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"How's my girl?" He asked, bringing her around so he could kiss her lips.
"Very pregnant and beginning to feel it."
"Are you getting enough rest?"
"I'm fine, honey. I got a letter from home too."
"What did they say, that Matthew enlisted in the Confederate army and your mother is fine, learning to load and reload the guns and make jelly."
Wade rolled her over gently, so he could kiss her easily. "God I've missed you."
"I worry about you Wade. It's getting very dangerous, isn't it?"
"That's to be expected. But most of the heavy fighting is in Virginia and Missouri, and the Carolina's. "
She kissed him and all talk of war vanished as they spent hours making love and sleeping in each other's arms.
Contentment surrounded them here on the boat.
If only the war would go away.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Three months passed, each with heavier casualties, more dangers, the war had intensified, and Wade had instructed all his employees to be on the lookout for unfriendly troops showing up and trying to take over the boat. So all the men that worked on the boat had guns handy.
The Confederates seemed out of sorts with Wade and his boat, although they never refused a trip. The tensions mounted with every trip, they were getting wise to the fact that their every move seemed already outguessed. With no proof, they couldn't do anything but Wade saw it in their faces.
"How did General Martin get his messages through?" Beth asked Wade one day as he had just come back from a messaging trip.
"He had a courier at the time, but he was shot not long before General Martin died."
"Did they know who was sending the messages?"
"No, they might have if they hadn't killed the courier, and the messages was in some kind of code that only the courier, General Martin and the officer knew. It was the safest way to get through."
Beth eyes rounded on him. "Then why don't you set up a courier, you could use Jacob and you could rig up the message so no one knew what it said but the three of you. Make your own code up or better yet let them?"
"That's a brilliant idea. I'll have to talk to my contact and see if we can. Thank you for thinking of it…I hadn't thought that far ahead actually. I just needed to get the messages to them fast." He kissed her on the forehead and smiled. "You are heaven sent."
Beth was almost nine months pregnant now and ready to burst. "That's what wives are for, helping their husbands. That's another reason I want to be here. You are under so much stress I feel I must help you in any way I can."
"I'd like to send you home to have the baby." Wade told her when he returned from a mission. It had been a harrowing trip, filled with barely escaping the enemy lines. Tension had built so high; he hadn't realized it.
"I don't want to go home." She fussed gently. She didn't want him to worry, but she wanted to be here with him. "I want to have your baby right here, where I belong, Wade." Beth insisted. "You are my home Wade, being away from you, especially right now, is torture, I'd worry myself sick over you. At least being here, we can be together and I can help in some ways."
"You're a stubborn woman, Beth, but I love you so much I'm not sure I could stand you leaving me now. And you are a big help, believe me. The Captain tells me you keep this boat in tip top shape. We've been through too much together, haven't we?" He tried to relax, but going from moments of sheer terror to the sweet face of his wife, had a calming effect on him. He let his heart beat return to normal as he kissed her cheek.
"Yes, besides, I have a doctor here on the boat, what could be better? It relieves my mind knowing I won't have to worry about the delivery."
"I only hope I'm here when it happens." Wade sighed. "The way things are going, I don't know."
"So do I darling." Beth came up to him and kissed him generously. "Is there no end in sight for this war?"
Wade took off his boots and leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, "Doesn't look like it. The casualties are really mounting."
"I know I've read the paper every day. The death list gets longer and longer each day. Tell me, how was your trip this time?"
"Not good, I'm afraid. And I don't want to worry you over that right now. You've got enough to worry over. But–It's getting harder each time to break through the rebel lines. The tension is so high everyone is afraid to let their guard down. And I must be getting out of shape, because it seems to be harder to escape each trip. Not only that, but every time they bring supplies or troops down the river, they suspect me and this boat of treason."
