Ben looked up and down the trail. Reynolds was out for blood and revenge. “What will happen to you if you’re caught?”
The girl shrugged. “We will pray for thy safe journey.”
Ben glanced at the sleeping children. “They worth all this?”
“They are God’s children.” The girl was gone, swallowed up by the night with her dark coverings.
Susie had been the first to rise. It was a lonely stretch of road, and the sun had just begun to peek over the horizon. Ben didn’t see any call for her not to ride beside him on the wagon seat. She was a cute little lass, full of questions about the Irish and mostly about what he thought about Miss Maggie.
“Have you a girlfriend?” Susie asked. “Bet Miss Maggie is not your first, you bein’ handsome and all.”
He’d taken the girl to be eleven, maybe twelve. Yet her thoughts were all grown up. “This is a difficult question, to be sure.”
“Your face has gone and turned red as a turnip ready for pluckin’.” Susie giggled. “You do like Miss Maggie, I can tell …”
“Yes, I do,” He fingered the two-day-old stubble on his chin and recalled the moment following the dance. Maggie’s glowing face, her thick deep lashes setting off the light brown specks in her eyes. But it was clear she did not feel the same for him. She had only needed a favor from him. “We’re from two different worlds.” And fine clothes could not be making the difference.
“So? Mr. Reynolds and me are from two different worlds and that didn’t stop him from having his way with me.” Susie looked down at her hands. “Who’s going to want to marry me, Mr. Ben?”
“You think you’ve been damaged, do ya? Well, ’tis not your fault. Like my departed mother would be tellin’ me, don’t be wasting your sufferings. Lean on the good arm of Jesus and let Him be leadin’ you through the tough times.”
A tear dropped onto her brown arm.
Ben was at a loss for words. Jesus, I need Your guidance here. He cleared his throat. “‘Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee.’ That’s from Jeremiah 1:5 and God may just have a purpose for your babe.”
“My baby.”
Ben patted Susie’s arm. “You’re not the only woman that has gotten that way. And you won’t be the last. The Lord was born a pauper in a stable fit only for the animals, and a bastard to the entire outside world, them not knowing His regal Father.” On the distant horizon, the golden beams of sunlight crested the winding dirt road to greet the new day like a bride awaiting her groom. “Not a more beautiful sunrise have I ever seen.”
“Mama says it’s a good sign when the sun rises bright and clear after a rain. That new life was about.” Susie wrapped her arms around her stomach.
Two riders appeared on the road, galloping toward their wagon. There was no way to avoid them. “Get in the back and cover yourself. Pretend you’re sleeping.”
Susie scrambled over the wagon seat, and fell into the wagon bed with a hard thump. “Ow!” Jonny cried.
“Hush, riders coming.”
Ben planned to ride by them. One of the men blocked his mule. “Pull up, you sorry Irishman!”
He’d recognized that voice over a tumbling waterfall. “Big Jim, what are you doing here?”
“More like, what’s you doing with these children, son?”
“Dad?” Ben blinked. Holding his hand over his eyes, sure enough, his dad’s bearded face and bright green-blue eyes came into view, and by the look of his scowling mouth, not too happy to see him. Or was it his cargo? “I, I got me a delivery to make.”
His dad came alongside. “We know. We met a bounty hunter in the tavern last night, hired by Mr. Reynolds, he was. Bragging how Mr. Reynolds plans on getting those slaves that had the adus…”
“Audacity, Mr. McConnell,” Big Jim replied.
Ben’s father scratched his head. “Don’t know why these Americans have to use so many fancy dandy words to be tellin’ the plain truth.” He bent low, as if afraid his voice might carry to another ear not to his liking. “He’s planning revenge to those slaves who escaped from his farm and he’s in the killin’ mood to those who are trying to help them.” Ben’s dad rested back on his saddle. “It made the hairs on my head stand on end, it did.”
Big Jim rode his horse around the wagon bed. “One, two, three children, what’s your plan?”
