Chapter 14
Sloan had left the fort without a word to her.
One of the young men in the Seventh had come by the morning he had left to tell her that he had gone with Tom Custer to retrieve Libbie and George.
When he didn’t return that night, she was startled to realize how much she missed him.
She found herself frequently playing with the locket his grandfather had given her.
She knew that in the cavalry, men rode away. She simply hadn’t expected them to do so without so much as a word.
She had always read the newspaper, eager to know what was going on in the country.
On her first morning alone at the fort, a strange little bone-thin Englishman named Raleigh, who had wispy gray hair and the energy of a hummingbird, brought her the newspaper and assured her that he could help her with all domestic tasks; he had worked for a number of the officers at the fort for a very long time.
She thanked him for the newspaper and told him in return that she would certainly be pleased to call upon him for assistance when she needed it.
She was amazed to see how much army business made it into the papers.
There were certainly very few secrets that might be kept.
Likewise, the papers screamed with headlines regarding corruption in high office.
Everyone had been glad to see Secretary of War Belknap go. The president himself was under attack.
And Brevet General George Armstrong Custer was therefore under attack by President Grant.
With Sloan gone, Sabrina found herself invited to join the women once again.
She spent two days with prim little Sarah, shy Jean, and her former enemies, Norah and Louella.
They worked on quilts together. Of course, the other ladies being much better at quilting than she, she usually read to them while they worked.
They loved to hear and discuss the news.
Most of the women were intelligent and aware of what was happening, even when their husbands tried to hide both their excitement regarding the campaign and the danger it might involve.
As it happened, Sabrina was with Maggie Calhoun when she met Libbie Custer, and like most people, she was immediately charmed by the small, energetic woman who offered her such a warm and sincere welcome.
Libbie, however, was distressed. The general had barely arrived, it seemed, before he had found himself ordered to leave the fort to return to Washington to face an investigative committee.
Still, she said that they must come visit, enjoy a drink and one another’s company, and bolster dear Autie before he had to go face down dragons.
When Sabrina left the women to dress and change for the social that evening, she was dismayed to find that Sloan wasn’t in their quarters.
She dressed and left without seeing him, admitting to herself that she was growing somewhat anxious.
She wondered if she should wait for him; then she told herself impatiently that she might very well wait for hours.
When he was ready, he could come find her, she told herself firmly.
So it was that when Sloan did find her, she was sipping sherry in the company of numerous young men and women, laughing, poised, betraying not the least bit of anxiety.
“Well, when we must wait and cool our heels, we do sometimes manage to create our own diversions,” Lieutenant Jenkins was saying.
“There is no reason that living on the frontier should keep us from the joys of civilization, even if we must create those joys ourselves,” Norah agreed, smiling.
“I say a picnic, a day trip, is in order,” Louella declared, smiling at the young captain at her side.
“A picnic!” Sarah said delightedly. “Oh, what a very good idea. A ride out—on one of those days when the temperature climbs!—sun, good company—indeed, it sounds lovely.”
“And naturally, Mrs. Trelawny, we will be delighted to show you what is breathtaking about our surroundings!” Louella’s young captain assured her.
“Well, thank you,” she murmured. Then, at last, she saw Sloan.
“Ah, my dear!” he said, approaching her with a smile for those around her.
He took her hand, kissed it. She offered her cheek, and he kissed it as well. “I missed you in our quarters,” he murmured.
“Well, sir, it seems that I missed you there as well,” she replied coolly.
“There’s music; shall we dance?”
“As you wish.”
“Ladies, gentlemen?” Sloan said, excusing them to those around them. He sounded polite, his voice even, as if he were in a decent humor. But as they reached the floor, Sloan questioned her. “So, where were you, my love?”
She arched a brow. “Where was /?”
“That was the question.”
“How strange. Where were you?”
“I’m sure you were informed that I left the camp.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Then—”
“I was informed, but not by you.”
“You were sleeping when I left.”
“There have been other times when I slept that it did not deter you from disturbing me.” Despite herself, she flushed slightly. She cast her head back. “And how intriguing! I met Mrs. Custer, I saw Tom…but not you, and when all of you had arrived here at the same time!”
