Excerpt from "Lila's Vow"

Copyright 2009 by Diane M. Wylie

Chapter 1

June 30, 1863

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Lila Sutton looked up from her sewing and froze with her needle poised above the cheerful yellow material. A welcome breeze caught the wisps of damp hair around her face and she sighed with relief. This was why she had moved out to the front porch—to catch a cool breath of air.

A strange noise caught her attention. It was a low, rumbling, almost menacing sound, very odd for the quiet and picturesque town of Gettysburg. Cocking her head, she stopped the creaking rocking chair to listen more carefully. No, she still couldn’t place the sound.

Three young lads ran by on the dirt road in front of the house chattering excitedly, raising dust clouds as they scuffed the road. Standing, the sewing forgotten in her hands, Lila called to one of the three.

“Harry! Harry Smith! Whatever is going on? Where are you boys off to?”

For just a moment the red-haired boy’s footsteps slowed in automatic response to his schoolteacher’s voice.

“The soldiers are here, Miss Sutton!” Harry ran backward as he yelled to her, his eyes wide with barely contained excitement.

“Which ones, Harry?” Lila’s stomach did a flip-flop of panic. Was it the Confederates? Would they burn and pillage the town?

“Ours! The men in blue, Ma’am.” That was all Harry could stand. His friends were getting away from him. With a tip of his cap, the boy turned and dashed after the other two as quickly as his chubby legs would carry him.

Lila dropped the sewing project and peered down the street. People were coming out of their houses, milling around in groups at the edge of the road.

“Mama, you might want to come and see this,” she called through the open window.

Moving to the edge of the porch, her skirt made gentle swishing sounds that were barely audible over the buzzing of a lazy bumblebee and the mounting swell of excited noises coming from down the road.

Wrapping one arm around the porch post for support, she mopped her perspiring forehead with the other. The hot day seemed to draw her usual vigor from her like it drew the moisture from the slowly browning lawn.

The screen door squeaked open and slammed shut again. Lila’s mother stood beside her, smoothing her gray hair away from her flushed round face with the back of her hands.

“What is it, dear? What is all the excitement about?” Beatrice Sutton leaned out over the porch railing, pushing her glasses up on her nose to get a better look.

“I think the army is here.”

Beatrice gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth. “There will be trouble now!”

“What? Why do you say that, Mama? Do you think they will cause problems in town?”

The noise from the crowds grew louder, and the cloud of dust came closer. A wrinkled, sun-darkened hand closed over hers. Lila smiled at her darling little mother, whose serious face did not smile back. The afternoon sun caught the glass in her spectacles, making her eyes difficult to see in the reflected glare.

“Yes, much unhappiness and sorrow will come with the Boys in Blue. But there will be one special soldier—I had a dream about him—who will change your life…and mine.”

This was quite unusual. Mama was never one to put stock in the unseen world of dreams and imagination. She was a good, God-fearing woman who believed in the power of hard work and prayer. But that was the extent of her involvement with the spiritual world…or so Lila had thought.

She didn’t have time to question her mother further. Clanking metal, jingling bridles, and voices, raised to be heard over the sounds of hoofbeats, got her attention.

The first soldiers to come down the road were the ones on horseback. Despite the wilting heat they wore dark blue jackets with shiny brass buttons, lighter blue trousers with yellow stripes down the legs, gauntlet style leather gloves, and wide-brimmed slouch hats with jaunty white plumes. The fine sleek horses and row after row of splendid cavalrymen filled Lila with a feeling of pride for the grand Union army.

But something about the tall soldier on a copper-colored roan made her look at him more closely as he approached. Maybe it was the big grin on his face or his beautiful horse…or maybe it was the way he was staring at her with those dark eyes that drew her attention. He was quite handsome with his short blond beard and wonderful smile.

The group grew steadily closer until they were directly in front of the Sutton’s small home. The soldier on the roan continued to look in her direction. Then, still smiling broadly, he winked and touched a hand to his hat brim, nodding to her and Mama.

Lila felt the blood rush to her face, making her even hotter than she already was. She was powerless to stop the corners of her mouth from lifting.

The soldier gave her a casual little salute as he passed, the smile never leaving his face. She couldn’t help but stare at him until he was no longer distinguishable from the others. Drawing a deep breath, Lila glanced at her mother. Mama was shaking her head slowly.

“He is the one, Lila.”

“What do you mean?”

“That blond-haired soldier is the one who appeared in my dream. He is the one who will change our lives.”

“Mama, that is silly.” She waved a hand in the direction of the road where row after row of soldiers on foot now passed. “There must be thousands of soldiers here. How can that one make any difference?”

Her mother just gave her an enigmatic, annoying smile and a quick hug. “He is the one. You will see. We will have to be strong in the days to come, Lila.”