Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana

by Melanie Dobson

  “We’ve been having trouble out this way with slave hunters,” Anna whispered. “You need to follow me about forty or so paces behind, in case we need to scatter and hide.”

  She didn’t tell them about the mill. Nor did she tell them about the cave.

  Instead of going west, Anna walked east for a half mile and then she turned right. If Ben hadn’t brought this man and woman to her, how did they find her? Had they been waiting out there all week for her to show?

  A tremor shot up her spine.

  Who had sent them to trap her?

  Something rustled the leaves near her again, and she quickened her pace until the man joined her side. “Excuse me, Miss.”

  She hushed him. “You have to stay behind me.”

  “But ain’t we travelin’ south?”

  She steadied herself on a branch and faced him. “What is your name?”

  “Eli.”

  “Of course we’re traveling south, Eli. How else are we supposed to throw off the hunters?”

  He nodded quickly, almost like he was afraid to make her angry.

  She walked another quarter mile, and then she stopped abruptly.

  “Are you okay?” she asked them when they joined her side.

  They nodded vigorously to let her know they were fine.

  “We’re almost to the safe house,” she explained. “But I need to go first and make sure it’s clear.”

  Eli stood tall. “I’ll go with you.”

  She shook her head. “You’ll be trapped if the hunters are there.”

  Distrust was evident in their eyes, but she waited until they hid behind a moss-covered cropping of rocks before she crept away.

  She walked for a few feet into the trees. And then she ran.

  Commotion erupted behind her. Shouting. Running. She didn’t dare stop and look back. The path she wanted was dead ahead of her. If she could make it to the cave, maybe they wouldn’t find her there.

  The moon hid behind the trees, but she didn’t need much light. In front of her was Jacob’s Knob, and she pulled herself up the steep hill by clinging to tree roots, her feet struggling for holds. A light swung over her, and she ducked under a bush.

  “She’s over here!” another man yelled not far behind her, and she scrambled faster up the hill.

  A waterfall trickled nearby. An owl hooted. She could hear every sound, every stomp of feet.

  “This way!” someone else called.

  She summited the knob and ran off the path, covering her face from the blows of the pines. The dark mouth of the cave opened in front of her, and she slipped inside. She’d never been here without a lamp, but she crawled back as far as she could—forty or fifty feet—over the sharp stones and mud. She cringed at the thought of finding a bear or panther crouched in the back, but the alternative outside was no better choice.

  She only hoped her pursuers didn’t know about the cave.

  Her shoulders against the rock wall, she clenched her fists. Until this moment, she’d never known what it was like to run away from someone. To be pursued.

  She breathed in the cold air and watched the lights flash outside the cave. There was no place left for her to run, but she only had to hold out until daylight and then her father—or maybe even Daniel—would come looking for her.

  At least she hadn’t led her pursuers to the mill.

  “I think she’s in here!” someone shouted, and fear snaked through her skin.

  Light blinded her, and she covered her eyes though she stood strong on her feet. They may outnumber her, whoever they were, but no matter what happened, she refused to cower.

  She would try to stay strong until the end.

  “Anna?” she heard, and she squinted into the light.

  “Matthew!” she cried in relief. She reached out to him, so glad to see a friend. He wouldn’t let the others hurt her.

  But Matthew didn’t return her embrace. Instead of protecting her, he snapped metal around her wrists like the jaws of a bear trap. She recoiled from him, but it was too late. The handcuffs had been secured.

  “What are you doing?” she begged.

  “You lied to me, Anna.”

  “I didn’t lie....”

  “I’ve been up-front with you from the beginning, but you...you chose stealing Negroes over marrying me.”

  Where was the lighthearted voice of the boy she’d known since birth, the one who liked to play with her, tease her? Anger had overcome him. And jealousy.

  Nowhere in his eyes did she see Matthew Nelson, her friend.

  He jerked her arm, but she wrestled against him and the handcuffs. “I’m not going out there.”

