Sunflower

"When your past catches up to you."

Keziah had gone as white as a sheet as he said that he was from the future. That wasn't…that wasn't possible. She didn't know what the future would be like but she knew it was possible. God just didn't work like that and there was no other explanation. She just stared for a long time before looking at the crackling fire. The longer she thought about it, the more it became clear that she had been right about the fact that something was off about William. She just didn't expect it to be 215 years off.

"But you're here now." She said weakly. Perhaps she was insane and this was all some sort of weird dream that her mind had cooked up. Perhaps she'd drank a little too much. But everything felt so real, she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to, and he certainly felt real when she had been stitching him up. "You can't be from then…and be here now." Keziah was just trying to make sense of all of this and frankly she was beginning to panic.
She had panicked like this when her husband Charlie had died. It felt hard to breathe and she just wanted to rush outside but the soldiers out there would have made her panic even more.

Once the panic passed and she took a few deep breaths, Keziah looked at him warily. "Tell me then. What is it like?" She wanted to know. If it was really true and he wasn't crazy or she wasn't crazy then surely he could tell her something, anything.

"When your past catches up to you."

Whoops.

"When your past catches up to you."

With the rather embarrassing moment behind them, Keziah had taken to patching clothes and even washing his uniform. It gave her something to do to keep boredom and other thoughts away. Mostly though, she mentally went over everything again and again, trying to make sense of how her life had gone from quietly living in Boston to this...being in a military camp with a fake husband and no clue if she'd ever get home. It took a lot out of her to even think of the possibility that she'd never see her brother or father again. She set the clothes out to dry before heading inside.

She smiled at her fellow nurse when she brought a basket of food. Keziah was thankful that she had come. She had been feeling out of sorts when a soldier had died earlier. It was no rarity but the soldier had been yelling for his mother, crying that he was scared. He'd been delirious and had a fever. Second to die from disease. She hoped that it wouldn't spread. Keziah bid the woman goodbye and busied herself with looking through the basket when William spoke up.

What was her talking about? History being changed...? Well it would, technically, they'd be free, their own country like the men who had planned this revolution said. Keziah didn't dabble in politics, finding that often it was more of a man's world than the medical field. She frowned when she thought of her brother and his wife. They were still in Boston. They would be in the middle of the war, a war they had no place in. Her blood ran cold. "We have to....My brother and sister are in Boston. They're just ordinary people!" Keziah was very aware that womem didn't raise their voices. The door was opened by one of the soldiers out of curiosity and he quickly shut it when Keziah yelled again.

Outside the two soldiers on guard made jokes about the woman being a spitfire.

Keziah calmed down a little while later. She had yelled at William and even cursed thay she'd even left the safety of that little farm near Lexington. She sat in one of the chairs with her head in her hands and a pit in her stomach. She apologized for the outburst. Keziah looked up at him with a hard look in her eye. "Tell me who you are. Really are. You know something..." Her voice had dropped into a whisper so the soldiers wouldn't hear her asking her husband who he was.

"When your past catches up to you."

Her morning had been quiet. She had cleaned up the small home, prepared a simple breakfast and washed a few pairs of old clothes she'd found on the floor, pushed into the corners of the room. Keziah didn't reach the tent that housed the wounded soldiers until almost noon. The nurses had buzzed about and so did the doctor, trying everything they could to save one of the men. He was pale and gaunt, suffering from disease. When they stopped and finally let him pass on, Keziah watched as the soldiers prepared to burn his body. They couldn't afford a proper burial for a sick man. This was how her day had progressed. One soldier after another with some ailment or sickness. Once she even had a soldier throw up on her shoes. He had apologized in a thick Irish accent and she had simply said that it was okay before giving him a cup of water before bending down to clean her shoes.
 
"You're the woman they brought with that man, ain't ya?" The Irish soldier said. He remembered seeing the cart roll in when he was on patrol. Keziah nodded, feeling a lump form in her throat.
 
