Bucky was confined to camp for a long time. The fever was hard to shake and recurred twice to keep him longer in his bunk. His meager rations didn’t help, either. He was given salt pork that he couldn’t keep down. Hardtack crawling with worms made him even sicker. Finally, Hosea and Boone returned to their old foraging ways to relieve neighboring farmers of some fat chickens. Culp had soup for a couple of weeks, and slowly the luster returned to his hawk-like eyes.
By the end of January Bucky was able to take short walks around camp. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon Jimmy invited him to go down to the train station at the foot of the hill. “Zeke Powers is returning today,” beamed Jewett. “You wouldn’t want to miss his homecoming, would you?”
“I reckon I kin make it that far,” sighed Culp.
“You won’t be sorry. I promise.”
Jimmy held onto Bucky’s arm and helped him limp down the slick road to Bristoe Station and onto the train platform. Wearily, the sergeant perched on top of a discarded rations box to catch his breath. His complexion was chalky and his legs weak from the walk. When his breathing returned to normal, he heard the lonely shrill of a train whistle. He peered into the distance to see a black locomotive chug into sight.
After the train skidded to a halt, Culp stood up to scan the disembarking passengers for his short friend. At last, he spotted Powers coming down the steps of a boxcar. The lean soldier stopped to help a young woman wrapped in a vermillion cape climb clumsily to the ground. Behind her was a slender lad dressed in a black suit and a wide-brimmed, black hat. Bucky couldn’t believe his eyes when the sunshine splashed across the woman’s face. Then, he heard himself shout, “Sarah! Sarah!”
Sarah emitted a little cry, and with love glowing in her dark eyes, pushed through the crowd toward him. The next instant she was in his arms, and there was nothing Bucky could do to suppress the tears that poured down his face. “I-i-it’s so good ta see ya,” he stammered. “But why did ya risk comin’ so far?”
“I love you, dear husband. That’s why!”
“B-b-but where are ya gonna stay in this godfersaken place?”
“With you!” whooped Jimmy as he led Zeke and Fritz Pfaff onto the train platform. “It’s all arranged.”
“Good ta see ya, Zeke,” said Bucky with a grin. “Looks like ya put on a few pounds while ya was away.”
“Now, don’t you be saying that to me, Bucky Culp,” warned Sarah, giving her husband a playful slap.
“That’s quite the gal, ya got there,” laughed Zeke. “I been ridin’ with her since Harper’s Ferry. I’d like ta say it was good ta be back, but I was gettin’ mighty used ta my Lucy’s home cookin’.”
“Nice ta see you, too, Fritz,” said Bucky, shaking his brother-in-law’s hand. “Glad ya come along ta take care o’ Sarah.”
“She’s the one took care of me,” Fritz chuckled. “All these soldiers make me nervous. Ya!”
“Let’s get you settled in,” declared Jimmy. “I know you and Sarah have a lot of catching up to do.”
“But ya still haven’t told me where we’ll be stayin’.”
“There are plenty of fellows away on leave, Bucky, so the squad found room in other barracks while Sarah’s here. You’ll have our hut all to yourselves. Hosea and Boone are cleaning it up right now. They got you new blankets, too. It’s okay. I already checked with Major Hartshorne.”
Chatting noisily, the happy party made its way back up the hill to the Bucktails’ bivouac. Bundled in her cloak, Bucky didn’t even notice Sarah’s pregnancy until she needed her bother’s help to make the climb. “My legs are swollen,” she said. “I just don’t move around that good. Jimmy, you give my husband a hand. You hear?”
When they arrived at their hut, the door burst open, and Hosea and Boone shouted a hearty welcome. “A Reb farmer was so glad you was comin, Mrs. Culp,” guffawed Curtis, “that he done do-nated this here pie and the fixin’s fer a goose dinner. Weren’t that nice o’ him?”
“The same old Sergeant Curtis,” giggled Sarah. “My father sent you a little something in a bottle. I think he called it ‘Oil of Gladness.’ Fritz has a whole basket of presents for everyone.”
“Ya! Gloves, socks, and jelly for all.”
“Well, step right in an’ eat yer fill,” invited Boone. “Then us boys’ll clear out fer our new quarters, so the old married folk kin talk. Fritz, you’re bunkin’ with me.”
“An’ don’t listen ta none o’ them recruiters, Fritz, no matter how many greenbacks they offers ya,” advised Hosea.
The company filed into the barracks and found a huge feast spread out on a table borrowed from Hartshorne’s headquarters. There was a roast goose, a pile of baked potatoes, two loaves of bread, and a big apple pie.
“Where did ya git all this here food?” gasped Bucky.
“Like I done told ya,” winked Curtis, “from a generous Reb farmer. He was a real charitable fella. A de-vout Christian. Why, he was off ta church at the time o’ his donation. I reckon he’s prayin’ fer us right now.”
The Bucktails and their guests fell on the food like a pack of hungry scavengers. By the time they had finished, the goose was reduced to bones and not one scrap of food remained on the table.
