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Tom’s eyes. “How long can I have, Mark?”
    “Depends on how soon we go into action, but I think you can count on at least a week.”
    Tom smiled, then looked down to hide the expression on his face. “Thanks, Mark.”
    “Sure. When you see the folks, don’t tell them how bad things are. Now, we’ve just got a Christmas present from Wade Hampton.” He explained about the raid, adding, “Get over to the quartermaster for your share of the beef.”
    Tom moved quickly, arguing the sergeant in charge of distributing the beef out of a larger share than he first offered. He put the quarter of beef, still dripping with blood, into a sack, then made his way back to the trenches. The first man he saw was Lieutenant Thad Novak, and he grinned, saying, “Christmas gift, Lieutenant!”
    Novak, a dark young man who’d gotten a brevet promotion from General Lee for his bravery at Antietam, stared at the sack. “Tom, that’s not something to eat, is it?” Novak continued staring as Tom shook the meat out of the sack, then said, “Thank you, Jesus!”
    “Well, sure, but I guess General Hampton was the instrument of the Lord this time.” Mark explained about the raid, and then Novak called out, “Dooley—come out here.”
    At his call, a short, undersized soldier popped up, ran across the opening, dodging like a jackrabbit when musket balls made miniature geysers in the mud. He threw himself headfirst into the trench where the two men stood, and after wiping the mud from his eyes, saw the meat.
    “Well, I wish to my never!” he exclaimed in a high-pitched voice. “I do believe I smell something to eat!” Scrambling to his feet, he grabbed the beef. “You fellers get the table set, and put out the best silver. I’ll have this little darlin’ cooked ’fore you can git done!”
    As Dooley scurried away to begin cooking, Tom said, “Just talked to Mark. I’m going to Richmond as a courier.”
    Novak gave Tom a quick glance, for he was well aware of Tom’s marital problems. But he said only, “Tell Pet I’m fine. And give my best to all the folks.”
    “Sure, Thad.” Tom hesitated, then added, “Lots of our fellows have gone home and haven’t come back.”
    “That’s right,” Novak said evenly. He had a face that wasSlavic, with a pair of dark eyes and stiff black hair. He had come to Belle Maison right before the war broke out, a fugitive from the North. He had been taken in by the Winslows, and in a most unlikely scenario had fallen in love with Patience and she with him. Even more unlikely was the truth that had emerged, that he was a distant relative of the Winslows. Now he was a part of the family, and a fine soldier. He was fond of Tom and wanted to help, but there was little anyone could do about another man’s marriage.
    Tom lifted his gaze to meet that of Novak, and the pain was evident to the lieutenant. “Thad, you and Pet get along so well. Why can’t Marlene and I make it? What little time we’ve had together has been pretty bad.” He bit his lip, then shook his head, despondency in every line of his lean body. “She wants something from me that I just can’t seem to give her.”
    Thad Novak was a quiet-spoken young man, not given to sermonizing. Yet looking at the misery in his brother-in-law’s eyes, he felt a strong urge to say something that had long been in him. “Tom, when Pet and I got married, neither of us knew anything—I mean nothing! I’d never even seen a happy marriage until I got here and saw your parents. What I did, Tom, was look at them—and I think that’s the best advice I can give you. You know what I’m talking about, I guess. They’re both fine Christians, and they learned somewhere along the line to put God first—even before each other. Your father told me about that before Pet and I got married. He said if I put her first, I’d likely lose her. But if I put God first, I’d have God and her. ”
    Tom shook his head slowly. “I’ve never known God,