Complications of War

It was late afternoon before the Martin family arrived at Charlotte Selton’s plantation. The children were weary, tired of riding. Caroline had ridden in silent misery, speaking only when spoken to. Gabriel had mainly walked beside the wagon, as it served to help siphon off his continuing rage about Tavington and the havoc he had wrought on their family. Ben was numb and could only concentrate on the task of getting his family safely to his sister-in-law’s home.

Charlotte Selton appeared on the porch as the wagon rumbled to a halt in front of the house. She’d been alerted by a slave who had seen the Martin wagon slowly approaching from the tree lined lane that led to her mansion.

“Ben, what’s wrong?” she asked, dismayed by the haggard look on his unshaven face. “Why are you here?” Looking closer, she was even more alarmed when she saw the same stricken expressions on the faces of all the children. All the children, except for Thomas, that was. “Where’s Thomas?”

“It’s a long story,” he said in a leaden voice. Turning to Gabriel, he said, “Take the children inside and get them settled, would you please?” As Gabriel started helping the younger children out of the wagon, Ben took Caroline’s hand. “Go in with Gabriel and wait for me there. I need to talk with your Aunt Charlotte about a few things. I promise I won’t be long.”

“Yes, Father,” she said, her voice nearly a monotone. She stepped onto the ground as her father helped her to alight.

Benjamin Martin waited until his children were safely inside the house before speaking to Charlotte. After the door had closed, he turned to her and said, “Why don’t we sit on the porch? This will take awhile.”

“All right, Ben,” Charlotte said softly. She put a gentle hand on his forearm, sensing that whatever he was going to tell her wouldn’t be good news.”

Charlotte waited patiently for Ben to speak after they’d seated themselves on the porch. She could tell that he was attempting to find the right words.

Finally, he spoke. “You asked about Thomas,” he said haltingly. Looking away from her, he whispered, “He’s dead.”

“Oh, my God!” Charlotte exclaimed. “What happened?”

“British soldiers,” he said. “Dragoons.”

Pausing again to regain his composure, he continued, “The Green Dragoons came yesterday morning. There had been a battle and I had both Colonial and British wounded on the porch and we were tending to their injuries. Gabriel had come home wounded the night before; he’d been acting as a courier. When the British rode up, he was out of uniform. They searched the house and found the papers that Gabriel was to deliver. The dragoon commander decided that Gabriel was a spy and ordered that he be taken into custody.”

“And Thomas?”

After a long hesitation, Ben started again. “Thomas tried to rescue his brother from the British soldiers who had taken him into custody,” he said. “He ran and attacked them.” Gulping loudly, he said, “And the dragoon commander, Tavington, just shot him down like a dog! It happened so fast that there wasn’t anything I could do to protect him!” Martin broke down and was sobbing audibly.

Charlotte gathered Ben into her arms and hugged him as he let out his grief. Tears came to hyes,yes, as she remembered her lively, witty nephew.

“What about Gabriel?” Charlotte asked several minutes later. “How did you get him away from the British?”

“The dragoons turned him over to a group of foot soldiers, then rode off,” he explained. “After a short while, Nathan, Samuel, and I followed, and we, uh, fought the British soldiers and rescued Gabriel.”

Seeing that Ben didn’t want to go into detail about this, she let it go. Taking his hand, she gave him wordless comfort as they sat silently in the gathering dusk.

“There’s more,” he said, quite some time later. “And I’m going to need your help with this one.”

“Of course, Ben,” she said. “What is it?”

“When we’d gone to rescue Gabriel, the dragoons came back to the farm. Apparently, they’d gotten word of Gabriel’s escape and were looking to see if we’d returned home.” Turning away from her again, he struggled once more to regain his composure. “Tavington attacked Caroline. He r-raped her!”

Charlotte’s hands moved to take his in a strong grip as her jaw dropped in horror.

In a tired voice, Ben continued, “It seems as if he wasn’t content to merely take her virtue.” After pausing yet again, he forced himself to continue. “It was a deliberately savage and cruel violation: Caroline is bruised and bitten all over from what he did to her.”

He stopped again as the tears began anew. Charlotte waited quietly until he was ready to continue.

“I blame myself for this,” he said. “Tavington did this to send a message to me, as retaliation for rescuing Gabriel from British custody. He burned my home,killkilled Thomas, he took Gabriel…why wasn’t that enough for him? Why did he have to hurt Caroline, too?” His voice trailed off.

