Sarah and James walked slowly down the path in the starlight. James had often told Sarah how he liked to walk around in early darkness and listen to the night, as he liked to put it. Walking with him, with her arm tenderly folded in his, she could see exactly what he meant. It truly was beautiful out here, far more so than she could have ever experienced from her balcony at her home. Hearing the peaceful silence occasionally interrupted by the chirping of crickets, the flutter of a tiny bird in its sleep, the small sounds of their footsteps on the pavement, it was so perfect. She gazed up at the sky, filled with many sparkling stars, glittering in the blackness above them. She remembered what her mother had once told her, that they were the eyes of the angels watching over them from Heaven. Were Dr. Franklin's eyes up there now, watching over her and James like they used to? She gazed over at James, who was watching these same stars intently. Before she could respond, she heared him whisper quietly, "I wonder if Dr. Franklin's eyes are amoung those stars?" Sarah almost shuddered at the fact he was thinking exactly what she was! She laid her hand on James's shoulder. He squeesed it back gentily, brought it up to his lips, and kissed it tenderly. He looked at her and smiled.Wrapping his arms around her tiny waist, he slowly pulled her closer. "Do you know what the loveliest stars are tonight?' She shook her head slowly. "The ones I see in your eyes." She tunred away and blushed slightly as he turned her face toward him and kissed her. She slid her arms around him as their kiss got deeper and much more meaningful. He slid his arms up her back, tracing her backbone and burying his hand in her hair. She laid her head against him and pressed her lips to the side of his neck. He stroked her hair tenderly, whispering her name through her hair. He stood back and stared at her. "I should warn you," he began, "Now that I have you back in my life..I am NEVER letting you out of my sight."
"Please don't," she agreed as she reached up and kissed him again. The kisses got teasing, then deep and tender again. It got even more passionate and their arms tightened around each other. A part of Sarah wanted to pull away quickly. After all, this was rather inappropriate to do in public, but yet another part of her reminded herself that he was engaged to her.They had every perfect right to kiss as deep as they wanted to now. They were getting married! Oh, God, she still couldn't believe she was actually with him, much less marry him! She sighed with joy and looked up at him. "James?"
"Sarah?" he said, looking at her happily.
"Um..how soon do you want to get married?" she asked.
James thought. "Well...I guess...as soon as possible. Of course, we're going to have to tell your family.."
"No, don't..not yet!" Sarah cried out. "James..I don't think they'll understand! I mean, my mother, she still lives in England half the time, she still has the old customs and traditions. As it is most of my cousins want to behead me for becoming a Patriot, can you imagine what they might do to us if they found out I wanted to marry one? My family will definitely disown me." Seeing the shocked look on James's face she quickly added, "But I don't care! If you can't be in their word, I'll make your world mine! I want none of them, I don't want their world, and I DON'T want any of their money.As far as I'm concerned, I want every one of them back on the boat."
"Even your parents?'
"No, of course not..but ..well..I just don't want to take any chances. I love you, James, and I can't stand it if anyone would hurt you. I don't know what their reaction is going to be, so I'd rather tell them asfterwards, so that way no one can ever do anything to tear us apart,."She reached up and kissed him tenderly. "That's why I want to do this as soon as possible...that is, if it's alright with you, James."
James stroked her hair gentily. "I want to as well. So..does this mean, we elope?"
Sarah smiled. "As soon as we possibly can. Oh, James, I can't wait to be married!!"
"I can't either. How'd I get so lucky?"
"God's will, James." She reached up and they shared another tender, sweet, loving kiss underneath the stars.
"James!! My old friend!" Came a familar voice. They both looked up to see a tall thin man come forward happily.
"Alexander Hamilton!" James cried out happily.
"James, how are you?" He said. "Well, Here I was visiting some friends and who do I bump into? I haven't seen you since the funeral. What have you been up to?"
"Well, I've started my own paper, The Rising Sun," he smiled at Sarah and took her hand. "And I've just gotten engaged."
"Engaged?! Congradulations!!"
"I'd like to introduce my fiancé, Sarah Philips. Sarah, this is Alexander Hamilton."
