While Nathaniel trained the boys to defend the house if needed, Marie set to work assisting with the collection and mending of clothing and blankets, and the baking of bread. She also helped to care for the children and seemed to become a good friend to Elizabeth and her children. Nathaniel was surprised, considering she had always declared to dislike children and the idea of motherhood.

Nathaniel and Henri were asked at times to meet with certain individuals who had information from the city, often near enough to the city of Boston to make them both uneasy. Certainly, if Lieutenant-Colonel Weston learned that they were being spotted so close, he would arrange something very unpleasant for them. Nathaniel didn't know the extend of his wounds from the day of the fighting and could only assume he was recovering well until told otherwise. He didn't consider himself fortunate enough to easily shake away such an adversary. Once Lieutenant-Colonel Weston knew that Nathaniel was truly a traitor, there would be no more peace for Nathaniel. He worried the man wouldn't be distracted for long even by further conflict.

The uncertainty of what was happening hung over them all on a daily basis. Would all be forgiven and the colonists' words heard at last? Or would they all be counted as traitors and forced into a deeper submission to a ruling government so far across the sea? Nathaniel did not believe the people of America would endure that without harsher revolts. After all, most colonies had sent militias to assist the people of Boston and the Massachusetts countryside. It was a showing of solidarity, a display of support for the actions taken to oppose the British military might.

Nathaniel met several commanding officers of the militias when they came to dine with Jacob. He knew little of the man Jacob was, but he was certainly powerful and wealthy. He also had a place on the Provincial Congress, and Nathaniel knew that congress was trying to sort out all that was taking place. Nathaniel didn't have a strong feeling about any of the officers, or of any of the other powerful men who came to dine. He tried to master their names for his needs as a courier, and perhaps for that same reason Jacob always made certain to introduce them to Nathaniel and Henri. Nathaniel kept a list of those names and who the individuals were, which was especially helpful to study for an understanding of the political situation as well as the military structure he interacted with.

There were some small engagements between the militias and the soldiers, often involving soldiers who left the city to forage for food and firewood. Both armies had a need to feed themselves and provide firewood for all their daily needs, and so fighting over resources was hardly unexpected. At times it seemed the British were venturing farther and farther from the city in search of those resources, which caused the Weatherton sons to remain vigilant about the house. Nathaniel, Henri, and Thomas assisted in the watch, though Simon and James were deemed young enough to avoid the sometimes challenging task.

There was also a general fear that the British might set the city of Boston to the torch. There was a small worry in Nathaniel's mind for his own establishment. Though he knew it was certainly being robbed of all its contents, to have it burned would leave him with nothing. If he could one day return to it, even an empty house could be reestablished as a business in time. But to be forced to rebuild completely would be far too costly for him.

In truth, he worried more for his neighbors and the people of Boston he had known for three years. He had heard nothing of the Johnsons or of the merchants he bought his coffee and alcohols from. He was certain many of those who drank regularly at his house had gone to fight, yet he knew nothing of their condition or if they were alive. Even some of the soldiers who frequented simply to play cards with Henri could as easily be alive as dead.

He did learn the condition of one man he had often seen in his establishment late in the month of April. He had just ridden to pass along a message to a militia captain and was about to ride back to the house when someone called his name.

"Nathaniel Hill, is that truly you?"

Nathaniel looked toward the voice and only just recognized James Stewart, the tailor, who drank frequently at the coffeehouse. He had a bloodstained shirt on and a bandage around one hand, but looked otherwise content, though dirty and perhaps thinner from camp life.

"Hello, Mr. Stewart," Nathaniel replied. "I'm glad to see you well."

"I'm glad to see you well!" Stewart answered. "I was just thinking not long ago how I wish I could have myself another rum and cider, or some of Marie's sweet bread."

Nathaniel smiled. "I will tell her you are well and missing her sweets."

"She and her brother are safe outside the city, then?" Stewart asked.

"We are," Nathaniel assured him. "I must continue back to them. Good luck to you."

Stewart nodded. "To you, as well."

He hoped, deeply, that Stewart and all the others who he had known in Boston would remain well and unharmed. 

Jacob often called Nathaniel and Henri together with his eldest sons to discuss news he had learned. There was often much taking place, yet little to be terribly concerned or excited by. When he shared news of a fort far to the north, called Ticonderoga, it caused much excitement among the Weatherton sons.

"It seems this fort was taken quite easily from British control," Jacob explained.

"Who took it?" Joseph questioned.

"A rabble of Vermont militia they call the Green Mountain Boys," Jacob answered.

"A reasonable name," Henri observed, loud enough only for Nathaniel to hear.

"They were led by a man named Ethan Allen," Jacob continued, "and another named Benedict Arnold. Good men, I've no doubt, but rather hasty."

"Why do you say that?" Anthony asked.

The look on Jacob's face suggested to Nathaniel that he considered his son a fool. "This will undermine our claim that what has happened here was merely in defense of our rights as Englishmen. Such an attack is not defensive in any way. It can be explained away as nothing but an act of war. What opportunity we may have had to reconcile and have our voices heard will now be lost."

"Why should we look to reconcile?" Anthony demanded. "Why, after all that has been done here?"

"We must seek to reconcile because it will benefit us to do so," Jacob replied, rather more calm than his son. "It is the only choice we have. To fight a continued war would cost far too much, and we cannot fight the British with militias."

"We've done well thus far," Joseph pointed out.

Jacob laughed a somewhat bitter laugh. "We have yet to see full British might come down upon us. These fools have sealed our fate."

"It is cowardliness to seek to reconcile," Anthony argued. "It is past time for us to be our own people, to throw off the rule of tyranny from across the sea."

Nathaniel saw Jacob's face turn a concerning shade of red. Without seeking leave of any kind, he grasped Henri by the arm and propelled him out the study door, which they were thankfully quite close to. As he closed the door behind them it practically rattled with the force of Jacob's anger.

"You dare to call us cowards!" he roared. "You don't have an idea of what is good for you, boy!"

By the time Henri and Nathaniel left the house for the garden they could still hear the shouting from the study, though the words weren't clear. It seemed Anthony was not to be subdued by his father's wrath, and it seemed his brothers were joining in the argument.

Abigail, Jacob's wife, was sitting in a chair in the shade, apparently mending an article of clothing. She looked up and shook her head. "My husband and sons are arguing about this cursed war again, are they?"

Nathaniel saw no reason not to be honest. "They are."

Henri had immediately begun to survey the growth of the garden and glanced back to Abigail briefly. "They all seem to have rather strong opinions on the matter."

She sighed. "They do. I fear their difference in opinions will pull the family itself apart before this ends. Tell me, what are your opinions of it? I know my husband thinks we women are not suited for knowing the state of things, but I do know and I understand it. I only understand less than my husband for the fact that he is in the Congress and knows more than he tells."

"I haven't been here long enough to have an opinion," Henri replied. "Though it was never my life's desire to be an Englishman."

"And I only wish not to live in England," Nathaniel told her, simplifying his own complex thoughts.

She nodded. "Well, let us hope everything turns out for the best, whichever way it does, and soon."

Nathaniel could agree with that.