"I am. That was my husband." She said. While she had cleaned their house -- wait it wasn't their house…so why…She pushed those thoughts back. Perhaps it was because he reminded her so much of her late husband. Of course they looked nothing alike. Her husband had light features and tanned skin from many days of hunting and farming. She had once hoped to bear a little boy with the same blue eyes as his father. It never happened of course, he'd died before they could really get a chance to talk about children.

The man just fell silent and nodded. "Me wife is back home with the kids." They had talked for a little while as she tended to the unconscious soldier next to him. She lied and made up some random story about William, hoping that he wouldn't mind too much and that she could remember to tell him about it just in case someone else asked about it. She didn't know how well they'd take to them both lying. The rest of her day had passed uneventfully save for the plump older woman coming to ask about her husband.
Keziah had informed her that she'd woken up alone this morning, solely because he'd gone with the other soldiers. The plump woman reminded her so much of her mother. This Elizabeth was quite outspoken, slapping the backs of soldier's hands when they tried to sneak an extra roll from her basket. It was refreshing really.

When she was able to go back home, Keziah wondered if the other soldiers were back yet. She was a tad bit worried about William. She had tried to tell herself that he was a stranger, that she didn't have to worry so much about him but the promise her brother had forced him into kept coming back. All day she had been a bundle of worry and when she was finally able to go home and relax, Keziah had stopped to look at the small garden just outside of the cottage. Of course there was a soldier standing no less than ten feet away from her.

When she headed back inside, she ignored the look the soldier was giving her. It was an odd smile, as if he knew something that she didn't and that made her worry even more…Until she opened the door and spotted William. She stood wide eyed and a blush soon came across her cheeks, coloring the tips of her ears and even spreading a bit down her neck. "Oh…Um…" Keziah might have been married, might have been okay with seeing a naked man who needed medical care but this was something else entirely. She shifted nervously and looked away, or trying to anyways. The nurse side of her, even though she was a midwife, was looking for any injuries that needed to be treated (and a bit of staring wouldn't hurt, would it?) At any rate, she turned her attention to the open door where the soldier was laughing.

"Come on lass, he's your husband! Actin' like you've never seen 'im before!" He soldier had a barking laugh, one that she would have found quite funny in any other situation.

Keziah stood a little taller and glared, although the blush still on her cheeks ruined the effect. "Sir, will you kindly stop looking at my husband? I understand that you like the view but still, give the man some privacy." She said. Keziah closed the door after that and leaned her forehead on the door.
"I'm glad your back but can you at least put some trousers on? Please?" She asked, shifting again.

"When your past catches up to you."

She had been surprisedto see him standing in the main room in a Patriots uniform. Had she expected that he'd be staying here? No, he was an able bodied man and that meant he could fight, that he would be able to be one more playing piece in this game. She was coming to realize that her life would be nothing but an endless supply of wounded soldiers, and his was fighting for something that ought to have been settled long ago.
She twisted her hands together nervously. She knew that this could be the last time that she would see him. He'd made a promise to her brother to keep her safe and he couldn't keep that if he was dead. Keziah wanted to go home, back to Boston...hell even back home to her father. She needed help getting there and William was the only help she had.

Keziah took a few cautious steps closer and reached out to adjust his uniform. She looked away when she caught the look in his eye. She had been married, really married, and knew what that look meant. "William....I can't. Not yet. I don't....I don't know you and this isn't appropriate." Her voice had dropped into a whisper and if any soldiers were to be watching through the few windowd they had, then it would look more like she was giving her goodbyes rather than turning him down. "But...please come back to me. I...I want to go home and you promised that I'd be safe." Her voice broke and she pulled away from him to wipe her tears. "Just come back, okay? Promise me that you'll come back to me..."

The woman hugged her arms around herself and finally broke down. Her whole life had been turned upside down in a matter of hours and she was so conflicted. She was angry at William, for bringing this mess with him but at the same time she was so frigtened and he was the only thing that gave her a shred of hope. After Keziah calmed down she said that she was going to bed, and that he was welcome to sleep beside her. "Do not make me regret it." She warned.

