When Marie excused herself to “go out back,” we bantered about where we were heading. She returned to the table just as Sgt. Cady said, “Sir, I recommend you take leave and you and your lady go back to Virginia for a while ’till the New York situation stabilizes. If you need any help getting there, I’m willing to help.”

At this, Marie surprised us by interjecting, “That sounds like a good idea.”

In the space of five minutes Sergeant Cady and I worked out a contract for him to rent a phaeton or a chaise, two good horses, and take us back where this all started.

Winchester, Virginia

Thursday, May 7th, 1776

Sgt. Cady pulled the reins back and shouted, “Whoah!” at the gate in front of our house.

Pieter and Lotte came running from their cottage, and Casey started her little “Spaniel dance” as I climbed down to help Marie out of the little cabin in which we had spent the last ten days—excluding the nights when we encamped in some delightful inns and taverns.

They were unloading our baggage when Rev. Thruston rode up on his well-lathered stallion shouting, “Welcome home, Nathanael! Welcome home!”

He dismounted, handed Pieter his reins, spun around, embraced me, and said, “You are an answer to my prayers!”

Then, with his hands on my shoulders, he pushed me out to the full length of his arms and looked me over head-to-toe for a full minute and said, “You have been wounded!”

“Yes, sir. But thanks be to God, not too badly. I am alive because of my doctor.”

At this, I beckoned to Marie and Lotte. Her arm around Marie’s waist, Lotte walked with her back to the gate. When they were beside us, I put my good left arm on her shoulders and said, “Reverend Thruston, this is Marie, my physician. She is an angel, sent by our Lord to save my life in Quebec. When can you make us husband and wife?”

His response was perfect. “Well, I suppose I can do it right now. We have witnesses, water in the trough, wine in your house. How about rings? Did either of you bring rings?”

At this, Marie laughed and said, “Oh, well, if we must wait until tomorrow, it will give me a chance to clean up a bit. That’s not too bad, since we have been a month getting here.

“A month!” proclaimed Rev. Thruston. “That’s more time than most married couples spend together in a year. What did you talk about?”

She paused to see if I was going to respond and when I didn’t, she said, “I talked about a wedding and having children. All he talks about is how quickly he and Captain Morgan can get together to drive those red-breasted bâtards7 out of America.”

At this, Sgt. Cady, seated in the driver’s seat of the carriage said, “May I stay for both?”

Endnotes