“You can’t blame yourself,” Charlotte said firmly. “You did what you had to do to save Gabriel.” Leaning forward, she said, “And you did the right thing bringing Caroline and the children here. I promise you that I’ll help her get through this. I’ll take as good care of her and the children as if they were my own.”

“I know you will, Charlotte,” he said. “I trust you completely. And it makes me feel better about the decision I’ve made.”

“Decision?”

“I know I’d said that I would not fight in this war,” he said. “But in light of what happened today, I’ve changed my mind. I was naïve to think I could stay out of it and mind my own business.”

“When do you plan to leave?”

“Gabriel and I will leave as soon as Caroline is settled,” he said. “I want to make sure she’s all right and that she feels safe here before we go.”

“Why don’t we go inside now?” Charlotte said. “I want to get a chance to talk with Caroline before we have supper.”

“All right.”

As they entered the house, Charlotte found Caroline sitting in a chair by the fireplace, silently rocking. Looking closely at her niece, Charlotte saw a fresh bruise on one side of her face, plus several smaller bite marks on her neck. She inhaled sharply at the sight of the graphic visual evidence of Caroline’s assault before forcing a welcoming smile on her face.

“Hello, Caroline,” Charlotte said warmly, reaching out to take her niece’s hand. “It’s good to see you and I’m going to enjoy having you stay with me. “

Caroline looked up at her aunt with eyes that were infinitely older than the last time Charlotte had gazed into them. “It’s good to see you, too, Aunt Charlotte,” she said, her voice nearly a whisper.

“Why don’t we go upstairs for awhile?” the older woman suggested. “I’ve gotten several new dresses I’d like you to see.” Smiling a bit more broadly, she said, “And I’ve got one that would be just perfect for you. You and I are nearly the same size, and if it doesn’t fit, we can always have it altered.” She could not wait to get rid of the stained, torn dress that Caroline wore, which also bore silent witness to the brutal attack.

“All right,” Caroline answered, entirely without enthusiasm. “I’d like to see your dresses.” She rose unsteadily from the chair and followed her aunt to the stairs.

A moment later, Charlotte closed the door firmly behind them as they entered her bedroom. As she walked over to her wardrobe to get her new gowns to show to Caroline, she did not notice her niece go to look at herself in the mirror.

“Oh, my God.”

Charlotte turned to see her niece looking at her reflection with shock. This was the first time Caroline had seen herself since Tavington had raped her. Her hand reached up to trace the trail of bite marks up to the bruise on her cheek. Tears appeared in her eyes as she began to relive yet again the horror of his attack.

“Let it out,” Charlotte urged as she gathered the younger woman into her arms as they moved to sit on a settee at the foot of the bed. For several minutes, she wordlessly comforted Caroline as she sobbed softly.

“It was horrible,” she finally said, in a barely audible voice. “I’m so ashamed.”

“You have nothing to be ashamed about,” Charlotte said firmly. “That despicable excuse of a man who did this to you ought to be horsewhipped.”

“No one can ever know about this,” she said doggedly. “If John ever finds out what happened to me, he won’t want to marry me, now that I‘m not pure any more.”

“No one knows except for your family…and the brute who did this,” the older woman said. “And he isn’t likely to admit to it to anyone.”

“What if I’m……with child?” Caroline could hardly say the words, as the prospect was too terrible to contemplate.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Charlotte said. “It’s not likely to happen after only one time, though.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“How about a nice, hot bath?” Charlotte asked. “That will bst tst the thing to help you relax a bit.”

“I’d like that,” Caroline admitted. “I ache all over. And I feel so…..dirty.”

Handing Caroline a dressing gown, Charlotte said, “Here. Take off your clothes and put this on while I get the servants to fix a bath for you.”

Taking the robe obediently, Caroline quickly shed her clothes as if she couldn’t bear to have them next to her body one more minute. Charlotte was appalled when she saw that Caroline’s undergarments were in tatters from how Tavington had sliced them open with his dagger.

Caroline noticed her aunt’s flabbergasted expression as she removed her clothing. After hurriedly putting the robe on, she pulled the ruined undergarments off, and flung them away from her. “Please, just burn these. I don’t even want to see them again.”

Charlotte nodded wordlessly, as she took them from the younger woman. Walking to the door, she stuck her head outside and saw a maid heading to one of the spare bedrooms to make it up for the unexpected guests.