“Got to get them to the next station before—”
“There ain’t no next station. Least not in Lexington or even Paducah. That blood thirsty bounty hunter said they’ve taken out every Underground Railroad stop from the Smokies clear through Kentucky. Only, we met your conductor and he told us he has your provisions ready and waiting for ya at Hobbs Corner. There’s a big sign just before you enter Lexington. Go down the hill to your left. The horse and carriage are there. New clothes and food, too.”
He slapped the reins across the mule’s rump. The old wagon moved off with a creak and a groan that sent the wheels splattering into the puddles across the muddy road.
“What can we do to help you, son?”
Ben couldn’t believe his ears. He put a finger to one and gave it a tug. “Am I hearing right? I thought you didn’t believe in the Underground?”
“I don’t. But I don’t believe in scalawags telling free Americans what they will do and what they will think, either.”
“Americans?” Ben questioned.
“Yep. I’m a property owner now and I demand my rights according to the law of the land. And this bounty hunter has set my blood to boiling.”
“If what that bounty hunter said was true, Reynold’s plans on getting even with the Gatlans, Maggie and her mother.” Big Jim removed his hat and took a swipe at his forehead with his arm.
Big Jim’s frown told Ben he was powerfully worried. Well, he couldn’t be in two places at once. “You hear that bounty man right?”
“Yep, he was slobbery drunk, but he was tellin’ the truth to be sure. Funny thing is, I got the feeling he don’t like Mr. Reynolds any more than Maggie does.”
Merciful Savior, please keep Maggie and her mother safe. Ben rolled his tongue around in his dry mouth. What would Reynolds’ next move be? “Take Caedmon back with ya. Travelers might wonder why a fine horse like Caedmon is hitched to such a rickety wagon.”
“But it might be a horse is what you be needin’ to get home on.”
Ben glanced back at the children. No telling when he’d return home. There was no guarantee the conductor in Ohio would be at his station.
Chapter 15
T hick snow flakes floated down like fairy dust. The children were having fun playing with them. The transition from wagon to carriage at Hobbs Corner went well as did the change from their plain clothes to their Sunday finest attire. “Mr. McConnell, look at this one.” Little Jonny’s palm held an exceptionally large flake. “Could I make a snowball with this one? How did you say to make them?”
Ben laughed, ruffling the boy’s hair. “No, get in. We’re entering the town now.” Ben closed the tarpaulin shades of the carriage, and climbed up into his seat. Clicking to the horses, he peered down the road into town, remembering his orders. “Look for the candle in the upper window. Knock on the door and say it’s your cousins from Kentucky, come for a visit.”
The town was lit up with candles. Even the road had candles sitting in the snow lining the streets.
“Where are we now?” Susie said, peeking out.
“Put your head back in.” Ben adjusted the starch collar about his neck. He’d come to the end of the road.
A church bell rang, then another church picked up where the first bell left off. Suddenly there were more bells clanging and people coming out of their houses. What was going on?
“Merry Christmas,” someone cried. Carolers walked past the houses singing “Hark the herald angels sing …” Two men leaped from the shadows and ran toward their carriage. Ben leaned a shoulder toward his shotgun; just his luck to arrive on Christmas Eve. How was he going to use his gun with all these people
milling about? Merciful Savior, help me to be knowin’ what to do.
“Hold up there.” The men grabbed his horse by the bit.
Some people on the curb stopped their singing. Ben’s sharp eyes darted from the man holding his horse to the man standing below him. Suddenly he remembered that this was Ohio, a free state. “Kindly remove your hands from my horse. This gentlemen and lady are looking forward to seeing their cousin whom they haven’t seen for quite some time.”
A large man finely arrayed hurried out of a stately mansion, clanging the black wrought iron gate shut behind him. “Dear cousins, what has kept you? I expected you two days ago.” The man adorned with a silk lapelled dinner jacket and a wide black cravat centered in his frilled shirt pushed his way forward.
“Dr. Keenly?” Ben asked.
“Yes!”
