by Mikki Sadil
The Return of the Freedom Thief
The Freedom Thief, book 2
By Mikki Sadil
Digital ISBN
Kindle: 9781772993653
Print ISBN: 9781772993677
Amazon Print: 9781772993660
Copyright 2016 by Mikki Sadil
Cover art by Michelle Lee Copyright 2016
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means ( electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
Dedication:
To my awesome husband Richard. Without you, this book would never have been written.
Chapter One
The Homecoming
McKenna’s Crossroads, Woodford County, Kentucky
August, 1860
Ben walked slowly down the dusty road, putting one foot carefully in front of the other, only too mindful of the painful ankle injury he still suffered from. Miles and miles of walking, fighting his way through thick, unyielding virgin forests, sleeping on hard, cold ground, or burrowing under rocks and downed tree branches in an effort to avoid relentless spring rains had all combined to make him feel like an old man. He was only fourteen, but no longer the strong young man he had been this time only a year ago.
Finally, it was there in front of him: the huge hemp fields of his grandmother’s plantation, the white rail fencing that went on for miles, and the broad gates that opened to the large Victorian house that had been his home since he was five years old. Except for the past eleven months, that is.
He forgot his tiredness, and broke into a run, shouting “Ma”, “Pa”, “Grammy” with every step. He burst open the gates and ran towards the house. When he saw James coming around the corner of the house, he ran up to him with his arms outstretched. James stood dead still, his arms folded tightly against his chest, and a deep scowl on his face.
Ben dropped his arms, but a grin spread across his face as he said, breathlessly, “James, I’m home! I’m finally home. I …” He stopped talking, as he realized his brother’s face was as cold as a statue’s.
“Oh. Okay, I guess you’re not glad to see me. I’ll just go on into the house. Are Ma and Pa inside? And Grammy?”
“What difference does it make, Ben? No one is going to be glad to see you. Except maybe Grammy, since you were always her favorite. But she’s an old woman, and doesn’t count in the family any more. It’s the rest of the family that matters, and you are no longer a part of it. Turn around and go back to your slave friends. That’s where you belong now.”
James grabbed Ben by the shoulders and shook him viciously. He turned him around and pushed him towards the gate. “Get out of here! You are a disgrace. Get out, and don’t ever darken this door again.”
Ben twisted away from him. He stared at his brother in shock. “James, what are you saying? I helped Josiah escape because he’s just a little kid, and crippled. It was wrong for Pa to try to sell him, and …”
“No one but you thought it was wrong. So he’s a kid, so what? He was a slave who couldn’t work, and Pa had every right in the world to sell him. Go on, get out of here before I call Samson to throw you down the road where you belong.”
Ben turned away as if he were going to run. Instead, he headed straight for the house. James, caught off guard, yelled for Samson, the slave who looked more like a giant created by a cartoon than he did a human.
Meanwhile, Ben stumbled up the porch steps, and lunged for the front door. It opened before he could grasp the door handle. His mother stood in front of him. She had changed in the months he had been away. Her auburn hair had streaks of grey, and frown lines appeared permanently carved into her once smooth forehead. There was sadness in her eyes as she looked at him.
“Ma! Ma, I’m home!” Ben reached for his mother to hug her, but she backed away from him.
“Come in, Ben. I heard James shouting at you. So I reckon we need a family sit-down.” She turned away from him, leaving the door open.
Ben looked after her, his lips parted as if to speak, but no sound came from his throat. He had expected his parents to give him what-for because he had arranged the escape for Josiah and his parents, but to be told he didn’t belong to the family anymore? For Ma to refuse to hug him, after he’d been gone for eleven months? He shook his head, scraped his dirty shoes on the porch, and stepped into the parlor. He started back towards the kitchen. Ma stopped him.
“Ben, I don’t know what your father and brothers are going to say to you, but at this moment, you are an outsider. Outsiders do not go into the kitchen. You may stay in the parlor, but please remain standing. You are much too dirty to sit on the furniture.”
