Love and War: The Coltrane Saga, Book 1 Read Online Free

me.”
    Shyly, she held his hand as they left the barn and walked to his waiting horse. Mounting, he spurred the animal into a trot, turning to wave before disappearing in a swirl of dust.
    Turning toward the house, Kitty hugged herself with delight, finally breaking into a run, her skirt swirling about her ankles. Nathan Collins had kissed her, had invited her to a party, asked if he could court her, and he had kissed her again.
    At that moment, Kitty Wright felt that life was wonderful, that she was the happiest she had ever been in all of her eighteen years…that chilly day in early November, eighteen hundred and sixty.

Chapter Two
    “Why do you keep staring out that window?” Lena noticed that Kitty was keeping a vigil. “And why won’t you tell me about Nathan’s visit? You two stayed in that barn such a long time it didn’t look proper.”
    Kitty decided it was best to keep silent. She didn’t want to talk about the invitation to the party until she had a chance to talk to her father about it, because if he strongly objected to her going to a party in honor of Weldon Edwards—well, she just wouldn’t go, and there was no need to give Lena more reason to nag.
    She was silently praying that he wouldn’t object. Just the thought of being with Nathan, being close to him, dancing with him, was enough to make her blush. But she knew only too well how John Wright felt about the secessionist movement, and he might ask her not to go to the party. If he did…but she didn’t want to think about that. He just had to say it was all right. He just had to.
    The tall, gangly man with stooped shoulders stepped out of the woods and into a bare field that bordered the farmhouse. He carried the flintlock musket that had belonged to his grandfather, and he wore a ragged wool jacket, faded overalls, and the old straw hat he had woven himself. At his side, the old hound “Killer” loped along lazily. The dog was harmless and it was a known fact that he was no more a hunter than his owner was a rich plantation owner. But the two were inseparable, and sometimes Kitty thought they could even communicate with each other.
    His bearded face looked weary, even from a distance, and Kitty warmed with affection at the sight of his lanky body plodding through the knee-high weeds. They had always been closer than most fathers and daughters, and this had come about because Lena had always been on the sickly side, spending days and weeks in bed, complaining with first one ailment, then another. As a child, Kitty’s playing had made her nervous, and since Lena objected to her playing with the children of the few slaves on the farm, she was only too glad for John to take their daughter with him. It was many years later that she realized Kitty was hunting and riding and fishing like a man, and she was upset over the discovery.
    Accused of trying to make a son out of his daughter, John laughingly spoofed at Lena’s scorn. That was when she began to spend time with Kitty for the first time in her life, insisting that she learn the socially acceptable talents for a young lady of the day—sewing, tatting, recitation—all of which Kitty detested and rebelled against.
    A closeness had developed between John Wright and his daughter that could not easily be dissolved. To pacify his wife, John urged Kitty to allow herself to be taught feminine “qualities”, and Kitty gave in, all the while yearning to be with her father instead. She loved the farm, loved working with the animals and being outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine. The sewing, tatting, weaving, and sitting with hands folded primly in her lap while her mother read poetry—these were the times she hated, loathed, and despised.
    And as she watched the approach of her father, Kitty wondered anxiously how he was going to react to Nathan’s declaration of his intentions to become a suitor. She’d heard him speak often of Nathan’s father, Aaron Collins, and how he owned many slaves and