He took Sarah's hand and kissed it. "An honor to meet you, Miss. Philips..or should I call you Mrs. Hiller?" He laughed. "Congradulations to both of you!"
"Thank you, Sir," Sarah said happily.
"You're getting a wonderful person, Sarah. He's one of the bravest, most loyal people you could ever meet."
Sarah smiled at James. "No, Mr. Hamilton..THE most loyal." James slid his arm around her.
"So, when is the ceremony my friend, or do you not know yet? I would really love to come!"
James and Sarah looked at one another. "Well, actually, we..we were gonna elope, as soon as possible."
"Hmm..well, I heared that the Reverend Witherspoon is also here visiting some relatives, I'm sure I can track him down and get him to perform the ceremony."
"THE Reverend Witherspoon?" James asked, exchanging a look with Sarah. The Reverend that they had helped get to the Continental Congress that July 4th.
"Yes, I'm sure he'd be honored to help you."
"Thank you," they both said.
"So..when DID you plan on marrying?"
"Well, uh..would you excuse us for a momnent?" James asked as he lead Sarah a few feet away. "Sarah..I just got an idea."
"Yes, James?"
"It's the middle of June, right?"
"Yes..."
"Well..why don't we get married on July 4th? That's not that far away...and I think it would be rather meaningful!"
"The fourth of July? For our wedding?"
"Yes! Think of it.it's symbolic, the day this country began to assert our independence and start a new chapter in our lives..well..we're starting a new chapter in OUR lives..I think July 4th is perfect."
Sarah smiled. "I think so as well. That's not that long from now.only a few weeks."
"Time enough to get word to Henri, after all, I want him as my best man."
"And Moses! We HAVE to tell him! I want him to give me away."
"And..even though we're eloping..I think we could tell a few of our friends about this."
"Like Mr. Hamilton.."
"And Joseph Martin."
"Maybe Molly Corbin, and Deborah Samson!"
"Ok! " James turned back to Hamilton. "Well, the wedding is going to be on the Fourth of July..and we'd love it if you came!"
Dear Henri,
Hi, how are you? How are things with you and the Marquet De Sade's family in France? Do you think there might be a revolution in the near future? Promise to tell me everything so I can add it to The Rising Sun? The paper is doing very well , and so are Sarah and I. Both of our stories made the front page.
I hope you're sitting down right now, because I have some news for you that's going to make you pass out! Remember I told you how Sarah was now working with me on the paper and we told each other of our feelings? Well..it turns out that we love each other deeply..and one thing lead to another..I let me heart do the talking and..I asked her to marry me! I couldn't believe it when not only did I find myself doing that..but she accepted me! The most beautiful, intelligent, bravest woman in all of New York is going to marry me! We've set the wedding date for July 4th, just a few weks away, so I hope you and your family can come over, I would like you to be my best man. It's going to be a rather small wedding, we're seriously considering eloping. I'll write soon and tell you more. For the rest of my life I'll wonder how things can go so perfectly, I finally have my own newspaper, and I'm going to marry the most wonderful woman in America. I tell you, life just can't get any better.
Write soon and let us know how you are. Sarah sends all her love,
Your friend forever,
James
Henri sat in his room, reading and rereading the letter, unable to believe the words that were upon it. A cry of joy came from him, followed by laughter. He remembered how, a long while ago, when they had that adventure with Nathan Hale. In order to prevent James from being captured by British soldiers, he had lied and told them James and Sarah were engaged, now it was actually happening for real! He could fortel the future!! His own dear friends, who he loved like a brother and sister, were actually getting married! He was going to be best man! He stood up and looked at himself in the mirror It had been quite a while since he saw James and Sarah, he wondered if they would be surprised by his growth spurt. Grabbing the letter, he raced into the other room to tell the Marquet the wonderful news.
