Chapter 7

“Don’t you think they look so handsome in their uniforms?” Becky asked Claire as they watched the soldiers march down Main Street.

A band played. The soldiers sang. It was incredible sight to see. They wore clean uniforms. Their buttons and pieces of brass glistened in the midday sun.

“They look so strong and so brave,” Claire replied to her friend. “I wonder where they’re from.”

“Oh sweetie, they’re a regiment from New Hampshire marching south,” said Mary Windham, who squeezed her daughter’s hand. “You girls be careful and not step out in the street, you might get trampled.”

The soldiers attracted a crowd. Towns people cheered them on as they marched.

“Go get those rebels, boys!” shouted Jonathan Marks, the town’s banker.

The whole town was on edge, Claire heard her mother tell Becky’s mother Lydia that the Confederate army under Robert E. Lee was marching north.

“I hear they’re headed for Pennsylvania,” Becky’s mother told Mary Windham.

“I’m sure we’re safe in New York,” Mary Windham replied. “It’s too far for them to travel. Their supply lines would be too stretched.”

“Why Mary, I didn’t know you knew so much about military strategy,” Becky’s mother replied.

“I read the papers, Lydia,” Mary Windham said. “If Mr. Lincoln’s army doesn’t defeat them, our whole country may fall apart.”

Mrs. Windham did her best to keep the spirits of the town up. She threw herself into getting ready for the Fourth of July celebration. That’s what brought them into town. There was so much to buy, so much to prepare for.

But it didn’t distract her from tending to what she called “Claire’s needs.”

She spent much of the morning devoted to lessons she prepared for Claire, whom she found to be a quick study.

“She has made great progress in mathematics,” she told Lydia. “She loves to read and sing. I’ve even brought in a music teacher to teach her to play the flute.”

“How are her flute lessons coming?” Lydia asked.

“Very well,” Mary Windham said. “She does a very good job reading sheet music. I’m hoping she can do a solo at the celebration, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on her.”

She also brought in a tutor, Amelia Mims, to teach Claire “the social graces.”

“Why Miss Claire, you must learn to walk and talk properly!” Claire said in a mock immitation of Mrs Mims.

“You do that so very well, my dear,” Becky said giggling, also mocking Mrs. Mims. Her own mother sent her to Mrs. Mims’ charm school. “Why Miss Claire and Miss Rebecca, you both are so…unrefined.”

Although Claire and Mary Windham felt Claire had so much further to go in her lessons, Becky was impressed with how her friend no longer had a pronounced Irish accent. That took a lot of work on Claire’s part.

There were activities Claire found she really enjoyed. Becky laughed as Claire described her riding lessons. Her mother bought her a yellowish gray mare named Collette to ride. Becky laughed when Claire told her that Myron was trying to teach her how to ride “side saddle.”

“I told him it would be so much better if Mirilla, Helen or momma taught me to ride,” Claire giggled. “It is so funny watching Myron teaching me to be lady-like.”

Her mother would teach her to ride, she said, but Myron was an expert horseman. Mirilla, well she was afraid of horses. That’s what made the night of the search by the river for Charlie even more remarkable to Claire.

“Mother, can Claire and I go to van Husan’s Mercantile to get some candy?” Becky asked her mother.

“Yes, that’s fine,” Lydia said. “But do not be gone too long. We don’t want anything to happen to either of you. There is also too much we have to do.”

The two girls skipped down the street until they came to the store. The store was owned by Willem van Husan, whose family was among the original Dutch settlers who settled the area. Becky had become friends with his daughter Willa.

“They’ve had a hard time since her mother died two years ago,” Becky said. “Willa has tried to play matchmaker for her father. He’s been really lonely.”

“So what can I get you girls?” a middle-aged, short, overweight, balding man said.

Claire thought he was a very delightful, cheerful man.

They pointed to several jars of candy and wanted a sample from each one.

“Meggie, can you take care of these two young ladies?” he said.

