for my audience. Chase sat a few yards away on a park bench next to the church watching all the proceedings. He had followed me around all morning. At first I thought it was cute, but the cuteness was waning.

I marched over to him. “Chase, you need to leave.”

“What?” he asked looking up.

“You need to leave. You are going to miss your battle.”

“Bah,” he said, waving his hands. “I’m keeping an eye on you.”

“You don’t have to. There are forty people here setting up for the ball. My assistant Ashland is here.”

“Ashland won’t be any good if someone tried to knock you over the head with a tent pole.”

I pulled him to his feet. “Go. The morning battle starts in fifteen minutes. Get over there. You’re making me nervous.”

He grinned. “I make you nervous?”

“Go.”

He sighed. “All right. I suppose my regiment needs me.” He winked and finally sauntered off.

After Chase left, Laura walked up to me with her period sunhat dangling from her hand. “What was Medic Hotness doing on that bench all morning?”

“Watching me. He was worried someone was going to knock me over the head again or some other ridiculousness.” I had told Laura about last night when she arrived at the Farm. As my best friend, she was required to hear about my near-death experiences.

Laura put a hand to her chest. “He’s your knight in blue wool blend.”

“Can we leave the dramatics to my father?” I asked. “He’s the professional.”

She laughed. “Whether you like it or not, I think Chase’s chasing you is adorable.”

“Chasing me?”

She laughed. “You’ve spent too much of your time wasted on Eddie to know the signs.”

I frowned. Was she right? It felt strange to be pursued by a man, and I realized that I never had been. Eddie and I fell in love like you fall in love with familiarity and comfort, but it certainly didn’t involve a chase. Our love could have been better described as a stumble.

“I need to get back to work.”

She grinned. “Got you thinking, didn’t I?” She headed back to Barton House, swinging her hat as she went. She called over her shoulder, “Don’t forget. I’ll be at the cottage at five sharp to get you ready for the ball.” She twirled. “You’ll be a fine lady.”

I winced. As much as I loved history, I didn’t like being part of it. Thank goodness Hayden wasn’t there to see me stick out my tongue. He would never let me forget it.

I went back to supervising the food tent. As I went around the village green, checking on the flower arrangements and number of chairs, I felt Ashland staring at me the whole time. Every time I turned around, she was there. I was used to Ashland shadowing me and following me from place to place, but this was to the extreme. I showed the party company where I wanted the candelabras to be in the dance tent and spun around. I hit Ashland in the face with my braid.

“Oh,” she cried and rubbed her nose.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly. Her notebook was at the ready so that she could jot down notes on directions I might have.

I folded my arms. “You’re not fine. You’ve been acting strangely all morning. Ashland, what’s wrong?”

“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong,” my assistant said.

“You’ve been staring at me all morning and following me.”

She looked at the ground. “You keep touching the back of your head. Are you okay?”

I dropped my hand from the back of my head, not realizing I’d even put it there. Maybe she was right and I had been touching my head all day. I was paranoid about the size of the lump. Thank goodness for my thick brown hair, a gift from my mother, or I would have had a complex about it. I sighed. “I had an accident last night.”

“An accident?”

I explained to her about the brick attack and the Bartons’ root cellar.

Her hand flew to her mouth. “You could’ve been killed.”

I shook my head. “Whoever hit me just wanted to scare me.”

Her bottom lip stuck out. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I smoothed the white linen tablecloth over the table. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

The radio on my hip crackled. “Kelsey. Kelsey come in? It’s Judy.”

I removed the radio from my belt. “What is it, Judy?”

“We need you on this side of road.” It was hard to hear her over the noise in the background.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“There seems to be an incident going on with the reenactors.”

“What kind of incident?” I asked. The last time I got a call like this, there was a dead body in the middle of the battlefield.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Just get over here quick.”

“On my way.” I clipped my radio back on my belt. Couldn’t we get through one mock battle without an altercation? “I need to go to the battlefield,” I said to no one in particular. I started for the road. I looked over my shoulder to find Ashland following me. “Ashland, stay here and supervise the setup.”

She kept following me. “But what if you need my help?”

“I do need your help. Here at the tents.”

She frowned but turned back to the tents, and I broke into a run.

The oxen stared at me as I raced past their yard. Jason stood with them and watched too, open mouthed.

I hit the pebbled path on the other side of Maple Grove Lane at a sprint. A large group gathered at the edge of the battlefield closest to the camps. I pushed my way through the crowd.

Some teenagers were yelling, “Fight, fight, fight!”

Oh boy. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.

I peeked around the arm of a barrel-chested man and saw the back of Chase and just the side of another man in a Confederate uniform.

I slid around the man. Sometimes it paid to be small. Now I was just two rows back from the arguments. I could now see Jamie Houck with his hands on his hips.

Chase balled his fists at his side. “My parents worked hard for that money.”

“We’re talking about millions of dollars lost.” Jamie glared at Chase. “Your pitiful little investment isn’t even worth my time!”

Chase decked the man in the jaw, and Jamie flew backward into the split-rail fence. He slid down a fence post and lay on his side.