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The heat is suffocating and makes it hard to move and if he wasn't a good Reverend's son he would strip down to his undershirt right there under the shade of the giant tree he lays under and stretch all of his long, tired limps out across the ground.
These days, when there is no major work to be done around the camp and all the soldiers and workers can lazily lay in their tents or in the shade are sometimes all he looks forward to in the summer months of constant heat. When he can lull into a light sleep in the shade without having to worry about some life saving intelligence and just lean his head against Anna for her to run her light fingers through his hair to rid him of his thoughts.
He turns his head to the side to look up at Anna who lays stretched out beside him as well in the shade and feels bad for her for one of the first times he can remember in awhile. If he is suffocating in the heat of mid-July then she must be as well in her many layers of dress that hug against her body.
Her eyes flick open as if she can feel his eyes on her and she looks down to meet his. She lifts a eyebrow up at him in question and he grins up at her as she wraps a loose blonde hair that had fallen from his braid around her thin finger to pull on it playfully. He knows in the back of his mind that Caleb is somewhere running around the camp and if he happened to walk up upon them in their peace then he would surely have a fit of excitement at seeing the two of them laying so close together and would continue to tease them without mercy. He is sure that he will hear some form of gossip though as Ben watches the soldiers of the camp walk past them, casting their eyes towards them for a moment in a silent judgement before moving on. Usually the threat of unwanted gossip from the camp followers and soldiers would make them jump 10 feet apart but the sun makes them both lazy to the point where neither want to move, no matter what lie some Lieutenant spreads. He isn't sure that General Washington himself walking upon them would jerk him away. Although he could imagine the questions it would cause from his superiors.
She closes her eyes again and he feels a pang of guilt at what he is doing when his eyes scan over her pretty face. They were both still very young, barely 24 and 25, but it feels like they have been alive forever. He knows that he has loved her since before he can even remember and he wonders how a relationship between them hadn't blossomed sooner. He wondered in passing if she had married Selah out of necessity as she was going to with Hewlett or because some part of her loved the man. His nose crinkles at the thought of Abe ever even finding out. Neither tried to think of that. They still didn't know what they would do when that time came.
He too closed his eyes once again against the sun on his face and nuzzled his cheek against her skirts like a small boy would for comfort. Her small and nimble fingers once tug through his tangles of hair and quickly lull him into a deeper sleep once again.