Sarah and James both dismounted from their horses outside Moses's school. They smiled at one another as they tied their horses to the posts outside and, holding hands, they entered the building. Moses was standing in front of the classroom doing a simple addition problem on the bored. "Now, children, it's very simple, just add the first column, then add the second.." he looked up just then. "James! Sarah!" They smiled at one another. He cleared his throat. "All right, children, now it's time to go home, remember to do the problems on the board, and I'll see you tomorrow." There was a loud clutter of scraping of chairs and grabbing of books from the desks. Soon the children were gone and Moses, smiling, went over to meet his friends. "Good to see you both! What a nice surprise! To what do I owe this nice occasion?"
"We came over to visit with you, Moses, to see how the school is going. We'd like to write about it for the paper." James explained.
"The school is doing well," Moses said. " Certainly you can write about it in the paper. We're geting more and more students every day. How are you?"
"Well, Moses, that's another thing we wanted to tell you.." he took Sarah's hand carefully. "Do you want to tell him or should I?'
"Tell me what?" Moses said, smiling.
"You tell him,"James said, smiling.
Sarah smiled happily. "James and I are getting married!"
Moses's mouth dropped open in a happy surprise. "James! Sarah! Congradulations!!" He reached over to hug both of them and gave Sarah a kiss on the cheek. "I knew it,. I just knew this day was gonna happen! I'm so happy for both of you!! So, when's the big date?"
"July 4th."
Moses laughed. "James, that is so YOU! July 4th...JULY 4TH?! That's only in a few weeks! Not that much time to plan a wedding."
"Well, we're not planning that big a wedding..in fact, we might elope.."
"Moses? Will you give me away?"
"Me?' Moses smiled. "Why not your father?"
Sarah looked down. "I..I don't really want to tell him yet..I'm not ready. I'm..kind of afraid of what my family might think."
Moses took her hand quickly. "I understand..Sarah, I'll be honored to give you away."
The next day, there was a loud knock at the Ludington house. Sybil ran over to the door and answered it quickly, her face breaking into a huge smile at the two young people that stood at the other side of it. "James! It's nice to see you!"
"Hi, Sybil, how are you?"
"I'm fine, please come in. Father, look who it is!"
"Well, well," Henry Ludington said, coming out from the kitchen. "James, it's nice to see you again! I heared about your newspaper, congradulations! So, to what do we owe this visit? Another article?"
"Actually, no, I wanted you to meet someone," James smiled and took Sarah's hand. "I'd like you both to meet Sarah Philips, my fiancé."
"Fiancé?' You mean, you're engaged?"
"Yes, a few days ago."
Mr. Ludington took Sarah's hand and kissed it. "Congradulations, Sarah. It's an honor to meet you."
"It's an honor to meet you as well, Mr. Ludington, I've read James's articles about you and your daughter."
"Good to meet you, Miss Phillips, congradulations!" Sybil said.
"Thank you," Sarah said.
"When's the wedding? When's the wedding, can we come?" Sybil's brothers and sisters asked, running into the living room. They quieted down as Sybil introduced them.
"July 4th," James said.
"That soon?" Mr. Ludington asked.
"Well, we weren't planning anything too fancy," Sarah explained.
"You've both come quite a long way, Sybil, why don't we prepare something to eat for them?"
"Yes, Father."
"May I help? I can cook pretty well."
"Oh, but you're the guest."
"But I don't mind helping."
"Sybil, why don't you and Sarah go into the kitchen and get to know each other, I'd like to take a look at your newspaper, James."
A little while later Sybil and Sarah were siting in the kitchen of the Ludington house, drinking some water and laughing out loud. "Wow, I can't BELIEVE you did that!" Sybil said, laughing.
"I can't believe that you actually rode a horse in the dead of night to round up soldiers for your father! That took quite a lot of bravery."
"Not as brave as riding in a boat with John Paul Jones! Or traveling with the Green Mountain Boys! Those must have been some adventures."
"They were. But I bet it wasn't easy to constantly be on the lookout for men who wanted to kill your father, I would have been so scared..."
"I was, it wasn't easy. But you've been in so many dangerous situations yourself. So, you HAVE to tell me, how did James propose?"
"Well," she gigled. "You would not believe it, but he proposed in the printshop..It was rather impulsive..but I wouldn't have had it any other way." Her eyes traveled into space for a moment, and Sybil smiled at her happily.
