Free Midnight by Beverly Jenkins Page B

There would be outdoor gatherings at the church again. The benevolent societies could be more active in their efforts to keep the race rising through their work with children, the poor, and the elderly. There would be parades—if the British allowed them—lobster bakes, and fishing, one of her favorite pastimes. In fact, if there was time and the fates were kind, she hoped to catch a few fish for dinner later that day. After months of dried, salted, or smoked meat, something fresh caught would be a godsend.
    Since she had to pass the Trotter house, she decided to stop in and pay them a visit, but no one was home, so Faith drove Susie to the next side road that led to Blythe’s. It was muddy going. Susie didn’t like the slop but Faith urged her to keep moving so that the wagon wouldn’t get stuck.
    Knocks at Blythe’s door went unanswered as well. Sighing with frustration, she supposed she’d have to hold on to Gage’s words until she reached her, but she prayed the general didn’t implement his plans early. Faith reached into the pocket of her cloak and withdrew the white quartz stone she always used a signal when she needed to speak with Blythe. Placing it at the base of the front door, she climbed back up into the wagon and drove away.
    Her next destination was the creek that flowed through Primus’s property. When he was alive he hadn’t minded her fishing there. She doubted Nicholas would mind, either, but in a way, she was hoping he wasn’t at home. She had no idea how to handle a man like him, not that she had experience handling any man, but something about him made her very aware of how much she didn’t know about the games men and women played. The few suitors she’d had in her life had run screaming for the door once they took her measure, and as she told Nicholas the night on the road, many men didn’t appreciate a woman of intelligence. They wanted to do her thinking for her and very few acknowledged that a woman had a mind at all. It was one of the reasons she couldn’t abide Will Case. He was pompous enough to believe himself capable of thinking circles around anyone, especially a woman, and had grumbled on numerous occasions that her father had wasted his money by educating her. But Faith knew he was wrong. She didn’t have much fun or happiness or variety in her life, but without her precious books, she would just be existing. At least the Bard offered her stories of lives filled with adventure, pathos, and comedy; stories she could lose herself in and forget about having to work each day from dawn to dark in the service of her father and his needs. Many mothers of eligible daughters thought Will Case quite the catch. Faith would rather catch fish.

Chapter 6
    W hen she reached Primus’s land, she turned on to the property. Straight ahead, the big, white, two-story house with its welcoming porch sat like a queen in the sunlight. The drive was a muddy quagmire of melted snow, dirt, and gravel. Although there were a number of other wheel marks and hoof prints in the drive she didn’t see any other vehicles or horses tied up at the post near the house. She knew Nicholas had just moved back so maybe the tracks were from recent visitors or deliveries.
    Her bad luck held. No one answered her knock. Slogging through the mud with her hems held above the muck, she went around to the back and saw nothing but the barns, the open fields, and the thick stand of trees that encircled the open land. As a matter of courtesy she’d wanted to make certain he had no objections to her being on his land, but seeing as he wasn’t at home, she shrugged. Walking back to the wagon, she climbed up and guided Susie over to the tether post. After retrieving the bucket that held her fishing gear, she got down again, secured the horse’s reins, and began the long trek to the creek.
    A large stand of pines flanked the open fields, and the creek lay behind them. Once inside the cover of the trees, she could hear birds