The two men stepped away. “Well, I guess we were mistaken.” The tallest of the men moved in front of the carriage, blocking Dr. Keenly. “Look here; we’re looking for some runaway slaves. We’ve been trailing them now for over a week. I’ve been told they’ll be coming here. If you hear anything, you’re to let me know. We’ll be over at the tavern.”
“My good man.” Dr. Keenly laid his hand on the bounty hunter. “It is Christmas Eve. This is hardly the time to fret over slaves.”
“Just remember, I can have you put in jail for harboring slaves, and for knowing who is hiding them. I’ve got the law on my side. Remember that.”
“My cousins have come for a visit and my advice to you is to return to your families and enjoy the peace that Christmas brings us once a year.”
The juicy roast beef swimming in gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, and corn added to the aroma of the cinnamon spices of the apple pie fresh from the oven. The holly and popcorn decorated evergreen tree adorned with candles and bright tinsel glowed in the center of the room.
Ben stretched his feet toward the mammoth fireplace, sipping his wine and feeling his eyelids close in peaceful bliss. Dr. Keenly, a surgeon, was one of the most affluent persons of the Underground Railroad.
Ben smiled, watching Susie’s face light up each time Dr. Keenly spoke about the bright future that awaited her.
“It is only a matter of time before you will become free to do as you wish.”
Jonny and Little Sis had retired after dinner. But it was clear Susie was thirsty for more. The carolers outside the floor length windows raised their sweet voices to the tunes of “Joy to the World,” and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”
The worst was behind Susie and her sister and the best was yet to be.
“Ben, you have performed your task famously. It is a shame circumstances forced you to take the children from Tennessee to Ohio on your own. But your heroism will not go unnoticed.”
“I didn’t do it to be praised. I did what was needed.” Taking a sidelong glance at Susie, he added, “’Twas not a burden. They are good children, and I hope you keep them together.”
“I will try. The children will be free to return to America once this slave issue is rectified. For now, I shall send them to Canada the day after Christmas. Mr. Reynolds has placed quite a sizable amount upon their heads.”
“But I thought I could stay here.” Susie looked from Ben to Dr. Keenly, then down at her hands. “I need to be going back after my baby is born. I’d like to return to Spirit Wind. Go back to school. Miss Maggie needs me and I need her.”
Dr. Keenly squirmed in his chair. “You need to think about employment first. Now, what can you do? Now that you are free, so to speak, you must think about keeping a roof over your head and food on the table for your child and your sister. You’ll need clothes and a proper education.”
“How much will I need?” Susie’s eyes widened with concern. “I get all those things free at Spirit Wind.”
Ben looked away. What Susie needed was Maggie to take her into her arms and console the frightened girl. It’s a hard road to go alone and freedom comes with a price.
“But you don’t want to go back to Spirit Wind. Why, I read Harriet Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. My wife and I couldn’t believe the atrocities the southerners commit against their slaves.”
“I don’t know anything about autre-ities… that word, all I know is that Miss Maggie and her mama are kind, sweet, and understanding, always has been toward me. Most white folks in the south are. There never was an unkind word, nor act of violence between the Gatlans and our kind. No, sir. Miss Maggie would give us her last morsel of food before we’d go hungry.” Susie sat up taller in the big high-backed chair and crossed her arms, her jaw set. It reminded Ben of Cook when her temper got riled over someone talking against the Gatlans. Susie pushed out her bottom lip, ready to do battle at the false accusations of her beloved teacher.
“Miss Maggie told us we are all slaves one way or the other. Slave to our passions, slave to our ambitions, and the only one who can set us free is Jesus. All we got to do is ask Him into our hearts. But that Mr. Reynolds is a bad apple. I don’t think it’s the color of your skin, it’s the color of your heart—”
A knock on the door split into Susie’s next words like an axe to a tree. Dr. Keenly’s butler walked toward the front door.
The loud, demanding voice on the other end caused the back of Ben’s hair to bristle.
“Speak about the devil and he be knocking on your door,” Susie whispered. She rose and rushed into Ben’s outstretched arms.
“I need to see Dr. Keenly this instant. I don’t care if it is Christmas Eve.”
