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The next afternoon, Brigade Major Garrett Fairchild sat in the small stone house with the other officers of Colonel Montague’s regiment. Now that their commander’s body had been laid to rest, his orphaned daughter Jenna would be preparing to return to England. Bad enough, Garrett thought glumly, to have lost the skilled leader who had taught him everything he knew about keeping himself and his troops alive. But now Jenna must leave, too….

Garrett heard a soft footstep and jumped to his feet, the other officers of the colonel’s “family” following in turn. Her bearing as martially erect as it had been this morning beside her father’s grave, Jenna Montague entered the common room and nodded to acknowledge their salute.

“Please be seated, gentlemen. Evers assures me our midday meal will soon be ready. As you know, Colonel Anderson’s wife will be arriving this afternoon to…assist in my departure. I trust whomever General Wellington appoints to be your new commanding officer will appreciate your skill and loyalty as much as Father did.”

Though her words were calm, her face composed, Garrett read shock and desolation in her eyes. He had a sudden, impossible impulse to once again shelter her in his arms, as he had yesterday when he’d first conveyed the news of her father’s death.

She had every right to look desolated after a night spent preparing her father’s bloody body for the funeral service. Now, without even time to mourn, she would be sent back to England, a dependent of relations she could not have seen in years. Garrett’s chest ached at the thought of her loss - and the thought of losing her.

Not until these past few hours, when he’d had time to imagine what the regiment would be like without her, did he truly appreciate how much a part of his daily existence Jenna had become. From the day he reported to her father, bitter and angry, she’d eased his anguish and helped his broken heart begin to heal. Instead of contemplating a death in battle, he’d gradually grown to anticipate each new day, looking forward to Jenna’s quick wit and cheerful company. Without her, life in the army would lose much of its charm and all its gentility.

Was there no way, he wondered, to prevent that?

The batman Evers entered with their meal, interrupting Garrett’s gloomy reflections and summoning the “family” to the rough table.

“Must you return to England, Jenna?” Lieutenant “Heedless” Harry Hartwell asked the colonel’s daughter. “You are a born campaigner, as your father often said. I simply can’t imagine you seated in some stuffy parlor, pouring tea and prosing on with other females about gowns and bonnets. Wouldn’t you rather stay here?”

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