“Hannah, would you please tell Isaiah and Stephen to bring a tub and hot water up here for a bath, please.”

“Right away, Ma’am.”

“Thank you.”

Caroline sank gratefully into the hot water a short time later. She scrubbed herself nearly raw, but no matter how hard she did so, she couldn’t scrub the memory of Tavington’s brutal touch from her mind. The young woman felt as if she could never be quite clean enough again.

“Would you like to go downstairs for supper or would you like to have a tray up here?” Charlotte asked her after she’d finally finished with the bath and was dressed in a nightgown Charlotte had given her.

“I think I’d like to eat up here, if it isn’t too much trouble,” Caroline said. “I’m awfully tired and I’d like to go to bed early.”

“I’ll have a tray sent up right away,” her aunt promised. “I’ve got the bedroom next to mine prepared for you and Margaret and you can go to bed right after you eat.”

Much later, when everyone in the house had gone to bed, Caroline was in bed still awake, staring at the ceiling. Margaret rested on her side next to her, fast asleep. Caroline could not sleep; every time she closed her eyes, Tavington’s cruel, sneering face would appear, his haughty voice taunting her. After several fruitless tries to fall asleep, she gently eased herself out of bed, not wanting to disturb her slumbering sister. She quietly padded over to the window and looked out at the peaceful night sky. Her eyes nervously swept over the plantation grounds, fearful that Tavington and his dragoons might be lurking about.

Eventually satisfied that no one was out there, she went to sit in a chair near the window. She figured that if she couldn’t sleep, she could read a book that might serve to get her mind off things. After lighting candles that sat on the table next to the chair, she settled in to read a book she’d found earlier by the side of the bed. The book was dry and boring, and, before long, exhaustion overtook her. Without realizing it, she soon fell asleep, finally free of thoughts of Tavington.

Over the next several days, Carolilowllowly healed as the physical marks Tavington had left upon her gradually faded. The emotional scars would take much longer, but she had at least begun by going through the motions of returning to a normal life.

A week after their arrival at the Selton plantation, Ben Martin felt that the time was right for him and Gabriel to join the fighting.

“I’ll be back soon to check on you,” Ben promised Caroline as they stood on the porch while Gabriel readied their horsor tor their journey. “Help Aunt Charlotte take care of the younger children; I’m depending on you.”

“Yes, Father,” she said quietly. After looking intently into his eyes for a long moment, she hugged him tightly. “Please come back soon.”

“I will, I promise.” Ben looked down at her, eyes full of love. His lip quivering, he turned away abruptly and hurried down the steps to join Gabriel.

_______________________________________________________

Twnthsnths later


Early one Thursday morning, Caroline Martin awakened feeling nauseated. Before she was even fully awake, she felt the now-familiar urge to vomit. Quickly jumping out of bed, she sprinted over to the chamber pot, barely making it before she started to heave.

“Mmmmm.” The sound of Caroline’s retching had awakened Margaret. “Are you throwing up again?” Margaret demanded. “That’s been every day this week. I think you ought to tell Aunt Charlotte. She might need to get the doctor for you.”

“Tell me what?” Charlotte Selton was standing in the doorway to their room.

“Caroline has vomited every morning this week,” Margaret quickly told her, ignoring the sharp look her older sister was giving her.

“Margaret, why don’t you get dressed in my room,” Charlotte said. “Caroline and I need to talk privately for a few minutes.”

“Yes ma’am,” she said as she moved to snatch up her clothing.

As soon as Margaret had left the room, Charlotte sat down on the settee. “How long has this been going on, Caroline?”

“About a week, just like Margaret said.” She wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and moved to sit by her aunt.

“And how long has it been since you’ve had a monthly?”

“I haven’t had one since we’ve been here,” she admitted.

The older woman sighed loudly. “It looks as if you’re most likely with child,” she told Caroline quietly.

“Oh, nooooooo,” Caroline moaned. “It can’t be.”

“I’m afraid it is,” the older woman said sorrowfully. “I’m so sorry, Caroline.” She reached out her arms to hug her niece, rocking her as the reality of her condition sunk in.

“What am I going to do?” Caroline sobbed.

“Your father will think of something,” Charlotte told her, unable to offer her anything more definite. “In the last letter he sent, he told me that he should be coming to visit some time this week. We’ll have to tell him then.”

