Read Online Love and War: The Coltrane Saga, Book 1 by Patricia Hagan - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Patricia Hagan
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speak, merely nodding her head curtly as the two of them passed. “She’s mad because you asked me here, isn’t she?” Kitty whispered to Nathan as they moved on up the steps.
“Don’t pay any mind to her. If Mother doesn’t get her way about everything, she can be rather unpleasant. Daddy warned her about being polite, but I guess she didn’t trust herself and chose to keep silent instead.”
“Then she is mad with you for bringing me here,” Kitty whispered again, this time with an urgency.
“I think Nancy must’ve had one of her tantrums and gone crying to Mother when she found out I had no intention of bringing her here today. I told you, Kitty, I’m not going to be pushed into anything, and those two started talking marriage once the war talk got stronger. If I marry anybody, it’s going to be you.” He squeezed her arm, smiling down at her, and she thought she would melt under his gaze.
They reached the top of the stairs and the sun-splashed veranda where several of Nathan’s young friends surged upon them. They exchanged greetings, and then someone blurted out, “Did you shoot to kill Tate, Kitty, or did you mean to only wound him?”
“He’s still alive, isn’t he?” Her voice came out sharper than she intended, and an awkward silence followed. She did not want to spend the afternoon reliving something she would rather forget.
“It’s over with now,” Nathan spoke firmly. “Let’s just forget about it.”
“I agree.”
Kitty turned to find herself looking into the sad eyes of David Stoner, and she suddenly felt uncomfortable. Was it a year ago that he had proposed to her? She couldn’t remember. She had liked David a lot—and still did. He was a handsome young man, with reddish-brown hair and deep green eyes, a firmness to his face that gave him character and an air of wisdom in spite of his youth. But she didn’t love him, and she had told him so. With tears in his eyes, he had sworn to her that he could never love another the way he did her. Ever since, when they met, he looked at her with the same expression of sadness.
He looked from her to Nathan and nodded. It was more than a greeting, Kitty knew. He was acknowledging their relationship, painful though it was.
“Ahh, here’s our guest of honor.” The tension of the moment was dispelled as Nathan turned to greet the short, plump man with the sharp, piercing eyes and rather long, hooked nose. “May I present Weldon Edwards from Warrenton.”
He kissed Kitty’s hand. She thought his manner pleasant. He didn’t look like someone hysterically screaming for war and bloodshed.
Attention turned from Kitty to the noted lawyer, as someone asked, “Mr. Edwards, I’m as anxious to get the war started and over with as anyone else. How long do you think it will be before we start fighting?”
“Now that Lincoln’s been elected President,” another added excitedly.
Weldon Edwards thought a moment, then said, “I think the election of Lincoln to the Presidency will trigger the secession of the states of the lower South, but unless we can get North Carolina’s secession movement to grow rapidly, I think the General Assembly, and Governor Ellis, will continue the ‘wait and see’ attitude.
“I’m leaving this afternoon for a secession meeting in Cleveland County,” he told the hovering group. “And next week, we meet in Wilmington. We must try to call a statewide convention of the people to determine a policy for the state—and that policy must be secession, even if it means war.”
Kitty could contain herself no longer. “War, sir? What if secession does bring war, as it surely will. Are these young men here to die for your cause?”
“It’s our cause, too,” Daniel Roberts, the youngest of the group spoke up, striking his fist in the air. “Yes, I’ll die for North Carolina…”
Nathan gripped her arm so tightly that she winced with pain as he steered her away from the group and toward the front doors of
“Don’t pay any mind to her. If Mother doesn’t get her way about everything, she can be rather unpleasant. Daddy warned her about being polite, but I guess she didn’t trust herself and chose to keep silent instead.”
“Then she is mad with you for bringing me here,” Kitty whispered again, this time with an urgency.
“I think Nancy must’ve had one of her tantrums and gone crying to Mother when she found out I had no intention of bringing her here today. I told you, Kitty, I’m not going to be pushed into anything, and those two started talking marriage once the war talk got stronger. If I marry anybody, it’s going to be you.” He squeezed her arm, smiling down at her, and she thought she would melt under his gaze.
They reached the top of the stairs and the sun-splashed veranda where several of Nathan’s young friends surged upon them. They exchanged greetings, and then someone blurted out, “Did you shoot to kill Tate, Kitty, or did you mean to only wound him?”
“He’s still alive, isn’t he?” Her voice came out sharper than she intended, and an awkward silence followed. She did not want to spend the afternoon reliving something she would rather forget.
“It’s over with now,” Nathan spoke firmly. “Let’s just forget about it.”
“I agree.”
Kitty turned to find herself looking into the sad eyes of David Stoner, and she suddenly felt uncomfortable. Was it a year ago that he had proposed to her? She couldn’t remember. She had liked David a lot—and still did. He was a handsome young man, with reddish-brown hair and deep green eyes, a firmness to his face that gave him character and an air of wisdom in spite of his youth. But she didn’t love him, and she had told him so. With tears in his eyes, he had sworn to her that he could never love another the way he did her. Ever since, when they met, he looked at her with the same expression of sadness.
He looked from her to Nathan and nodded. It was more than a greeting, Kitty knew. He was acknowledging their relationship, painful though it was.
“Ahh, here’s our guest of honor.” The tension of the moment was dispelled as Nathan turned to greet the short, plump man with the sharp, piercing eyes and rather long, hooked nose. “May I present Weldon Edwards from Warrenton.”
He kissed Kitty’s hand. She thought his manner pleasant. He didn’t look like someone hysterically screaming for war and bloodshed.
Attention turned from Kitty to the noted lawyer, as someone asked, “Mr. Edwards, I’m as anxious to get the war started and over with as anyone else. How long do you think it will be before we start fighting?”
“Now that Lincoln’s been elected President,” another added excitedly.
Weldon Edwards thought a moment, then said, “I think the election of Lincoln to the Presidency will trigger the secession of the states of the lower South, but unless we can get North Carolina’s secession movement to grow rapidly, I think the General Assembly, and Governor Ellis, will continue the ‘wait and see’ attitude.
“I’m leaving this afternoon for a secession meeting in Cleveland County,” he told the hovering group. “And next week, we meet in Wilmington. We must try to call a statewide convention of the people to determine a policy for the state—and that policy must be secession, even if it means war.”
Kitty could contain herself no longer. “War, sir? What if secession does bring war, as it surely will. Are these young men here to die for your cause?”
“It’s our cause, too,” Daniel Roberts, the youngest of the group spoke up, striking his fist in the air. “Yes, I’ll die for North Carolina…”
Nathan gripped her arm so tightly that she winced with pain as he steered her away from the group and toward the front doors of
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