Sarah's Roses, Book I: Roses of Blue

Chapter XXVI

"Find love in a way that will not put this entire household at the mercy of local gossip. I found out last time, who do you think could find out next? And what will your romance lead to? Did you think of that when you began it? It leads to a dead end. A dead end! Society would never accept anything between you and him, so why play a losing game?”

“I loved him, Uncle.”

“Some loves are better controlled, Sarah. Don’t be…” He halted abruptly.

“Don’t be like my mother?” I finished for him, my voice turning cold.

“Sam leaves the day after tomorrow and that is final! You can leave now, I have work to do.”

I got up and walked to the door.

“At least I didn’t kill him,” my uncle called after me. It was all I could do to keep from slamming the door with all my might. I marched up the stairs thinking hard. Of course Uncle could say things like that. He didn’t know what Sammy had been to me these past two years; he didn’t know how Aunt Helen constantly tormented me! I had kept such things from him not to cause him pain and not to cause a greater rift between him and his wife then there already had been caused with my coming to live here. What could Uncle understand about the pain and guilt and shame that was branded into my heart and soul? If it hadn’t been for Sammy, I don’t know what sort of a state I would have been in. He gave me strength to keep going these two years. Uncle had told me society wouldn’t accept it! What did I care for society? Society never seemed to accept anything. Society didn’t accepts black people, society didn’t accept illegitimate children, society didn’t accept love between a slave and a free man, between two people from a different social classes…well, then, tell me, what did society accept? What was more, society was hypocritical to its core. A black man and a white woman was forbidden, but a white man and black woman was not so bad. Hadn’t my grandfather kept a black mistress? Several in fact. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Mr. Thompson and Mr. Earl also had black mistresses, it seemed to be quite common among landowners. Of course, it was all kept hush-hush, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I shook my head; all these comparisons were leading nowhere. How could I compare anything or anyone to the rich landowners, or with the white men in general. They were the ones that ran the country and made the rules. Even though I was white, I was a woman, and I didn’t have any say or make any rules, I was simple bound to obey them, just as Sammy was. If society said that a black man and a white woman could not fall in love, could not marry, then we could not and there was nothing to do about it.

I sighed and flopped down on my bed, my mind racing as a million thoughts flew in and out. Sammy had just told me this morning that I was the best thing that had ever happened in his life. Well, if I was the best thing that happened to him, I could certainly do better than this. I couldn’t let Sammy get sold. Not to Mr. Hartbert, not to anyone else. I couldn’t talk Uncle out of selling him; his mind was obviously made up. A new thought suddenly struck me. I sat up, slowing chewing it over in my mind. There was one other option. An option I had entertained several times in the past two years but one I had always pushed out of my head. The option of granting Sammy his freedom.

Of course Uncle would never agree to that. No doubt he would say that a freed Sammy was even more dangerous to me and my ‘social life’. If Sammy was free, what was to stop him from making claims on me, what if we were to get it into our heads to run away together? I couldn’t set him free openly; that simply wouldn’t work in this household, not to mention under the circumstances I was currently in.

Suddenly, a new thought dawned on me. I wasn’t going to let him get sold and if I couldn’t get Uncle to free him, there was still one other way. The way of the underground railway.

People had spoken of it before and I had heard it tossed around conversations. Some said it was just a made up story, something that wasn’t actually real. Yet, at the same time, slaves were going missing and there was talk of the ‘Moses of the slaves’ who would help them run away from their masters. The only problem was, I didn’t know anything about the underground railway, or where to find someone who could help me locate it.

I paced the floor, trying to get some sort of plan in my head. I suddenly snapped my fingers as a realization hit me. What about the Brags?

The Brags were a Quaker family who owned a tiny little farm some miles from our plantation. Once, about three or four years ago, my aunt had sent with a basket for them when one of the family members was said to be dying. She had been too ill to go herself then, so had made me go. They had been very secretive for some reason and rather tense it seemed. I had suddenly noticed a black face at one moment. Then it disappeared in the room again. I really hadn’t thought much about it then, we had so many black faces in our house, it was nothing new to me. Only later had I remembered that the Brags were very openly against slavery. Everyone looked down on them because of it and called them abolitionists. I hadn’t said anything about it and had even forgotten the whole incident but now it came back to me. What if the Brags where involved in the undergrounded railway?

Desperate means call for desperate measures and I decided it was worth a try. I resolved to go the Brags, maybe they could help me get Sam out of here before Uncle sold him.

******************************************************************************

What will happen now? Will Sarah really be able to set Sammy free before Mr. Greensten sells him for good?