American Empire: Blood and Iron - By Harry Turtledove Page 0,247

married again after the war.” And I got a surprise not so long after I did. “And yes, Edna finally did get married, just a few months ago.” She started to add that Merle Grimes was a veteran, too, but didn’t bother. Men of the proper age who weren’t veterans were few and far between.

“Well, I’m happy for you,” Alderford said. He beckoned to Clara with a crooked index finger. “Come here, sweetheart. I’ve got a present for you.”

“You can go to him, Clara,” Nellie said. But Clara didn’t want to go anywhere. She clung to Nellie’s skirt with one hand. The thumb of the other was in her mouth.

“Here, I’ll give it to your mama,” Camp Hill Alderford told her. She watched with round eyes as he reached into his hip pocket, pulled out his wallet, and extracted a brown Confederate banknote. “Here y’are, ma’am.”

It was beautifully printed: more handsome than U.S. paper money. That wasn’t what made Nellie gape. She’d never seen, never imagined, a $50,000,000 bill. Gasping a little, she asked, “What’s this worth in real money?”

“About a dime.” Alderford shrugged. “Five cents next week, a penny the week after that.” He paused. “Maybe we’ll be able to start setting our house in order again if we get to stop sending you-all reparations. If we don’t, Lord knows what we’ll do.”

“I haven’t got anything to do with that,” Nellie said. She hoped Congress wouldn’t let President Sinclair cut off Confederate reparations. As far as she was concerned, the weaker the Rebs stayed, the better. What was the first thing they were likely to do if they ever got strong again? As far as she could see, head straight for Washington was the best bet.

“I know you don’t,” Camp Hill Alderford answered. He held out his cup. “If you’d fill that up for me, I’d be obliged.”

“I sure will,” Nellie said, and did, after detaching Clara from her skirt. Alderford was the only customer in the place; of course she’d get another nickel out of him. She kept looking at all the zeros on the bill he’d given her for Clara. A sigh escaped her. If only it were U.S. green instead of C.S. brown!

The bell above the door chimed. Nellie looked that way with a smile of greeting on her face—someone else to spend money. But it wasn’t: it was her son-in-law. Alarm ran through her. “Merle!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here this time of day? Why aren’t you at work?” Why did you have to come in when this goddamn Reb’s here?

“Edna just telephoned me from the doctor’s office,” Merle Grimes answered. “Since you don’t have a telephone, I figured I’d come over and tell you the news—you’re going to be a grandmother.”

“Oh,” Nellie said, and then, “Oh,” again. She would have been more excited about the news if she hadn’t been afraid Camp Hill Alderford would start running his mouth. “Won’t you get in trouble for leaving your job in the middle of the morning?” she asked, hoping to get Grimes out of the coffeehouse as fast as she could.

But he shook his head. “My boss said it was all right. We’re pals—we were in the same company during the war. Small world, isn’t it?”

“Isn’t it just?” Nellie said tonelessly.

“Congratulations, ma’am,” Alderford said. He turned to Merle Grimes. “And to you, too, sir. Children make everything worthwhile.”

“Er—thank you,” Grimes said. He couldn’t help realizing Alderford was a Confederate—and probably couldn’t help wondering why a Confederate spoke as if he knew Nellie so well.

Nellie decided to take that bull by the horns: “Mr. Alderford was Major Alderford during the war, and used to stop by here a good deal.”

“Oh,” Grimes said, not in surprise, as Nellie had, but more for the sake of saying something. He had a way of holding his cards close to his chest. Nellie had trouble telling what he was thinking.

“That’s right,” Alderford said. Nellie sent him a look of appeal to keep him from saying any more. She hated that; she hated asking any man for anything. And she feared the ex–Rebel officer wouldn’t even notice, or would notice and decide to pay back some damnyankees for winning the war.

But Alderford never said an untoward word. He set coins—U.S. coins—on the table and went on his way. Nellie let out a quiet sigh of relief. She’d got by with it. But if more Confederates came to visit, could she keep on getting by with it? One more thing to