Americas Promise – Celeste De Blasis

The evening’s festivities ended at ten, and Ad was bone tired, but there would be a full day’s work to face with the new dawn, and Lafayette had planted the seeds of urgency in him, so as soon as he was off duty, he went to the Castleton house. As Washington was staying in the home of a friend, George Wyeth, on the west side of Palace Green, it was a short walk to the Castleton house on the east side.

The first thing he saw was that in spite of the late hour, there were candles in the downstairs windows, a heartening sight after the darkness that had deterred him from visiting Matilda at the Birdsalls’ house in Philadelphia. He realized Lafayette hadn’t been specific about the officers staying there or whether they were there still, but he assumed the candles indicated the house was occupied by more than the few servants who cared for it in the family’s absence.

He knocked and waited. The door opened, and for an instant, he was frozen in place, staring at the slender woman illuminated by the candle she carried. “Addie?” he croaked. Very carefully, because her hands had begun to shake, Addie placed the candlestick on a little table near the door, and then she launched herself at him, his name a glad cry. At first he was so glad to see her, he simply held her.

His voice was choked when he finally managed to say, “There are no officers in the house. Lafayette knows you are here.” “Indeed. We arrived only this morning and paid our respects to him. Poor man, he has risen from his sickbed just for General Washington. He promised he would contrive to send you here, if not tonight, then tomorrow. He was as gleeful as a schoolboy anticipating your surprise. We did not wish to distract you until the day’s ceremonies were over.”

Ad’s mind began to function again, and he heard the anxiety under the excitement in his sister’s voice.

Addie touched her belly, and she thought of life arising out of all the loss and death she’d seen, and it seemed a miracle of survival. She longed for the quickening time to come, when she would feel the baby move, proving the existence of its life. She needed the company and knowledge of women who had borne children, and the officers’ wives would not do. If she remained among them, the details of her pregnancy would be before them, sure to cause speculation about paternity.

Addie thought of Castleton, of being there in Virginia with her aunts, of going back to the place where her mother had been born. She felt as if a circle had been closed with the thought, and she did not doubt the welcome she would receive there. Her twin brother, Ad, sent a message to their uncle and made arrangements for Addie to travel, though he left it to her whether or not she would tell Uncle Hartley about the baby.

None of this was difficult because everyone assumed that Addie had found it too trying to be with the army so soon after her husband’s death. The Washingtons were as understanding as everyone else. Now that she was leaving the encampment, Addie wished she could feel as numb as when she had arrived. Only her driving need to get to Virginia made it possible to say farewell with dignity to so many people she had come to know and admire over the war years.

When she had gone to New York in search of Silas, she had believed she would return to the army with or without him, but this was different. Though her friends could not know it, it was unlikely that she would travel with the army or see many of these people again. But nothing could ease taking her leave of Matilda, Ad’s fiancée. Addie had shared some of Harriet’s clothes with her when she first arrived at Morristown, and she insisted Matilda accept more now.

Matilda’s eyes filled with tears. “Are you sure you do not wish me to come with you?” “I would like nothing better, but I need you to keep taking care of Ad, Justin and your brother, Luke. And I need you to send me all the news so that I won’t feel as if I am in complete exile.”

In the end, Matilda accepted the clothes because Addie gave her no option, and likewise the wagon and horses, except for Nightingale, were left in her charge, too.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 2e7a3847a2c1e2b2
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,537,614 bytes (2.42 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 190
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 350.46 minutes
• Total Words: 70,093
• Total Characters: 390,067
• Average Words per Page: 368.91
• Average Characters per Page: 2052.98

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