Free Ever Bound by Odessa Gillespie Black Page A

found a way to get you a scholarship. I had no idea that my father was the benefactor. That was something he should have taken up with you in private. Please don’t allow them to send you away from me.”
    “I love you and nothing will separate us. The rest doesn’t matter. It literally makes me sick to hide us.” I closed my eyes against the rising heat that came with holding her.
    “Then don’t.” Grace stepped outside.
    I jumped back from Annabeth. I’d seen her mother escort Grace to the elevator.
    She was supposed to be in her room.
    Annabeth took my hand and held it firmly.
    “So, this is the reason you won’t see me or speak to me? Annabeth, when he’s done with you, I imagine he’ll probably move on to Olivia. I mean, let’s keep it in the family, right?” Grace fingered a large pendant hanging between her cleavage.
    “Like you do?” Venom dripped from Annabeth’s tongue.
    Grace’s face twisted and contorted. She lifted her head and stared down her nose at Annabeth. A broad, malicious smile broke out over her beautifully evil face. “I have just the solution for this.”
    My heart sank.
    Grace spun away from us and rattled the hinges of the door as she slammed it behind her.
    “As you can see, she’s not above making a scene,” Annabeth said.
    “Go. I understand.”
    She rushed after her sister.
    I ruined everything I touched. I was cursed.
    After dinner, my mother and father came through the front door of the cottage to find me sitting upright on a chair with my hands clasped into a tight knot.
    “Aren’t you feeling well, Son?” Pop said.
    My mother pressed the back of her hand to my forehead.
    No news of an uproar.
    “I’m…fine?” I examined their faces.
    “You handled that as well as can be expected. I can’t believe that high-falluting jackass thought he could buy you like that,” Pop said. “I heard him in the hall. Don’t worry. Your mother and I will stand behind whatever decision you make. I want you to be educated, but not at that price.”
    Great. The whole house knew the sordid plan Mr. Rollins had concocted.
    But that could be a good thing. If Mrs. Rollins was the person I thought she was, she wouldn’t stand for her husband pawning her daughter off on someone just so he could get rid of her. Sure, social standing mattered, but Grace was his daughter. How could he want to be rid of her so bad that he’d pay so much money to have her taken off his hands?
    After they read the Bible and prayed together, I watched Mama and Pop from the living room. After they raised their heads from the prayer, they stared at one another from their respective sides of the bed.
    Still on his knees, Pop held out his hand to Mama.
    She took it.
    Sometimes, the way they regarded one another was so deep I was embarrassed that I’d seen. It was as if I’d witnessed something private, not meant for another to see.
    Pop got up and shut the door.
    Staring down at the wide floorboards, I waited for news from the house. Surely Annabeth would be here soon.
    I would have to find a way and the right time to tell Annabeth about the pond and Grace. That night might have been the perfect time. With Grace and her father’s concocted plan and the way Grace had carried on lately, I might sound believable if I told the whole truth, but I was so scared.
    I went to my bedroom and waited for a tap on my window. At this point, I would welcome news from either of the sisters. At least then I would know what had happened.
    At the door to my parents' room, there were no hushed whispers.
    “I’m going to go to the barn to check on Sampson.” I stood a few feet from the door.
    “Don’t be out too long,” Mama said.
    At the back door, I stared out at the other houses. All the sharecroppers were already locked in and lanterns were off. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were all still wide awake, waiting for Grace’s next show of lunacy.
    Taking a lantern off the back porch, I slid a match up the side of a metal