Esther’s list included that name.
Sarah was not dead, as Richard’s paperwork claimed.
She was one of the women held at a crossing house and had spent months seeking her son.
Naomi did not promise James that his mother would arrive, because promises made by powerless adults could become another kind of cruelty.
She told him instead that she had heard his mother’s name spoken by someone who wanted to help.
James began crying without sound, covering his face with both hands.
Naomi let him sit quietly until he was ready to eat.
He said his mother had taught at a Sunday school before strangers took him on the road.
One man had torn the certificate from his coat, but James had memorized its first line because Sarah made him repeat it whenever they traveled.
“I am a free child born in Pennsylvania,” he recited.
Naomi repeated the words aloud, fixing them in her memory.
If the paper was gone, the truth remained in the boy’s voice, and she would not allow anyone to persuade him that it had never existed.
Elijah arrived after dark to replace a broken shelf in the storage room.
Crowe watched from outside while he worked.
James sat on the floor and traced a rectangle with his finger.
“Are you the carpenter?” he whispered.
Elijah nodded.
The boy leaned close and said, “The woman with the scar told me to find the mark under the coal.” Crowe called through the doorway.
“Stop talking and finish.” Elijah tightened the last screw and said loudly that he needed a longer board.
As he stepped away, he slipped a wedge of wood beside the inside latch, making it harder for the lock to catch completely.
James watched without moving his face.
The wagon driver planned to leave before sunrise.
Elijah and Naomi understood that the next hours might be the only chance to keep James from being transported farther away.
They did not know whether the cellar contained other captives, and they had no safe passage prepared for themselves.
Every plan carried a cost.
Naomi took Elijah’s hand in the darkness outside their cabin.
“We cannot save him by making a wish,” she said.
Elijah nodded.
“We need to know who will stand with us.” Naomi looked toward the small window where Ruth and Samuel slept.
“Then we had better find out before dawn.”
Chapter 11: The Night Watch
Naomi began by speaking to people who knew the roads rather than those who boasted of courage.
