The Sun Rises (Southern Legacy Book 4) Read Online Free

very hottest. Jo lay upon the settee that had been brought out on the piazza and took in the view on this fine June day. The garden was alive with a multitude of assorted flowers and scents. The arbor was densely covered by climbing ivy. Roses abounded in vibrant colors; fragrant gardenias encompassed the air with full blooming magnolias bordering the landscape.
    Jo watched butterflies flit from one bloom to another in sweet serenity. In the midst of the picture, Anna sat on the ground with Percival in her lap. The toddler seemed captivated watching a small rabbit, scampering amid the rose bushes. So beautiful and peaceful, the vision looked like the hand of God had descended and painted upon a living canvas.
    Across from Jo, Mother Montgomery sat quietly and darned Anna’s dress. The days of extravagance were behind them. The Yankee blockade had tightened around Charleston. Luxury items had become hard to come by. Proclaiming that the day would come when they would need to make their own clothes, Mother Montgomery had brought the old loom down from the attic.
    The dear woman looked up at Jo with her soft, kind eyes. “Do you care for some more tea?”
    “I’m fine, Mother Montgomery.” Jo sighed, setting the newspaper she held in her hand down on the table. “I swear, despite the headlines proclaiming our presumed success, my Mercury holds nothing but bad news.”
    “I quite agree. Jenna told me she read that Beast Butler’s behavior in New Orleans is worse than those heathen Indians out West.”
    “How dreadful and quite unpardonable. To treat women so. Arresting them for laughing!”
    “Darling, do you think it’s wise to upset yourself over matters that you have no control?” Mother Montgomery looked over at Jo with a concerned expression. “Maybe it would be for the best if you didn’t read any papers for a while.”
    “How else am I to know what is going on? The whole of our Mississippi fleet has been annihilated. It is disastrous…we live upon a river. What if their attention turns to Charleston?”
    “Oh, dear! When have you become so faint of heart? My woman’s instinct tells me we are safe here, but if you would feel better, we can move back into Charleston.”
    “No,” Jo declared. “We need to be here.”
    Jo’s hand went instinctively to her growing stomach. She understood Mother Montgomery’s worry. War had seeped into their world and the blinding truth was undeniable. Everything that had existed in the past seemed so completely and utterly destroyed…buried with Wade.
    The past was a distant memory. She had to face the realities of the cruel world she now lived. The proclamations that the war would end with the next victory had become quiet whispers, but no one dare speak against the deadly venture for fear of being called traitorous. Jo’s fears went unspoken—that all the brave, courageous men suffered for a barren endeavor.
    “Well, I stopped reading the paper after Mrs. King and Mrs. Langston were openly attacked in the paper for riding up and down the streets with their livery footmen while poor soldiers’ wives sat on the sidewalks,” Mother Montgomery abruptly announced. “I was aghast at the nastiness of the article. What more can they expect of us? Have we not footed the bill for this war? Mrs. Langston said that we get so little enjoyment, what harm is there in a brisk ride?”
    “Some have said that the war is a rich man’s venture and a poor man’s fight, Mother.”
    Jo cast a glance over her shoulder at the voice. Andrew walked around the corner of the porch, followed closely by a somber Jenna. Frowning, his squared jaw tightened in obvious agitation.
    Holding a handkerchief in her hand, Jenna patted her reddened eyes. Then she rushed around her brother and flung herself down at her mother’s feet.
    There was no need to know what the two siblings were fighting about. Jo knew readily enough—Derek. Last week, Jenna had received news he had been wounded in a skirmish