Claire was surprised to see Meggie O’Hara emerge from a room in the back. She wore a new dress. She almost didn’t look like the woman who raised five sons by the slums.

“How are you doing Miss Windham?” she said in a cheerful Irish accent.

Claire did her best to not call her “ma” in front of Becky and Willa van Husan, who also came up from the back.

“I’m doing just fine, Mrs. O’Hara,” Claire replied, almost as if Meggie were a casual acquaintance. It was very awkward.

“Do you have money or should I put it on your families accounts?,” Meggie O’Hara asked.

“Oh, we have money, ma’am,” Becky said as the two girls pulled coins out of the two little purses they carried.

“Didn’t her son Charlie used to work for your mother?” Becky asked.

“Yes, he did,” Claire answered.

“Isn’t she very charming?” Willa asked Claire and Becky. “Papa was taken by her at almost the moment she walked through the door asking her for a job.”

“Doesn’t she already have a husband?” Becky pried playfully.

“Some brute down by the river,” Claire replied, still trying to get Walter O’Hara out of her mind.

“Well, papa says she is trying to get her marriage annulled,” Willa said. “Papa thinks she should go ahead and get a divorce and not worry what people of the town think.”

“Why Willa, you talk as if your father is in love with her,” Becky said.

Claire blushed, but tried not to make things obvious.

“Oh he is,” Willa said. “I told him I’d think she’d make him a good wife…and a good mother for me. She has these sweet, three little boys that she brings over to the house with her.”

“Wait until our mothers hear about this,” Becky whispered to Claire. “I’m sure they would really be interested in this news.”

This wasn’t going to be the only secret family reunion for Claire. Much to her horror. Walter O’Hara walked into the mercantile.

“Meggie O’Hara!” he yelled. “You come here!.”

Meggie looked at Claire and motioned for her, Becky and Willa to hide.

“I hear he can be very mean,” Willa said as she, Claire and Becky hide behind some clothes.

Claire hoped Walter O’Hara didn’t get a good look at her. If he did, she hoped he would not recognize her, She was overcome with fear. Willa, she thought, had no idea how mean he could be, especially when he was drunk.

And he was very drunk now.

“I can’t believe he is this drunk this early in the day,” Becky whispered to Claire.

“Who said that?” Walter O’Hara shouted.

“It’s just three young girls!” Meggie O’Hara said. “Please leave them out of it.”

Just then Mary Windham walked in, along with Lydia Randolph, Becky’s mother.

She immediately saw the knife in Walter O’Hara’s hand.

“Lydia, go get the sheriff,” she whispered to her friend.

“But what about the girls,” Lydia replied.

“I’ll make sure the girls will be safe,” Mary Windham said.

Lydia went running out of the mercantile and down the street to the sheriff’s office.

“Walter O’Hara, put the knife down,” Mary Windham said.

“What, are you so rich that you think you can run the whole town?,” Walter O’Hara said angrily.

Mrs. Windham wondered if she just made things worse.

“All I want is my wife,” he said. “That is all I want.”

“Well, I’m not coming with you!,” Meggie O’Hara said.

“You are my wife!” Walter O’Hara said. “It is your place, woman!”

“Can I help you man?,” Willem van Husan said as he walked through the door in the back.

“You butt out of it fatty!,” O’Hara said. “I’m here to take my wife home.”

“What if she doesn’t want to go with you?,” van Husan said.

“Then I will take her by force,” he said, pushing the Dutchman. He stabbed him and reached for his wife.

Claire couldn’t watch. She held Becky and Willa tight. She closed her eyes. All three girls prayed.

“Bang”. She heard the loud noise of a gun rattle the mercantile.

*****

One man layed in a pool of blood face down on the wooden floor of the mercantile.

Another man stood over him with a gun. He bled too, in the chest, but was otherwise okay.

Clair clung to Mary, Becky to Lydia and Willa to Meggie. All were in tears as the sheriff tried to sort things out.

