I Will Wait for You

Elizabeth picked up her wet dress and scrubbed it again to get the mud stains from the fabric. She heard her mother mumbling an distinguishable song on the kitchen as she cooked lunch for Elizabeth and her brothers: Andrew, the oldest of the three, and Samuel, the youngest of the three. Their father was a shepherd and he was taking care of their sheep up on a hill, in the land next to their house. Andrew would join him after lunch and in the late afternoon, they were going to check on their crops that provided most of the vegetables they ate and sold, aside from the sheep milk and wool.

She twisted the dress to take the excess of water and put it on the rope, to dry for the next day. She spent the next hour washing clothing when she was finally called to have lunch.

Once they all sat at the table, they prayed and began eating the simple soup their mother had cooked. They weren’t rich but they could be living worse. At least they had a cow, to give them milk, chickens to provide eggs, a pig they were raising to serve as food in the future and a dog that kept them safe most of the time. Their meal was sort and filled mostly by Samuel ranting about his adventures with his friends, the child was a natural story-teller.

In the afternoon, Samuel begged Andrew to take him to the hill with him and the oldest brother accepted his request while Elizabeth’s mother asked her to stay inside and help her sow clothing.

Elizabeth is 18 years old and her parents firmly believe that she can marry well if she is lucky and able to control her temper that burns as easily as fire. Everything in her appearance suggests innocence and naivety but none of those adjectives is close to her true character. In truth, she is more intelligent than most realize and she has a good heart, she is nice most of the time but she is hard to please and to gain her friendship is even harder.

Her father had given her countless sermons for using her words to despise most boys that approached her but Elizabeth always countered that they only wanted her for her beauty and for her to be obedient, which she wouldn’t be if the man didn’t deserve it.

The rest of the afternoon passed by quickly and when all the men of the family returned for dinner, Samuel couldn’t hold his excitement.

“Mother! Ellie! You will not believe the wonderful news we’ve heard!” Samuel said excited as he sat next to Elizabeth, who smiled down at him.

“It’s not that big of a deal, Sam.” Andrew said as he rolled his eyes while their mother gave him a disapproving look and Andrew raised his hands up in defense.

“Go on, sweetheart. Tell us.” Their mother encouraged towards Sam as he could hardly stay seated.

“There’s a regiment coming to town!” He squealed happily as Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows.

“Father, what does this mean?” She asked as a certain gloom fell over the table.

“Apparently, war is imminent, that’s what they say.” Their father started “A regiment is coming to our town to train with their horses, do battlefield strategies and so on.” He explained as Elizabeth kept giving him a looking at him, waiting for more information.

"But why here? I thought they had enough space of their own in the countryside." Elizabeth countered.

"Well, maybe they've had a lot of young boys listing and they need more space. I don't know such things Elizabeth." Her father replied dryly.

“When are they coming?” She asked, knowing that her father didn't wish to continue such a conversation so this was her last question.

“Next week.”