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“Warm enough, Annie?”
Caleb didn’t wait for Anna’s answer before he dropped a blanket around her shoulders. He tossed another log on the smoky campfire and settled next to her. Anna pulled the blanket more closely around herself. Cold, steady rain had soaked the camp over the past few days, and she hadn’t felt truly warm since she’d left Setauket.
“No word from Ben?” she asked. Caleb shook his head. He hid it well, but Anna knew he was deeply worried about their absent friend. Caleb seemed more on edge than Anna had ever seen him. Ben should have returned days ago, but his tent remained dark and empty. Anna had begun to worry about him as well.
“We should probably decide what we’re going to tell him about you,” Caleb said. They had been avoiding this conversation since he’d picked Anna up in Setauket.
“We’ll tell him what he needs to know,” Anna said. “I’ll explain that I fell in love with Edmund and that we were to be married. When Abe’s father learned I forged the divorce papers from Selah, I had to leave.” Caleb gave her a long look.
“I won’t lie to him, Annie,” he said. “He should know that one of his agents was planning to kill a British officer.”
“I’m not asking you to lie. I’ll talk to him,” Anna said.
“He doesn’t know about you and Abe,” Caleb said.
“It doesn’t matter. Abe and I are through. It’s enough that I have to tell him about Edmund.” She felt sick just thinking about it.
“You’ve got another problem besides that,” Caleb said. “If Washington gets wind that you tried to marry a British officer, he’ll dismiss you from camp, no question. Now, Benny won’t tell your secret, but what’s he going to tell Washington?”
“Tell Washington what?”
Anna and Caleb both turned at Ben’s voice behind them.
“Tall-boy!” Caleb exclaimed, his tone equal parts relief and joy at his friend’s return. He leaped from his seat and pulled Ben into a tight hug. Ben returned the embrace. When he saw Anna over Caleb’s shoulder his eyes widened with surprise.
“Hello, Ben,” she said. She waited for Caleb to let him go before she hugged him as well. Ben was dressed in plain clothes instead of his uniform, splashed with mud up to his knees. He smelled like woodsmoke and the rain that had soaked the camp for days.
“It’s good to see you,” Ben said. “What are you doing at camp?” He looked from Anna to Caleb.
“I think we had better get you some supper, and then we can talk,” Caleb said.
They ate together under the awning of Mr. Sackett’s old cart, which Caleb and Ben had brought from Valley Forge. Ben ate like he hadn’t had a proper meal in a week, and Anna wondered just how far he had traveled back to camp. In the waning sunlight Anna noticed how tired Ben looked, with deep hollows under his eyes. He had a fading bruise on one temple that she hadn’t noticed before.
“What happened?” Ben asked.
“The situation in Setauket wasn’t safe for me anymore,” Anna said. “I asked Caleb to come pick me up while you were gone.” She would give him more details if it became necessary, but she saw no reason to tell the whole story unless he asked outright. She doubted that Ben would pry beyond whatever he needed to know to maintain the security of the ring.
“Annie’s staying in camp with us for a while, since she had nowhere else to go,” Caleb added.
“Alright,” Ben said. He seemed unsatisfied with their answers.“If it’s safer for you here, you’re welcome to stay, Anna.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I’m glad you made it back, Caleb was beginning to worry about you.” Caleb rose from his seat and grinned at Ben.
“Aye, thought maybe you’d gotten yourself shot by some cowboy,” he said. Ben did not return his smile.
“You alright, Benny?” Caleb asked, his grin fading as he looked closely at his friend.
“Yes, thank you,” Ben said quietly. He looked at Anna. “Do you need anything?”
“Caleb’s taken good care of me,” she said. Ben nodded.
“Thank you, Caleb,” he said. He stood and Anna noticed that he winced as he straightened, his knuckles tightening briefly on the back of his chair. “If you’ll excuse me, then,” he said. He ducked under the awning and Anna watched him closely as he left. He moved carefully, with a slight hesitation in his stride.
“What’s wrong with him?” she asked Caleb. Certainly she hadn’t been the only one to notice Ben’s subdued mood. Anna had fully expected Ben to question her about the exact circumstances of her arrival in camp, as any good intelligence officer would.
Caleb shrugged. “No idea. I’ll go check on him, see if I can get him to talk.”
It was dark by the time Anna finished her work in the camp and headed to her tent. A cold breeze made her shiver, and she longed for the warmth of her own bedroom. Ben’s tent was on the way to her own. When she saw that his candle was still lit, she indulged her curiosity and passed closer than strictly necessary.
“Whatever happened to you wasn’t just a fall in the woods. Let’s see it.” Caleb’s voice was quiet but clear. Ben didn’t answer him. Anna leaned closer, and immediately jumped back as the tent flap was pushed aside to reveal Caleb’s face.
“Come in, Annie,” Caleb said. Anna hesitated, somewhat ashamed of having been caught eavesdropping.
“It’s alright, Anna,” Ben said, sounding resigned.
“He’s not much to look at anyway,” Caleb said. Anna ducked into the tent and closed the flap behind her. Ben had removed his coat, waistcoat and shirt and was picking at the bloodstained calico bandages knotted around his waist.
“Are you alright?” she asked, alarmed at the blood. Ben winced as he peeled away the old dressing.
“It was just a glancing shot,” Ben said. When he took his hand away, Anna saw the unmistakable bullet wound, ringed with ugly bruising and held closed with three neat stitches. It looked recent and painful, and explained Ben’s haggard appearance. She wondered how on earth he’d made it back to camp with such an injury. She exchanged a glance with Caleb.
“Doesn’t look like a graze to me,” Caleb said, which earned him a murderous glare from Ben. Ben yanked on a clean shirt and dropped into his cot, clearly finished with the conversation. Caleb made himself comfortable at Ben’s desk. He laid his pistols out and began the task of cleaning and oiling both guns.
“You should get some rest,” Caleb said to Anna. She was exhausted, but had slept poorly ever since her arrival in camp. She was still growing accustomed to the constant cold and uncomfortable cots that were so different from the warmth of her home. She’d lain awake every night shivering, thinking in circles about Edmund and wondering if she could have found another way to save his life.
“I’ll stay. I have some mending to finish,” she said. She couldn’t bear the thought of going back to her freezing tent that she shared with strangers. Caleb gave her a knowing smile.
“Trouble sleeping, yeah? Takes a while to get used to the camp,” he said.
“Yes,” she said. She settled herself in the other chair and pulled her sewing from her bag.
“I don’t need a minder,” Ben said, startling them both. She had thought he was asleep.
“That’s too bad, Tall-boy,” Caleb said. “Shouldn’t have gone and got yourself shot, then.” Ben didn’t reply, knowing the argument was lost. He pulled his blanket over his head and was still. Anna smiled to herself. Ben and Caleb had been inseparable since they were children, and serving together had only seemed to strengthen their friendship. Caleb had barely let Ben out of his sight since Ben’s return.
Anna’s mending was a familiar, calming task that gave her something to do with her hands while she tried not to think about what she’d left behind in Setauket.She lost track of time, and when she was finished the candles had burned low. Caleb was asleep on Ben’s desk, his head pillowed on his arm. She considered waking him, but he looked so exhausted that she decided to let him be.
She stared into the candle’s flame and her thoughts drifted to Edmund. She hoped he was well, though she doubted very much that he could be. She had seen to his destruction, even if it was to save his life. He had truly loved her, she knew, and she had used him cruelly.
“Are you going to tell me the truth about why you’re here?” Ben’s quiet voice pulled her from her thoughts. She wondered how long he’d been awake. A half-dozen lies crossed her mind, all carefully prepared for this very question. She stared down at the sewing in her lap while she ordered her thoughts. She’d had her fill of lying.
“I was to be married to Edmund Hewlett,” she said, meeting Ben’s eyes.
“What?” he asked, disbelieving. He sat up so that he could face her.
“Edmund and I became romantically involved last winter. I forged divorce papers from Selah so that I could marry him. When Judge Woodhull discovered the forgery, I told him Edmund had coerced me to do it. I did it to save his life.”
Once Anna had begun, she found she couldn’t stop. She told Ben all of it, about Abe’s plan to murder Edmund, and how she’d had to disgrace him in order to save him. But she couldn’t bring herself to tell Ben about her affair with Abe. He didn’t need to know and it no longer mattered. Ben had always seemed to have a blind spot where their relationship was concerned, and Anna was grateful that he had never worked it out for himself. Some secrets were better kept.
By the time she reached the end of the story, her voice had grown hoarse and she was crying despite her efforts not to. She knew Ben must have found her ridiculous and her cheeks burned with shame.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, swiping furiously at her tears as she tried to compose herself.
“Anna,” Ben said softly, holding out his hand. Anna put her hand in his and he closed his fingers over hers. Ben didn’t let go of her hand, his warm grip an anchor as all the tears she hadn’t let herself cry since arriving in camp spilled down her cheeks. She bowed her head and wept until she felt empty. She pulled in a few deep breaths and wiped her face on her sleeve. When she looked at Ben she saw only concern in his eyes.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice thick and rasping. Ben released her hand. He looked troubled, she thought, and she wondered if he would dismiss her from camp and remove her from the ring.
“Will you send me away, now that you know?” she asked. “Surely Washington will see me as a liability, if not suspect that I’m here to spy for the British. I’d like to stay, and help the ring however I can.”
“Washington will expect an explanation as to why you’re here,” Ben said.
“Tell him whatever you want, then,” Anna said. She doubted anything he could make up would be worse than the truth. Ben rubbed a hand tiredly over his face.
“Well, now you know my secret,” she said. “Are you going to tell me what happened while you were away? I’ve never seen Caleb worried about anything, but he very nearly went to find you himself.”
Ben picked at a loose thread in his blanket, his gaze far away.
“I ran into some thieves on the road,” he said finally. The lie stung, but Anna knew better than to press him. She laid a hand on his arm and met his eyes.
“I doubt you came across a spare petticoat in the backwoods of New Jersey, and I’m certain you didn’t stitch your own wound,” she said. “I hope she was kind to you, whoever she was.”
Ben’s mouth tightened in a frown and he looked away. Anna hadn’t expected an answer. She’d let Ben keep his secrets.
***
Anna dumped the final bucket of steaming water into the washtub. She had three tubs nearly overflowing with dirty dishes, and that was just from breakfast. It was so cold that she almost looked forward to the opportunity to keep her hands in the lukewarm water for a while. She was elbow-deep in dirty plates when Ben ducked under the awning. His nose and cheeks were red with cold.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Good morning,” he replied. He looked around her cart. “Are you settling in?”
“I am,” Anna replied. “Your Mr. Sackett was a very interesting person.”
“Yes he was,” Ben said. “He would be pleased to see his cart being put to good use.” In the weeks since she had joined the camp, Anna had come to appreciate Ben’s gift of Sackett’s cart to her. It seemed to make both Ben and Caleb happy to see their friend’s cart back in service, and Anna couldn’t deny that she enjoyed having a space of her own.
Ben removed his coat and hung it over the back of a nearby chair. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows before plunging both hands into the nearest tub of dishes, fishing around for a rag at the bottom.
“Surely you have more important things to do than help with the dishes, Major?” Anna asked. “Or is this one of the ‘other duties’ you told me about? I think you’re just procrastinating.” She hid a smile as he picked up a plate coated in the unidentifiable remains of breakfast.
“There are no unimportant tasks in the camp,” Ben said as he scrubbed. He gave the dishwashing the same serious attention she’d watched him give encrypted letters or his reports to Washington, and soon he had a stack of clean dishes beside him.
“What are you going to tell Washington about the ring?” Anna asked when the dishes were finished. Ben didn’t answer for a long moment, as though he were unsure of what he wanted to say.
“I intend to resign as Washington’s head of intelligence,” Ben said. “Our ring has dissolved. There’s no need for me to remain in the post.” Anna stared at him in disbelief. She knew that Ben considered managing their spy ring his greatest duty.
“You’re just going to give up, then? Just like that?” she asked. Her shock was quickly replaced by anger as she thought of all the sacrifices she had made for the ring that Ben was so willing to walk away from.
“I’m not giving up, Anna. Washington wants Abe out, and Townsend won’t spy for us after what happened at Thanksgiving. There’s nothing left for me to do. I can better serve our cause by returning to my duties in the field.”
Anna planted her fists on her hips and looked him in the eyes.
“I’ve never known you to give up so easily, Major. What’s happened to you? You haven’t seemed like yourself lately. I heard you got in a fight with another officer.”
“He was drunk on duty and mistreating prisoners,” Ben said sharply. Anna eyed the half-healed cuts across his knuckles.
“I see,” she said. She wondered when Ben had discovered such great compassion for loyalist prisoners that he cared if they were mistreated or not.
“Why are you really here, Ben?” she asked him gently. Ben took a deep breath and she saw some of the tension go out of him.
“I owe you an apology, Anna. You’ve been a great help to us since you’ve come to camp, and I was wrong to think otherwise. I told Washington about your assistance with the counterfeiters. He asked me to convey his gratitude to you personally.” That Ben had included her in his report to Washington meant a great deal to her, especially after his initial reluctance to let her help. A little spark of joy grew in her chest until it warmed her through.
“I accept. And I believe I owe you an apology as well, for losing my temper. What I said was unkind,” Anna said. Ben shook his head.
“You were right to be angry.” he said. Anna nodded. She understood Ben’s caution, misguided as it was. He did not know the danger she had already endured in Setauket. He had not been there the night in the woods while she knelt in the dirt for a Queen’s Ranger, or when she had offered herself to Simcoe in exchange for Edmund’s rescue.
“I asked Caleb about what happened to Mr. Sackett,” she said. “He told me that he was murdered by a British spy at Valley Forge. Caleb said you were with him when he died.”
“Yes,” Ben said tightly. Anna closed the space between them and gripped him by the elbows. When she looked up at him she saw the sadness in his eyes, and he did not look away.
“I know it’s hard for you, Ben, to send your friends into danger. But we volunteered to serve.”
“I know,” he said. Anna released him and handed him his coat. He slipped it on and tugged it straight. The sweet boy whose hand she’d once held was gone, a soldier in his place. Anna watched him walk to Washington’s tent. She hoped that Ben would listen to her and remain in his post.
Even if their ring dissolved, Anna knew that she would continue to fight however she could, until the rebels had won the war, or until they all hung side by side. She did not know what would happen to the ring, or to her, but for the first time since she had left Setauket she felt at peace.