Early 1779
Grace,
Thank you for your letter. I have been thinking quite a lot about your proposal, and I believe you are right. If it is what you feel in your heart, then you must follow your beliefs, and if you believe that you should retain your post in Philadelphia because of the Shippen/Andre/Arnold affair, you must do so. I confess, I think it better for you to retain to your post, as you have been extremely helpful to our cause. General Washington certainly would say the same.
In regards to the other half of your letter, I must make a confession here as well. I have long thought of the past, of what I was forced to leave in Setauket when I joined the Continental forces. I have also long thought that your intentions had changed, since you had been so distant, but then we became quite close. So I have remained quiet in mine. If you do choose to retain your post, and if you do choose to once again rekindle the closeness of the bond that we had in the year before I left Setauket, it would be more than acceptable to me. I only ask that you do not make a rash decision out of this, and that you put some thought into the matter.
I await your response, and shall await you as I will come to visit Philadelphia soon to meet with some of the Congressmen about a budget proposal for our army.
Most fondly,
Ben
Tucking the letter into her pocket, Grace smiled, thinking that she would have to write Ben back that night. Peggy had encouraged her to write and tell him what she really thought, since they had been stuck in an odd state of limbo since the last Christmas, when they had spent almost a month together. She had only seen him once since, but Peggy had been telling her to write, so write she did.
"Grace, dear," Peggy called, coming into the front hall. "Ah, you're back! Excellent. Did you get everything on the list?"
"Yes, ma'am," she nodded, showing her the basket of silk and sewing supplies that she had gone to collect in town. "I'll get started just as soon as I hang up my coat."
"Good. Now there is something I will need you to do in a few weeks' time. My father has ordered some new furniture, a lot of it for Becky's new home - you know she is to be married soon - but it will be arriving on a ship in Boston. I need you to see to it that it comes here. You'll go down to Boston, see that it gets transferred onto another ship headed for Philadelphia, and then come back here with it. HE would have sent one of the others, but you know our stable boy, the one he always sends on errands, broke his leg a little while ago," Peggy instructed. "You have some time, but it will be a nice way for you to get out of Philadelphia. If you stick to the main roads with the post rider, there shouldn't be any danger."
"Of course. And there will be someone to pick it up when I get back to Philadelphia?"
"Yes," Peggy nodded, starting to head for the parlor. "All you have to do is accompany it, just so no one tries to buy it off of the man at the port of Boston or the port in Philadelphia. Some of my friends have ordered things from England, only to find that someone else bought and paid for it when it arrived. The men at the port pocketed the money themselves. It's a shame, really, but that's what the rebels are resorting to." She paused, realizing what she had said. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to imply that your dear rebel -"
"It's alright," Grace assured her with a smile. "I know you don't mean him. It's all of the rogues and privateers who do things like that, not the officers."
"He's an officer?"
Grace nodded, telling her that, "He's a major. He's been in a few battles too." As she went into the sewing room and began working, Grace thought of Ben, of how she hadn't seen him in ages. He had said that he wanted to pursue what they had before. Did that mean an engagement? She would have to ask, but it would have to be in person, because asking about something like that in a letter might seem a bit too presumptuous. Hopefully it did. As they kept writing back and forth, Grace and Ben had grown closer, and they had definitely felt closer when they visited each other.
Starting to cut a new pattern for a dress, she thought of all of the times she would sit up in Strong Tavern, back when Selah Strong owned the place, sewing holes in shirts or coats for their tenants, who would give her a bit of money for her trouble. Ben would come and visit her, sitting at a table in the far corner of the tavern as the fire started to die out. He would have a drink, and they would sit up talking about anything and everything. That was where he told her that he was going to Yale, and where he told her that he was leaving Setauket for good.
"My father found out about the Sons of Liberty meetings, and he's not happy. He told me to give them up, that it was a futile cause, but I cannot - I will not - give up on freedom," he said, leaning his elbows on the table in earnest. "He lectured me, but there is no way -"
"Ben, now that he knows, the whole town will find out," Grace replied, picking up another shirt and starting to sew on a button. "They will find out, and then you'll either have to sign an oath of loyalty or deal with whatever they decide to do to you."
"When I joined, I knew they would find out eventually. You know I couldn't just attend the meetings, though. I couldn't stand by while the British continued to profit form exploiting us, while they walked all over us. I had to take action at some point, which is why… why I've gone and signed up."
"Signed up? You're joining the rebel army?" she asked, her eyes growing wide. "You're leaving Setauket, aren't you?"
He nodded, biting his lip. "Your father already thinks my leanings are too liberal. I know he won't take this well at all. Besides, the town is going to drive me out if I don't leave myself."
"After this, they aren't going to welcome you back."
"I know. I accepted that risk when I joined the Sons of Liberty." He paused, taking a drink. "I will be back, and I will marry you, I can promise that."
Grace set her sewing down in her lap, looking to her fiance. "You've made yourself a pariah."
"I've made myself a soldier, fighting for what I believe in," he corrected. "And if that makes me a pariah, then I'll accept it. I will come back for you, hopefully with the army to free Setauket as well. I promise."
"And what should happen if, Heaven forbid, something happens to you?"
Ben took her hand, assuring her that, "Then I will have someone write you, and you can tell my father. No matter how much he hates me now, he loves his son, and he will be able to help, should something happen to me. He is still very fond of you, but he will always refuse to let us marry because he doesn't want me contaminating a good Tory girl with my radical ideas." They both smiled, Ben squeezing her hand and vowing that, "I will come home to you, and we will be married. After the war, in a free United States of America, we will be married, and we will be free to do what we wish with our lives."
"And what is it that you wish to do with your life?" she asked.
"To become a statesman, and work to build the government that comes out of the war. I want to make sure that we are never ruled by anyone as tyrannical as the British king again. And you can do whatever you wish - you can become a mother, or you can open up your own store, or teach, or whatever else you can dream up."
Grace rose, coming to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Be careful, Ben. Please, be careful. Come back to me."
"I will," he promised. He could hardly bear to let go of her when it was time for him to leave, Grace walking out to the end of the road with him. Giving her a final kiss and his promise that he would write to her, Ben headed away, mounting the horse that he had tied up in the woods and riding off to join the rebels, thinking of Grace all the way there.
Grace kept sewing, humming a song that Caleb had taught her as she worked by candlelight. "Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish ladies. Farewell and adieu, to you ladies of Spin… for we have received orders to sail to Old England -" She paused, setting her work down and going to the window to think. She would have to pass on more messages to Ben, since she had learned a lot more about Peggy and Benedict Arnold, who had quickly grown close. Rumor around Philadelphia's social circles had it that they would be married soon enough. Peggy herself had talked about him, but none too favorably. But that was all gossip that could be confirmed sooner or later.
For now, though, she had to occupy herself with her work, with passing on a message, and getting ready to head down to Boston to accompany Judge Shippen's presents to his eldest daughter. It would be a long trip, but one that she was looking forward to making. At least she could get out of the hustle and bustle of Philadelphia for a little while, if anything. It would be a nice trip to see another city, and she would hardly have any work to do.
