Her journey was a touch different from his. While she was escorted into the same house, rather than move into one of the larger rooms on the lower floor, she was taken upstairs to a bedroom and for a moment panic seized her astightly as the man's grip on her arm. Fresh tears began to spill again and she cursed herself for being so weak, so afraid. "Let the poor thing go!" A feminine voice with a fading lilt said as the door was swung wide open. On the other side of the door stood a plump older woman who had been getting ready for the day. The soldier hesitated for a heartbeat before pulling Keziah in front of him.

"This woman needs proper clothing." He emphasized his point by pulling is coat from her shoulders. The older woman didn't seem impressed. She merely raised a brow and asked for a knife to cut the ropes from her wrist. Kezoah rubbed ather wrists. They'd been rubbed raw by the ropes and she looked around quickly. The soldier left without a word, presumably he was going to report that the woman was taken care of. 

Left alone with the olderwoman,  all Keziah could do was shake. She had been taken from her home by the very soldiers that she would have willingly helped. Why hadthey been taken, and more importantly how had they known that William would have been there. In the scramble to the cart, the soldiers had talked about the [i]Hessian[/i]. She assumed that meant William because Keziah was of English descent. "You poor dear. Let's have a look at ya." The older woman gingerly held Keziah's hands in her own and examined the scrapes. She frownedand looked back up at the girl. Soldiers didn't bring captive women. Well they could have and she just didn't see. Cooking for an army was quite the chore. 

Her hands and knees were cleaned and bandaged and the woman helped her into a proper dress. She even helped fasten her stay and smoothed her hands over the curves of Keziah's sides. "You'd make an excellent wife. Strong hips." She mentioned. "My son is a soldier, went out a few days ago to test the Redcoats. Hasn't come back yet..."

Keziah's eyes widened a little and she looked at the woman from over her shoulder. She's heard those kinds of words before, many times in fact. Mothers were often quite critical in judging their children's intended spouses and well, her former mother-in-law was no different. Many times she had told Keziah that her son was lucky to have gotten a fine young girl like her. Of course she had been none too happy that her son had married a sixteen year old girl when he was barepy in his twentieth year.

"I...I'm sorry ma'am but I'm...married. I was captured with my husband." She quickly explained with a shaky voice. The woman sighed softly, making Keziah wonder if she was going to be called a liar. Keziah had never been good at lying.  Instead the woman resumed fastening her dress and helping her tie an apron around her waist. 

"What's his name?" She asked curiously. 

"William." Keziah gave a faint smile. She'd always likedthe name William. 

"Same name as my husband." The older woman smiled. She noticed the lack of a ring or anything to identifyher as a married woman and Keziah shrugged and said that they didn't have enough money. The woman was eiher accepting of her lies or dumber than Keziah felt. What was she thinking? Using William and a false marriage as a means of keeping herself safe wasn't right, well technically she was helping him too...

The olderwoman introduced herself as Elizabeth, making Keziah cry again. Once her tears were dry the soldier came back, knocking politely on the door and informing Keziah that the Colonel had asked to speak to her. The other woman followed down the stairs, claiming to be heading to the kitchen but it was plainto see that she was snooping. Keziah's soldier, the one who still gripped her arm, bowed briefly to the Colonel and presented Keziah. The woman who'd followed was pushed back out the door. She didn't need to be gossiping. 

Keziah was genuinely happy to see William and the smile she sent his way was not fake. If he would have been killed then where did that leave her? The Colonel didn't seem impressed that this was who the Hessian deserter claimdd was his wife. He questioned her skills, asking if she was indeed a nurse like her [i]husband[/i] had told them she was.

"I am sir." She told him, "I tended to your wounded soldiers along side my brother, I aided in the amputation of a soldier's arm, and I even stitched my husband's wounds that he received in the same skirmish that your soldier lost an arm to." Keziah really hoped that this would makethem see that both of them were okay, that they weren't British spies or anything of the sort.

"Once the fighting began he took it upon himself to go help your men and bring the wounded to safety. Unfortunately the soldier he had been helping died of his wounds and my husband had been shot." Keziah prayed that William would play along. She couldn't risk the only person that could help her get back home.