"Sarah, take this to your father in the barn, won't you? And bring Susan back up to the house," Abigaile asked me as I walked through the front door of the house, handing me something wrapped in a cloth.

"Of course," I said, taking it and heading back outside, smiling at Margaret and William as she went over the letters of the alphabet with him. As I got to the door of the barn, I could see Nathan and Samuel sneaking around, watching father. "What are you two up to?" I said, but they quickly shushed me, pointing inside the barn where father was easing down into a brand new rocking chair. He rocked a couple of times before it collapsed and he landed on the ground, Nathan holding his hand over Samuel's mouth as he giggled. "All right, you two head back up to the house. If you're lucky father might let you see some of the mail," I said, shooing them away.

"Oh, Sarah, I didn't see you there," my father said, putting down a piece of wood he was about to throw.

"Here, lunch. There was a post rider just now, there was a whole pile of mail this week," I said, scooping Susan into my arms.

"Oh, good. I'll be up to the house in a moment," he said and I walked up to the house, humming to Susan the whole way. Gabriel and Thomas were back from their hunt when we got back to the house, Gabriel taking the turkey they had gotten out to the back to start getting it ready for cooking. I longed to go out hunting with my brothers again one day, but since our mother had passed there were many other things I had to do instead. In the late afternoon when it began to get a bit cooler, myself, Gabriel, and Thomas were in the south field, helping father plant the other half that Nathan and Samuel had not gotten to that day. As we were planting we could hear a horse approaching, though we weren't expecting any visitors that day. As the rider got closer I thought I recognized them, but couldn't quite place where I knew them from. They stopped to speak to father and I walked up beside him, curious.

"Yes, I'm afraid war is inevitable, Benjamin, the colonies in the north have already agreed to rally troops and funds for a Continental army," the man was saying as I approached them.

"I see," my father said, then looked up to see me walking towards him.

"Sarah, you remember Harry Burwell, don't you?" he asked, seeming relieved to have anything but the war to talk about.

"Yes, of course. How are you, Mr. Burwell," I said with a small smile, remembering him from the visits he and his wife made when I was younger before they moved to Virginia.

"We'll soon be addressing him as Colonel Burwell, won't we?" father said, giving him an expectant look.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," he said, his mouth in a thin line.

"Harry, would you stay for supper? I believe we have some catching up to do," father said to him and he nodded.

"Yes, thank you," Colonel Burwell said.

"Sarah, show him up to the house? The three of us can finish up here," father said to me and it was only then I realized Thomas and Gabriel were watching us.

"Come, Colonel," I said, starting to walk to the house as he dismounted his horse, handing the reins to father. "Will you be staying in the area for very long, or just passing through?" I asked him as the silence between us began to get awkward.

"Just passing through for now. I'm on my way to Charles Town. I'm to help gather soldiers and collect money for the cause. Your father should be getting a letter soon about the Assembly meeting to vote on the matter," he said and it took all I had in me not to let out a groan. "I see you are not pleased about the idea of a full on war," he said, looking over at me.

"No, I suppose I'm not. I hold the same beliefs as my father about war," I said, leading him into the house and to the sitting room. "Would you like a drink?" I asked him as he sat down.

"No, thank you. I'll just wait here for your father," he said, getting comfortable.

"Just let me know if there's anything you need," I said, going back to the kitchen to help Abigaile. That night at supper time, I could almost feel how tense Gabriel was beside me, knowing he wanted to ask Mr. Burwell, who was seated on my other side, about the impending war.

"Colonel, how is your wife? It feels like it's been so long since the two of you moved to Virginia," I said while my younger siblings were talking amongst themselves. I had fond memories of his wife from my childhood, she and my mother having been very good friends, though I surely did not expect his response.

"I'm afraid she passed last year during childbirth. The child didn't make it either," he said, strain obvious in his voice.

"I'm so sorry to hear that. It wasn't my place to ask," I said, looking down at my plate.

"You have no reason to apologize. It's been a difficult year since then, but I'm making it through," he said.

"When do you suppose the Assembly will gather for the vote?" my father asked and I was grateful for the change in subject, even if it was about the war.

"By next week at least. I'm to recruit as many men as I can while I'm in Charles Town," Colonel Burwell and Gabriel sat up a bit straighter next to me. "Once the vote passes I'll be recruiting immediately. Many of my men are already in Charles Town, getting the people riled up so the vote will pass," he said and I scoffed.

"Scare tactics is the way the Continental army is recruiting now?" I said, a bit of sarcasm in my tone, and father gave me a warning look.

"Not so much a scare tactic, think of it more as patriotism, if you will," Colonel Burwell answered, giving me a measured look.

After supper while father and Colonel Burwell talked in the sitting room, I got the younger children put to bed with Abigaile's help and joined Gabriel and Thomas across the hall from father to read. I watched out of the corner of my eye as father made his way to the stack of mail, but stopped when he saw the three of us watching him and we all sighed in defeat, giving each other deflated looks. He sat back down in an armchair and I thought we may never get to know what was in the mail that day.

"So what was in the mail?" father asked loudly and the three of us scrambled up, rushing to see if there was anything of interest for any of us and I could see my father and Colonel Burwell chuckling slightly. I pulled the stack away from Gabriel, finding what I was looking for and took my letter from Aunt Charlotte to the couch to read and handed father his letter, I was assuming from the Assembly.

"From Charlotte?" my father asked me, gesturing towards the other letter in my hand and I just nodded before sitting down to read it. Gabriel was reading the newspaper, I was sure about the upcoming war.

"Anything interesting in the newspaper?" I asked him, knowing he was bursting to share any information.

"Yes, there's a list of men that have joined with the Continental army. Peter Cuppin, for one. Father, he's seventeen, a year younger than I," Gabriel said, but I knew father wouldn't agree to let Gabriel enlist.

"What about the Continental Congress?" father asked, avoiding talking about Gabriel joining the army.

"It says here that they hope to have a declaration of independence by July," Gabriel read, looking to see what father or Colonel Burwell might say about it.

"Will that not cause more unneeded trouble?" I asked, knowing England would see that as an act of aggression.

"Perhaps, but until it happens we can't know for sure," Colonel Burwell said, sipping his glass of whiskey father had poured for him. "But, it would be an additional step towards the end of the war," he added, looking to gauge my reaction.

"Well, then perhaps it may not be such a bad thing after all," I said, settling myself into the couch with my book open again. My father was the next to speak.

"Well, as Colonel Burwell has suspected, the Assembly's been convened so we'll be going to-"

"Charles Town? We're going to Charles Town?" Thomas said, cutting my father off.

"Yes, we'll leave first thing in the morning," father said with a small smile, folding the letter back up and setting it to the side.

"And will we be staying with Aunt Charlotte?" I asked excitedly.

"Of course. I know she'll be glad to see you all," father said and just then Colonel Burwell stood up, setting his empty glass on a side table.

"Speaking of which, I must be going, I have an early meeting in Pembroke before making my way down to Charles Town myself and already have lodgings at the local tavern there," he said, making his way to the door.

"It was good to see you, Harry. We'll be seeing you in Charles Town I'm sure," father said, showing him out the door. Once Colonel Burwell was gone I went to bed as well, excited to be going to Charles Town in the morning.


So, here I am back with a rewrite of The Best Moments are Those that Aren't Planned! I haven't gotten very far yet into the nitty gritty of it, so I'm not sure exactly how different it will end up being, but I had the urge to do a rewrite and decided why not. I'd love to hear what you think about this one and can't wait to get another chapter up soon!