"You really do love him."
"So much," she agreed.
James then came into the room,followed by Sybil's father and siblings, startling both of them. "Hello, all." he went to Sarah and kissed her tenderly.
"We were just talking about your wedding," Sybil said. "So, it's on July 4th?"
"That's only in a few weeks," Derek said.
"Yeah, we were actually going to elope."
"Elope?"
"Yeah, just run away, we can't really plan a wedding that quickly. We're just going to go to the first church with Reverend Witherspoon."
"Oh no you won't! We can't have our friends just run off and do the most important thing they'll ever do in a small church with no ceremony or anything! We have a huge backyard right outside, you can get married right out there if you want."
"We..we can?" Sarah asked.
"Absolutely," Mr. Ludington said. "You're our friends..we would al love to do this for you."
"We can help you, you can get married right here. My sisters and I can make you a wedding dress, we can al pul together and cook a huge meal for you..complete with a wedding cake."
"We don't want to put you through all this trouble.." Sarah said, blushing.
"It's no trouble at all!" Sybil explained. "Believe me, Sarah, in the short time I got to know you..you've become almost like a new best friend to me. I'd love to help you do this."
A few days later...
"Ok, now, the way to do this is to divide up the responsibilities," Sybil said to her brothers and sisters gathered around the kitchen table. "We ask Sarah everything she would like, and we divide it up. So, Kate, you take the flowers...."
"All right," she agreed quickly.
"And Jessica, you and I will be in charge of the wedding feast.."
"I have it, let's cook a huge turkey, and make a huge salad, maybe some peas and green beans, and make some corn bread.."
"Don't forget the cake!"
"Yeah, and let's make a huge chocolate cake.."
"How huge?"
"Depends, we have to find out how many people they want to invite...Derek you ask and then make a list, us girls will make up the invitations, then Derek, you deliver them..Mary, you be in charge of the decorations."
"Hey!" Matthew said, jumping up, "I got an idea, why don't Derek and I make a huge arc out of wood and decorate it with flowers? Sarah and James can stand right underneath it during the ceremony."
"That's a great idea! We can do that as well!" She looked around her. "Hey, speaking of the couple of honor, where are they?"
"I think they're taking a walk in the backyard, maybe to see how big it is."
"This is a huge backyard," Sarah said happily, walking arm-in-arm with James.
"Yeah, isn't it beautiful?" He asked, squeesing her arm tenderly.
"This is a lovely place to get married," Sarah said. "I think this is just about perfect." She leaned against him happily as his arm went around her and he kissed the top of her head. "I can just picture this breathtaking place at night..underneath the stars."
"I bet they look unbelieveable..it should be dark soon, we'll be able to see them...a lot more than back at the printshop I bet."
"Yes..James, let's get married then!"
"When?"
"At night! Let's have a beautiful nighttime ceremony, right underneath the stars.."
"Sarah, that's a great idea!"
"Good!" She smiled as James pulled her near and kissed her tenderly. She felt the wind all around her, the grass dancing at her feet as the kiss got deeper and meaningful. She tightened her grip on his neck as they lost themselves in one another.
They quickly looked up as they detected a movement. Sure enough, there were Sybil and a few of her brothers and sisters grinning at them. "Sorry, are we interrupting something....what a dumb question, YES we're interrupting something." She said as she motioned for her siblings to follow her back in the house.
"No, no, that's ok," James said quickly.
"We came out to ask you if you knew how many people we should invite. "
"Oh..quite a bunch..let's see, my friend Joseph Plump Martin.."
"Molly Corbin, Deborah Sampson,"
"Henri and Moses are definitely coming,"
"Is the Marquis coming?"
"Yes, with his family. I want to also find my friend Gunther,"
"Alexander Hamilton..
"Wait, wait I'm writing this down," Kate said, grabbing a pencil.
"We'd also like the wedding at night..moonlit, underneath the stars."
"Oh, that sounds lovely, also my brothers want to build an arc for you and cover it with flowers."
"Oh, how beautiful. You're doing so much."
"We're happy to do it for you." Sybil then turned around to go back in. Her siblings followed her. "Remember, we do NOT invite anyone who's upper-class!"
