Sarah's Roses, Book II: Roses of White

Chapter XXXIII

Chapter XXXIII

Arthur's words caught me completely off guard and I didn’t know how to handle them. I shook my head, trying to say something, but found I had quite lost my ability to speak.

Arthur had grown so much in the past year. Granted, he was thinner than when he had left, but his muscles had grown, his legs were sturdier, and something had replaced the boyish look in his eyes, something serious and mature.

“Bless my soul,” Elsie was the first to find her voice, “where in heaven’s name did you come from?”

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?” He asked. “It’s the beginning of the end of the war!”

 “And you ran all this way to tell us that?” Elsie lifted an eyebrow.

“Could at least say thank you and offer me a drink of water,” Arthur retorted. His words brought me back to my senses, and I ran over and threw my arms around the boy.

“Dear, dear Arthur, where have you been this past year?” I asked. “Just look at you, you’re no longer that little boy who slipped out the back door. You’re all grown up.” I took him by the shoulders, my eyes glistening with happy tears. “Where did the news come from? And how is it that you have come back here?”

“First get me something to drink,” Arthur demanded.

He plopped down in a chair and I poured him a glass of water. He drank it all in one gulp. Once he had regained his breath, he turned to Elsie and myself, who were eagerly waiting for his story.

“After I slipped out of here I found Mr. Browne and helped him get away from the plantation. He took me with him to Richmond, saying he could use my help and promised to pay me for my service. For the next year I accompanied him on his different scouting missions, more than once we almost got caught, but managed to get away. He was mortally wounded on his last mission and died two days later. Before he died he paid me as promised and told me to go home, thanking me for my service, and saying he would have never made it without me.”

I bit my lip, and a tear stole down my cheek, the last of my former suitors had finally been laid to rest in the ground.

“He had a new will drawn up, you know,” Arthur continued, “he left you the bulk of his farm, and a smaller portion he gave to me.”

“He left me his farm!” I couldn’t believe my ears. “What on earth am I going to do with it? It’s not like I don’t have enough land as it is with this here plantation.” The daunting thought of trying to run both farm and plantation without any capital or resources made my head swim.“Why did he do that?” I softly added.

“He said something to me, I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you, but I think I should. He said the reason he disappeared back then, before the war, was because he had gotten heavily involved in politics and didn’t have much time to court. When he discovered you were still unmarried he hoped that if he should come through the war alive, he would ask for your hand in marriage. Sadly that didn’t turn out, and he decided to leave you his land, since he didn’t have any close family.”

“Poor Mr. Browne, I hope his soul has found rest,” I whispered.

“Did you come straightway to us after the man died?” Elsie asked.

“Nope, he died on the eve of battle and I stayed around to see what the outcome would be. Watched with my very eyes how General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses Grant. I even saw how Grant allowed Lee to keep his sword and his horse. Then I turned around and ran straight here, and let me tell you, it was a long, dangerous run. But I made it alive and in one piece.”