Samantha stood up. “But where is he? Is he alright?”
“I fine, Samantha.”
Samantha turned. Odus stood in the doorway. His left eye was swollen and shut, his right ear caked in blood. To Samantha, he was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen.
As she walked slowly towards him the rest of the room disappeared. All she saw was Odus and all she heard was the beating of her heart. She stood before him and brought her hands to his face. As their foreheads touched and Odus’ lean arms pulled her in, she knew she was home.
Chapter 29
Annie and Theo lay on Annie’s bed and gazed at the stars on her ceiling. All the windows in her bedroom were open, letting in a sultry summer breeze.
“Your ceiling is still the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Theo. “What a great idea.”
Annie laughed. “I think I might paint over it.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I feel like I don’t need it anymore. I painted it because I thought … Oh, I don’t know what I thought. When I first had the idea, I wanted to do it because I knew Jenna and Marcy would be jealous and wish they’d come up with it before me. That’s a pretty shallow motivation.”
“No, you’ve got to keep it. You know what they say. You can take the girl out of Virginia …”
“But you can’t take Virginia out of the girl.” Annie laughed. “I have a feeling if you knew me, how I was there, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”
“You can’t have been too bad.”
“Let’s just say I can’t ever imagine going back to how I was.”
“Have you gotten in touch with more of your friends?”
“Yeah, I’ve talked to Jenna and Marcy a couple of times, and all my Facebook friends are still there. It’s just … too much has changed. We don’t have that much in common anymore. I think maybe we never really did.”
Annie went quiet.
“What is it?” asked Theo.
“Mom was right all along. I became what they wanted me to be.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. We all do things that we look back on and wonder what the heck were we thinking. But that’s how we learn.”
“I suppose knowing what you don’t want to be brings you closer to figuring out who you really are. Or something like that.”
“I think you’re closer to figuring it out than you know,” said Theo.
She poked him playfully. “Closer than you, definitely.”
“Ah, I’ll get there. It’s been one heck of a year, one way or another. I’ll tell you what I still can’t believe – that all this time your name is really Samantha. You must have been fit to burst trying to keep that one under your hood.”
“A little,” she smiled. “I mean, I would have wanted to find out more about her anyway, but the fact that she and I have the same name just made me feel like she and I were connected in some way.”
Annie went quiet. Theo stroked her face.
“Just because we don’t know what happened to her doesn’t mean she had a sad ending. For all we know she lived happily ever after.”
“Theo, you don’t need to try and make it all happy and shiny anymore. Her life went one way and mine went another. I suppose I should be grateful our names were just about all we had in common in the end.”
“How did you choose Annie? How long have you been Annie?”
“I became Annie right before we came here. I always tried choosing names that were made up in part from my real name or a mix of some of the letters. I was Amy for a while, then Senna. It sounds stupid now. But I like Annie. I think I might keep it. Although Dad can’t seem to get used to it.”
Her father’s voice came up the stairs.
“Samantha! Theo! Dinner!”
Three months had passed since the day Sanchez came to Battenkill. Minutes after Annie put Elijah Fabre’s knife through Sanchez’s shoulder, Battenkill Police arrived, followed by the Vermont State Police, and then the FBI.
Sanchez was taken away in a stretcher, delirious from the loss of blood. Her mother was sent to the local hospital and treated for a sprained wrist and three fractured ribs. Annie, Theo, and her father were driven to Battenkill Police Station for questioning.
Theo was quickly released. Annie and her father were released late that night and told not to leave the state of Vermont while the investigation was pending. Annie’s mother was interrogated at the hospital and sent home after three days. They all went back to the Jennings farmhouse. When they weren’t being questioned as part of the evidence gathering, they tried living as much of a normal life as possible – shopping for food, getting books from the library and playing board games. They chucked the television and instead listened to classical music or NPR. Theo visited almost every day after school.
All of Annie’s possessions were confiscated, including her backpack, which contained Samantha’s letter and the Bible. Elijah Fabre’s knife counted as evidence. Before she was acquitted of attempted murder, Annie was asked to identify the knife as her weapon of self-defense at her trial. The prosecutor put it in her hands. She read the familiar inscription and knew she would never see it again.
On the last day of May, an FBI agent appeared at the door. He explained that Sanchez faced two trials. One in Vermont, for breaking and entering, and grievous bodily harm. After that he would be sent to Virginia, where he faced charges for murder and people trafficking.
The family, he said, were now at liberty to go wherever they liked. They were free.
Annie, Theo and her mother and father sat on the front porch of the Jennings farmhouse, eating enchiladas and watching the traffic pass. It was a celebratory dinner, having received the FBI agent’s news that morning. The sun angled over the mountains, giving the green that blanketed them a purple hue.
“So this is what they mean by purple mountain’s majesty,” said her mother.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” said her father.
“It felt like winter would never end,” said Annie, “and now look at it. I’ve never seen anywhere so green.”