  Another man ducked into the cave, and Simon Mathers’s lips curled into a sneer when he saw her. “Miss Anna Brent. I’m so glad to see you.” He stepped toward her, and she could smell alcohol reeking from his pores. “There are a few people I’d like you to meet.”

  With a quick turn of his head, he shouted back over his shoulder, “We’ve got her!”

  A small crowd of men cheered in response. Until this moment, she’d never realized how much men like Simon hated the Light.

  He pushed back her bonnet, and the alcohol on his breath seared her skin. “Tell me where the baby is.”

  She turned her head and looked him in the eye. “What baby?”

  He grabbed her shoulder and shoved her out of the cave.

  There were six men on the other side, all of them with pistols or daggers in hand. “Should we string her up, boys?” he asked.

  “Nah,” one of the men called back, “let’s take her down to the river.”

  She searched the crowd for the woman whom she’d led from the cemetery, but she was gone, probably paid handsomely by Simon to trap her. How much had Matthew and the others earned for their work?

  Simon pushed her again, and she fell to the ground. “I want to know where the baby is.”

  Her knuckles bled from catching her fall on the stony ground. He could hurt her all he wanted—even kill her—but she would not offer up Peter to protect herself.

  He yanked back her hair and stared down at her. “Where is he?”

  She didn’t blink. “I’m not the one to ask.”

  He cranked back his hand and she closed her eyes, bracing herself for his slap. It never came.

  “Evenin’, fellas,” she heard another man say. “What have you got here?”

  Matthew spoke first. “Where did you come from?”

  A glimmer of hope fluttered in her. Perhaps God had sent a guardian angel to her after all. She bowed her head so no one would see even a hint of relief cross her face.

  “I was riding back from a house call, when all of a sudden I heard this awful commotion over here in these hills.” The man paused. “Is that Anna Brent in those cuffs?”

  “She’s been stealing slaves,” Matthew said as he jerked her back up to her feet, like she was the worst of criminals. “Helping them run away.”

  Joseph Cooley dismounted his horse. “Now that’s a shame,” he replied. “And a serious crime.”

  “You bet it is,” one of the men said.

  “She should be punished to the full extent of the law.”

  “The law?” Simon snickered. “The law ain’t gonna do nothing except fine her.”

  “Hardly enough of a punishment, is it?” Joseph said, and her hopes began to slip away. Would he sacrifice her completely to protect his identity? “I think you should lynch her.”

  Someone cheered, and her legs collapsed under her. Matthew pulled her back up by her arm.

  “It’s too bad, though,” Joseph muttered as he stepped back.

  Simon edged toward him. “What’s too bad?”

  “Just think of the money you’d make if she helped you catch a few runaways.”

  Simon lowered the lantern.

  “No offense to Miss Brent here,” Joseph said. “But do you think she could survive a few months in jail?”

  “She should be in jail,” Matthew insisted.
“I’ve seen her stealing slaves with my own eyes.”

  “I’m not saying she didn’t commit a crime, Nelson. I’m only guessing that she’d be willing to bargain a bit for her freedom.” Joseph reached for his horse’s bridle. “Perhaps even help you find that slave baby with the reward.”

  Simon glared at her. “She ain’t telling us about the baby.”

  “Shh...,” Joseph said. “We have to get her to jail before someone else decides to, shall we say, opportunize on her information.”

  Simon tugged on her cuffs. “I won’t let anyone else opportunize.”

  “Excellent decision.” Joseph looked around. “Are all you fellas going to come to town with us?”

  Simon mumbled something about paying for nothing and then shouted for them to go on home.

  Most of the men scattered, but Matthew and Joseph remained at her side.

  “I don’t trust you, Doctor,” Simon said.

  “It’s not wise to trust anyone these days.”

  “Matthew and I will take her in.”

  “I’m riding back to town.” Joseph mounted his horse and turned toward them. “No reason, I suppose, that I can’t join you.”