Keziah didn't think he'd force himself upon her and she had made it clear that she wasn't going to just spread her legs for him. Keziah...she didn't know what she felt towards him. Everything was just so jumbled up in her head and her heart right now. She grew frustrated with her stay and nesrly threw it across the room when she finally got it off of her. Bloody contraption. The nightgown that she had found in ine of the dressers earlier was just about the right size and she smoothed out the white cloth before falling into the bed. She was asleep a little while later.

_____

When the morning came, Keziah felt nothing. It was as if her heart didn't care anymore and her tears were dried up. She knew that by midmorning she'd have fresh ones to shed. The woman didn't know if William had slept beside her or if he had even slept at all. Her own sleep had been full of tossing and turning, and once she'd even woken up from a nightmare where Samuel, Elizabeth and their little baby, a little girl in her dreams, had been executed one by one. William had been in her dream too, as a corpse being returned to her covered with a bloodied cloth. That scared her just as much as seeing her family being executed.

She dressed for the day, debating on if she should break tradition and go without her stay. She hated wearing them. In the end she stuck to tradition and once she was fully dressed and her braided hair was tucked beneath a frilled cap, she wandered into the main room.

"When your past catches up to you."

Keziah couldn’t believe their luck that they actually bought the story. Perhaps it was because they’d both thought of the same cover. Claiming to be a married woman would stop most men from making advances. A lot of soldiers were young and always fighting, always marching, so finding a nice girl probably was a little tough. She fiddled with the sleeves of her borrowed dress in a nervous manner. They were a little too long so they had been rolled up; the lady that she had borrowed them from was taller than she was. When the Colonel had given the Sergeant orders to find them a home, she glanced at William with a small smile. Perhaps things would work out well for them after all. However, before they could be escorted to their new ‘home’, the orders were given that if one ran then the other would be killed. Essentially it was a fantastic way to ensure that they’d stay, if not for their duties then for each other. Keziah had to give him credit for that plan. When they were allowed to leave, they were separated, Keziah was led to where the wounded soldiers were being tended and well…she didn’t know where they’d taken William. Hopefully he’d be safe.

She was introduced to the doctor and other nurses who were buzzing around as they patched up the soldiers. Now she understood what the Colonel meant. Just as they stitched one soldier up another was ready to take his place. Keziah worked on one man who was holding a bloody scrap of cloth to his eye. They had been unable to save it. She fixed him up as best as she could, cleaning the wound and applying new dressings before having him lay propped up on pillows. She moved on to the next soldier, and the next, and the next. She frowned when she realized that the doctor had to amputate his leg. The doctor was hesitant and Keziah realized that the poor man was probably no older than she was. He was shaking and his hands and clothes were covered in the blood of other wounded soldiers and he looked at Keziah with a lost expression when she mentioned that he needed to start cutting now.

She walked him through the amputation in the end and even taught him how to sew the arteries closed. The doctor hadn’t told her thank you but she didn’t expect him to. After that she had aided the other nurses with minor wounds and giving water or wiping someone down or changing bandages. It was midafternoon when the Sergeant came back, ordering her to follow. Keziah wiped her bloody hands on her apron, grimacing when they still came back bloody.

She was taken to a house not far from the base that had been set up. For the first time she realized that this had likely been a small town or even a settlement. The house that had been given to them was small, a bit smaller than her own home. She wasn’t going to complain though, a home was a home. Keziah took a moment to look around the house. It was furnished well enough, there were a few things missing but they could live without an extra chair or even a door to the bedroom. Either they had never been there or had been taken to use as firewood by the soldiers. There was one bed, as was expected. The soldiers did think that they were married after all. None likely knew that they had been captured in separate rooms. She wondered briefly if the man she was captured with was okay. She didn’t have to know him to be concerned for him.

Keziah was left to her own devices for a little while. No doubt it was either because the soldiers were talking about what to do if either of them ran, or some other thing unrelated to them. Keziah found that she was exhausted. Twenty four hours ago she'd been sitting alone in her home with just her roaring fireplace for company and now she was here, in the Continental Army's camp, or at least once of them, with a man she was pretending was her husband but in reality she had no clue who he was beyond the name he'd given to her.

