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APRIL 21, 1778
The camp was eerily quiet when Caleb returned. Only a few soldiers still milled about; most had retired to their tents to try and get some rest. But there was one still sitting in front of a fire.
Caleb walked over and sat down beside Ben, feeling the warmth of the fire wash over him.
“Miss me, Tallboy?”
Ben hesitated for a moment before looking up. “Oh, Caleb. Good to have you back.” He gave a soft smile, but it almost seemed forced. “I was just about to turn in for the night.” Ben coughed a bit, wiping at his eyes. “This damn smoke, it really has an awful sting.” He had started to get up when Caleb caught his wrist.
“What’s wrong?”
The question hung in the air for what felt like an eternity.
Ben cleared his throat, still not turning back to face Caleb. “Don’t be absurd, Brewster. I’m fine.”
Caleb stood, keeping his hold on Ben’s wrist. “Look me in the eye and tell me that you’re fine, Ben.”
Ben jerked away from Caleb’s grip, slowly turning back around. His hair was disheveled, with strands falling down in front of his face. “Did you know,” he started in a quiet voice, “Did you know that it was 10 years today?” He wiped at his eyes again; they were starting to water.
A look of realization dawned on Caleb’s face. “Ben, I’m sorry, I didn’t-,”
“When Abe told us that they were using the headstones as fortifications, I thought he couldn’t possibly be telling the truth. He misheard something. He was wrong. And then I saw it for myself. You saw it too! Hers was there, Caleb! I couldn’t…I never thought that…” Ben choked down a small sob.
APRIL 21, 1768
Ben was woken by the sound of his father’s footsteps toward the room he shared with Samuel. The door creaked opened slowly, revealing Reverend Tallmadge.
“Boys, we need to talk.”
The brothers sat up, rubbing their eyes. Ben wouldn’t meet his father’s gaze, he could sense something was wrong.
“I thought it best not to avoid having this discussion with you. Better to tell you now. You’re both old enough to hear this plainly. Your mother has…passed on.”
Samuel was up immediately. “How is that possible?! You said her illness was improving. You said she would recover! You promised!”
“These things are out of my control, Samuel! It is the will of God that your mother has left us, He always has a plan.”
“Damn the plan.” A small mutter came from Ben, frozen where he was sitting.
“What did you say?” said Reverend Tallmadge.
“I said damn the plan!”
“Benjamin. I know you are distraught, but that is no reason to-,”
“Reason to what? To be angry? To question your damn plan?! I lost my mother-,”
“And I lost my wife! But that is no excuse to blaspheme in this house!”
Ben stopped short, rising and blinking away the tears stinging at his eyes. He looked first to his father, then to his brother. He turned. And he ran.
He ran all the way down the winding road to the Brewster house. There was only one face he could stand looking at right now.
Ben wiped away the tears, knocking. He forced a smile as Mr. Brewster opened the door.
“Benjamin, you’re here early.”
“Good morning, sir, I was just wondering if Caleb was home.” His voice sounded tight and strained, and he was hoping Mr. Brewster wouldn’t notice the tears starting to form at the corners of his eyes again.
“You just missed him, he was headed down to the Sound.”
“Thank you, sir.” He nodded courteously and turned to go.
“Give my regards to your father,” Mr. Brewster called after him as he closed the door.
Once he rounded the corner, he was off sprinting again. He kept running until he saw a familiar figure come in to view.
Caleb turned as he heard the twigs crunching under Ben’s feet. “Hey, Tallboy! What’s the rush?” A goofy grin spread across his face, and his slightly too large hat was tilted precariously on his head.
Ben slowed as he neared Caleb, breathing heavily.
“I know you can’t bear to part with me, Tallmadge, but you don’t need to chase me down like I’m about to leave you forever.”
Leave me forever.
“She’s dead, Caleb.”
Caleb furrowed his brow, giving Ben a strange look.
“Ben, what’re you talking about? What’s going on?”
He couldn’t hold it in anymore. Ben sank to his knees, starting to cry. “My mother. She’s dead.”
Ben was nearly knocked over by the sheer force of Caleb wrapping his arms around him.
“Ben…I…I’m so sorry, I-,”
But his voice was drowned out by the sound of Ben’s sobbing. Caleb only held him tight and promised him that he would never leave him behind.
1778
“Do you think she would be proud of me?”
Ben had broken the long silence that had lingered after he and Caleb went back to the tents.
“Do you think my mother would be proud of what I’m doing?”
Caleb took Ben’s hand and squeezed it gently. “I don’t see how she could be prouder. Major in the Continentals and Head of Intelligence. All grown up and fighting for a cause you believe in.”
Ben gave a small smile and Caleb breathed a sigh of relief. “C’mon, you should be getting some rest.” Caleb made a move to leave.
“Stay here with me?”
Caleb looked back to Ben. He didn’t look like the serious soldier anymore. His eyes were red and swollen from crying, and most of his hair had fallen around his face. He looked like what Caleb remembered of him from back home.
“Yeah, Tallboy, I’ll stay.”
He sat down on the bed next to Ben. He rested his head on Caleb’s shoulder.
“Thank you, Caleb.”
“No need to thank me. You know I’d never leave you.”
Ben’s eyes started to droop as Caleb shook the last of his hair out from the braid, running his hands through it. He sang softly as Ben drifted off to sleep.
Then hoist every sail to the breeze,
Come, shipmates, and join in the song,
Let’s drink while the ship cuts the seas,
To the gale that may drive her along.
Ye, sailors, I’m bound to my love,
I’m done with the toils of the seas,
Ye, sailors, I’m bound to my love.