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  The jail cell in Liberty was dank and bitterly cold. The floor was made of dirt, and the solitary window along the stone wall was obstructed by iron bars. Night air crept through the wall’s many cracks, and Anna shivered under the threadbare blanket. There was a chamber pot in one corner and a fireplace in the other, but there was no wood or even a candle to keep her warm.

  Joseph and the others had awakened Randolph Zabel well after midnight, and the man grumbled all the way down to the jail, blaming her and those like her for the iniquities in their community. He replaced Simon’s handcuffs with a chain around her ankle and then threw a blanket into her cell.

  She closed her eyes. She should have played dumb tonight and told that colored man and woman they had the wrong person—she was just a girl visiting her mother’s grave. She should have said she couldn’t help them, that they needed to find someone else to assist them on their journey.

  Instead of relying on Daniel’s message, she had doubted him. And her doubts had gotten her locked into jail.

  There was a soft scraping sound by the door, and she sat up ready to fight yet again. Simon could interrogate her all he wanted. She wouldn’t give away her secrets.

  A key clanged, and Anna braced herself as someone unlocked the door. A flicker of light brightened the room, and in the candlelight, she saw Will Denton’s face. She tried to force herself to relax. Surely Will wouldn’t try to hurt her, too.

  He set the candleholder on the dirt floor. “Are you okay?”

  She shivered again as a blast of cold air settled over her. “Better than I was an hour ago.”

  “I wish I could...”

  “There’s nothing you can do, Will, but I thank you.”

  “You were only acting as any Christian should.”

  “Shh...,” she hushed him. “We can’t get you into trouble, too.”

  Will slipped a basket out from behind the door and pushed it toward her. “Lizza wanted to send you a few things.”

  Anna removed two thick blankets from the top of the stack and a pillow. Under the linens was a plate of corn bread, some cheese, and a few apples. “Your wife is a treasure, Will.”

  “That she is.”

  “May God heap blessings upon both of you.”

  “Anna?” someone called from outside.

  Will kicked the door open with his boot, and they saw Daniel Stanton standing on the other side.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I...,” he started—and then stopped like he didn’t really know why he was there. “I was worried about you.”

  Will walked forward and slapped Daniel on the shoulder. “Take your time. I’m gonna set up camp for the night outside this door.”

  Daniel rushed to her, and she wanted to collapse into his arms. Tell him how sorry she was that she hadn’t trusted him. Instead of pulling her to him, he knelt down beside her and folded her hands into his. His touch warmed her skin, and when he leaned down close to her, she trembled so slightly that he never would have known except that his hand clasped hers.

  “I am so sorry, Anna.”

  She shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “My message—”

  “You said there would be three, but there were only two. I should have known.”

  “You couldn’t have known.” His voice broke. “If only I had been there....”

  She gently squeezed his hand. He didn’t need to carry her burden.

  “They would have hurt us both.”

  “Joseph feels awful....”

  “He shouldn’t,” she whispered. She didn’t know who else was outside or in one of the cells on the other side of the rock wall. “I’m fairly certain he saved my life.”

  “I’m not going to let Simon or his men threaten you again.”

  Anna shook her hands free from his. What was she thinking? She had wanted so badly to be close to him that she’d almost forgotten what Ruth had told her. Daniel was almost engaged to marry another woman.

  She couldn’t allow herself to believe that there was more between him and her. Or force him to care more than he did.

  “I’m not your responsibility,” she insisted.

  “That’s not how I see it.”

  She straightened her skirt and inwardly reprimanded herself for her vanity. And then she reprimanded herself again. While she’d been thinking about herself and her desires, there were three runaways still wandering the forest without a safe place to spend the night.

  She leaned close to Daniel’s ear. “What happened to the others?”

  “They hid in the trees.” His skin brushed against hers when he whispered back. His breath warmed her ear. Her neck. “He’s leading them to another station for the night.”