“Boy, if I’da knowed you boys was eatin’ like this,” jabbered Zeke, “I’da thought twice ’bout goin’ on furlough.”
“Ya, I never taste anything so good!” exclaimed Fritz. “But my sister and me have not eaten since yesterday.”
“I wondered why you gulped down three helpings, Sarah,” teased Jimmy.
“Well, you have to remember that I’m eating for two!”
“Yes, two black bears jess out o’ hibernation,” chortled Boone.
After dinner the squad gathered up their gear and excused themselves. “You stay as long as ya want, Sarah,” urged Hosea as he herded the others out the door. “We’ll be bunkin’ in the barracks jess over yonder if ya needs anything.”
“Thank you, Sergeant. Promise you’ll keep my brother out of trouble.”
“I’ll do better ’n’ that. I’ll keep ’im out o’ the army!”
When the others had left, Bucky threw more wood in the stove and then cuddled with Sarah in the bottom bunk. “It’s so good ta see ya ag’in,” he murmured, running his hand lovingly through his wife’s strawberry blonde hair.
“Even as big as I am?”
“Even if ya was twice as big! I love ya, my darlin’, an’ always will. I’m sorry I couldn’t be with ya through all the problems ya been havin’. After runnin’ off ta marry ya, I jess didn’t dare ask fer a leave ’til now. Then, I had ta go an’ get sick.”
“Hush, dear. It’s alright. When you couldn’t come to me, I came to you. All that matters is that we’re together. And wasn’t it nice of your squad to go to all that fuss?”
“They’re a square bunch o’ fellas, sure as shootin’. They’s part o’ my family now, too.”
“You mean our family, don’t you?”
“You’re right. An’. . .how’s our tad doin’?”
“The little sponger is hungry all the time. Hold your hand on my belly, and you can feel him kicking for more food. Do you feel him?”
“Ain’t that mighty uncomfortable?”
“I’m used to it now. Let’s go to sleep, dear. I’m totally exhausted from that long trip.”
“You shouldn’ta come all this way carryin’ our child, an’ all,” said Bucky, kissing his wife tenderly on the lips. “B-b-but now I’m really glad ya did!”
Bucky and Sarah were inseparable for the next week. They slept late each morning and then spent each afternoon cuddling on the front stoop to watch the army go through its drills. Sometimes they walked hand in hand around the perimeter of the camp taking in the breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside. They especially loved watching the sun bathe a distant farmhouse in radiant light.
“Jess think, Sarah,” said Bucky dreamfully, “someday we’ll have ourselves a nice home like that one over yonder.”
“Father already has a plot of land set aside for us, dear. As soon as the war is over, he’ll get the neighbors together and have a house raising.”
“It won’t even be that long,” smiled Bucky, snuggling closer to Sarah. “I only got five more months left o’ my en-listment. By then our baby’ll be born, too. I can’t wait ta be home with ya every day. Then, maybe we kin start workin’ on another boy.”
“Hold your horses, mister. Let me wean our first child before you start that talk!”
Of all the members of Bucky’s squad, Hosea enjoyed Sarah’s visit the most because it gave him an excuse to step up his foraging activities. Every day he brought the couple food he scrounged from the Reb farmers. There were potatoes and apples he pilfered from a root cellar and a ham lifted from a smokehouse. There were pies and fresh bread and a jug of sweet cider. He brought so much to eat that Sarah finally said, “If you’re not careful, Sergeant, the Rebs will put a price on your head.”
“He’s just like Robin Hood,” laughed Jimmy, “only a lot bigger.”
“He might be big,” snickered Boone, “but that don’t make ’im any less sneaky. As long as he kin still fit in a chicken coop, he’ll outsteal the foxes.”
“Well, thanks for all the good things you bring us,” smiled Sarah. “My baby’s worse than any tapeworm, and you’ve kept him happy the whole time we’ve been here.”
The week flew by quickly for Bucky and Sarah. On the day she was to leave, the camp was pummeled by a snow squall. The squad shivered outside Bucky’s hut, while the couple said their last goodbyes. Sarah appeared red-eyed around nine o’clock, followed by her long-faced husband. Glumly, the party trudged through the snow to await the northbound train. Bucky stood with an arm around Sarah until the train appeared in a trail of black coal smoke. After helping his wife aboard a passenger car carrying exchanged Union prisoners, Culp whispered, “Have a good trip. An’ take care o’ that baby o’ ours.”
“I will,” Sarah answered bravely. “Come home safe, my dear.”
Bucky shook hands with Fritz and clambered back down the steps to the loading platform to rejoin his squad. The whistle gave two long blasts as the engine built up steam and lurched into motion. Culp waved to Sarah until well after the train was engulfed by the swirling snow. Finally, Boone chuckled, “I reckon we best head back ta camp be-fore Bucky’s arm falls clean off.”
“Keep them jokes ta yerself,” growled Hosea. “Sarah’s a fine woman, an’ Culp kin wave ta her as long as he sees fit.”