Catching the Column

Some time later, Maggie was roused out of her sleep by a movement next to her head, more than the usual bumps and jostling of the wagon. She opened her eyes sleepily, and then she sat up with a start.

"Shh, it's only me, Maggie," whispered Jenny, walking next to the wagon. "I brought you your pack. I thought you would want your blanket." She smiled at Cotton curled up next to her friend. Even in the dark, she could sense that Maggie felt safe, content and comfortable beside him.

Something shifted unexpectedly, causing Cotton to stir and sit up. "Easy, it's only me," he said, blinking awake, and realised there was someone walking beside the wagon. "It's all right, Maggie, it's only me," he said again, as he realised that whoever the other person was, it was a woman and unlikely to pose any sort of threat.

"Oh. Thank you, Jenny," Maggie said, accepting the blanket that was given to her. Her pack was already in the wagon now. "I - look, I found Gabe! And Captain Hunter let me borrow his cloak, and Captain Vickery said Gabe could stay with me a while and that Joe could go to the surgeon and..." It was impossible to embrace a friend who was walking next to a moving wagon, so Maggie simply reached out to squeeze her hand. "Thank you for coming with me." She turned to Cotton. "Jenny was with me in Coimbra. Did I tell you that?"

Cotton shook his head, realised it was probably too dark for her to see that and said, "No, you didn't." He sat up properly, feeling a little stiff and nodded to Jenny. "Thanks for looking after her, Jenny. You're a real good friend for her."

"I'm sure she would have done the same for me," Jenny said lightly. "I'm glad to see you together. Get some sleep now, Maggie."

"I will. Thanks for the blanket," Maggie answered. "Gabe, Jenny is so good. Jenny and Joe. They were both very kind to me."

"I'm glad they were there. You... It's allus good to have friends with you when things are real bad." He shifted to get comfortable again, and slipped an arm around Maggie to hold her close. "If... If I ever do anythin' to make you uncomf'table, you will tell me, won't you? I don't want to do anythin' that'll upset you, see."

He raised his other hand to twine a loose lock of her hair around his finger. "You mean an awful lot to me, see, and I don't want to do anythin' that'll 'mind you of... of that."

"All right," she answered. "But listen, Gabe, will you do something for me now? Will you take Captain Hunter his cloak back? I never meant to keep it this long, and now I've got my blanket. He was awfully kind to us too. He found us when we were still behind the column, and he let me and Jenny ride on his horse."

"All right." He couldn't ask her if she'd be all right, not really. He grinned at Jenny. "There's room in here, Jenny, if you want to ride. Maggie looked almost fit to drop earlier, and I don't s'pose you'm much better than her."

He reluctantly shifted his arm from around Maggie and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "I'll be back afore you know it, sweeting," he said and took the cloak, folding it neatly.

Jenny climbed up in his place, smiling. "Only for a little while. I have a spot in Jacky Newcombe's cart that I don't want to lose." But she knew that Maggie would probably like the company while Cotton was gone, so she slipped under the blanket that he had left, and soon both of the women were asleep again.

In a strange way, it amused Newbury that the surgeon was annoyed by his visit. Or, more accurately, annoyed by the fact that Newbury had managed to pull two stitches out. It wasn't pleasant having to get sewn up again but Newbury bore it as best he could. He was annoyed himself in turn when the sawbones gave him a note and told him to stay with the baggage train. It wasn't right, being told not to report back to his company and he tried arguing the point, but the surgeon didn't budge.

Grumbling to himself about the whole thing, Newbury made his way back toward the baggage train. By rights he should head up the column to rejoin his company, but couldn't muster the energy for it. He was tired, aching, and hungry. Maybe a few hours' rest wasn't such a bad idea.

He spotted a cart that looked like it had enough room for a passenger and hailed it. To his surprise, there were already two passengers in the cart - two women, in fact. Newbury grinned. Jenny and Maggie. Maybe he would walk for a while after all. It wouldn't be right to wake them both, sound asleep as they were.

Jenny had been expecting Cotton to come back, and she was planning to give him back his seat next to Maggie, so when in her sleep she sensed someone looming over her, she awoke. It took her a moment to remember where she was.

"Cotton - no, is that you, Joe? You been to the surgeon?"

Or maybe simply being close by would be enough to wake them up. One of them, at least. Newbury smiled to himself. Somehow he wasn't surprised.

"Aye, I went. Stitched me back up and sent me off, with a note to stay with the baggage train for the night." He shrugged slightly. "I guess you found Cotton all right?"

"Yes, he's just gone to see Captain Hunter. He had given Maggie his cloak to wear, the captain had." She sat up, shifting carefully to avoid waking Maggie, and then said, "Sit on the edge here. There's not much room, but it's better than walking."

Good fellow, whoever Captain Hunter was. Newbury levered himself up into the cart carefully, grateful for a chance to sit. He'd hop down again when Cotton came back.

"Thanks. Good to be back with this lot, isn't it?"

"Yes." Jenny turned to lean against Newbury's knee. Maggie now seemed to be deep asleep and unlikely to be disturbed by their talk. "And she seems much happier. I hope it will last."

"Good to hear."

Newbury hesitated a moment when Jenny leaned against him, feeling uncertain, then willed himself to relax. This wasn't such an uncomfortable position. He found that he didn't mind it at all. "I bet it will. What about you?"

"What about me?"

Newbury felt suddenly awkward. "Er. Well, Maggie's got her reason to be happy bein' back here. D'you?"

She laughed mirthlessly. "No place else to go, is there? Might as well be here. There's food and people speak English. Only problem is that we're always heading directly toward a battle instead of away from it. I don't like it when people die, but there's not much to do about it."

She had a point, he had to admit. "True," he said. "But you could have stayed in Lisbon or gone back to England, if you'd really wanted."

She gave him a sardonic smile which of course he could not see, but he could probably hear it in her voice. "In Lisbon they don't speak English, and to get back to England requires money, of which I have none."

Newbury frowned. He was doing real well with talking before thinking.

"There's still a regiment in Lisbon, or part of one," he said, hating that he felt so stupid. "It's... I'm glad you came back, though."

She was rather touched by his simple statement. One of the good things about men who were not gentlemen was that they usually meant the things they said, no nonsense with flattery and politeness.

"That's very sweet of you, Joe," she answered after a moment, her tone changed. "You're a good man, you know? And if I have to be stuck here in Portugal in the middle of a war, I might as well be stuck with good men like you, and ones that I know rather than a bunch of strangers." She amiably hooked her arm through the crook of his elbow.

His face flushed hot and he managed a slightly-stuttering "Thanks."

For all his instinctive embarrassment at Jenny's words, he thought that coming back to the baggage train was a good idea after all.