Agent James Chaplen was having a bad day. He had a terrible head ache, and that morning, he had received a rather nasty letter from General Howe informing him the Shadow Fox had left Boston and returned without any resistance on the part of Chaplen. It wasn’t his fault. He had been in bed with a terrible head cold.
Someone knocked on the door to his study. To stop whoever it was from continuing the terrible pounding, he called, “Enter,” then dissolved into a fit of coughing.
Robyn pushed the door open with her foot. “Good afternoon, Mr. Chaplen. I thought you might want tea up here today.” She set down the tray on his desk. “How is your head?”
He sniffed rather pathetically. “Terrible.”
She smiled sympathetically and poured his tea for him. Without asking him how he wanted his tea, she poured a small bit of cream in the cup, but added no sugar. He took the cup from her hand and warily took a sip. To his surprise, it was exactly as he liked it.
“Thank you, Miss Rivers.”
Robyn smiled and turned. “I’ll be back to collect your tray when you are finished.”
He could help but notice that she was limping slightly. As she closed the door, he frowned, wondering why.
Chaplen drank several cups of tea and felt a little better. How these rebels could do without tea, he did not know. He was just about to relax in a large pillowy chair when some idiot banged on the front door. As none of the house’s other occupants seemed inclined to answer, Chaplen crept from his room and down the stairs. Sniffing, he opened the door.
A boy of about seventeen with bright red hair and green eyes stood on the other side of the door. “Good afternoon, sir, is this the home of the Rivers?”
Agent Chaplen eyed him thoughtfully. “Yes, it is.”
“May I come in?”
Chaplen sniffed. “If you are so inclined.”
He stepped to the side and allowed the boy in.
The boy looked around. “Is Benjamin Rivers at home?”
There was a yell and a clatter then several loud bumps from behind them. Both men turned just in time to see Robyn Rivers land in a swirl of petticoats on the first step. The empty tray, tea pot, and tea cup clattered down behind her. They quickly ran to aid her.
“Are you alright, Miss Rivers?” Chaplen asked, trying to hold back a cough.
“My goodness, Miss! Are you alright?”
Robyn sat up, face flushed. “I’m well, thank you. I just took a little tumble, that is all.”
Agent Chaplen ran his eyes over her. Other than an embarrassed color rising to her cheeks, she seemed alright. His gazed shuddered to a halt. “Miss Rivers, how did you injure your leg?”
Robyn quickly brushed her skirts over the bandaged leg. “Oh, I, uh, tripped and cut it on a patch of ice yesterday. My brother bandaged it for me, though. I’m alright.”
Something tugged at the back of Chaplen’s mind, but, once again, he could not bring it to the forefront. He felt her gaze on him, but when he looked down, she was looking away.
The rather eager youth was helping her gather the cup and pot. Luckily, she had used the tin ones that day, and they had not broken. He set the pot on the tray for her.
“There you are Miss…”
“Rivers. Robyn Rivers.”
He bowed. “Jack Richards at your service, miss.”
She curtsied.
“Have we met before?”
Robyn blinked. “No, I don’t think so.”
“You seem familiar.”
“Another girl, perhaps?”
“Perhaps.”
Chaplen watched them with a slight smile. This was amusing. Robyn was purposefully not looking at him, while Jack was looking straight at her.
“Did you want something?”
Jack blinked. “Um, what?”
“Did you not have a reason for coming to my house?”
“Oh, yes. Is Benjamin Rivers in?”
“Oh, yes. He’s in the barn. I’ll take you there.”
She set the tray down on a table and led him out into the yard. Chuckling, Chaplen disappeared upstairs.
Robyn pushed open the barn doors and called, “Ben, there’s someone here to see you.”
With quite a bit of clomping, Ben came down the stairs. “Yes, what can I do for you?”
Sovay joined Robyn by the door. “Oooh, who’s that? He’s handsome.” She elbowed her cousin in the ribs.