At that moment, Grammy rushed into the room. She grabbed Ben and hugged him as tightly as she could. “Your ma doesn’t own this house, Ben, I do. And I will do the saying as to where you can go. Come with me, and we’ll go get you cleaned up and into some of your old clothes. Then we’ll go down to the kitchen, and feed you. You look like you could do with some hot coffee and some of your Ma’s supper stew.”
With her arm still around Ben, Grammy frowned at her daughter. “Laura, I am ashamed of you. For you to treat your own flesh and blood son like this is inexcusable. I am proud of Ben, and since this is my home…which I’ll thank you to remember…I will tell him what he can do and where he can go. Come, Benjamin.”
Upstairs, Grammy gave Ben another hug. “Go get washed, Ben. Your clothes are still hanging in your bedroom closet, although…” She frowned as she looked him over. “Well, it seems you’ve grown some, but clean clothes are better than these, even if they don’t fit so good. When you’re through, come into my room. I want to hear about this, hmm, adventure of yours.”
A short time later, Ben walked into Grammy’s room, and sat down at the window seat where he had spent many hours in the past. The dirt and grime was gone; his dark auburn hair curled wetly around the top of his shoulders. The overalls didn’t quite reach his ankles, and the blue plaid homespun shirt was tight across his chest, with sleeves that ended above his wrists, but Ben didn’t mind. It was the first time in months his body had been completely clean, and the feeling was great.
He looked around the room, pleased that it hadn’t changed in the months he had been gone. Neither had his grandmother. Today she had on a soft lavender plaid gown, with the same crisp white, frilly apron that she usually wore at home. Her pleated petticoats peeked out from under her dress, just above her black buttoned up boots. Ben knew this was one of her favorite dresses.
Grammy smiled at him, and tucked a stray, snowy-white curl of hair back into her bonnet. “Well, you have grown some, Ben! Now I want to hear your story, from the beginning, please.”
“Grammy, you knew Pa intended to sell Josiah. I couldn’t let that happen, so there was nothing to do but get him and Jesse and Bess away. When that man showed up early, the one who was going to buy him, we had to leave that very night. I took them to the old barn, the one you gave me the key to, remember? I had already found the secret room, and the tunnel underneath. The tunnel…” Ben’s voice quavered, and his hands began to shake, just remembering the fear he had felt when he finally made himself drop down into that darkness.
“You know how I hate dark, closed places,” he went on. “I almost didn’t get into the tunnel. I started to shake, I was so scared. But finally I did, because I knew Bess and Jesse couldn’t get Josiah away by themselves. It was awful, Grammy. We kept seeing things that showed that other slaves had used the tunnel a lon
g time ago, and we even found the skeleton of one. We walked for what seemed like hours, then it suddenly just stopped. There was nothing but this wall of dirt in front of us. Then a horrible noise, and the tunnel started collapsing behind us. I…”
Grammy interrupted. “I remember well that noise. It woke the whole house up. I was so frightened, Ben, when we found out what had happened. I knew you were down there, and I was so afraid you had been killed.” Grammy shuddered, and reached out to gently touch his face.
“I’m sorry, I want to know the rest. How did you get out of the tunnel?”
“I had my big knife in my knapsack, so I dug through that dirt wall with it. We ended up in a forest, but we all got out of the tunnel and nobody was hurt.”
Ben went on with his story for almost an hour. He grew tired and hoarse from talking, and leaned against the window. A moment later, someone pounded on her door. She opened it to face Pa. “Elizabeth, I want Ben down in the parlor immediately. You’ve pampered him long enough. It’s time for him to face up to what he’s done.”
Pa peered around Grammy to scowl at Ben. “Benjamin, get yourself downstairs and into the parlor at once, do you hear me?”
