Antebellum BK 1 Read Online Free

shovel and followed. When they were out of earshot, Anna looked back. “God forgive me. That was callous of me. I never even thought about Abe and his family.”
    Nancy glanced back too. “He really took it badly. It broke my heart to see how hard he was trying to fight off tears.”
    “ My Great-Uncle Thomas was like a father to him and he loved my father like an older brother. I should have thought of him right away before…” She shook her head. “I spend so much time defending the rights of Negroes and then forget the people right here who’re part of our family.”
    “ I’ve always meant to ask you. How did they end up with your last name? Were they slaves?”
    “ Sally was. You remember Old Sally, don’t you?”
    “ The witch?”
    Anna giggled. “She wasn’t a witch, just very old and very wise.”
    “ She was a slave?”
    “ Yes. Way back when. But the ancestor of ours who bought her later freed her.”
    “ What ancestor?”
    Anna shook her head, unable to remember the name. “He was a surgeon and apothecary.”
    “ The Loyalist colonel during the Revolution?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ His name was Abraham Van Buskirk, Anna,” Nancy supplied, rolling her eyes. “Just like Abe.”
    “ Oh dear, Abe must be named after him,” Anna said in surprise.
    “ Comes the dawn,” Nancy giggled.
    “ Now, how would I know that?”
    “ It’s logical that Sally would want her grandson named after the man who gave her family their freedom.”
    “ Don’t give that old Tory too much credit. He bought Sally because of her knowledge of herbal medicines and then he set her free after he’d patented many of her concoctions.”
    “ And her descendants took your last name as their own.”
    “ Yes. That is, I suppose so. I never thought about it.”
    “ Is Abe an employee?”
    “ No, no. Whatever he does here he does voluntarily.” She looked thoughtful. “Or perhaps he does get paid something. I’ll have to check on that. In any event, he doesn’t need the money. My great-grandfather deeded the house that Abe lives in, the farm and all the land on New York Bay to Sally and her family. Although it’s small, I think the farm produces a very good income for the three of them.”
    “ That was a mighty generous gift of your great-grandfather. That land on the Bay is worth a fortune.”
    Anna shrugged. “Our cemetery would be much larger and our family would be much smaller without Sally.”
    The women reached the main house, climbed the steps and sat down in side-by-side rocking chairs on the front porch.
    Nancy reached over and took Anna’s hand. “I’m sorry about your father. I’ll miss him.”
    “ I will too,” Anna blinked away tears. “With Father dead and Mother staying in Mexico, who am I going to fight with?”
    Nancy chuckled. “You always find someone to fight with, Anna. If you’d been born male you would have surely gone for a soldier.”
    Anna looked toward the graveyard. “Nancy. Do you think we should ask Abe and Ginger to come with us?”
    “ Where? To the Seneca Falls Convention?”
    “ Yes. They might like to meet Frederick Douglass.”
    “ I thought you weren’t going.”
    Anna made a face. “If I go.”
    Nancy shrugged. “Ask them and see what they say. And Ginger’s son Samuel too.”
    “ Umm. Yes. I forget that he’s a grown man.”
    “ You are aware that men won’t be invited during the first day, aren’t you?”
    “ What do you mean?”
    “ Just what I said. No men during the first session on the first day.”
    “ That’s stupid.” Anna shook her head.
    “ Stupid or not, that’s the way it is.”
    “ In that case, I’m not going.”
    “ Well I am,” Nancy huffed. “And I’ll ask Abe, Ginger and Samuel if they want to go with me.”

June 3, 1848
    Camp Crawford, Laredo, Texas

    T exas Ranger Captain Josiah Whipple walked in to his commanding officer’s office and waved a handwritten page at him. “This ain’t a legal order, Major, and I damn sure ain’t