Chapter Nineteen: Terms That Could Not Be Hidden
The negotiation began in the library and continued long after supper.
Price refused to sign anything without a witness from town.
Silas demanded an amount far above the value he had placed on the workers in his own records.
Thomas objected to every delay.
Ada sat beside him and took notes.
Isaiah waited outside with Esther, Gideon, Hester, and Micah.
Ruth brought them bread and water.
They spoke quietly about what freedom might mean if the offer succeeded.
Esther wanted Micah to sleep somewhere no one could threaten to take him away.
Hester wanted to see her sister in the next county.
Gideon wanted a workshop where he could keep the tools he made.
Isaiah listened, afraid to imagine too much.
At midnight Price emerged from the library.
“Silas has agreed to a price,” he said.
Esther pressed a hand to her mouth.
Isaiah looked at Price.
“Has he signed?”
“Not yet.”
“Then he has agreed to nothing.”
Price nodded.
“You are right.”
He returned to the library.
The next morning Corbin arrived with a clerk to witness the documents.
Silas tried to add a condition requiring Isaiah to remain at the estate for six months.
Price refused.
Silas then demanded that Gideon complete the damaged machine before leaving.
Thomas answered that he would build a new one himself.
The clerk scratched out both conditions.
Isaiah watched the pen move across the paper.
He had never trusted a document more than the people willing to enforce it.
But he understood the significance of what was happening.
The names on the page were the names of his family and friends.
Silas signed first.
Price signed next.
The clerk read the terms aloud.
Isaiah heard Esther’s name followed by Micah’s.
He heard Gideon’s name followed by Hester’s.
Then he heard his own.
For a moment he could not breathe.
Esther reached for his hand.
“Isaiah.”
He turned toward her.
She was crying without making a sound.
The clerk finished reading.
Price looked at Isaiah.
“The papers will be filed in town today.”
Isaiah nodded slowly.
“Then we will go with you.”
Silas looked up sharply.
“You do not trust me?”
Isaiah met his eyes.
“No.”
The room went silent.
Silas lowered his gaze to the table.
He had spent years demanding obedience.
Now he could not demand belief.
Chapter Twenty: The Last Summons
Lenora sent a message to Isaiah before the carriages departed.
She asked him to come upstairs one final time.
Isaiah read the message and handed it back to Ruth.
“Tell her I will speak in the front hall.”
Ruth nodded.
A few minutes later Lenora came down the stairs.
She wore the gray dress she had worn during the demonstration.
Her hands were empty.
Isaiah stood beside the open front door.
Esther waited in the yard with Micah.
Lenora stopped several feet away.
“I wanted to apologize.”
Isaiah said nothing.
“I know that is not enough.”
“No, it is not.”
She swallowed.
“I told myself I was protecting the household.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
Lenora looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
Isaiah glanced toward the stairs.
“For weeks you locked a door and told me my family would suffer if I spoke.”
“I did.”
“You knew what people would think if they saw me leave your room.”
“I knew.”
“And you used that.”
Lenora’s eyes filled with tears.
“I cannot change it.”
Isaiah shook his head.
“Then do not ask me to pretend you can.”
She nodded slowly.
“What will you do now?”
“I will take my family to town and make sure the papers are filed.”
“And after that?”
“I will find work where my hands belong to me.”
Lenora looked toward the courtyard.
“Thomas Fenwick says he wants you in Baltimore.”
“He asked.”
“Will you go?”
Isaiah considered the question.
He had spent years dreaming of leaving the estate.
Now that departure was possible, he wanted to choose it carefully.
“I will decide with Esther.”
Lenora stepped aside.
“I hope you find peace.”
Isaiah looked at her for a long moment.
“Peace is not something you can give me.”
He walked past her into the morning light.
Behind him, the front door remained open.
