Homefront Hero. Allie Pleiter

much liked at first, until the dean of students approached Captain Gallows. Instantly his demeanor returned to the dashing hero, shooting upright as if he hadn’t a pain or care in the world. That was more in line with the behavior she expected of him. So which was the real John Gallows—the arrogant, larger-than-life hero—or the proud, wounded, struggling man she’d caught a glimpse of the moment before? There was no way for her to tell now. The captain and the dean walked off together, and Leanne remembered there was a reception of sorts for him afterward. As one of the Red Cross knitting teachers, she’d been invited. She hadn’t planned on going at first, for she hadn’t a taste for such things and it would be awkward since Ida hadn’t been asked. She’d go, now, if just to help make up her mind as to what kind of man he truly was.

       “You know, I think I will go to that reception after all,” she said as casually as she could to Ida as they packed up their things to exit the hall.

       “Well, now, who wouldn’t?” Ida didn’t seem the least bit slighted by her lack of an invitation. Some days Leanne wished for Ida’s confidence and, as Papa put it, “thick skin.” Instead of sulking, Ida only offered her an oversize wink. “Tell the good captain he can recruit me any day,” she whispered, visibly pleased at Leanne’s startled reaction.

       “It’s a good thing I won’t and he can’t,” she replied, hoping no one else heard the scandalous remark.

       “Says you.” Ida laughed, and sauntered away.

       Yes, he was a hero. Yes, he was vital to the cause. Still, Leanne couldn’t see how even the most rousing of Gallows’s speeches could overcome her distaste for the man’s monumental air of self-importance.

      Chapter Four

      Leanne was just barely ten minutes into the reception, not yet even to the punch bowl, when Gallows swooped up behind her and took her by the elbow.

       “Save me,” he whispered as he nodded to the library shelf to their left. “Pull a book off the shelf this very minute and save me from Professor Mosling, I implore you.” She couldn’t help but comply, for Leanne knew that calling Professor Mosling long-winded was an understatement. Mosling thought very highly of himself and his opinions, and shared them freely with unsuspecting victims. At great length and with considerable detail. Last month she’d been cornered for three quarters of an hour by the man as he shared his views on the use of domestic wool for socks. Mosling raised an arm with an all-too-hearty “There you are, Gallows!” Leanne snatched the largest book within reach and angled her shoulders away from the man.

       “Really, Captain Gallows, there is much to be said for—” she realized in her haste she’d neglected to even scan the massive volume’s title “—Atlantic Shipping Records of the Cooper River. I find it a most fascinating subject,” she improvised, finding herself stumped.

       “As do I,” replied Captain Gallows, his eyes filled with surprise and a healthy dose of amusement even though his voice was earnest. “Please, do go on.”

       Go on? How on earth could she “go on”? “As I’m sure you know, the Cooper River runs right through Charleston, providing a major seaport thoroughfare…” It felt absurd; she was stringing together important-sounding words with almost no sense of their content. Still, Gallows’s eyes encouraged her, looking as if she was imparting the most vital knowledge imaginable.

       “Do forgive me,” Gallows said to the professor, “but I simply cannot tear myself away from Miss Sample’s fascinating explanation.”

       The ruse worked, for Mosling huffed a little, straightened his jacket and then seemed to find another suitable target within seconds. “Oh, yes, well, another time then.”

       “Indeed,” said Captain Gallows, actually managing to sound sorry for the loss despite the relief she could see in his eyes. “Very soon.”

       As soon as Mosling had left, Gallows took the huge text from her and began to laugh. “Atlantic Shipping Records? A most unfortunate choice. I could probably better explain these to you than the other way around.”

       Leanne raised an eyebrow, not particularly pleased to be roped into such a scheme. “I was rather in a hurry and quite unprepared.”

       “Perhaps I should have asked you to teach me knitting.” He looked as if he’d rather read Atlantic Shipping Records from cover to cover than take up the craft—as if he found it a frilly pastime better suited to grandmothers in rocking chairs.

       “Many men have, you know. There was a time, centuries ago, when knitting was purely a man’s craft. And you can’t argue that every hand is needed. Perhaps we can arrange a lesson for you yet.” She couldn’t for the life of her say where such boldness had come from. Perhaps Ida was rubbing off on her.

       “If anyone could…” The fact that he didn’t finish the sentence made it all the more daunting.

       Leanne chose to shift the subject. “You gave a stunning presentation, Captain. The boys were on their feet cheering by the end of things.”

       He leaned against the bookcase, and while she had the urge to ask him if he’d like to sit down, she had the notion that he wouldn’t take to such a consideration of his injury. “You stopped knitting there for a moment. I saw you.”

       He made it sound as if her pause revealed secrets. “I was inspired. It is a harrowing tale.”

       A flicker of a shadow came over his eye at her use of the word. Only for a sliver of a second, however, and it was so instantly replaced by a cavalier expression that it made her wonder if it had been there at all. “Ah, but so heroic and inspiring.”

       “It makes it unfair that your leg pains you so much.” She hadn’t planned on making such a remark, but somehow it jumped out of her.

       She expected him to give some dashing dismissal of the judgment, but he paused. He looked at her as if she were the first person ever to say such a thing, which couldn’t possibly be true. “Why?” He had the oddest tone of expression.

       “I…” she fumbled, not knowing the answer herself. “I should think it a terrible shame. It seems a very brave thing you’ve done, and I would like to think God rewards bravery, not punishes it.”

       “God? Rewarding me for being caught on a failing airship?” He laughed, but far too sharply. “The very thought.” He took the book from her, snapping it shut before replacing it on the shelf between them. “You have a very odd way of thinking, Nurse Sample.”

       What did the captain think of his “fate”? Or his Creator? Did he even acknowledge Him? Unsure what to make of Gallows, Leanne pressed her point. “Odd? By thinking God is just or by thinking you brave?”

       That got a hearty laugh from him. He spun his cane in his hand, almost like a showman, and stared at her a long, puzzling moment before he said, “Both.”

       She wasn’t going to let him go at a clever dodge like that. “How so?”

       Gallows’s face told her the conversation had ventured into difficult territory. “Are you always so pointed in your conversations?”

       “Would you prefer we return to Atlantic Shipping Records? Or I could get the good professor to rejoin us…”

       “No,” he cut in. He pulled a hand over his chin, groping for his answer while she patiently waited. Leanne found herself genuinely curious—and surprisingly so—as to what this man truly thought of himself when no one else was watching. “Wars need heroes,” he said eventually, “and those of us in the wrong place at the wrong time find ourselves drafted into that need. I’ve been too busy staying alive and playing hero to worry about who did the drafting or why. I don’t ponder whether I limp from justice or bravery, Nurse Sample. I just try to walk.”

       His smile had a dark edge to it as he turned and walked away. With an odd little catch under her chest, Leanne noted that while he hid it extremely well, he still limped.

      * * *