This
excerpt comes at the start of the book as David Windover, a former
Confederate spy, ponders his future with the Fitzgerald family.
As
David stood looking at all he had in the world, the hatch on the other
side of the hay house opened. George Fitzgerald, Alice’s oldest child,
stood in the opening looking in at him. He was a slim young man with
light brown hair. He was frowning, which was a mirror image of Alice’s
frown, but unlike his mother, George rarely smiled since returning from
the war.
“So it is true then,” George said. “You’re leaving.”
“This
makes you the man in charge,” David said. George had recently turned
nineteen years old, though he seemed older now. It was more than simply
him living additional year. George had seen things and experienced
things that a nineteen-year-old man should not have to see and
experience. The sparkle of life that Thomas still had in his eyes was
missing in George’s. David hoped that the young man would find a way to
get it back, but then David had never been able to after what he had
seen during the waar.
“I suppose it does,” George said flatly.
The
two men looked at each other without saying anything. They had both
fought in the war, though on different sides. David had never gone back
to the fighting after being wounded while George had lost his arm and
couldn’t return. It always seemed to David that George had lost
something more than his arm in the war. He had lost the ability to be
happy.
“Mama’s in her cabin crying,” George said finally.
David
closed his eyes and took a deep breath. What did she expect him to do?
He couldn’t stay, not with the way things were between then.
“She’ll get over it,” David said.
“Maybe.” He didn’t sound so certain.
“I’m just a hand around here, George. You know that. You’re the one who’s told me it enough times.”
George snorted. “Since when did you listen to me? If you think that you’re just a hand, then maybe you should leave.”
David slapped the wall with the flat of his hand and then bowed his head.
“What? You want me to stay?”
“It’s not my decision, but I would think that after all my family has risked for you, you would want to stay,” George told him.
The
Fitzgeralds could be arrested for hiding a former Confederate spy. When
David had been arrested two years ago, they had risked their own
freedom to free him from the Union soldiers who had arrested him.
David drew himself up straighter. “I risked my life for your family, too.”
George
nodded slowly. “I guess you have me at that.” He was quiet. David
thought George had said all he meant to say, but then he added, “You’re
doing this because of a woman. I know that, but I’ll tell you something.
If you do something for the wrong reason, you will regret it. It cost
me my arm.”
George
had run off to join the army about a year and half ago because he
thought it would impress a girl he was sweet on. He wound up losing his
arm and returning home to find out he really didn’t care what the girl
thought about him anymore.
David
glanced at his pack. He was ready to go. Not much need to stay around
anymore. He’d said his goodbye. Anything more would just give people a
reason to cry and try to convince him otherwise. He was afraid they
might succeed.
David grabbed the pack and pushed open the hatch above his bed.
“So you’re just going to leave things like this?” George said.
David didn’t reply. He just walked away.
It was time to leave.
The
Civil War split the United States and now it has split the Fitzgerald
Family. Although George Fitzgerald has returned from the war, his sister
Elizabeth Fitzgerald has chosen to remain in Washington to volunteer as
a nurse. The ex-Confederate spy, David Windover, has given up on his
dream of being with Alice Fitzgerald and is trying to move on with his
life in Cumberland, Md. Alice and her sons continue to haul coal along
the 184.5-mile-long C&O Canal.
It is dangerous work, though, during war time because the canal runs along the Potomac River and between the North and South. Having had to endured death and loss already, Alice wonders whether remaining on the canal is worth the cost. She wants her family reunited and safe, but she can’t reconcile her feelings between David and her dead husband. Her adopted son, Tony, has his own questions that he is trying to answer.
He wants to know who he is and if his birth mother ever loved him. As he tries to find out more about his birth mother and father, he stumbles onto a plan by Confederate sympathizers to sabotage the canal and burn dozens of canal boats. He enlists David’s help to try and disrupt the plot before it endangers his new family, but first they will have find out who is behind the plot.
It is dangerous work, though, during war time because the canal runs along the Potomac River and between the North and South. Having had to endured death and loss already, Alice wonders whether remaining on the canal is worth the cost. She wants her family reunited and safe, but she can’t reconcile her feelings between David and her dead husband. Her adopted son, Tony, has his own questions that he is trying to answer.
He wants to know who he is and if his birth mother ever loved him. As he tries to find out more about his birth mother and father, he stumbles onto a plan by Confederate sympathizers to sabotage the canal and burn dozens of canal boats. He enlists David’s help to try and disrupt the plot before it endangers his new family, but first they will have find out who is behind the plot.
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Genre – Historical Fiction
Rating – PG-13
More details about the author
Website jamesrada.com
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