“An alluring prospect, indeed,” Martignac observed. “And if he is given time to draw the garrisons from those other northern ports into Luebeck, then he denudes them of their own defenders.”
“Exactly. We have no intention of delaying a moment longer than we must, but neither are we blind to the possible advantages accruing from our unanticipated delay. It would have required true magic for him to have learned about the Battle of Dunkirk quickly enough to issue his movement orders in time to cover the rest of the North German coast. At the moment, the troops he had covering Wismar are undoubtedly most of the way to Luebeck, which is unfortunate in some ways. It effectively removes any possibility of our convincing the city to surrender without resistance, and it also means that his garrison there will be sufficiently strong to foreclose any chance of seizing it by a sudden assault. No, Compte. Luebeck will require a siege now, and the army required to prosecute that siege is completing its embarkation even now. As is the second army which will reinforce Gotland to provide us with a base for the investment of Stockholm when the time comes.
“But the same moves which have strengthened Luebeck have weakened him everywhere else along the coast. We will be able to move in almost unopposed and secure control of all the ports well before he is able to assemble the forces to do anything about it. And with those ports in our hands, his Confederated Principalities will starve and wither like a tree cut off from its roots.”
Chapter 39
“Melissa says we should stay put here,” Alex said softly, leaning over his wife’s shoulder. “I just got her message on the radio. Nothing we can do anyway.”
Julie was silent, sitting on a chair next to the bed in their sleeping chamber. Alex was not sure she’d even heard him. The young American woman’s face, normally full-cheeked and rosy, was pale and drawn. Her eyes, showing the tension of someone trying not to cry, were fixed on the little figure of their daughter, bundled up and lying on the bed. Alexi was not wailing any longer. The disease had already carried the infant past that point.
He laid a hand on Julie’s shoulder, giving it a little reassuring squeeze. At least, he hoped it would be taken as reassurance. Alex had no great expectations himself, although he’d never said so to his wife. He was one of nine children his father had sired, legitimately or otherwise. Only three of his siblings were still alive. Four of them had not made it past the age of five, and three of those had died in their first year. Their little bodies were interred not far away, in the Mackay family’s portion of a nearby graveyard.
“I’ll never forgive myself if she dies,” Julie whispered. “Never.” The words sounded hollow. As hollow as the little coffin Alex’s father had already ordered his cabinetmaker to construct.
Julie didn’t know about that coffin. Neither Alex nor his father had seen any point in mentioning it to her. In this, as in so many things, Julie’s history worked against her. She would see the coffin as a prediction, a lack of faith. Where, in fact, it was quite the opposite. It was simply acceptance; practicality in this world, and deep faith in a better afterlife.
Americans, thought Alex. They still think, deep in their souls, that their new world is not quite real.
It was not a sarcastic thought. That same semi-fantastical view of things was much of what he admired about them—even treasured. None more so than the young American woman he’d married. Still, it often disarmed them.
A strange folk, Americans. Bold in so many ways, timid in others. Daring to go where no sane man would, yet flinching from perils which any sane man accepted as given. Like sculpture, Alex sometimes thought, remembering statues he’d seen years earlier on his tour of northern Italy. Beautiful beyond flesh, serene, confident as only marble can be. Even hard as stone, in some respects. But, like marble, also brittle and easily chipped.
“I’ll never forgive myself,” she repeated, the tears beginning to leak. “I should have listened to you, and stayed behind. Or at least left her behind.”