"When your past catches up to you."

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 Hessian. 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 husband 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.

"When your past catches up to you."

Never before had she been so afraid. Not when she uad seen her mother dead, the baby beside her, or when she lost her first young patient during the birthing process. Those she could handle, hide her tears until she was alone. But now her cheeks were stained with them and no matter how hardshe wiped at her face, they never stopped. Keziah had taken William's advice to run and almost been to freedom when one of the militia men in civilian clothes had tackled her down into the packed dirt road. The soldiers that stormed into her house had likely taken what valuables she had, and theone armed soldier too. She thought of him briefly and she frowned. He could die if he didn't rest and take it easy while he recovered.

Keziah was quietas the cart continued along the road. Much like the man next to her, she was bound and gagged, likely to keep her from screaming. She inched closer to William, despite it not being particularly appropriate. He was a stranger and she was still in her nightgown. When the soldiers had broke intoher home they hadn't given her any time to get dressed. Her nightgown was stained with dirt and a bit of blood from her scraped hands and knees. When she seen that he was stirring, Keziah raised her bound hands towards him, more to check his head than anything else. They hadn't hit her, she was smaller than they were and holding her down to tie her up had been fairly easy. It was fast approaching dawn when they arrived at the camp. Soldiers on watch guarsed the perimeter and tents lined the area surrounding a small house. No doubt that was where whoever had orchestrated this would be.

The cart stopped just short of a small barn and they were unloaded. She was aware of the looks the soldiers were giving her. Some looked at her with pity in their eyes, others had another look in their eyes that made the bad kind of shivers run down her back. They were each held by two soldiers, the ones holding Keziah mentioned that they would find her more suitable clothing. In response she just grunted and was led to what could have beeb a cellar. They wrre forced inside. The cellar had been barred off on one side, giving her an idea that they were in prison now.

The soldiers debated amongst themselves for a bit before deciding that Keziah was better off on the other side of the cell. They had assumed that despite having found William on the ground, that he and Keziah knew each other. Well veyond just knowing each other's names that is. They were kind enough to untie their gags and give them water. "Once we get things sorted out you'll be moved to more comfortable accommodations." The soldier promised her. That promise came sooner than she expected when another man, one of higher rank, came into the cellar and asked to bring the woman.

Keziah didn't want to go with them. She barely knew William but at least she felt comfortable with him. Perhaps it was because Samuel - the thought of her brother made her cry again. The high ranked soldier would have gathered her up into a huf had it been appropriate to do so. With one final glance at William, she was lead away.

The soldier sighed. "We are to question you as well. You were in the company of a Hessian soldier and..." he didn't want to be cruel but... "He could have let his guard down around you because youare a woman." He had the decency to give her his overcoat to drape around her shoulders. It smelled of sweat and smoke and it made her head spin.

"Don't....Don't kill him please." She whimpered.

The soldier shook his head. "Not my call to make."

"When your past catches up to you."

Her blood ran cold when he told her there was going to be a massacre. There were good people here, even if they supported the wrong side. It was a lot to take in. She had grown a little pale as he explained his plan. She disagreed with it. "And do what? Sit and let them boss us around because they have a crown on their side?" Keziah would rather take her chances than do what he proposed. She knew that the soldiers were fighting for what they thought was right...but it felt so wrong to her.

This made her wonder if he did support the British. Her hands shook a little and she took a step back from him. She leaned against the side of her home and took a deep breath. "They will take my brother to work as a field doctor and I will stay to tend to heir wounded from these skirmishes. I am a midwife. I'm not equipped to handle much other cases." Her lack of a formal education had more to do with he fact that a woman being in a traditionally male job was...well it wasn't good. She couldn't go to college or anything. She only had what she learned from the job. Keziah felt like crying. The idea that her big brother could be sent to the front lines to help the soldiers was frightening.