Three days later, Ben Martin rode up to teltoelton plantation shortly after the household was just finishing breakfast. He was accompanied by Gabriel and several members of his recently-formed militia.

“Father’s coming!” Nathan had been outside drawing water from the well and had seen the riders approaching and had quickly run into the house to announce the news.

Caroline looked at Charlotte with apprehension. She was not looking forward to telling her father about her pregnancy, but the moment of truth had arrived. Her heart started beating faster as she saw her father and Reverend Oliver walking toward the house after they’d dismounted. The rest of the men had ridden behind the house to put their horses in the barn.

“We need to talk,” Charlotte told Ben in a quiet, but urgent voice as soon as he’d come into the house. Turning to the children, she said in a brighter voice, “The sooner you get your chores done, the sooner all of you can sit and visit with your father.”

Except for Caroline, all the Martin children quickly filed out the room to attend to the various duties Charlotte had assigned to them.

“I think you’re going to want to sit down to hear this,” she warned Ben after the children had left.

“Do you need some privacy?” Reverend Oliver asked. “I can go help the men with the horses, if you like.’

“No, please stay,” Charlotte said, indicating a chair for him. “You will no doubt be able to offer us guidance with this matter.” Turning to Ben, she added, “If that’s all right with you, Benjamin.”

“Yes, I trust your judgment.” When Ben noted that Caroline had remained in the room, he was afraid he already knew what Charlotte was about to tell him. Nevertheless, he waited for her to speak.

Once everyone was seated, Charlotte took Ben’s hand and quietly said, “What we have feared these last two months has come to pass. Caroline is with child.”

For a long moment, Ben did not speak. During the last two months, he’d not allowed himself to even imagine such an outcome.

Finally, he turned to Caroline, gathering her into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Caroline.”

As father and daughter comforted one another in silent grief, Charlotte said to Oliver, “Has Benjamin told you what happened?”

“Not very much, I’m afraid.”

“The commander of the British Green Dragoons, Colonel Tavington, took Caroline by force and ravished her,” Charlotte explained. “This happened later on the same day that Benjamin’s farm was burned and Thomas was killed.”

“Oh, dear heavens!” Oliver cast a pitying look at the sorrowing Martins.

After an awkward silence, Charlotte gently put her hands on Caroline’s shoulders. “Caroline, woyou you be so kind as to go to the kitchen and ask Cook to bring us all some tea, please?”

“Yes, Aunt Charlotte,” she said, reluctantly getting up to obey the older woman’s request.

As soon as the young woman had left, Charlotte said, “Caroline is coping amazingly well with her situation, but she’s worried that John Cooper will break their engagement if he finds out.”

“If I find out what?” John Cooper had overheard his name as he and Gabriel had walked by the dining room after entering the house. He’d joined the Martins in the militia shortly after its organization.

Charlotte and Ben looked at one another in dismay. They had not intended for Caroline’s fiancé to learn of her condition in this way.

“He deserves to know the truth,” Reverend Oliver said. “There should be no secrets when beginning a marriage.”

“You’re right,” Ben said. Indicating a chair, he continued, “Sit down, John. I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you.

“What is it?” the younger man demanded. “Is Caroline well? She isn’t sick is she?”

“Not exactly.” Ben cleared his throat, not quite knowing how to break the news to him. “This is very difficult to say, but about two months ago, Caroline was attacked by a British dragoon.” After a long pause, he continued, almost inaudibly, “He forced himself on her and we’ve just found out that she’s with child.”

The usually ruddy complexioned young man paled visibly. He hung his head and in a near whisper said, “I don’t know what to say.” He turned away, nearly unable to comprehend the reality of Caroline’s rape.

“Well, I need to know one thing from you, John,” Ben said, his voice betraying his weariness and despair. “Will you be able to accept this child and love him as if he was your own? I need to know this before you marry Caroline, because this child is innocent and deserves to be loved and wanted no matter how he came to be in the world. And regardless of what man sired him, he will be my grandchild and is part of Caroline.”

“I don’t know.” John said in a small voice. He walked to the window and leaned his head against one of the panes and stood silently brooding for a long interval. Suddenly, he turned around to face Benjamin Martin with tears in his eyes. “Every time I’d look at that child, I’d always imagine Caroline with that dragoon. I couldn’t help but think of it. I’m sorry, but that’s how I honestly feel.”

