Love Finds You in New Orleans(51)

“Thank you for waiting. I didn’t know if I would have to chase after you in the carriage,” she said as she gathered the folds of her dress and stepped down to the courtyard path.

“Before we get too far, am I to assume you have been granted permission for this venture?” His weak attempt at Grand-mère’s diction brought the intended grin to Lottie’s face.

“Not at first. But I suggested that reaching the age of marriage should be sufficient for performing acts of kindness. And why would any family of a potential suitor think it untoward for me to be a charitable young woman?”

“That still does not explain why you are able to go with me.” An answer Gabriel was certain he did not want but needed to know.

She looked down before responding. “I couldn’t tell her the truth, of course, of why we go there. It’s my fault, really, because I know you’re going with me to protect me.”

“Are you trying to protect me now?”

“I suppose. I don’t like what I told her. But if it made going possible…” She looked at Gabriel. “I told her Abram and Agnes couldn’t help, being as it is Sunday. And if I asked you to help with provisions, wouldn’t that be the next best thing?”





Chapter Twenty-Two

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“I’m concerned about moving forward. We asked the two of you to take over doing something dangerous.” Sister Mary Catherine clutched her Bible as she spoke to Lottie and Gabriel after they finished the lessons. “How willing are you to continue?”

“I volunteered before you asked me,” said Lottie. “And Gabriel—”

“Can speak for himself,” he said. “You know I initially hesitated to participate in this, until I saw that Charlotte was not to be dissuaded. Sometimes she needs to be protected from herself.” When he turned to look at her, Lottie understood how someone could melt during the winds of winter. “I understand your concerns, Sister, but teaching these men and women is a risk for all of us and for them. We’re willing to continue.”

Lottie nodded. “I couldn’t tell the people who brave coming here, learning how to write their own names for the first time, that I wasn’t coming back.”

“Wait.” Gabriel inched forward, his knees almost hitting Sister’s desk. “Is this about Jacob and Thomas not being here this afternoon? Did something happen to them? Nobody said anything. But you know they do not withhold information in an effort to protect us.” He shook his head in disbelief.

Please, God, let them be safe. Lottie pictured Jacob holding a quill for the first time, his fingers extended from his palms like pruned tree branches. He wrote with his left hand; the fingers on his right hand looked like they’d melted and hardened again without any attention to where they belonged. After Jacob told her that a wagon had run over his hand when he was younger, Lottie didn’t ask. She had learned not to ask questions if she wasn’t prepared for the answers.

His son Tom, thirteen, was eager and precocious. So much so that Lottie brought her copy of Hamlet for him. His excitement dissipated when Jacob forbade him to carry a book for fear of it being discovered. His disappointment was so great, it almost joined them in the room. Before they left, Lottie tore five pages from the book and handed them to him. “You can read it in installments,” she’d told him.

Seeing Tom’s face in her mind while he held those pages, Lottie almost couldn’t breathe. “The play,” she whispered. “Someone found the pages?” One of those questions…but she had to know the answer to this one. She wished she had her fan, but the only heat in the room was beneath her skin.

“I will answer that shortly.” Sister Mary Catherine moved from her writing desk and closed the doors between their room and the front parlor. Lottie saw the pale, fearful eyes she felt in herself in the Sister’s face. The nun slid her chair from behind her desk closer to where they sat. “We needed to know if you wanted to continue for two reasons. First, the other Sisters and I talked, prayed, and decided to move the lessons each week from our home to the girls’ home. We’ve known for years that Madame Soniat, the benefactress, is sympathetic to our cause. She bought slaves in the past just so she could request a certificate of manumission to set them free. The court assessed the value of the slaves, she paid it, and they were issued their freedom.”

“She bought the same slaves twice?” Gabriel asked the question Lottie was thinking.

“Sadly, yes, which is the reason she has not been able to free more than five slaves. When we explained what we were doing and why we needed her help, she readily agreed. So, we will meet here one more Sunday to explain to the others, and then you will be at the girls’ home.”