The day was getting long. Kate sat and stared out the window. Richmond was not the city it had been four years ago. She remembered with a smile the days before the war. When gentlemen from both the north and the south came to seek her talents. Not just smelly soldiers with nothing more in their pockets than useless Confederate script. She remembered being paid in gold for her services on more than one occasion.
Her reverie broke, there were voices down the hall. "What's the old bitch bringing me this time" she thought. Most of the girls working for Miss Emilia had little more than contempt for her. She was no different. Oh there was a time where she had been a bit more discriminating, that was before a Confederate battery had fired on Fort Sumter in 1861. Since then, everything had changed. She busied herself with a few things, straightening her corset, making sure the bed was turned down. She set to pumping water into the tub. Just because they were smelly, didn't mean they had to stay that way. She sighed. Some, more often than not, were more interested in what they called "horizontal refreshments" than spending time with a lady. In a way she didn't mind. They were in and out in less than an hour.
She listened at the door. They were haggling with Miss Emilia about the price. Strange, Emilia usually set the price and that was that! She sat on the settee, she would find out soon enough. She heard retreating voices shout encouragement. That was normal.
Just then, Emilia opened her door (without so much as a knock Kate noted) and led in a thin, young man in a bedraggled uniform. From his countenance she could tell he was nervous. That was norman too. Emilia spoke first "Kate" she started "this here young man is Nathan Bancroft." she waited for a moment as if Kate were supposed to know who he was. As she got no reaction Emilia went on, "Nathan here is a hero of the Confederacy" she beamed at the boy who would not raise his eyes off the floor. She patted him on the shoulder as she praised him, "he personally captured a Yankee cannon at the battle of, uh, what was it again?" She looked at him. "Chickamauga ma'm" he kept his eyes on the floor. As soon as he'd spoken, Kate's first estimate of his age dropped a year or two. He couldn't have been more than seventeen. That had possibilities. Young men didn't have what you would call staying power, but they had energy to spare. And from what she could see, he was sort of handsome.
"Well" continued Emilia "whatever battle it was I'm sure you were very brave. And," she said in conspiratory tones "if President Davis didn't put a medal on your chest, Kate here will do the next best thing" She beamed, obviously happy with her little joke. "Now, I'll leave you two until tomorrow" She raised her eyebrows at Kate and held up a real gold coin. Now it was Kate's turn to raise her eyebrows. Gold! she hadn't seen the real stuff in almost four years! No wonder she said 'until tomorrow', that was more money than she had seen in months!
Emilia took her leave of them and closed the door behind her, leaving them alone.
Kate stood up and walked over to him. She put a bit more swing into her walk for him, to make it more of a treat. He still kept his eyes on the floor.
She pointed at the corner of the room. "You can put your musket over there if you care to" she suggested. He did so without comment and took off his haversack as well. "Don't be nervous Nathan I'm not going to hurt you" she purred in her warmest voice.
"It, It's not that ma'm" he stammered out "It's, uh it's just that..." he stopped for a moment, wringing his hands so hard Kate was afraid he'd break skin.
Understanding came to her then. "I think I know what this is all about" she said as she took his hands in hers. "If I'm not mistaken Nathan, this will be your first time with a woman" she placed his hands on the nape of her corset, just over her breast. Nathan pulled his hand back as if she had scalded him. "No!" he exclaimed and headed for the corner, reclaiming his things. "I'm very sorry to have troubled you miss, I'll go now and rejoin my unit tomorrow" he spoke quickly "no one will know, I wont say a thing I promise!" he looked at her in the eye for the first time. Something was wrong, Kate could tell that. But it wasn't fear. It was something else.
She walked over to the door, blocking his escape. "Don't leave, please" she said " if you walk out that door, Miss Emilia will see you go and then I won't get paid! Do you want that to happen?" She said "Do you?"
Nathan stood looking at her for a moment. He put his musket down in the corner and removed his hat and set it on the floor next to his sack. He looks so tired Kate thought. How could someone so young be so tired. The notion of three years of combat and hardship didn't cross her mind, she had been sheltered from most of it.
Nathan looked at her again, took a deep breath and said," I guess I should tell you" He started "I've kept this a secret for almost three years now. The war's almost over so If I get killed in the next battle, at least someone will know"
With that he began to remove his jacket. Kate stared. She had no idea what his secret could be. Was he wounded terribly? Perhaps it was something that left him unable to perform? She walked over to the settee and waited. He laid his jacked down and began to remove his shirt. Under the shirt she could see bandages across his chest. So it was a wound, she thought I hope it's not too terrible.. her thought ended there. Visions of scars stopped as quickly as they had started. The last of the bandages fell to the floor, revealing a beautiful pair of breasts! Kate sat in open mouth amazement!
"Now you know" she said standing there. After a long, awkward moment she spoke again, breaking Kate from her astonishment. "Do you have anything I can wear?"
