Keeping Secrets by Joan Lowery Nixon Read Free Book Online Page B

head, and she was wearing a blue dress and jacket and a hat with feathers.”
    “That’s nice,” Ma said. “It shows she’s feeling well enough to take a few pains with her appearance.”
    “That’s the reason? That’s all?” Peg asked. She felt such a surge of relief at Ma’s explanation that she quickly slapped the plates on the table and reached for the napkins.
    Ma looked at her sharply. “Is something bothering you, Peg?”
    “Not really. Well … I don’t know. Could I ask you something, Ma?”
    “Of course,” Ma answered.
    Peg placed forks and knives at each plate, then plopped down onto the hard wooden chair. “Miss Hennessey was out when I got to Mrs. Kling’s boardinghouse, so I waited for her. When she came in she was with Mr. Crandon.” Peg made a face. “He kissed her hand. Ugh! Frog lips!”
    Ma’s eyes widened in surprise. “She was with Mr. Crandon? Are you sure?”
    “Yes, I’m sure. I
saw
him, Ma. So when Miss Hennessey and I were talking I told her what a hornswoggling …”
    “Watch your language, miss,” Ma warned.
    “I told her why I didn’t like him. She said then she didn’t like him either, but she’s going to see him again because he’s getting a letter for her.”
    “What kind of letter?” Ma sat across from Peg, leaning toward her.
    Delighted to have Ma’s full attention, Peg explained about Miss Hennessey’s sister and the letter of safe passage she needed to get from the provost marshal.
    When Peg had finished Ma leaned back and nodded. “So Violet has a sister nearby. My, my. All this time I mistakenly thought she had no family left. Well, of course she’d want to see her sister.”
    She reached out and brushed the tangled curly fringe from Peg’s forehead. “Sometimes, love, we have to deal with officials who are so self-important they are not interested in helping people who ask them for help. I’ve heard of a few others’ unfortunate attempts to see the provost marshal—like John’s friend, Julian Cassidy, who was wrongly suspected of being a southern sympathizer and his barn burned to the ground. It makes me doubt that Miss Hennessey could get past all the officials in the military district headquarters standing between her and the provost marshal without some help.”
    “Even if it’s Mr. Crandon who’s helping her?”
    “Even if it’s Mr. Crandon.”
    It was comforting talking to Ma, Peg decided. Ma had the answers to all the questions that had been bothering her. “Ma,” she said, “Miss Hennessey’s going to come to see you.”
    “That’s nice,” Ma said. “Did she say when?”
    “No. Just that she’s coming.” Peg nearly bit her tongue trying to keep from saying any more about the visit. If she said aloud her wish to see Danny, then it might not come true. After all, it was nothing but a wish. Miss Hennessey hadn’t said one word about Ma and Peg going with her. That had been Peg’s idea.
    At that moment John Murphy clomped into the house with a bear hug for Ma and a big smile for Peg, and the conversation changed to the latest news about the war.
    “It’s not the best of news,” John told them. “Our Federal boys lost a major battle to the Rebs in Chickamauga, Georgia. I heard there were over thirty-four thousand dead, counting both sides.”
    Ma shuddered and made the Sign of the Cross.
    Peg tried to imagine how many people would makeup thirty-four thousand, but it was such an enormous amount that she couldn’t.
    “So Major General William Rosecrans retreated, taking what was left of his army into Chattanooga,” Mr. Murphy said. “The Rebs have the city and our army under siege by cutting off any supplies that might come by way of the river.”
    “When will all this horror end?” Ma murmured.
    “When we beat the Rebs, Noreen my girl. It’s as simple as that.”
    “Soon, I hope and pray.”
    “I’m afraid it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
    Ma’s voice quavered. “So many wounded, so many