stage built by convicts, and she felt nothing but contentment. There is nowhere I would rather be, she thought, as her last pupil, Eddie Hanrahan, whose father had been left behind on a cold battlefield, recited the Preamble to the Constitution, bowed and left the stage with all the aplomb of Daniel Webster himself.
As the applause went on, she thought through the past five months. In January, she wouldn’t have thought such peace of mind possible. In May, she knew anything was possible. She turned to look at her husband, who was looking directly at her and applauding. “I love you,” he mouthed, and her heart was full.
Major Townsend took the stage then and held up his hands until his audience was silent and seated again. It didn’t take long in a military gathering. He looked down at the children.
“My dears, you amaze me.” He looked at Susanna and Anthony next, with a slight inclination of his head. “Thank you, teachers. You’ve discharged your duties well.” He smiled. “I know the army doesn’t pay you enough!” He glanced at the back of the audience. “And in some cases, the army doesn’t pay you at all.”
Susanna laughed softly at that. “I’ll tell you later, Anthony,” she whispered, when her colleague looked at her, a question in his eyes.
“Mrs. Randolph informs me that she is a glutton for punishment. She has every intention of teaching a summer term, if any of you—and I include the officers’ children—are inclined to more study.” He looked at Anthony. “Private, is there anything else?”
“Only cake with actual icing and cookies with no raisins, over there in what we have dubbed the lob by, sir.”
“Then let us adjourn. Dismissed!”
Susanna wanted to go to her husband, but there were students to congratulate and then parents to thank, and even a kiss on the cheek from Major Townsend. She walked toward Joe, who was talking to Mrs. Hanrahan. If there was a better doctor anywhere, Susanna couldn’t imagine who it might be. To think I share a bed with all that excellence, she reminded herself, amused.
He saw her and motioned her closer. “Susanna, I’ve convinced Mrs. Hanrahan to come and work for my hospital steward. He’s been complaining of overwork for years now, and I have enough discretionary funds to hire this kind lady. What do you think?”
Your discretionary fund comes right out of your salary, she thought. “It’s a lovely idea. Mrs. Hanrahan, you are needed there.”
“The surgeon said I can work when Eddie is in your school this summer. Maeve has already agreed that she and Maddie will watch my two little ones,” Mrs. Hanrahan said, her eyes full of relief and gratitude.
“It was either that or heaven knows what, Suzie,” he whispered after Mrs. Hanrahan left. “The army would send Corporal Hanrahan’s dependents home, except that home is County Wicklow. Her pension alone is too small to live on. Ted Brown will need more assistance this summer.”
Susanna kissed his cheek. “When did I last tell you how magnificent you are?”
“I think it was about three this morning,” he teased, his eyes lively. “See you for supper, Mrs. Randolph. Bring along any leftover cake, if there is any. If not, you are dessert.”
In a few minutes the bugler that regulated their lives blew recall from fatigue, and the storehouse cleared out, except for the older students who had agreed to help Private Benedict store the props and remove the curtain. Susanna went back to her corner of the classroom to tidy her desk. She glanced up after a few minutes, surprised to see General Crook standing there.
I can smile and say nothing, she thought. He doesn’t know me from Adam.
“General?”
“I enjoyed the program, Mrs. Randolph.”
He does know who I am; he must. “Thank you, sir.”
He stood there and she didn’t know why. Probably nothing she could say would make matters better, but she wasn’t the same cowed woman now, the one with no hope and no future and too much past to ever forget.
“Would you sit down for a moment, General?” she said, her voice soft. She sat next to him. “Sir, you know who I am.”
“I do.”
“First, let me wish you all success on your travel north.”
“We’ll do our best.”
“I don’t doubt that for a minute. Sir, I’m in no position to tell you what to think or do, but I love my husband.”
He smiled at that, and looked away.
“Sir, the only mistake he made in that aide station at South Mountain was to practice good