“These are the best enchiladas ever,” said Theo, taking an enthusiastic mouthful of chicken and tortilla. “How do you make them?”
Annie wanted to answer him, but her mouth was full. It was so good to be eating her father’s food again. She had put on weight since he’d been back and could no longer count her ribs. Her hair had grown down to her shoulders and shone with health. Even after three months it still felt strange not to be keeping check on the food she ate, but it was a habit she was determined to break.
“Dad’s secret mole sauce,” she said, after she’d swallowed.
“Secret what sauce?”
“Chocolate,” said her father. “Mexican chocolate and chili sauce. And actually, it’s your mother’s sauce. I stole it.” He smiled at Annie’s mother, and she smiled back.
“I have got to get this recipe,” said Theo, taking another large bite.
“Thanks to you, all the ingredients for these are now at the store,” said her father.
Theo laughed. “I’ll bet we’re the only store in New England that carries smoked paprika. You never know, maybe we’ll start a trend.”
They ate, enjoying the silence around them.
“So, Theodore,” said her father, “what are your plans? Now that you’ve graduated from high school?”
Annie rolled her eyes, concealing her pleasure that her dad was relaxed enough to be a stereotype.
“Well,” said Theo, shifting where he sat, “I kinda didn’t get my act together with college applications. So, I guess the answer is, I don’t know. I thought I might stay here. At least for another year. Do my applications right. Pick up Annie from high school.”
Annie playfully threw her napkin at him. “That’s right, you just keep rubbing it in.”
Her mother set down her empty plate and picked up Annie’s backpack. It had been returned that day with the contents more or less how she’d left them.
&nbs
p; “So, this is everything?” her mother said, opening it up and gently rummaging.
“Everything we found. The Bible, the letter, the sign rubbings, the cotillion photo and what we’ve printed out.”
“Everything except, you know,” said Theo, referring to the knife.
“This is an incredible photo,” said her mother, looking at Kate’s picture of the cotillion. “Which one is Samantha again?”
Annie leaned over and pointed, taking care not to touch it. “There, the one in the middle.”
“I wonder if she knew on that day how much her life was about to change.”
Her mother put the photo back in the bag and picked up Bible. She carefully flicked through the pages. When she saw the inside cover, her mouth fell open.
“What is it?” said Annie.
“These,” she said, lifting up the book to show them the list of numbers and letters. “You didn’t mention these.”
“We haven’t figured them out yet,” said Annie. “We think they’re initials and dates of some kind, but we still haven’t figured out for what.”
“There’s another set just like them in my barn,” said Theo.
Her mother looked as though she might leap out of her chair. “I knew this kind of thing existed, but I never thought I’d see the real thing.”
Annie, Theo and her father leaned in.
“What?” said Annie.
“Moses Marks. These are Moses Marks.” Her mother was laughing. “I can’t believe it!”
“You know what those are?” said Annie.
“Yes! You know the Underground Railroad?” She was too excited to see Annie and Theo nod.
“This was how a lot of station masters marked how many slaves and conductors went through their stop, by asking them to leave their initials and the date they passed through. No one really knows who started it, but it was supposed to help them keep track of which ones made it all the way and which ones didn’t. I think, over time, it became a good morale booster – those traveling through could see the marks of those who had made the journey before them. Look,” she pointed to the list from Theo’s barn, “see how sometimes there’s a second set of initials?”
AK - 12/4/56
JS - 12/4/56
M - 4/17/57
CT - 7/4/57, GB
ZT - 7/4/57, FD
AA - 1/8/58
DF - 3/12/58, M
HY - 9/23/58
GK - 7/4/59, DS
BR - 2/13/60
HN - 6/29/60, FD
GR -7/13/60
AF - 3/27/61
BV - 4/12/61
TG - 6/26/61, ESF
MO - 9/1/61
VX - 11/16/61, ESF
OY - 12/31/61
KJ - 2/13/62
GR - 6/25/62, ESF
VC - 1/6/63, ESF
KA - 1/6/63, ESF
HA - 1/6/63, ESF
PT - 4/11/63, ESF
“Those are the marks of the conductor. If they were traveling with the slaves they left their mark there.”
Her mother studied the list in awe. “I saw a picture of some written in an attic in Pennsylvania, but I can’t believe the real thing is right here.”
“Mom, how do you know all this?” said Annie.
“Don’t you know that your mother was a history major?” said her father.
“Well, yeah, but …”
“I did my senior thesis on the Underground Railroad,” said her mother. “I thought it was fascinating. Can you imagine? To be a slave and just run away, not knowing where you were going or who to trust. For a lot of them the only thing they knew was to follow the North Star. Yet, somehow, so many made it safely to freedom. Some conductors made the journey again and again, even though they knew every time they did they might be caught. I just think it’s incredible.” Her voice trailed.
“What?” said Annie.