Ben quickly got Susie into the back room where Dr. Keenly hid the slaves. He carried Little Sis and Jonny down the back steps and into the hidden room. Why is it Reynolds is always one step ahead of us? Does he have an inside channel with the devil himself? So much for being a free state. Ben deposited the children and then tiptoed back, hugging the wall. The kind doctor might need his services.
“I’m Mr. Reynolds of Tennessee and you are harboring my property. Are you aware that I could shoot you where you stand?” His voice yelled above the carolers. “But I’d rather send you to prison and have you rot there for your crime!”
Dr. Keenly turned to his butler. “Go for the sheriff.” Then Ben heard the doctor’s reply, clear as a bell. “You have just threatened a pillar of the community. We’ll see what the sheriff thinks.”
There was a shuffle of feet. “Doorman. Remove this unwanted guest. How dare you accuse me of wrong doing? You have no evidence against me. You are not welcome here, Mr. Reynolds. Get off my property. You can wait at the gate for the sheriff.”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll get a search warrant. Then I’ll be on my way with my slaves and have Mrs. Gatlan flogged for stealing my property!”
Dr. Keenly, his hands in his coat pockets, walked back into the room. His kindly face a jigsaw puzzle of lines. “I can’t move the children farther north until after Christmas. What do you suggest, Ben?”
“You’ve got a good hide-a-way here in your mansion.” Ben placed his hand onto his chin. “I need to be leavin’ and have Reynolds think I have the children. Now, I’m in need of a decoy.” He looked over at the young servant boy who looked to be Irish. Ben walked over and whispered to the doctor. “Your servant boy is of slight build. With the proper clothing, he could pose as Susie, if he is agreeable.”
Dr. Keenly talked with the boy. The servant boy nodded his head, all smiles, evidently imagining a daring adventure.
“I’ll need three fresh horses,” Ben said, eyeing the boy. Did he have the right to sacrifice one child for another? “Boy, this is dangerous work. You willing to chance your life this night? I can’t promise you won’t get killed—”
“I am.” The boy nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m willing to go with you.”
“But you’re exhausted.” Dr. Keenly squeezed Ben’s arm. “Your muscles are as tight as a rubber band, ready to break.”
Ben straightened his shoulders and smiled into the kindly doctor’s face, then back at the youth. “I’ve
been tired before. Besides, Maggie and her mother might need my services.”
With Dr. Keenly’s aid, they wrapped all four feet of his prize stallion, a big black Thoroughbred named Samson. Ben sure hoped the horse lived up to his namesake. He could use a strong hand tonight.
A horse neighed in the distance. Samson’s ears poked forward in the horse’s direction. Dr. Keenly held the stallion’s upper lip tight. “No, you can’t neigh back tonight, my boy. Leave those introductions for another day.” He patted the horse’s thick muscular neck. “I know, Samson, yes, those bounty hunters and that no good boss of theirs are out there.”
Ben led a mare out, her saddle packed with supplies for the trip home. He glanced at the servant boy named Matthew, riding a chocolate mare.
The full moon shone bright in the clear sky and Ben couldn’t help but wonder about that first Christmas Eve. Jesus sure loved us to leave His throne to live here with the likes of us and all the meanness of men.
Leaving the city, Ben glanced over his shoulder. The trail of hoof imprints in the snow, though obscured somewhat with the burlap, made it evident to Reynolds which way they had gone.
Matthew pulled the top of his hood over his face, his dress and cloak nearly covering him as he straddled his horse. Matthew had drawn the line at playing a girl by refusing to ride sidesaddle.
Back out in the open, Ben looked both ways and kicked Samson into a canter. The more miles he could put between Reynolds and his bounty hunters the better. Ben’s pistol slapped his thigh, reminding him of what he just might have to do to rid the countryside of one bad apple.
After crossing the state line into Kentucky, the night passed slowly into dawn, and sometime in those dark hours, Ben noticed that his region of Kentucky had gotten a dusting of snow as well. Nothing to worry about; the roads weren’t icy, but the burlap wouldn’t do him too much good.
Swept into Destiny Page 10
