Unexpected

Weekday evenings were generally quiet in the town of Lamar. Cordia usually spent the time after supper reading in her room or playing the piano for her father in the den. Occasionally, a few of the elder men in town would meet with her father in the parlor, the door closed, voices low and secretive, and the only indication of what was going on in there was the continual smell of pipe smoke that seeped out from around the door. Of course, Cordia knew they were discussing the imminent war and the defense of the town, which was a welcome idea, at last. By late April, there seemed no way around it. There was a fight coming, and they could no longer pretend it away. Several men were leaving the county every day to meet up with regiments from one side or the other.

The State Guard continued to drill on the square, and sometimes, when she was bringing lunch to her daddy, Cordia would see Jaris drilling right along with them. He was very good, too, she had noticed, never seemed to mi