“Nothing,” said her mother.
“Your mother won an award for her senior thesis,” said her father. “They told her she should keep on going, get a masters and maybe even a PhD.”
“Why didn’t you?” said Annie.
“She met me.”
“That’s not fair,” said her mother. “It’s no one’s fault. It was just how it was.”
“No, it was my fault,” said her father. “I didn’t support you. I know you struggled when Samantha was little, being on your own so much. When we moved to Virginia I should have encouraged you, instead of holding you back.”
“Starting your business was important.”
“No, it cost us too much. I probably wouldn’t have tolerated Sanchez so much once we got to Virginia if I wasn’t trying to get his old police contacts to apply to work for me. I’m sorry.”
“Honey, where is all this coming from?”
“A man who spends a year by himself on a mountain has a lot of time to think.” He took her hand. “I never forgot, Julia. I just kind of lost hold of it.”
“Things got in the way,” said her mother.
“Like me,” said Annie.
“Oh no,” said her mother, “don’t think that for a second. I think I thought at first that I could do it while you were little, but it just didn’t work. And then I never really found my way back to it. I should have fought for it more. Instead I was just mad at everybody – at you for not remembering I wanted it and at Annie for not wanting it for herself.”
“There is no shortage of colleges around here,” said Theo. “There’s at least six within a thirty-mile radius and I know at least one of them has a kind of ‘university without walls’ program. Hey – maybe you and Annie could go to college together.” He glanced at Annie with a glint in his eye and Annie thought she might melt into the porch.
“I’m sure she has other ideas,” said her mother.
“Actually,” said Annie, “it’s time I start looking at colleges. Weren’t a few of the brochures you got me for colleges around here? We could visit them together. I can look at undergrad programs, and you can look at grad ones.”
“I’d love that,” she said, taking her daughter’s hand. “I’d really love that.” She turned to Annie’s father. “That is, if you’re happy for us to stay in Vermont for a few years at least.”
“You’re in charge,” he grinned. “We can do whatever we like, now that I’m a free man,” said her father.
Theo turned sharply. “What did you say?”
Her father looked at Theo, confused. “I said I’m a free man.”
Theo’s eyebrows furrowed. He stared at the ground. “Can I see the letters and numbers again?”
Annie handed him the Bible and the list. His eyes darted between the two.
“Free man,” he said. “Free man.”
“Theo?” said Annie.
Theo pushed himself upright. “I have to go,” he said.
“Wait! Where are you going?”
He knelt down and reached for Annie’s bag. “May I?” She nodded. He carefully placed all of their collection into the backpack.
Still kneeling, he took Annie’s hand. “This is a long shot, a complete and total long shot. But can you meet me in the cemetery in an hour? The one behind my house?”
“Well, sure, but why?”
Theo stood up. “I think I know what really happened to Samantha Weston.”
The sun was about to dip behind the mountains when Annie arrived at the cemetery. The grass was freshly mown and Annie inhaled its soothing scent.
Down the hill, Theo’s truck sat in the drive behind the Store at Five Corners. Theo was nowhere to be seen. Annie waited among the old maple trees that kept watch over those whose remains fed the ground. Standing in the middle of the gravestones she wanted to take off her shoes and leap across the landscape, simply because she could. A few months ago she wouldn’t have dreamed of just lingering in a place this open and exposed. That was when every sound made her jump, every rustle made her look. Now, she could just be. She could stay in this cemetery all night and not worry about who might miss her or w
ho might see her. She spun around, delirious at the possibility of where she might go and what she might become.
She saw Theo running up the hill, carrying a manila folder. Annie felt her heart settle into the comfort of his sight.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t be here,” he said, panting.
Annie laughed. “If you told me to meet you on Mars I’d find a way to get there.”
He smiled and took her hand, leading her farther into the cemetery.
“Where did you go?” Annie asked.
“To the Town Hall. Shirley was just locking up, but I begged her to let me in. And then I went home.” He wavered. “To my mother’s study. But first, I want you to see this.”
He led her to a stone cross.
“Look,” he said.
JENNINGS
Final resting place of
God’s servant
Zachariah
Born August 20, 1799
Died December 3, 1862
His wife
Rebekah
Born July 5, 1805
Died November 12, 1861
“The Jennings that built my house?” said Annie.
“That’s them.”
“It’s nice to know it’s here, but I don’t know how this explains what happened to Samantha Weston.”
Theo brought her to a gravestone embedded in the ground. He knelt down and brushed away the leaves and moss.
“This one,” he said. “Read it.”
Annie knelt down beside him and read the engraving on the stone.
Here lies
Exodus Freeman
Writer and advocate of black rights
Who entered this life in 1843
And departed it on December 4, 1928
And his beloved wife
Samantha W. Freeman
Feminist and abolitionist
Who entered this life on June 21, 1845
And departed it on January 3, 1929
“I don’t understand,” Annie began.
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