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A Sound in the Night
April 1861
Will Tucker was startled. He sat up in bed quickly; sure that he had heard something. Not quite sure what it was. And then he heard it again. It sounded like the thump of horses’ hooves moving through the woods just in front of the Tucker cabin. His brother, Nolan, must have heard the noise, too. Will could see him standing at the window, his rifle in one hand. Will sat up and pulled on his pants and boots as quickly as possible. In the moonlight, he could see that Nolan was already dressed. His sister, Julia, was still asleep on her cot across the room.
“What is it?” he whispered, crossing to the window to join his brother.
“Not sure,” Nolan replied. “Thought I heard branches breaking, hooves. Maybe three or four horses. Don’t see anything though.” Just then, Julia began to stir. Will glanced back over to see his sister pulling on her robe.
“What’s going on?” she whispe
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Frieda quickly grew impatient with the young woman on the other side of the door. “All right,” she said. “Now Miss Julia, this here is Jaris’s fiancée. She has brought you some nice dresses because she is concerned about you and wants to be your friend. Now, you can either stand there and stare at us until we drown out here, or you can let us in where it’s dry and warm, but we ain’t going away.”“Frieda!” Cordia began to reprimand her caregiver, but just then the door swung open, and a seemingly very small, terrified girl gestured for them to come in. “Thank you,” Cordia said as she began to remove her rain bonnet. Frieda brought in the dresses and set them down by the fireplace, which provided the only light in the room, except for the little sunlight that was pouring in through the three windows. Cordia never remembered seeing the cabin so dark and musty. She could barely see past the room they were st
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