Encounter at Cold Harbor Read Online Free Page B

into a straight line, and he said no more.
    Leah knew that she had said too much, for Tom was sensitive about speaking of Sarah. “Look,” she said, “there’s the church tower right over there! See it?”
    “Yep, we’ll be at the station in five minutes.”
    His prediction was accurate. The train huffed and chuffed as it slowed down. When they pulled into the station, it expelled a great gust of steam.
    “Guess we better get our stuff together,” Tom said. He stood up, balancing for a moment.
    Leah saw that it pained him to stand. But she said nothing, for she knew he was sensitive about the leg too. As the train came to a clanking stop, she picked up Esther. “If you’ll get the suitcases, I can handle her.”
    “All right.”
    They stepped off the train, and at once Tom was gripped by his father, who suddenly appeared right beside him.
    “Tom!” he said. “By Harry, it’s good to see you again! You’re looking fine!”
    Tom swallowed hard and hugged his father, then stepped back. His father was in military dress, and Tom was wearing the uniform he had worn at Gettysburg—which had been patched together by Sarah. “I guess it must look funny—a colonel hugging a sergeant!”
    “Who cares!” his father said. “Now, let me look at this girl of mine.” He took the child from Leah and held her carefully in his arms. “Hello, Esther,” he said quietly, his eyes going over her face. “Aren’t you the pretty one?”
    Leah watched, afraid that Esther would cry. She was not used to strangers and was somewhat shy. However, something in her father’s voice must have calmed her, for she suddenly smiled and reached out to touch his mustache.
    “She looks just like your mother, Tom,” Colonel Majors said, stroking the golden hair with his free hand. “She’s going to be as pretty as she was.”
    Leah felt like crying over the sadness of the situation, but she knew that would not do. She stood quietly until the colonel said, “Well, suppose we get you three settled. You’re going out to Silas’s place. You’ll have it all to yourself. He’s gone to visit a friend of his.”
    “He must be doing better then,” Leah said with some surprise. Uncle Silas had not been in good health when she had left Richmond, and she had worried about him.
    “He seems to get stronger all the time. I’m real proud of him,” Nelson Majors said. “Come on. I’ve commandeered an army ambulance. What’s the use of being a colonel if you can’t break the rules once in a while?”
    They got in, and he said, “I’ve got to go by the camp before we leave. There’s something I have to take care of. Besides, I want to show off my daughter to the general.”
    Leah and Tom sat quietly in the back of the ambulance as a corporal drove them to the army camp. On the way, Tom’s eyes ran over the rows of men drilling in an open field. If he thought about never being able to march again, if he felt useless and helpless, he said nothing.
    At headquarters they were greeted by Gen. A. P. Hill himself. The general was delighted with Esther. “She’s the finest young’un I’ve ever seen, Colonel!” he said when Esther allowed him to pick her up.
    “Thank you, General,” Colonel Majors said. “I believe you know my son, Tom.”
    “Why, indeed I do. You’ve spoken enough of him,” Hill said. He took Tom’s salute, then stuck his hand out. “Glad you’re back, Sergeant. Will you be coming back on active duty?”
    “No, sir, unless you can find a place for a one-legged man.”
    “Why, I expect we can do that! General Hood lost an arm
and
a leg, and he’s still commanding like he always was.” He nodded at Tom’s father. “See if you can’t find a place for him. I know you’d like that, Colonel.”
    After the general left, Tom said, “Where’s Jeff, Pa—I mean, Colonel?”
    “He would have been here himself, but we didn’t know exactly when you were getting in,” his father said. “There’s some kind of a