My Soldier

Chapter 14

-A month later-

"Just go out to the city and relax, we're finally back in Manhattan and it's your day off."

I held several letters in my hand as I talked to my father, "Dad what about you? Alexander is loaded up to his knees with work and you need the extra assistance."

He smiled and waved his hand, "Nonsense, I'll be fine on my own. Besides, I heard from General Schuyler that his daughters are good friends with you. Why don't you go meet with them?"

I sat the letters down and sighed in defeat, "You're right, I did promise them that I would take the time off to see them when I was back in Manhattan."

My father smiled and stood from his seat, "Great, now I recommend changing and leaving right away to have plenty of time with your friends."

I playfully rolled my eyes as I walked out of the tent, "Whatever you say dad."

I closed the tent behind me and proceeded to make my way back to my own tent. As I walked through camp I took in the early morning air and relaxed a bit. Over the past month I began to take care of myself more. My wounds healed and I was left with huge scars on my arms and stomach. But I didn't care, they looked fine in my eyes.

After a few minutes I walked into my tent and saw that all the boys were gone. It was close to seven in the morning so I was surprised to see them out of the tent this early. They usually wanted to sleep in. I walked past their beds and made my way over to my own bed. I slid off my soldier coat and tossed it onto my thin sheets. I opened up the small trunk sitting at the end of my bed and pulled out my dreaded corset. Hercules has some spare time so he would always work on a new design when he had the chance. His designs were fabulous but I groaned as I remembered the discomfort I felt in the corsets, it wasn't fun. I continued to look at the clothes in my trunk until I pulled out a basic (f/c) dress that would keep me warm from the chilly fall air.

I then started to remove my soldier uniform and get into my more feminine clothing. When I placed the corset around my stomach I could already feel the discomfort with the metal boning. Although I decided that if I could get slashed with a sword and almost die, I could put up with a corset for just one day. I tied the strings tight so that my waist looked tiny and stepped into my ruffled dress. Once I was dressed I pulled out a small brush that was tucked away in my trunk and began to fix my hair. I ended up putting it in a half up half down style just like I normally would on a normal day at home.

To finish everything off I slipped on a pair of black heels to make the outfit come together. I walked over to grab my weapons when I realized that this was a normal day and I most likely didn't need a gun. I sighed and left my weapons sitting on my bed as I walked out of my tent.

I walked to the edge of the campground and hated every step of the journey. The men had never seen me in 'normal' feminine attire so they laughed and whistled when they caught sight of me. They knew it would get me annoyed, but what they didn't know was that I was going to make their training much, much harder because of this.

When I reached a nearby road I saw an old man with an empty carriage waiting for some business. I waved my hand and he instantly looked over to me.

He smiled and made his way over to me, "Hello Miss, do you need a ride?"

I nodded my head, "Yes, I need to go to the Schuyler Mansion. Do you know where that is?"

He slowly grinned and nodded his head in return, "Why yes I do. I think I gave the Schuyler sisters a ride there a few times. They're great girls I'll tell ya that."

I grinned as he opened the carriage door and helped me step into it. I took a seat on the cushions placed over the seat and enjoyed the scenery around me. His carriage was the type that didn't have a roof attached, so I could see everything around me. As the ride continued I relaxed as I felt the autumn breeze going through my hair. Sure it was chilly, but I liked the colder weather anyways.