“Well, my love, I returned seeking no more than a little warmth—to find cold ashes in the fire.”
“Your return must have been brief.”
He hesitated just slightly. “It was.”
“Ah. You had other business.”
“I did.”
“Well, sir, you have said that I should be a good cavalry wife. I am making friends.”
“With every man in the cavalry?” he asked pleasantly enough.
“I do try my best,” she said sweetly. “Since, of course, you are so very good at befriending the women.”
“Ah,” he murmured, swirling her around.
“We should all have friends,” she said pleasantly.
“What will you do when the force here rides out?” he queried, his tone still light.
“Do you ride with them?”
“I imagine that I will be summoned out again before the columns are ready to ride from here.”
“Ah, yes, and with any luck, you might even inform me that you are leaving. And then, of course, I will have to be tremendously grateful that I do have my friends, and that they are interested in seeing to it that I can occupy my time.”
His dark eyes fell on hers. “You do enjoy testing my temper.”
“You do enjoy testing mine.”
He smiled. “You’re not to leave this post without me, do you understand?”
“I beg your pardon—”
“Don’t beg anything. But don’t leave this fort without me. Whether you find my behavior courteous or not, you will not join your friends on any expeditions out of here.”
“Sloan, I am not a child—”
“No, you’re my wife,” he said. And there might have been more, but a young captain tapped him on the shoulder, nervously asking if he might cut in. Sloan obliged.
They danced. When Sabrina saw Sloan again, he was circling the floor with Libbie Custer.
He was laughing at something Libbie was saying, and the amusement in his face was sincere.
He smiled at Libbie then, and his features were striking and sensual, and she felt a strange stirring of jealousy in her heart, even though she knew that Libbie adored her Autie.
Since there was a shortage of women compared to the number of men, Sabrina found herself dancing most of the evening.
At one point, she saw Sloan with Marlene Howard, and she was deeply distressed by the feeling that assailed her. It was like having a knife twisted in her stomach.
As always, Marlene looked elegant and gay. She laughed with Sloan; he smiled; they chatted. Together, they were an incredibly handsome couple. The worst of all was that Sabrina hated the way Marlene looked at her husband. Devouring him with her eyes…
As if she knew what she might touch, what sleek muscle lay beneath his uniform jacket…
She found herself standing with Norah and Louella while a young captain went to get her a glass of punch.
“How do you tolerate that?” Louella said to her suddenly.
“Pardon?”
“She’s something, that one!” Norah agreed.
“Who?”
“Your husband’s old flame, dear Mrs. Howard!” Louella supplied.
“She’s really quite despicable,” Norah said.
Sabrina forced herself to shrug. “Well, she’s so recently a widow. Perhaps she’s lonely.”
Louella let out a disdainful sniff. “Hardly. She cuckolded that poor man she married for years.”
With Sloan? Sabrina longed to demand. Yet she didn’t. She felt the knife twisting into her, deeper and deeper.
“And from what I hear, she’s regretted her decision all her life to marry Howard, when she claims she had the opportunity to marry Sloan.”
That was a statement Sabrina couldn’t ignore. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, it was supposedly quite some time ago. Colonel Warren, Marlene’s father, was on duty at a post in Missouri right after the war, and Sloan had been assigned there.
It was a good place for him; he wasn’t fighting Indians, just outlaws—some of those awful men who had done such terrible murder under Quantrill.
Anyway, rumor had it that he and Marlene were quite an item—I mean one of those things that was hotter than a July day, if you know what I mean—but then… ”
Norah paused for dramatic effect.
“But then?” Sabrina pressed.
Louella picked up the story for her. “Oh, well, there was a problem with her father, apparently. Sloan was a half-breed, just not acceptable to some papas. And Mr. Howard already had this budding political career—”
“Not to mention tons and tons of money made in the fur trade,” Norah said.
“So she married Mr. Howard, and she created a buzz in Washington, but…” Louella drawled.
“But!” Norah said. “She continued to visit her father and brother at their various posts…you see, Howard had been a fairly attractive man, but as the years went by—”
“He grew squat and bald,” Louella murmured with a knowing nod.
“And you’ve only to look at Sloan—” Norah said.
“Or any number of soldiers!” Louella added hastily.