"We..we don't?"
"NO, remember what she told us, how she ran off right in the middle of her own PARTY?! Can you IMAGINE what anyone from her family might say about that?"
"Well, we just don't invite her family."
"WE can't take a chance, you know these upper-crust people, they can't keep secrets, one member of the high-born class knows, they tell another and another soon the whole town knows, so NO upper-class people can know."
"Ok, ok, we don't tell anyone. Come on let's go, we got a lot of work to do!!'
"I'll say,we have to plan a whole wedding in just two weeks!"
Anne traveled on her horse, following the path she knew Sarah had traveled down days and days ago. Her Aunt Elizabeth had pleaded with her every day to go down this road in search of Sarah. Her head was filled with all kinds of thoughts of anger and disgust at her cousin for doing this to her family. "When I find you, Ms. Phillips," she thought. "I am going to give you SUCH a talking to!! If the rest of your family does not kill you first!!"
Kate traveled on her horse, carrying the invitations in her bag. She was assigned to track down the people whose names were on the list and give them an invitation to the wedding. She knew she had to hurry, after all they only had a few weeks. She decided to stop over at a nearby tavern, maybe some of them were there or they could tell her where some of them were. She stopped the horse and dismounted quickly.
"Hey, Joesph, be careful, I just saw Sam coming in," Diane said, coming over to his table.
"Do I have time to duck him?" he asked, sighing as he finished off his ale quickly. But too late, his loudmouth friend came over to his table. Kate opened the door and popped her head in.
"Excuse me," she asked.
"Oh hi, can we help you?" Diane asked, coming over to Kate.
"Well, uh..I was wondering..I was delivering some wedding invitations and I got a bit lost. Can you tell me where Joseph Plumb Martin is living?"
"Oh, that's me," the young man said, standing up.
Kate smiled and walked over to him, taking the invitation out of her pack. "Than here."
"Thanks," he said, taking it and opening the letter to read it.
"Now, if someone will direct me to Deborah Samson."
'Oh, I'm right here," a young, strong woman stood up. Kate gave her an invitation. "Oh, a wedding! July 4th, thanks!"
"You're welcome. Can I assure them you'll come to the ceremony?"
"To a wedding of my good friend? You bet I'll come!"
"Great, now do you know where Molly Corbin lives.."
"She's a friend of mine, I'll give her hers." Kate gave it to her.
Joesph Plumb Martin stood up quickly. "He's my friend, I'l gladly come to the wedding."
"I'll drink to that, who's getting married?" Came a voice from the back of the room as a short, stout middle-aged man called out, standing up.
"Our friends, James Hiller and Sarah Phillips. They're getting married this July 4th."
"Really?" The man said, coming over to them. "James and Sarah are very good friends of my family. You said they're getting married?"
"Yes."
"Well, well, well, how about that?"
Kate took out another invitation from her pack. "You said you know them both?" He nodded. "Then here, come to the wedding!"
He took the invitation. "Thank you, I'll be sure to tell Abby, she will definitely want to come, she thinks of Sarah almost like a daughter."
Sybil smiled as Kate walked through the door happily. "So, how did it go, did you get all of them delivered?"
"Yes, every one of them.I even gave some to a few that weren't on the list."
Sybil almost dropped the serving spoons. "What was that?"
"I delivered an invitation to a Mr. Adams, he said he was a good friend of James and Sarah.."
Sybil carefully walked over to her sister. "Again, please."
"I stopped over at a tavern to ask directions and a few people on the list were there, which saved time. As it is, there was a man there who called himself John Adams, he said him and his wife were friends of James and Sarah and he would like to come to the wedding..his wife Abby....I did something bad, didn't I?"
"No, you didn't do anything bad....you completely MESSED THIS UP!! I told you, one of the FIRST thing I told you..NO UPPER-CLASS PEOPLE!! And what do you do, you invite John Adams, JOHN ADAMS, one of the most PROMINENT upper-class people around, do you KNOW what is going to happen, he and his wife are gonna tell one person after another.."
