Free Rebellious Heart by Jody Hedlund

son. There’s a time for war and a time for peace. And we need to know which is when.”
    Ben hadn’t discussed his involvement with the Caucus Club with his father, but he didn’t doubt his father had guessed his leanings. Ben had always harbored dissatisfaction with the methods the British used in governing the colonies. But since his days in law school, as well as his growing friendships with Boston merchants like Cranch, his frustrations had only increased.
    “Esquire Ross,” the lieutenant called as he drew near.
    Ben’s muscles tensed. Even though he wasn’t technically involved in any of the smuggling, he’d agreed to act as the liaison between the Boston merchants and the smugglers. Had the lieutenant learned of his role?
    The officer reined his horse and nodded at Ben. “Congratulations are in order for your defense of Mr. Sewall earlier in the week.”
    “Thank you, Lieutenant. It’s easy to defend someone who’s innocent.”
    The officer sat straight. His tall, cocked officer’s hat lent him another foot of height, making him even more imposing. But it was his sharp piercing eyes that sent a shiver of unease up Ben’s back. The hard glint was anything but congratulatory or friendly.
    “Seems you are gaining quite the reputation for defending rascals both in and out of Boston.”
    “Everyone deserves a fair trial, rascal or not.”
    The lieutenant studied him a moment, taking in his sweat-stained hat down to his mud-caked boots. A derisive grin formed at the corners of the officer’s pinched lips. “You have a way with words, Esquire Ross. It’s lamentable that you have to waste your eloquence on the guilty.”
    “And I suppose you’re qualified to act as judge?”
    “Much more qualified than you. Then again, even the swine need someone from among their own to defend them.”
    A sharp rebuttal rose swiftly.
    “Is there something we can do for you, Lieutenant?” his father interjected before Ben could utter his response and shot him a glance that issued caution.
    The lieutenant didn’t bother to acknowledge his father’s question, but instead pinned Ben with a final glare before spinning his horse and trotting away.
    “What was that all about?” his father asked when the lieutenant was back on the road with his regiment.
    Ben lifted his pitchfork and wished he could send it flying into the air after the lieutenant. “Just one more example of someone with power thinking he can intimidate those without it.”
    His father slid down the hay mound, sending a spray of dust and grass into the air. “Let him go, son. He’s not worth the frustration.”
    “He was intolerably rude to both of us. Doesn’t that bother you?”
    “It isn’t worth my time.” His father raised one of the horse’s hand-hewn mud boots intended to keep the mud from weighing the beast down. He combed his fingers over the boot and dislodged a clump of thick sludge.
    Ben shook his head. All too familiar anger and helplessness twined through his gut like leather stitching. He was weary of the mockery from those born to a higher class. More than that, he was weary of watching his family struggle to survive year in and year out.
    His father had made incredible sacrifices for him to go to Harvard, to make sure he was never in want of books or anything he’d needed in his pursuit of education.
    Surely now he could make his father proud of him by rising higher, gaining more, and becoming someone great. If he bettered himself, then he’d be able to help his family. He could repay his father for all his sacrifices. He could keep men like Lieutenant Wolfe from making a mockery of them.
    Ben swiped off his hat and knocked the dust from it. “We’re all created equal, Father. And I can’t sit idly back and let men or kings deny us our fundamental and unalienable rights.”
    “I know you can’t sit back, son.” His father’s eyes lit with pride. “You’re different than me, and you’re destined to do more than I ever