"I have to go to Rebecca."
"Not tonight, laddio. Tonight you sleep alone. Jocko and I will collect you in the morning."
Richard steered Charlie down the back stairs to his office. Jocko had thoughtfully laid out blankets and a pillow on the old chesterfield sofa, pulled it in front of the fire, and banked a slow burning fire in the fireplace. Richard relieved Charlie of his overcoat and uniform coat, then pushed his friend into the sofa and pulled his boots off.
Charlie realized that Richard was planning to put him into bed. His innate sense of survival helped him to pull himself together. "Thanks, Richard, but I can handle the rest myself. I believe you also have a role to play tomorrow, old friend. So off to bed with you as well."
"If you are sure, Charlie." Richard grinned evilly. "Sleep well, because I am sure that you will need all your energies for tomorrow."
--*--
Charlie woke at dawn, as was his habit. A watery stream of sunlight was coming through the cracks in the curtains, hitting him right in the eyes. This was unfortunate, as he had more than a slight hangover. He struggled out of his covers, buttoned his rumpled, slept-in shirt, and half tucked it back into his trousers. In his stocking feet, he padded out into the hall and over to the winter kitchen, praying to all the gods there were that Sarah had a pot of coffee going.
Sarah and several other servants were bustling around the kitchen. Reg was setting up the clockwork spit that would rotate for several hours without being tended. Charlie stood in the door for several minutes watching them before anyone noticed his presence.
"La, General Charlie. What are you doing in the kitchen this early?" Sarah had turned and saw him standing there. She grabbed a mug and pulled a cup of coffee from the urn she had set on the warming stove. "Well, Sir, are you going to just stand there or come in and have your coffee?"
As she drew closer, she took in Charlie’s disheveled appearance and the bloodshot look of his eyes. "Ah, I see. Had a good time last night, did you, Sir?"
Charlie nodded dumbly and took the coffee mug from her. He cradled it to his chest, willing it to cool enough for him to drink.
"You got a bit of a head there, Sir?"
Charlie nodded carefully. Right now, any movement hurt.
"Well, Sir, come and sit at the table and I will fix you right up. You know, my old master had a taste for the grape and he swore by my cure. Or perhaps he swore at my cure. Whichever, it works."
Sarah continued to chat and bustle around as she prepared a concoction for Charlie’s head. She broke two eggs into a tall glass, added some Worcestershire sauce, a touch of bottled Hell, which was her own distillation of hot peppers, some sassafras root, some ground willow bark, some benne oil, and a shot of cooking brandy. She vigorously shook the miserable concoction, so that it was a viscous, brown mess and set it in front of Charlie. "Drink it down. I know it looks horrible, but it does the trick, General C."
Charlie looked at the mixture in the glass and almost lost whatever was in his stomach. However, he manfully closed his eyes, screwed up his face, and gulped down the contents of the glass. As soon as it was down, he grabbed for his coffee cup. He needed something, anything to wash that filthy taste out of his mouth.
Sarah set a glass of water in front of him. "Here. You need more fluid. Give it half an hour and you will be right as rain."
Charlie dutifully drank the water and thanked Sarah. He made a mental note to himself never to get drunk again if this was the only cure.
--*--
Charlie was feeling somewhat better an hour later when a small form, who had recently learned how to turn doorknobs, burst into his office, wearing her night dress and dragging her doll behind her.
"Papa. Morning, Papa. Tess say you have bweakfas’ here. So Em come here."
"Well, good morning, little one. I see that at least one of the women in this house remembered me." Charlie scooped the little girl up and set her on his lap. "So, how are you this morning?
"Em good. See Papa. Web say Em good." Em held up the doll that Charlie had brought her from Washington, who she had, after serious thought, named Reb, after Rebecca because she thought the doll looked like Mama Becca. Unfortunately, Em had not yet mastered the ‘‘r’ sound.
"Papa. Em hungy."
"Let me go get us some breakfast, little one."
Charlie set the child on the sofa, admonishing her to not touch anything on Papa’s desk and wandered over to the kitchen for a couple of bowls of hot cereal. Sarah ladled up two bowls of cornmeal mush and drizzled honey on them.
"Gen’l Charlie?" Reg came in lugging hot water buckets, having just finished filling Rebecca’s bath.
"Yes, Reg?"
"When do you want your bath drawn? And do you want a tub down in your office?"
"Well, I suppose it depends on when Miss Rebecca is leaving. I think I will bathe just after she leaves upstairs, if you can manage it?"
"Yes, sir. The washing room or your room?"
"My room, I think. That will leave the wash room open for other folks."
"Yes, sir."
Charlie returned to his office, where he and Em had a quiet breakfast together. Tess came looking for the little girl shortly after she finished. "General Charlie, I have been looking all over the house for this little imp. I went to her room to get her for breakfast and she was gone."
Em looked abashed. She had gotten herself up and went to her Papa. Tess would have fussed over her and made her put on clothes before she got her breakfast. Papa let her eat in her nightgown.
--*--
Jocko appeared shortly after Tess had swept Em away to bathe and dress the little scamp. Keeping the child clean until the wedding was going to be a challenge –– she was having one of her playful days when very little would stop her from doing what she wanted. Charlie had heard friends who had young children talk about the "terrible twos." Em was giving new meaning to that concept.
"Good morning, Charlie. I hear you needed Sarah’s cure this morning."
Charlie grunted and nodded. Sarah’s cure was not high on his list of popular conversation topics for the day.
"Miss Rebecca left for Mrs. Cooper’s house a few minutes ago."
Charlie perked up. "How did she look? Was she rested? I was worried about her yesterday, she looked so…… lost."
Jocko chuckled, "Yes, Charlie, she is fine. Very happy, almost giddy this morning as they packed up her dress and other things. She had a delightful blush on her cheeks this morning."
Charlie sighed, relieved past words. He had a secret fear that she would decide that marrying a woman who passed as a man was just not what she wanted to do with her life and would leave him at the altar.
"So, now that she has gone to get ready, I can tend to my toilet?"
"You can. And I would suggest to you, that you spend the day lounging around in your most comfortable clothing."
"Oh? Why is that, oh seer of wedding days?"
"Because at about one o’clock I will be coming over here to stuff you into your most formal dress uniform."
Charlie smiled. The formal dress uniform was one of those outfits that required him to wear his more unusual undergarments. "I see. Good thing I have been running lately?"
"Indeed. It is also a good thing that we have a large canister of talc to get you into those trousers."
--*--
Rebecca, Samantha and Grace sat in the small kitchen of the house sipping tea while Rebecca tried to eat a few pieces of sweet bread to settle her stomach. Elizabeth came into the kitchen with a huge smile on her face.
"And how is our blushing bride this morning?"
"Nervous. Elizabeth you are a doctor, can you not give me something for my stomach? I am afraid I shall be sick before the day is over."
"I have two prescriptions for you. The first is this little vial –– a simple tonic with raspberry and mint to settle your stomach without making you feel fuzzy. The second is for you to close your eyes and think of Charlie, of the look on his face as you walk down the aisle."