Miss Morgan

Forty-Three

June 1899
-Ivy-

"Ivy, stop. It's me." John catches my arm and pins it across my stomach. I gasp in a breath and pull him into a hug. "You were having a nightmare."

"What are you doing here?" I ask him.

"I was just walking past your tent and heard ya cryin'." He rubs soothing circles into my back.

"I weren't cryin'." I grumble, muffled by his shoulder.

He chuckles. "Alright then."

We hold each other like this for a while in comfortable silence as my heart rate slows to its normal steady rhythm. His familiar smoky vanilla scent washes over me. It's another fleeting moment I wish I could put in a jar and keep forever.

But I can't.

"This reminds me of when we used to sneak into each other's tents when we were kids." John whispers sweetly.

And my heart breaks a little.

"John..." I don't want to do this.

"Hmm?"

"Maybe we need to back things off a little." Needles prick my throat. "You still have... other obligations."

"I ain't with Abigail..." I can hear the hurt in his voice.

"But you're obligated to be there for her and the boy."

"But, the way I feel about you..." he mutters.

"I feel the same John, I do."

"You obviously don't though, because I'm willing to be with you again despite everything else." He interrupts me.

"That ain't fair, John."

"I gotta go." He stands up and storms out of my tent. A coldness washes over me where he was just holding me and I fight the urge to cry.

I toss and turn, willing myself to fall back asleep, but it never happens. I get up the next morning and walk out of my tent to go get my morning coffee. Then I see John standing by the coffee pot. He gives me a look and shakes his head a little as he walks away.

"Ready to head out?" Sean asks me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah."

I follow him to the hitching posts and see Hosea waiting for us with the wagon. "You're coming too then, Ivy?" He smiles at me.

"'Course." I return the smile. Actually, I'm just glad to get out of camp to avoid the nasty looks John's giving me now.

"Let's go play some cribbage with ol' ma Braithwaite." Hosea chuckles.

I climb up into the back of the wagon of moonshine then Hosea and Sean drive us out to the road and down the elaborate drive into Braithwaite manor. Giant old oak trees line both sides of the path toward the plantation house. I've only been here twice but I stuck to the outer edge of the property to find Penelope and the back edge with John and Javier to steal the horses. Seeing it from the entrance is almost breathtaking.