Grammy put herself directly in front of Pa. “Tom, you seem to forget whose home this is, as did my daughter. I will bring Ben down to the kitchen, not the parlor. He needs to have food and drink, and that’s what he will have. If you wish to speak to him then, fine and good. But now, you will leave my room.”
Pa growled something under his breath as he reached behind him to grab the door knob. He slammed the door in her face.
She went back to Ben, a grimace on her face. “Your father…” she sighed. She stretched her hand out to smooth Ben’s uncut and unruly hair. “We’ll need to get this mop cut soon! But for now, we’ll go down and get you some food. Come on, it’s time for you to face your father and brothers.”
Before Ben opened the door, she hugged him tightly once more. “I love you, Ben, and I can’t tell you how happy I am that you are home safe. But as much as I can control certain things here, I can’t control whatever it is your father intends to do. I will try to keep you out of harm’s way, but that’s all I can promise.”
He hugged her back. “Grammy, I knew there would be trouble from Pa and the boys when I came home. I guess I just didn’t know the slaves meant more to Pa than I do. Let’s go.”
When they came into the kitchen, Ben got his first clear look at his father. Tom McKenna had always been an imposing figure to Ben: tall and strong, with a sharply chiseled face and a bristly black mustache. The man he saw before him now was slightly stooped, with a lined face more jowly than chiseled. His black mustache, while still bristly, was shot through with grey, as was his black hair.
Ben’s brothers, Andrew and James, sat at the table, glaring angrily at him, but saying nothing. Ben saw they hadn’t changed much, a little taller and stronger maybe, both with the same thick black hair, a gift from their father, flopping over their foreheads. Their blue eyes were hostile as they stared at him.
Pa stopped pacing the moment he saw Ben. He looked him over for a few moments before saying, “Well, Ben, it seems you’ve grown some. You must be nigh on to James, now. Can’t say much for the rest of you, though. You’re still a slave-stealing scoundrel, aren’t you? Oh, by the way, you remember the Marshal, I presume?”
With this last remark, and without giving Ben a chance to speak, Pa opened the back door. Marshal Kendrick stepped inside. He nodded graciously to Ma and Grammy, before addressing Ben. His eyes narrowed, and his face was anything but friendly.
“Ben…I see you are home from wherever it is you’ve been for the last year, almost. I’m here to talk to you about this deed you did. You do know that helping slaves to escape is a punishable offense?”
Grammy rapped her fist on the table. “Now, you just wait one minute, Marshal. You know as well as I do that you are against slavery. You’ve known for years what I’ve been doing with my carriage rides through town. When Ben was young, he went with me. Now you are trying to tell him that he has committed some kind of crime to be punished for?”
Andrew, James, and Pa all started shouting at once.
“Of course he committed a crime when he helped them slaves get away!”
“I raised my sons, all of them, to be thinking, intelligent men, and Ben turned against me and my teachings. Yes, that’s a crime!”
“Yeah, throw his ass in jail, he’s a thief and that’s where thieves belong!”
Grammy raised her arm and threw her drinking glass across the room, shattering it. The resounding crash jolted everyone into silence. Everyone stared at this woman who had always been the epitome of quiet genteelness. To have her throw anything was simply not her style.
“Be quiet, all of you! Tom McKenna, this is my home, and you do not have the right to invite the Marshal here without my knowledge. I may be an old woman, but I still own this house and this entire plantation, and no one—NO ONE—will override me. I let you take up the reins for running the plantation years ago when my husband died—your father, Laura, in case you have forgotten—but that is all. You will not replace me as the head of this household, not until I am dead, and I am still very much alive.”
She glared at everyone in turn, except for Ben. No one, not even Pa, could meet her eyes. She turned her attention to the Marshal, who was looking more embarrassed by the minute.
“All right, Marshal, just why are you here?”
“Tom summoned me when he learned that Ben had returned. Missus Tate, you know I would never do anything to disrespect you. But helping slaves escape has been deemed a punishable crime. When Ben arranged that escape for the young slave and his parents, he committed a crime.”
