Accepting the olive branch, Lauren took her hand and answered, “I’d like to put the past behind us and move toward that.”
Reina sent a quick word of thanks for Lauren’s forgiving spirit. She wasn’t one to hold grudges no matter how much anyone hurt her. Feeling lousy for the pain she’d caused Lauren, she prayed for the chance to make it up to her.
“When do you leave on your next trip?” Reina asked.
“Not until you come back from visiting Eli’s parents.” She walked toward the nursery when Nate’s cries came on the monitor.
“I’ll get him.” Reina reached out to stop her.
“I’ve never been so angry with you I would neglect my godson’s cries.”
Startled by the accusation in her voice, Reina stepped back. “I never claimed that.”
“I overreacted. Sorry. I’m not over it yet.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. I know it’ll take time. I hurt you.”
“A grilled cheese sandwich could help speed things up.” Lauren smiled.
“Only you would want a grilled chilled sandwich as an after-lunch snack.” Reina laughed, grateful for her friend’s big heart. “You grab Nate and I’ll get right on that.” She quickly hugged Lauren. “Thank you for being such an amazing best friend.”
“I’ll be even more fabulous when I come back later this week to help you pack for your trip.”
“I’m not going.”
“You are,” Lauren said as if that was the only answer. “Why wouldn’t you?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
“It’ll all work out. You’ll see.” Lauren hugged her. “Now feed me, Seymour. Feed me.”
Thursday came quicker than expected.
“Sweetie.” Lauren patted Reina’s arm, mimicking a mother calming an agitated child. “You’ve practically emptied your closet onto this bed.”
Reina looked around the room that confirmed Lauren’s words. “It shouldn’t be this difficult to pack for a few days away.”
“Have to make a good impression on your future in-laws.” Lauren jumped from the bed to avoid the pile of clothes Reina threw at her head.
“That’s it. I’m not going.”
“We’ve been through this. They’re going to love you.”
“I don’t want them to love me.”
“No?”
“You know what I mean. What if they read more into my visit than there is?” Everything Eli had said about his family only seeing them as friends had made sense. But it hurt to know in his mind their relationship was so simple. It shouldn’t when she’s the one who’d set that boundary, but it did. She still had such a difficult time figuring out her feelings for him. How did he fit in her heart? She was scared to find out. If he occupied a place in her heart, where did that leave Jared? Her loyalties felt divided. Any room made for Eli meant less space for Jared. She couldn’t do that to him. Not if she’d truly been in love with him. Right? It wasn’t his fault that he had to leave her. If he were alive, he’d still be in love with her. It felt unfair to his memory not to do the same. With the conflicting emotions about Jared, she knew she had no right to want Eli’s feelings for her to change. Hopefully, her head would convince her heart.
“And if they read more into it, Eli might start seeing what you’re trying to hide.”
Reina bristled at Lauren’s words. “I wish you’d stop with these ambiguous comments.”
“Ambiguous? It’s not like me not to be blunt. To clear things up: you care for Eli. You might even be in love with him already, so it matters to you what his family will think of you.”
“This conversation is done.” Reina stood up to usher Lauren out of the bedroom.
“Kicking the truth out does not diminish its accuracy.”
“Kicking my pain in the butt best friend out diminishes my headache.”
“If I leave, who’s going to help you choose just the right I’m-not-here-to-impress you outfits for your trip?” Lauren closed the front door that Reina held open and calmly walked back into the bedroom.
“If I were any better at making friends, I’d go in search of a replacement for you,” Reina told Lauren’s back.
“Feel free to try. You’ll come running back. I'm the only one who will put up with your moodiness.” Lauren pulled from the pile a blue and white nautical sundress. “This one practically screams New England.”
She agreed but didn’t want to give Lauren the satisfaction of knowing. “I guess it’ll do.” She folded the dress and set it aside to be packed.
Reina settled on one more sundress, a long maxi skirt, two cardigans, a light jacket, running shorts, sneakers, and flats.
What she needed now was a cocktail dress for Saturday’s party. As if reading her mind, Lauren pulled out the one remaining dress in her closet: a strapless, bright yellow with a fitted top and a flared-out skirt of feathers. She paired it with Reina’s favorite heels: a 6-inch, strappy, gold number.
“You haven’t dressed up in over a year. Your shoes miss you.”
Reina smiled at Lauren’s attempt to get her to agree to the outfit. The yellow dress had been an impulse buy she had yet to wear. The color looked so dramatic against her dark skin that it called attention to her regal, lean, dancer frame. When she and Jared had decided to start a family, she’d bought the dress as a motivator to get back in shape after her pregnancy. She’d wanted to wear the dress on their first adult outing after becoming parents.
Her immediate reaction was to balk at Lauren’s suggestion that she wear it to the party. But the small part of her fighting to look toward the future said she should go with it. For once, she allowed that small part a much bigger say.
“Hopefully I’m not overdressed.” She grabbed the outfit from Lauren who jumped up to hug her.
