Each Other

  ***

  The water had nearly come to a boil when, in the lane somewhere a rooster crowed, reminding me that I had a whole day ahead of me when what I really wanted was several more hours of sleep. That and a bath. But everything, besides my cup of morning tea, would have to wait. I was worried for Sarah. A warm compress of chickweed would help her wound. And I had to find a doctor. I thought getting a doctor’s advice would put me at ease, especially if she was at risk for disease from her swollen wound. I knew she had to be in a great deal of pain. When I moved in Kate had told me of a retired doctor a few streets away. After my tea, I’d seek him out.

  By early afternoon, having been visited by Dr. Carlton, Sarah was able to sit up and sip a bowl of broth I’d brought her. The doctor left a salve for the wound, asked me to continue my herbal treatments and probed Sarah about her injury. I recognized in her story that she must have had to gloss over some of the details, those that entailed her traveling by night and being on foot for miles at a time through New England and down to New York and then Washington.

  “At the time I didn’t think anything of it. I was traveling here to see my sister and I was staying at my friend’s farm. I climbed over a fence and that was when I cut myself, either on a board or a nail. I hope it wasn’t a nail,” she told the old gentleman doctor.

  “Well, I don’t see any splinters at the surface, but we’ll know more in a few days when the swelling calms down. Just take it easy and let your sister take care of you. She’s got a good reputation for healing over at the hospital,” he said.

  In the kitchen, Dr. Carlton had a word with me. His thick white eyebrows danced as he spoke.

  “I expect that she’ll be fine,” he told me. “But with her fever, these things find their own way, you know. Keep giving her cooled teas and water, and when she’s ready, some food. It may be a week before she’s up and walking with ease. She looks like she could use that and some rest. Oh, I think your compresses and poultices are very good too. Hopefully, she’ll escape without anything more, but call me at once if she appears to worsen or has any new effects.”

  I thanked the doctor and then, he was off. Thankfully, Sarah was sleeping peacefully and I could get some rest too.

  By early evening, Sarah had called me in and asked me to talk with her. Her eyes were brighter and her fever had broken. To cool her down I gave her a sponge bath and washed her hair as best I could as she dangled her head and neck over the bed, unable to stand with her leg still swollen. I sat on the edge of her bed and combed through her long brown hair. Her green eyes had started to come back to life and I felt relieved that perhaps the worst of the crisis was over. I smiled thinking, ‘She’s really here, sitting before me, my hands in her hair. My sister is finally here with me.’

  Sarah spoke slowly but her speech was punctuated by her enthusiastic personality. “Annie, I know you must think that I’m crazy but I had to come see you. I had to get away from my regular routine. After all, it’s been over a year. So, I asked for a special assignment that would bring me here to Virginia. Of course, it wasn’t hard to get. They’re short on people who actually ask to come down this way to gather information, to risk…well you know. Of course you know.”

  We talked over the messages we’d received from one another and the people who delivered them. By the time we pieced those puzzles together —the message I gave the peddler, the one I’d received from her in the bottle, the note that was extracted from Constance’s boot —her hair was dry and I had moved to the far corner of the bed and was sitting on it. I could see the exhaustion in her face and I didn’t want her to attempt to do too much, but the excitement of being together after nearly a year made us both feel much better.

  “Annie, I had to get away for a while. The positions that I found myself in grew tiresome and the people I worked with were having trouble getting along. It was a good time to break away to try to gather information regarding the whereabouts of certain individuals in either hospitals or prisons. I also needed to report on the general conditions of the prisons. We hear that the men are starving and need medical attention. We have to find ways to help them.”

  “The only way to truly help them is to get them out of there. I’m convinced of that,” I said. “I’ve been working at Westerly, the hospital, about a mile or two from here. Adjacent to the hospital is the prison and I’m hoping to be asked to work in there as well. I’ll be curious to see how close I can get to the prisoners and then I’ll give you a full report. Westerly is probably one of the smallest prisons around, but if the prison is as bad as the hospital, the best thing we can do is to get them food and fresh water and aid as many of them as we can to escape.”

  “I have to ask you Annie, where were you when I got here? It was so strange coming in and wondering if this was the right place. Your cat looked hungry and I was glad for the company. If it wasn’t for the directions that I had from people up the line I would probably would have been out wandering in the fields and collapsed out there. One of the gals, who had come through four or five months ago, wrote down clear directions to safe houses between Washington and Virginia for us while she was recovering from a bullet wound. We thought for a while that we were going to lose her, but she came through. She knew she could still be useful and that accounts for a great deal. So where were you?”

  “I went south, by carriage. I went to a little town outside of Fredericksburg.”

  “Really? Who sent you? I thought for the most part, you didn’t travel. You stayed here.”

  “Yes, that’s true, and no one sent me. Actually, someone sent for me.”

  “Annie, you’re keeping something from me. What is it? Who is it? I can read it in your face, m’dear. Okay, who is he?” She paused and when I didn’t answer directly she asked me, “Wasn’t that pretty risky?”

  “No more than you Sarah. Breaking the tedium with a bit of danger, I might add. And, you’re right. A gentleman sent for me. But that story will have to wait until you are more rested.”

  Sarah didn’t fight me at that point. She laid her head back against the pillow and closed her eyes. She was asleep in mere seconds. With her long shiny clean hair draped around her and the color coming back into her face, I knew that the worst had passed. She was going to make it. Thank God.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN