Chapter 10

“Hurry up, Claire! Over here!.”

Claire tried her best to keep up, following Emily through the garden.

Was it a dream? Was it real?

Claire again could not tell.

All she knew was she enjoyed her time with her “sister” in the garden lit up by golden moonlight.

Emily was inquisitive, wanting to hear about Becky and the cute stable boy. She also wanted to know what Claire really thought of Lawrence.

“Are you going to marry him some day?” Emily asked.

“You know, you’re beginning to sound like Becky!” Claire said, not nearly as amused.

“Actually, Becky said his parents wanted him to marry you,” Claire said in matter-of-fact way.

“But I think he likes you,” Emily said with a sheepish grin.

“I dunno,” Claire said, deciding to change the subject.

“Tell me, Emm,” Claire said…”are you a ghost? Are you an angel or some other kind of spirit?”

Emily laughed as they sat on the edge of the fountain.

“Why Claire, I’m your sister, silly!”

Claire seemed a little annoyed. This was the second time Emily appeared to her…and Emily seemed to be avoiding the subject.

“I don’t really think you’re real” Claire said.

“Maybe I’m not real,” Emily said. “Maybe I’m just a dream of yours. Then again, maybe I’m not.”

I must really be crazy, Claire thought. Maybe I’ll wake up soon.

“So Claire, what do you think of the gift you’ve been given?” Emily asked.

“Gift? What gift?” Claire asked.

Emily touched Claire’s chest. She then slapped Claire on the rear and laughed.

“You’ll figure it out soon,” Emily said. “If you haven’t already.”

Then in a flash, Emily disappeared in the midst.

“Wait, Emm, come back!” Claire said. “We’re not done!”

“We are for now sis!” Emily shouted back in the distance. “It’s morning. It’s almost time for you to wake up!”

Then, this really is a dream, Claire thought.

*****

Claire didn’t like the probing and the prodding. She didn’t really care too much for the measuring, either.

Most of all, she didn’t like being undressed as Dr. Robert examined her. She felt like some freaky experiment on display.

Of course, the physician wasn’t the only person in the room. Watching the proceedings were her two mothers __ Mary Windham and Meggie O’Hara van Husen, as well as Mirilla and Helen.

“There is no doubt about it, they are breast buds,” Dr. Robert said. “Claire is developing breasts.

“I thought you would be interested, Meggie,” Mary Windham said.

Meggie shook her head. She was as amazed as anyone in the room.

“You know, she’s beginning to look like my sister Marnie when she was Claire’s age,” Meggie confided in Mary.

Dr. Robert then measured Claire’s waist and hips. He wrote down numbers on his pad.

“There has been some growth in her hips,” he told the women in the room. “There is no doubt about it. With the exception of her genitalia, her body is developing like a female’s should.”

He tried to come up with some medical explanation. Maybe some of the medicines he prescribed were causing it.

“But to be honest, I’m just not sure,” he said.

Mary Windham shook her head.

“Maybe the child has received some form of gift from heaven,” Mary Windham said.

Claire looked straight at her adoptive mother.

“What is it child?” Mary Windham said.

A gift from heaven. Maybe Emily was right. Maybe her body developing the way it should was a gift.

Did that mean the dream she had the night before was real?

Claire wondered if she should tell anyone.

“Thank you Dr. Robert,” Mary Windham said. “We appreciate you coming.”

Claire admitted relief when the doctor left. She felt embarrassed being undressed in front of him, the first time she ever remembered being embarrassed about being undressed in front of a male before.

Things were changing for her in more ways than one.

*****

“Why Lawrence Stenson, that is very sweet!” Claire said as she held the porcelain doll. “It is very beautiful.”

She gave him a kiss on the cheek. She smiled as he appeared to blush.

“My mother helped me pick it out at van Husen’s Mercantile,” he said. “She told me you liked dolls.”

Claire did. She was building quite a collection. She inherited Emily’s collection. She also had Beatrice. She was also building a pretty good college of her own, especially dolls from foreign countries.

“There you two are!” shouted Becky. “You know the music is about to start.”

The three ran as fast as they could to the gazebo. They didn’t want to be late for the Independence Day celebration — the there was much to celebrate.

They heard the adults talking. There war was beginning to turn toward the North’s side. The battle in Pennsylvania ended the day before. The Union boys whipped the Confederates in a town called Gettysburg, or at least that is what Claire remembered her mother telling her.

Her mother didn’t appear to be as happy as the other people in town.

“Both sides lost a lot of boys,” Mary Windham told Claire. “I’m afraid people won’t be as happy once the casualty list is posted.

Claire also heard that Vicksburg, a Confederate town on the Mississippi River had fallen to the North as well.

“Maybe this war is about to end,” one of the Sanitary Commission ladies told her mother.

“I fear it is still a long way from being over,” Mary Windham told her daughter.

Still, Mary Windham seemed as happy as many of the townspeople. And the celebration went on as she had planned.

The band played several tunes that were beginning to become familiar.

“I absolutely love Lorena,” Claire told Becky about a song that was popular among the boys in both armies.

Claire and Becky wore their best dresses. Both had red, white and blue ribbons pinned to their dresses and in their hair.

They were as much stars of the celebration as the orchestra. They sang a duet of songs that were becoming popular. They sang as song called “Rally Around the Flag” that they were told was popular with Union troops.

They also sang a new song called Battle Hymn of the Republic, which Mary Windham told Claire was sung to a hymn called John Brown’s Body, which wasn’t a song she’d ever heard of.

The crowd applauded loudly when the two girls finished their singing.

“Claire has a lovely voice,” Madilyn Wilkenson, told Mary. “She is turning into a very beautiful, very proper young lady. It’s hard to believe she was once the daughter of one of your poor relatives.”

She was, as Mary told Claire, one of the town’s high society women.

“Why thank you, Madilyn” Mary Windham replied. “Claire has worked very hard. I’m very proud of her. She and Rebecca practiced for several weeks on the songs.”

Claire and Becky made their way through the crowd. They joined some of the other girls in a game.

“Would you like to dance?” Lawrence asked Claire as he approached the group of girls.

“Why, yes, Lawrence, that would be nice!” she said as they waltzed to a few of the sounds the orchestra played.

“I think Larry likes Claire,” one of the girls whispered to Becky, who giggled and nodded her head.

“Miss Rebecca, would you like to dance,” Robert Wilkenson said. Robert was dark-headed and a bit skinny. Mary Windham once described him to Claire as being rather “sickly looking.”

“But he’ll probably grow out of it,” Mary Windham once told her daughter. “His father and his brothers are rather pudgy.”

Becky didn’t refuse the dance, even though she would much rather be dancing with “the stable boy.”

She loved dancing and it gave her a chance to join her friend as they danced to peppy music of the orchestra.

Soon several people, both adults and children, gathered in a circle around the two young couples. They were clapping to the beat of the music..

“They can dance as well as sing,” another lady told Mary Windham and Lydia Randolph.

The two mothers nodded, beaming as their daughters seemed to be having a good time.

“Thank you gentlemen for the dance,” Claire said when they finished. She and Becky were sweating and very much out of breath. So were the boys.

“Lawrence, will you and Robert be dears and bring us some lemonade,” Claire said, winking to Becky. She tried to sound as proper as she could.

Lawrence and Robert were happy to comply.

“Mother said Robert would be quite a catch,” Claire giggled to Becky. “He is heir to a railroad fortune.”

“Why Miss Claire,” Becky giggled back. “You are becoming quite the snob.”

“You are quite right,” Claire said to her friend. “Shall we go look at the horses and a certain stable boy?”

*****

It had been a busy day. Claire was happy to strip down to her petticoat and then get ready for a nice hot bath.

“Mirilla, you need to pack Claire’s clothes,” Mary Windham said. “We’ve got a long journey ahead tomorrow.”

“We’re going somewhere momma?” Claire asked as she climbed into the tub.

“Yes, my naked child,” Mary said. “We are accompanying Dr. Robert to Gettysburg.”

“Gettysburg?” Claire asked.

“They are in need of doctors and nurses,” Mary Windham said. “They are also in need of supplies. The town is overrun with wounded and dying.”

“Is that a proper place for a young lady like Claire, Madame?” Mirilla asked.

“Dr. Robert didn’t seem to be thrilled with the prospect of either of us going.” Mary Windham replied. “But father took me to Mexico with him when I was Claire’s age. We helped with the wounded there. It was educational for me. I’m sure it would be for Claire.”

“I’m just worried it would be traumatic for her, Ma’am,” Mirilla said. “I’m sure Myron would agree with me.”

“Nonsence,” Claire said, not knowing whether she should butt in or not. “Momma wants me to go. I want to go.”

Claire was looking forward to the adventure. She had heard so many stories about the war, especially when she lived along the river. Although Mary Windham tried to make sure she knew exactly about the horrors of war, Claire also remembered Meggie telling glorified tales of her uncle fighting in the Irish Brigade.

“When we return, Mirilla, you and Helen are going to have to get all of our clothes together,” Mary Windham said. “We will be going to Europe in a few weeks.”

“Now Europe, that will be an exciting, romantic place for a young woman like you,” Mirilla said as she began to scrub Claire’s arms.