“Eli should be here soon. I’ll grab Nate’s packed suitcase from the nursery. I think you have everything.” Lauren left before Reina could change her mind.
“I don’t see how we’re going to fit everything into his car. I even packed Nate’s portable playpen. Why does this child have so many bags?” She stared at the four suitcases of “necessities” she’d insisted on packing for Nate.
“It’s your first time traveling with him. Hopefully, you’ll learn to cut back by the time he leaves for college.”
“Who says he’s going away to school?” Reina added a forgotten bag to the pile.
“At least wait until he turns one before the college discussion starts.”
Reina and Lauren nearly choked on their fear at Eli’s surprising appearance.
Reina raised her eyebrow toward the door. “I’ve changed my mind about you housesitting.”
“I could have sworn I locked that.”
“Is that what you’re going to tell me when I come back and all my things are missing?”
“I wouldn’t be here to tell you anything. I’d put myself in the witness protection program to stay safe from you.”
Reina shook her head.
“What am I taking down first?” They pointed to Nate’s bags. Eli looked down, looked back at them, and said, “There’s more?”
Reina and Lauren found his incredulity amusing.
“Remind me not to fly with you until I’ve saved enough for checked-baggage fees.”
He’s so adorable. The thought entered Reina’s mind of its own volition.
“Is she shorter than me?”
“Quite a few women are shorter than you, so yes. One question left.”
Eli grinned when Reina rolled her eyes at his comment.
“What I know so far: the woman is a well-known actress, she’s shorter than me, curvaceous, white, older than twenty but younger than forty, and has starred in a blockbuster movie based on a comic book in the last five years—”
“One more question.” Eli interrupted, waving his right index finger.
“Is she a blonde?”
“Hmm…she’s been a blonde, brunette, and a redhead. I’ll give you back that question.�
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“Have you ever had a crush on her?”
“Men don’t have crushes.”
She looked at him sideways and rephrased her question with sarcasm. “Do you find her attractive?”
Eli didn’t get to respond before she said, “I’ll take that red spot on your face as a yes.”
He gave her a boyish grin. “Your guess?”
She named a bombshell who’d been plastered in several celebrity magazines recently.
He turned his head to look at her. “Ten wins later and I think I’ve been hustled.”
She raised both shoulders and offered her most innocent expression.
“Are you the same woman who, when we started this trip, insisted she was horrible at guessing games?”
“Dumb luck?” She grinned at him.
“Please pass my water bottle, Ms. Dumb Luck.”
She handed him his request and checked her phone for the time. “Is it too late to turn back?”
“Barely half an hour left. But if we turn back now, who’s going to eat this welcome feast my mother’s preparing?”
“She’s cooking for a small village?”
“Did France gift us Lady Liberty?”
She groaned. “She should reserve that kind of treatment for your future wife.”
The need to tell her that in his mind they were the same brought him physical pain. He rubbed the tension out of his neck.
“The offer still stands for me to drive,” Reina said.
“Direct quote from you: the road test instructor said I passed by the skin of my teeth.”
“Are you hiding a court stenographer in your back pocket?”
“Attention to details. A byproduct of being born into seven generations of lawyers and judges.”
“I’ll have to be careful about what I share moving forward.”
He touched her hand. “Don’t ever feel like you have to hide anything from me.”
Though he only turned his head for a second to glance her way, the spark that passed between them could fuel their trip to Brookline and back.
“Finish telling me about Ellen and William Craft,” Reina said. “I’m still amazed by their story.”
“I’m not even sure it was part of the District curriculum, but you couldn’t pass Mrs. Litt’s 9th grade U.S. History class without being able to recite the history of the enslaved people who lived and worked in Brookline.”
“She’s the one you said sparked Elizabeth’s interest in writing historical fiction.”
“Same one. She’ll be at Saturday’s event. She and some other members of the Hidden Brookline Committee were on the research team for Liz’s book. Their motto is ‘Fiction with roots in truth’.”
“I can’t wait to meet her. I’m curious to learn more about Brookline’s history with slavery, especially being a route on the underground railroad.”
“Mrs. Litt is a walking encyclopedia on the topic. You won’t be disappointed.”
“Does she have as much to share about you as a student?”
“All great things, I can assure you.”
“I’m sure.”
“I’ve already paid her off to make sure of it.”
She chuckled.
“It cost me my retirement plan, but everyone you meet this weekend will tell you what a perfect angel I was growing up.”
“I’ll get the truth from your mother. She seems above bribery.”
“I forgot about her.” He feigned a worried look. “Guess I’ll have to depend on good ol’ family loyalty.”
“From the same woman who shared with me over the phone that you slept with a night light until you were ten?”
“Nate said to turn the car around and go back to New York.”
Her laughter echoed in the car. “Use my sleeping son, why don’t you?”
“I’ll never finish telling you this story if you keep distracting me.”