“He’s a fourteen year old boy, Marshal. Tom was going to sell Josiah into our dear Lord only knows what kind of horrible life. He couldn’t work, so only one’s imagination could see what was in store for him. What Ben did, and what he accomplished all on his own to set that little family free is nothing short of admirable. The law may call it a crime, but it’s not in my book.”
“Missus Tate, I understand what Ben did. And it is admirable. But as a lawman, it is my duty to arrest him, and that’s what I intend to do. Even without your permission.” The Marshal stepped towards Ben, even as Grammy held his arm tightly in her fragile, aged hands.
Ben gently released his arm, and hugged his grandmother. “It’s all right, Grammy. I’ll go with the Marshal. I knew when I came home this might happen. I just didn’t know my own Pa would call the law on me.”
Grammy whispered, “Be careful, Ben. You just might be able to get away. Be aware.”
But Ben had no intention of getting away. He had had all the running he could endure. He would face up to whatever punishment the judge saw fit to hand out.
* * *
Ben walked beside the Marshal, and climbed up into the wagon. Marshal Kendrick flicked the reins against the horses’ backs, and they began trotting smartly out the gate and down the road. He glanced sidewise at Ben several times, but Ben sat silently, not moving. Finally, the Marshal said, “Ben, I’m sorry I have to do this. I would gladly have let it go, not even mention that you were back. But your pa didn’t give me a chance. He summoned me earlier, and I had to be here.”
Ben shrugged indifferently. “It doesn’t matter, Marshal. I expected bad feelings between me and Pa and the boys. I just didn’t know Pa would try to bring me to heel this way.”
“Well, I hear tell your Pa has a bear of a grudge, Ben. He’s been piping off about you ever since you left. I’ve gotten to know Tom pretty well over the last years, and I’ve never seen him as riled up about anything as he’s been about you. My advice is to stay clear of him as much as you can. Only you didn’t hear that from me.”
A few minutes later, they reached the Marshal’s office. The Marshal jumped down, and before Ben could move, he said, “I’m sorry, Ben, but I got to handcuff you. It’s protocol for bringing in a prisoner.�
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Ben stiffened at the word “prisoner.” It was just beginning to sink in, that he could actually go to prison for what he had done. He shook his head, and held out his hands, flinching as the handcuffs clicked over. He jumped down without help from the Marshal, who shot a look at him, but when Ben refused to meet his eyes, he nudged him forward into his office.
While the Marshal was signing him in, Ben looked around the room. It was large, with the Marshal’s desk on one wall, the deputy’s on the opposite. On the wall behind the Marshal’s desk hung the huge cabinet with six rifles. Below that was the locked cabinet with ammunition. To the left stood the wooden ‘tree’ upon which hung canteens, haversacks, and additional ammunition belts.
Deputy Marshal Anders was not at his desk, which was piled high with papers. Behind this desk was a large map of several counties in Kentucky, with red-lined notes and starred comments all over it. From the near side of this map all the way to the door, the walls were covered with Wanted Posters, one of which caught Ben’s eye. He edged closer to the wall. The poster was one of him and Josiah, Bess, and Jesse.
The poster read:
Wanted! Benjamin McKenna. For the theft of 3 slaves, a boy Josiah, his mother cook Bess and father field worker Jesse. Reward: One Thousand Dollars. Paid only for the return of the thief and the three slaves.
Ben felt sick to his stomach. His father had actually put out a Wanted Poster on him, and even offered a thousand dollars for his return. His return as a thief. He turned away from the poster, to find the Marshal watching him.
Kendrick spoke gently. “I’m sorry, Ben. I told Anders to take that poster down when I left this morning. Idiot didn’t do it, I see.”
Ben shook his head. His voice was quiet, dull. “It doesn’t matter now, does it? My own pa put a bounty on my head, just like I was nothing but a piece of trash. Let’s get this over with. What do I do now?”