  She fell back against the cold wall, relieved at his words, unnerved by his touch.

  She reached for one of the blankets that Lizza had sent and flung it over her. She didn’t want to be alone, yet Daniel couldn’t be here with her.

  “What can I do?” he asked.

  She didn’t hesitate. “Could you go tell my father what happened?”

  He stood quickly.

  She lowered her voice again. “He will want to say that he is the stationmaster so I can go free, but he can’t.”

  “I don’t think anyone will be able to convince him not to, Anna.”

  “You have to talk to him,” she pleaded. “If he’s quiet, we can continue our work, but if not, Randolph Zabel will lock us both up.”

  Daniel took the corn bread out of the basket and broke a piece off for her. She took it but didn’t eat. “And what shall I tell him about you?”

  Moonlight streamed through the window bars, spilling onto the floor. She thought about the padlock on the jail cell. Will Denton guarding the door. “You can tell him that I’m safe for the night.”

  He hesitated before he pushed open the door. “I’ll be back to visit in the morning.”

  She turned her face toward his. “You can’t come visit me. It will destroy the secrecy of our work.”

  “Anna...” His smile was gentle. Sad.

  “What?”

  “Your work is no longer a secret.”

  Daniel flung off his covers at first light, his head throbbing. He hadn’t bothered to put on his nightclothes when he collapsed into bed three hours ago. It hadn’t seemed worth his time to change since he knew he was going back to see Anna at dawn.

  He’d been up for most of the night, trying to convince Edwin Brent that the sheriff wouldn’t let him take his daughter’s place in jail. Edwin blamed himself for Anna’s arrest, said he never should have let her act as a conductor. Daniel didn’t tell him that he probably couldn’t have stopped his daughter even if he wanted to. Nor did he tell him how close Anna had been to becoming ano
ther victim in the fight for abolition.

  Sentiments were out of control on both sides of their country. It was contemptible to think that the men in their community could gang up and threaten a godly woman like Anna. It didn’t matter what Anna said. He wasn’t going to let it happen again.

  He washed off in the basin and dried his hands and face on a towel.

  Anna was about to find out how strong she really was. She wouldn’t wilt in prison, he was sure of it, but she still didn’t deserve to be locked away. Just weeks ago he had told Isaac that he was willing to go to prison for his stand against slavery. He was the one who should be in jail this morning, not Anna. She should never have had to spend even one night in that dirty, cramped cell.

  Downstairs in the kitchen, he snatched six muffins from a basket and tied them along with a few apples into a napkin. Then he reached for the coffeepot and filled up tin cups for both him and Anna.

  As he left the boardinghouse, he saw a new handbill tacked by the door—Noah Owens was now offering eight hundred dollars for Marie’s baby. He set the mugs on the sideboard and ripped the poster down.

  Hadn’t Noah Owens and the others already done enough?

  He crumpled the paper in his hands and threw it on the ground.

  Thank God for people like Marie and Anna who risked their lives to save someone else. Anna was the last person who deserved to be in a dark jail cell alone, especially while men like Simon and Noah Owens and even Matthew Nelson roamed free.

  Will Denton was folding up his blankets by the doorstep when Daniel arrived. He handed Will one of the tin cups, and the man gulped it gratefully.

  “You reckon she’ll be okay for a few hours?” Will asked.

  “I’ll stay with her.”

  Will pushed open the door for him. “You’ve got company.”

  Sunlight poured into the room, and Daniel saw Edwin blink and push himself up the stone wall. Anna was asleep on the pillow, her hair still covered with her gray bonnet.

  “Did you get yourself arrested, too?” Daniel asked him.

  The man shook his head. “Not yet.”

  An hour passed, the men waiting for Anna to awake. Finally her eyes opened slowly, and when she saw Daniel, she sprang up. Her teeth chattering, she glanced at him again and then at Edwin before she looked at the dark stone and smeared window.