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away, she stood on the porch for a long time, remembering his parting words.
    “Take care of yourself, Angel. You’re getting too old to traipse about by yourself.” Flicking the reins, he drove off.
    “Is that you, gal?”
    Angela frowned when William Sherrington came to the front door.
    “It’s me, Pa.”
    “Where you been?”

    “Out lookin’ for you!” she snapped angrily, though she was more than relieved to find him home. “And if you’d come home last night, then I wouldn’t have had to.”
    “I’m right sorry ’bout that, Angie,” he replied in a voice that sounded a bit frightened. “It won’t happen again. Was that Billy Anderson who brung you home?”
    “Lord, no!” she exclaimed. “It was Bradford Maitland.”
    “Well, that was kind of him. And I promise, Angie, I won’t never leave you alone again. If I go to the city, then you’re comin’ with me. I know I ain’t been a good pa to you lately, but I will be from now on. I promise.”
    He was close to tears, and all the anger left her. “Get on with you, Pa. You know I wouldn’t want no other pa but you.” She came over to him and hugged him soundly. “Now get yourself to sleep. We got a field to plow come mornin’.”

Six
    Instead of going to Golden Oaks, Bradford drove farther up the river road to The Shadows plantation and his fiancée, Crystal Lonsdale.
    Crystal was blissfully unaware of his activities during the last year and a half—or so he assumed. After his conversation with Angela Sherrington, he wasn’t sure of his secret any longer.
    Well, if Crystal didn’t know, then she soon would, for besides wanting to see his father, his reason for coming home was to make a clean breast of it with Crystal. Better now than after the war. It would give Crystal time to get used to his stand. Then, when he returned to her after the war, there would be nothing to prevent their immediate marriage.
    Bradford turned onto the gravel drive leading toThe Shadows. It was not a proper hour of night to call, but he had chosen this time in hopes of avoiding Crystal’s father, and Robert too. It was one thing to tell Crystal where his loyalties lay. She was the woman who loved him and would never betray him. But to face the rest of the family might be suicide. He could even find himself shot as a spy, as the Sherrington girl had suggested he might be.
    He was not a spy, nor could he ever be. Bradford was too honest for that.
    Lights were still burning in the lower half of the house, and as Bradford approached the entrance, he could hear the soft notes of a piano. He frowned slightly, wondering if Crystal were entertaining guests.
    Old Rueben, the Lonsdales’ Negro butler, answered Bradford’s knock, stepping back in surprise.
    “Is that really you, Mr. Brad? Lord, Miss Crystal will sure be glad to see you!”
    “I hope so, Rueben.” Bradford grinned. “Is she in the drawing room?”
    “Yessuh. An’ you can go right on in. I don’t reckon you’ll be wantin’ a chaperon for this reunion.” Rueben grinned. “Nor will she.”
    “She’s alone then?”
    “She is.”
    Bradford crossed the center hall and paused only for a moment before he opened the double doors to the drawing room. Crystal was seated at the piano, dressed in pink and white silk.

    She was playing a haunting piece that he didn’t recognize. Everything about the room transported him into the past, including Crystal. She hadn’t changed at all. She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever known.
    She was so completely absorbed in her music that she was unaware of his presence. And when she finished, a long sigh escaped her.
    “I hope that sigh is for me,” he said softly.
    Crystal stood up. It was a few moments before she cried his name and ran into his arms.
    Bradford kissed her lingeringly. She returned his kiss, but not for nearly as long as he would have liked. She never would let him hold her for very long. Yet she was remarkably contradictory in that she