She didn't want Samuel to leave her too. Their mother had died some years ago, before Keziah had ever married. Her mother had been giving birth but her bleeding never stopped. Keziah could remember quite vividly that the sheets around and under her mother had been turned red, even the sheet used to cover her modesty. The baby hadn't made it. Poor thing had been blue and cold by the time they had been allowed to grieve over the bodies. It had been a little boy and that hurt Keziah deeply. He would have been a perfect little brother.

"This...I need to talk to my brother about this." She said quietly as she stood up, "we better get inside before he thinks something is going on." She just needed time to process this knowledge. Before turning to go inside, Keziah took a long glance around as if she wanted to capture how the houses were. She could picture them burning, people screaming and crying...Before she could think too much more, the woman headed inside.

Samuel was waiting, arms crossed and ready to tear William a new one, but his soter rushed forward and wrapped her arms arou d him and buried her face into his clothes. Samuel looked down at her with a slight frown but he returned the tight grip and he smoothed a hand over her hair. They stayed like that for quite some time.

He pulled away first and looked at his wife. Elizabeth was sitting across the room with a concerned look plastered across her face. He just gave her a shrug, a small promise that he'd tell her what was going on. Samuel looked back at William. "You keep Keziah safe, you hear me?" He was doing something that many would fi d wrong - putting the life of his sister in somebody else's hands. Keziah would be safe, hopefully. Samuel pressed a kiss to the top of Keziah's head and promised that he'd be by tomorrow. He wanted to formulate an escape plan. Keziah would have brought it up now had she not been so worried.

She stood in the doorway, waving goodbye to her brother and his wife as they walked arm in arm with a lantern held out in front of them. She stayed in the door u til she couldn't see them or their lantern anymore.

"When your past catches up to you."

By sundown things had settled slightly. There was still the occasional soldier who was comin to check on their brother in arms, but Keziah knew it had more to do with them scoping out her modest house for supplies. They might have been on the same side but they still took as much as the British. Of course many were happy to hand over their belongings if it meant they could be free. She had finished with he dishes a little while ago and was working on a small square cloth that she was embroidering. The Private was awake and talking with Samuel.

"You seem nervous." Elizabeth caught Keziah off guard and she looked up sharply at the pregnant woman. The spitfire woman was alsoone ofthe bbiggest worry wartsthat Elizabeth knew.

"A little. William..." she glanced around to check if either men were listening, "there's something about him that feels...wrong. I don't think he's a bad person but..." Keziah didn't know what it was but it was bothering her as to why the man was so strange. Samuel had told her that apparently William was a Hessian soldier, a deserter. He never told her of the upcoming massacre nor did he tell her ofhow he had actually met the man.

The blonde woman listened quietly, reaching out and grabbing one of Keziah's hands tightly. The young widow was going to worry herself sick. "You need to stop worrying so much." Elizabeth couldn't trust the man as far as she could throw him but she had to admit that Keziah's worries were shared. Samuel seemed worried too, even more han his sister. After talking for a little while Keziah got up and put her embroidery on the oak table before she approached William. She wanted answers, anything that could help her with this situation.

Just as she'd been about to oull the man aside, her brother spoke up. "There is the issue of where he will sleep." He gave William a pointed look.

Keziah sighed and brushed some of her hair back. "He can sleep out here. I need someone to keep an eye on him." She gestured to the sleeping man - John, as he'd told them. She knew that Samuel was hinting that they shouldn't sleep in the same room. She was a bit fed up that her brother was treating them this way. William was a stranger in need of help, Keziah was a helpful woman. Yes, he was handsome but she liked to get to know men first.
With hat settled, she grabbed William's wrist and pulled to get him to followher outside. SSamuel was yelling for her to get back inside but she ignored him.

"I want answers." She demanded. "There's something that you aren't telling me." It was dark but that didn't stop her from glaring. The window to her home provided dim light but Sam's shadow took up most of the window itself. No doubt he was going to rant when they go back inside.

"If you are to stay under my roof I need to know what you told my brother. Sam doesn't get that worried over nothing."