Walter O’Hara stabbed Willem van Husan and grabbed for his wife. It turned out to be a big mistake.

“Fatty” as he called van Husan was more than just a short, balding store clerk. He was a decorated veteran of the Mexican War. He knew how to use a gun.

When he heard Walter come into the mercantile, he went back to the drawer in the back room of the store and picked up a pistol. He put it in his right pocket, but hoped he didn’t have to use it.

He’d seen plenty of men die. He had no choice. When Walter O’Hara stabbed him and reached for Meggie, he pulled the gun out of his pocket.

He knew he had to protect Meggie. He knew he had to protect Willa, Claire, Becky and Mrs. Windham.

It may have been only a split second from when Walter O’Hara stabbed him that he reached for the gun and fired.

It was over that quickly.

The sheriff asked only a few questions. Meggie and Mary assured him it was self defense. He didn’t really need their testimony to figure out what happened.

“Mrs. O’Hara, will you make sure Willem sees the doc about his stab wound,” the sheriff said. He looked at Mrs. Windham and Mrs. Randolph. “Willem is a tough old bird.”

Claire began to weep. She shook. She was very much in shock.

“Let me take you home,” Mary Windham said to Claire.

“Okay, momma,” she said, grabbing her mother’s hand. “Lydia, we’ll drop you and Rebecca off at home. Meggie, Willa, I’ll send a couple of men over to clean up the floor if you would like.”

“That would be nice ma’am,” Meggie replied. “We’ve got to get Willem to the doctor.”

*****

Mary Windham had Mirilla and Helen draw Claire and her baths in her bedroom when they both returned home. She instructed them to fill both tubs with bubbles and soothing minerals.

She undresseded Claire and helped her into her tub before disrobing herself and being helped in her own tub by Helen.

They both needed nice, hot baths to calm their nerves.

“Momma, I was really scared,” Claire said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“I know, sweetie,” she said, trying to reassure her daughter. “I was scared, too. But I wasn’t going to let him hurt you, Rebecca or Meggie.”

“I was scared he was going to find out who I was,” Claire said. “I was scared he was going to kill me, Meggie and you.”

“Well, God was looking out for us,” Mary Windham said. “He sent Willem. Willem knew what to do. Now Walter O’Hara isn’t going to harm you or Meggie anymore.”

God sent Willem, Claire thought.

“Do you think God sent Willem to Meggie?” Claire asked. “I mean to look after her?”

“I don’t know,” Mary Windham said. “He’s been very lonely. Meggie’s been mistreated and deserves to be loved. So maybe he has been sent by God. But, of course, towns people will talk since Meggie started to work for Willem before she divorced Walter O’Hara.”

“She couldn’t have divorced him,” Claire said. “The church won’t allow it.”

“Well, I don’t think Willem is Catholic,” Mary Windham laughed. “I don’t know if he belongs to any church. But he’s not the type to worry about what the town thinks. He’d probably live with Meggie in sin if he had to, if he’s really in love with her.”

Claire giggled.

“Ma would not have been the type to live in sin!” she laughed.

“Well, good for her!” Mary Windham said. “I don’t believe we are that type either, Claire Elizabeth Windham!”

Claire gave her mother a puzzled look.

“Do you think God will send anyone to you, or to me, especially since I’m a special kind of girl,” she asked.

“Such a deep question from such a young girl!” Mary Windham said. “I don’t know about me. I was loved by my first husband. He was a lovely man. I’m sure he has a plan for you, but Claire, you are too young to worry about such things! I do know this, sweetie. God sent you to me when I was lonely. And now I have my hands full with you to worry about any man.”

Claire giggled. Maybe that was true. She hated to admit it, but she enjoyed having her mother’s attention.

The words God sent you to me also had her thinking about her dream. Emily told her practically the same thing.

She wondered if she should mention the dream to her mother. But she still didn’t know what to make of it.

Was it real? Or was it just a dream, a part of her imagination?