William had a similar reaction of modesty when he realized Keziah was in the doorway, turning his back to her to hide at least his dangling manhood.  Later, when he was able to privately laugh about the incident, he would find himself happy that the warm water with which he'd been washing and the rather erotic nature of standing naked in a tub in the middle of someone else's home had left him [i]dangling impressively[/i], rather than [i]shrunk[/i] as often happened when exposing yourself in chilled air or out of a cold stream.  But, this moment was not the moment of such thoughts: at this moment, William was simply embarrassed.

[color=007236]"I'm glad your back but can you at least put some trousers on? Please?"[/color]

William stepped out of the tub and snatched up a spare over shirt he'd dug out of a drawer, using it quickly to rub away at least some of the water before he explained, "I'm so sorry.  They--  The Guards said you would be in the hospital all night."

As he slipped the now somewhat wet shirt on and began donning a fresh pair of farmer trousers, William wondered whether or not he'd been set up by the Militiamen guarding him.  But, they all seemed to believe that he and Keziah were, in fact, wedded.  So, no, the laughter of the Guard at the door had to simply be the result of seeing [i]the wifey[/i] so visibly embarrassed.  Once William had his pants tied around his waist with the rope that had already been on the pants, he told Keziah so, then -- with his own blush going and feeling suddenly comical -- asked, "So, how was your day, honey?"

..........

The woman who had been assisting Keziah with settling in came by a bit later with a basket full of food, some of it prepared, some of it needing to be so.  She asked if they needed anything more from her, to which Keziah asked for what she wanted and for which William asked, "Do you have any news you can share...?  You know, about what's happening ... between the British and the Americans."

The woman donned a rather odd expression at William's use of the word [i]Americans[/i], and he had to remind himself that the people of the Colonies hadn't taken to calling themselves that quite yet.  Oh, there had been incidents of people referring to themselves as Americans dating clear back to the early 16th century, but most of those had been ship's captains or merchants referring to the New World routes in which they participated, not to a sense of nationality as it would soon become.  No, it was only after the end of the Revolutionary War that the word became popular, and even then 1 out of 3 Colonists still claimed loyalty to England and -- despite the British defeat -- considered themselves British citizens.  It wouldn't be until after the passing of the U.S. Constitution in 1789 or even after the second [i]American[/i] victory in the War of 1812 that the word William had so casually tossed out became the standard identifier for those living in this region of the still-yet-to-be-fully-settled continent.   

"What about the guns we brought back?" William asked after the woman seemed not to understand that about which he was inquiring.  "Are they doing anything with the Howitzers ... the cannons?"

"Oh, I do not know such things," she said, again asking Keziah if there was anything more she could do.  When William pressed her again, the woman got a bit defensive.  "Please, sir, do not ask such things of me.  'Tis not my place to know such ... nor my place to talk about such."

Once she was done with Keziah, the woman shot William a suspicious glance, then left.  He looked to the woman who was [i]role playing[/i] his wife and, after searching for how to explain, told her, "We captured two heavy guns yesterday ... brought them back this morning from the Tyler Farm ... eight inch Howitzers."  He turned away, beginning to pace about slowly as he continued, "The Patriots weren't meant to have these guns.  They were meant to have been destroyed.  Covington had them destroyed after he lost his powder, so that if they were found by the Americans -- by the Second Regiment -- they couldn't be used.  Now, Hardison has them, and with them he can crush the British defenses at the Bottleneck.  And if he does that, they'll flood up into Boston and change the course of the war ... change history."

After a moment of silent pacing, William glanced Keziah's direction and found her staring at him with an expression that either meant she simply didn't understand or she thought he was crazy.  Either may have been true.  Hell, both may be true: occasionally, William had tried to tell himself that this was all but a dream and that any moment he would wake up and it would all be over.  He's be back in 21st century Boston, laying flat on his back at the reenactment, disoriented but alive and well as the terrorists rampaging through the park were dealt with by someone other than he and his Hessian musket.