“My apology, Mr. Tour Guide.” She extended her right hand to give him the floor. “Please continue with the Brookline history lesson.”
“The historic house that I pointed out to you on Walnut Street—”
“—The Tappan-Philbrick House?”
“That’s right. Samuel Philbrick was a pioneer abolitionist in New England, not an easy feat in the 1830s and 40s when the antislavery movement was especially unpopular here.”
“I wouldn’t think so.”
“As supporters of the cause, he and his wife Eliza allowed their house to become one of the principal stations on the Underground Railroad during that time.”
“Brave souls.”
“One of the most well-known couples they helped to freedom was Ellen and William Craft.”
“I have some vague memory of learning about them. But I’m not sure if that’s true or just that their names sound familiar.”
“Could be both.” He gulped his water and handed the bottle back to Reina to put away. “The Crafts were enslaved in Macon, Georgia. When they married in 1846, they despaired over having children while still in captivity. They’d endured the trauma of family separations and feared that their kids would be ripped from them and sold.”
She turned to look at Nate. “What a burden to live with.”
“They decided they couldn’t and made plans to escape two years later.”
“How?”
“Their plan was quite brilliant.” He thought about it. “Dangerous, but brilliant.”
“Don’t make me guess.”
“Ellen was often mistaken for a member of her white master’s family. Guess it’s hard not to look like the man you share DNA with.”
“No wonder she could so easily pass for white.”
“They used that to their advantage.”
“How so?”
“William knew that slaveholders could take their slaves to any state. They decided to have fair skin Ellen pose as a slave owner—"
“And he would pose as her slave.”
“Exactly.”
“Bold move. Risky, but bold.”
“Even riskier having Ellen pretend to be a white man.”
“You lost me.”
“It wasn’t customary for women to travel with male servants.”
Her eyes widened. “I’d crack under the pressure.”
“I’m sure they were nervous, but you do what you have to for a better life.”
“How’d they end up in Brookline?”
He smiled to himself at her eagerness to jump ahead. Patience was not her strong suit. “They took a train to Savannah, Georgia and from there boarded a steamer to Charleston, South Carolina. They had a few close calls on the train.”
“Don’t tell me someone figured out their ruse.”
“Thankfully, no. Even though Ellen’s seatmate turned out to be a good friend of her master’s. This person had been a recent dinner guest and had known Ellen for years.”
“I would have peed my pants.”
He laughed.
“That must have been some disguise.” Reina shook her head.
“Yep. They’d cut Ellen’s hair short, gave her an arm sling, and wrapped bandages around her face. And added a top hat and glasses.”
“Come again? Arm sling and bandages?”
“Remember, slaves weren’t allowed to read and write, so Ellen couldn’t. She needed a good excuse to avoid having to sign a hotel registry and other papers presented to her on the trip.”
“But what about the bandages?”
“They added them to discourage conversation with strangers. Would you bother a man who looked to be in pain? Or, would you leave him alone and let him rest?”
“Good point. Maybe I should wrap myself like a mummy to avoid strange conversations on the subway.”
They laughed.
“Seems like they thought of everything.” Reina continued.
“She even faked being deaf to make sure she could avoid talking to her seatmate.”
“She must have been on pins and needles the entire ride.”
/> “That fear was probably magnified after they were stopped in Baltimore, Maryland on the steamer from South Carolina to Pennsylvania.”
“What? Who stopped them? Why?”
“Border patrol. They were patrolling for white abolitionists trying to sneak slaves out of the South. They stopped her to verify ownership of William, her slave.” He turned briefly to see her eyes focused on him, eagerly awaiting the rest of the story. “The officer decided to detain them.”
“Do I want to hear the rest of this story?”
“But when you trust in God, He rewards your faith. The Crafts silently prayed, and God intervened.”
She sighed.
“Not long after they were detained, the departure bell jangled to alert them that Philadelphia was the next and final stop. The officer looked Ellen over, saw the bandages, and decided to let them go. He probably didn’t want the hassle of continuing to detain someone who looked so injured.”
Reina let out the breath she was holding. “They must have jumped for joy when they finally reached Philly.”
“On Christmas day, at that.”
“Freedom is the sweetest gift.”
“When they arrived in Philly, they were quickly given assistance and lodging by the underground abolitionist network. Soon after that, the network helped them make their way to Boston.”
“Where they put down roots for good?”
“Actually, no. They were in Boston for two years when slave hunters arrived to bring them back to Georgia.”
“I prefer my stories with a happy ending.” She looked so serious he hid his smile.
“They fled to England and lived there for twenty years. When they returned in the 1870s, with their five children, they established a school in Georgia for newly freed Blacks.”
Reina’s joy was palpable. “The trials they went through prepared them to be a blessing to countless others.”
“Great way to look at it.”
“God doesn’t tell us the reasons for our trials, but He knows.” She reflected on their conversation months earlier. “We just have to keep trusting Him.”
“That we do.”
After a stretch of contemplative silence, Eli announced, “We’re here.”
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