The Traitor's Stain (wattys 2019)

Chapter Twelve: Setauket, Long Island

Ophelia didn't know what she expected to happen after she handed the letter off to Anna, but she found herself waiting for something - anything - to happen. She guessed that she thought that Ben, Caleb, or one of their associates would come in, and that there would be some sort of battle between them and Colonel Erikson and his men.

But, that didn't happen. That day passed. As did the day after that, and the day after that one, and nothing nearly that dramatic happened. In fact... nothing happened. She simply went about her life, waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

It was driving her insane. What did Ben and Caleb plan on doing about the royal army?Were they going to do anything about it? Because in that moment, she was truly starting to wonder.

After about three days of waiting, Anna came to the store.

This is it, Ophelia thought to herself as she forced a smile onto her face. Anna's here to tell me what they're going to do about the royal army.

"Good afternoon, Anna," Ophelia said as Anna walked into the store, forcing the thoughts of Ben, Caleb, and their sabotage into the back of her mind. "How are you, today?"

"I'm doing just fine, thank you," Anna said. "Do you have nails in, today? Selah's doing some repairs on the roof, and we've just realized we don't have nearly as many as we would've liked."

"Of course," Ophelia said. "How many do you need?"

"Twenty should be plenty," Anna said. "Unless, of course, Selah manages to bend more nails: in that case, I'll be back in an hour or so."

Anna chuckled to herself. Ophelia managed to force out a chuckle, herself.

What's going on? Ophelia wanted to ask. What are Ben and Caleb planning? Was my information useful? Do they need me to do anything else?

Tell me what's going on, before it drives me insane!

She didn't say any of that, of course: instead, she simply kept that smile on her face as she went and got the nails for her.

"Have you heard anything from Ben?" Ophelia asked as she counted up the nails. "In regards to my husband, I mean."

"Not yet," Anna said. "Give it time: I'm sure he's just... trying to figure things out. Getting his contacts in order. It won't be long, now: I'm sure of it."

Ophelia wished she could flat out ask Anna about what was going on with Ben and Caleb: she hated the uncertainty.

"Here are your nails," Ophelia said, handing them out to Anna. "That'll be ten pounds."

Anna handed her the money.

"I'll come the second I hear from Ben: I promise," Anna said.

She left.

Ophelia sighed, smoothing her hair back with one hand. Why couldn't Ben and Caleb hurry up and send something? The suspense was killing her!

***

Anna knew from the moment she heard harsh whispers coming from her barn that Caleb had, once again, arrived in Setauket.

She sighed when she heard the voices from the barn. It sounded like Selah had already gotten to him, not surprisingly: the two had never gotten along all that well, especially after Caleb had gotten Anna involved in the network.

"You're an ass, Caleb, you know that?" Selah hissed as Anna walked towards the barn. "You're putting all of us in danger by being here. Is that what you want?"