"Maybe they won't..maybe they'll be understanding..maybe they'll think this is nice."
"Maybe her parents will as well, why not ask them. They ought to be here any minute!!"
'I'm sorry, I didn't mean too.."
"Oh never mind..just..let's not tell them. They're looking forward to this day, and after al they went through they deserve this.Hopefully the Adam's will be different people then most upper-class people."
"I think so, I mean, John Adams didn't look at all surprised when I told them about the wedding and he looked happy to come."
"But still..for your carelessness, Kate, you will have to pay for it. Get over to the table and start planning the wedding supper..and I expect corn bread on that table!"
Kate smiled at her sister and went over to the table.
Sarah and James came from the town hall where they had been getting people's points of view on the new laws passed. James looked over his notes and the notes Sarah had shown him. "What a story this is going to be!" he cried out happily. "We'll have to print this right away!"
"Let's go!" Sarah cried out happily. James took her hand and they walked back to the horse.
"You know what?" James asked. "This is gonna be the first article we're publishing as an engaged couple..and in a few weeks, we'll be married co-owners publishing articles together."
Sarah smiled. "The first of many ones, together," she agreed. James took ehr in his arms and kissed her gentily.
"I love you, Sarah Hiller" he whispered.
"I love you too, James Hiller," she replied, sharing another kiss.
Anne rode her horse up the common, tired and thirsty. This was further than she had ever gone, and she was ready to either try to go back or stop at an inn and collapse, enough was enough. She didn't know WHY she even bothered looking for that traitor of a cousin of hers. Ever since she had recieved that letter from Alec telling her about Sarah's conversion, she had been more than happy to write her off. She wanted to get back on the boat and leave quickly. Just then she caught sight of what looked like the town hall..but something about it was strange. She rode up to get a better look..and what she saw caused her to stop in her tracks. There was her own cousin, Sarah herself, locked in an improper, unladylike, and passionate embrace, with someone she didn't even recognise. Who WAS this person? She rode a little closer, they were so wrapped up in one another they didn't even notice she was there. This man was unlike anyone she had ever seen.His clothes were so poor and cheap, they looked like they were made of poor cloth, not rich fabric. He was skinny and that vest..what WAS that? He wasn't even wearing a powdered wig like most young men his age should be! He looked like a pauper..what was her own cousin ..a proper English lady from a high-born, respectable British family..doing with this PAUPER?! Locked in an unladylike behavior on top of it all. She wanted to run right over and pull this beast right of her relative..but she stopped herself when she saw her break away from him, only to see her laugh out loud and him twirl her with joy before setting her down and kissing her again. Anne lowered her head..obviously she was there of her own accord. How could she DO this, didn't she see the shame she was inflicting on her family?! Didn't she know proper young woman did NOT engage in this sort of behavior..in public..with a COMMINOR?! The little TRAITOR!! She thought. It's NOT enough that you turned your back on your family, on your country....but now you have the NERVE to do this!! I'm ashamed of you, you understand that, ASHAMED!!! I just want you OUT of this family...and so will your parents!
Lady Elizabeth Phillips paced outside the door of her ouse, praying that THIS time anyone in her family will have news of her daughter..any news at al!! Oh God, PLEASE some news, any news would do!! Just PLEASE let her baby be all right. Samuel was stil trying to enlist his Indian friends to help, Samantha was at every place she thought Sarah might be..oh God, PLEASE let her be safe. Just then she heared familar sounds coming up the path..the sound of HORSES!! Oh, PLEASE let it be.YES it was, it was Anne, coming riding up the pathway as fast as she could. Goodnes, she could seriously maime herself if she went any faster. She MUSTY have some news!! Elizabeth raced up to where she was, surprised to se her dismount, her eyes filed with tears and her face as red as a beet. For a moment Elizabeth thought something might have hapened to her daughter!! "Sarah?" was all she asked. But Anne just looked up, no expression on her face.
"You want to know where your precious Sarah is?" she asked in a tight voice. "You want to know where your little precious baby is right now? I'll be more than happy to tell you. You daughter is..at this very moment..at the New York town hall, joined at the lips with a COMMONOR!!"