“I appreciate your honesty,” Ben said, obviously disappointed. “But it’s better to know that now, and not after you were married.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “Please give Caroline my regrets.” Moving to leave, he said, “I imagine it would be better if I returned to camp with the rest of the men.” Before Ben could reply, the young man hurried from the room, still in shock from the news.

“Well, John reacted just about like I thought he would,” Ben said after the young man had left. “There aren’t many men who would be willing to marry a woman who is carrying another man’s child.”

“I’m afraid you’re right.” Charlotte sighed loudly. “I’d hoped that he might have been one of the exceptions, though. Now, it‘s unlikely that Caroline will ever find a husband once everyone knows of her disgrace.”

“Might I make a suggestion?” Reverend Oliver asked.

“Of course, Reverend,” Ben said.

“You need to go to see General Cornwallis and tell him what happened,” he said. “Demand that he order Tavington to do right by Caroline and to take responsibility for what he did to her.”

“I can’t believe what you’re saying,” Ben said, amazed. “I could never give my daughter to be married to that vicious bastard. It would be a living hell for her to live with someone like that.”

“Just hear me out,” the older man said. “What I am proposing is a marriage in name only, to give Caroline’s baby a name, so she can retain her place in polite society. And Tavington can and should be made to support Caroline and his child. A man like him doesn’t want a wife and a family; he won’t want to live with her. He’ll no doubt be glad for you to take her back home with you and to get her out of his sight.”

“He’s right, Benjamin,” Charlotte admitted. “This would spare Caroline the shame of being an unwed mother.”

Martin exhaled loudly. “I don’t like this, but I don’t imagine we have much of a choice.”

“When do you want to go see Cornwallis?” Oliver asked.

“We‘ll go tomorrow morning,” Ben said. “The sooner we get this over with, the quicker Caroline can move on. We need to get her married before her condition is apparent to everyone.” Looking at Charlotte, he asked, “Will you come with us? Caroline will need you to get through this.”

“Of course, Ben,” she replied.

”Good, it’s settled then,” he said. “Gabriel will stay here and take care of the children while we’re gone.”

At that moment, Caroline returned to the room. Looking at her father, she said, “I saw John riding out of here in a hurry just a few moments ago. When I called out to him, he just ignored me and kept riding. I wonder what is wrong.”

“Sit down, Caroline,” her father directed. “We’ve got some things to discuss with you.”

The young woman looked around fearfully at the serious expressions on all the faces in the room. “What is it?”

“John had come into the house with Gabriel a little while ago and overheard us talking about your condition,” Ben began.

“Oh, no!” Caroline exclaimed. “You didn’t tell him what happened to me, did you?”

“He deserved to know if he was going to be your husband,” Ben pointed out. “It wouldn’t have been fair to keep it from him.”

“He doesn’t want me anymore, does he?” she asked in a small voice. “That’s why he rode out of here in such a hurry, isn’t it?”

“I’m afraid so,” Charlotte told her, her tone sorrowful. She held out her arms to hug her niece, who was now weeping in helpless frustration.

“What’s going to happen to me?” Caroline asked. “No one respectable will want to have anything to do with me if I have a baby without a husband.”

Ben cleared his throat nervously. “Reverend Oliver has come up with a solution that will spare you any further humiliation.”

Caroline looked at her father expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to go see General Cornwallis at Fort Carolina,” her father said. “I’m going to tell him what happened to you and demand that he order Tavington to take responsibility for what he did to you.”

“Take responsibility?” she asked, confused. “How?”

“By marrying you,” he said quietly.

“I don’t want to marry that horrible man!” Caroline exclaimed. “How could you even consider such a thing?”

“If he’s married to you, he’ll have to support you and the baby.” Ben explained. “And he’ll give taby aby a name and you’ll retain your place in the community.”

“I think I’d almost rather bear the shame than have to live with him,” she said in a hesitant voice.

“You won’t have to live with him,” Ben said. “Men like him don’t want wives or children. He’ll do what he’s ordered to do, but he won’t want you to stay with himfterfter the ceremony, I’ll bring you back home and you won’t ever have to see him again.”

“I don’t even want to see him for the wedding,” she said.

“We’ll all be with you,” he said. “He won’t hurt you, I promise.”

“All right, Father,” she said. “I’ll do whatever you think is right.”

“It will turn out for the best, you’ll see.”