“Ow, stop it.”
“Is he a patriot? Because you’re only allowed to marry a patriot.”
“Oh, stop being an idiot.”
“Oh, come on, you’re blushing.”
“I’m blushing because I just fell down the stairs.”
“In front of him? Oops.”
“And Chaplen saw my leg.”
Sovay rolled her eyes. “Oh, so now you’re worrying about modesty? Robyn, you run around in breeches. Chaplen always sees your legs.”
“Well, yes, but he thinks I’m a boy then, but that’s beside the point.”
“Then get to the point.”
Robyn made an annoyed noise in the back of her throat. “The point is that he saw the bandage.”
“So?”
“So he wounded the Shadow Fox in the exact same place.”
“That was clever. Why did you fall down the stairs?”
“Oh, because I wasn’t watching what I was doing.”
Sovay snickered. “You had your eyes on him instead of the stairs.”
“Yes, well, no, not like that. He surprised me. Remember I told you about that boy that was teasing me in General Washington’s camp?”
“The handsome one?”
“I never described him as handsome.”
Sovay shrugged.
“Anyway, that’s him. Jack Richards.”
“He wasn’t impressed by you?”
“That’s what he said.”
“Well, he seems rather impressed by you now.”
Robyn gave her cousin a good hard shove.
Ben had disappeared up to the loft. Now, he came back down and whistled. Patriot moved from his spot in Midnight’s stall. Ben tucked a piece of paper into the dog’s collar, and showed him a quick array of hand signals. Wagging his tail, Patriot slipped past the girls and out the door. Robyn jerked her head at Sovay, and the pair slipped out after him.
The dog sat outside, wagging his tail. Robyn took the paper from him and patted his head. “Good boy.”
The paper read:
A message from Gen. Washington. Wants to speak to you in person.
Robyn glanced at Sovay. “It’s still daylight.”
“Night is coming on. Let’s chance it.”
Robyn crumpled the note and nodded. The pair slipped into the house to assume their guises. After allowing for supposed travel time, the two girls slipped into the stables.
The Shadow Fox perched herself on top of a hay bale. “You have a message for me?” she asked politely as possible.
Sovay’s green feather bobbed as she tried to keep in a laugh.
Jack saluted. “Good to see you again.”
“Likewise. You have a message?”
“Yes, General Washington wants to let you know that your plan is in motion.”
Ben, Robyn, and Sovay all exchanged glances.
“Anything else?”
“No.”
Robyn nodded. “We’ll begin our part, then. Ben, can you alert Jacob?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good. We’ll keep our vigil. Alert me of any developments.”
Ben and Sovay nodded, and Robyn sprang from her hay bale. “Good evening, Ben, Jack.”
“What, too proud to thank me?”
Robyn half turned at the door. “Thank you for relaying the information. Good evening.”
“Still all prickly? What a shame. I was going to offer my aid.”
“We don’t need your—“
“We would love your aid!”
Robyn shot a glare at Sovay.
Jack grinned. “If you would tell me of this oh-so-secret plan, maybe I can help.”
“No.” Robyn’s tone brooked no argument. “The fewer who know of this the better.” Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. “How did you get in Boston, anyway?”
Jack grinned. “I’m terribly clever. Or didn’t you know? I’m General Washington’s messenger to Boston, now.”
Sovay grinned. “Impressive.”
The Shadow Fox gave her a baleful look.
Jack Richard shrugged. “No matter. Maybe one day you’ll want my help.” He patted the Shadow Fox’s head as he passed. “See you around, little one.”
----
I hope I teased you all a bit with my title. I like doing that.
Have I mentioned how much I love Sovay? She gets all the best lines. My current favorite is “Oh, so now you’re worrying about modesty? Robyn, you run around in breeches. Chaplen always sees your legs.” She cracks me up.
Arg, Jack is annoying. Everyone else likes him, but not Robyn. Poor Robyn.
Have a great week, guys!
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