"God, I know that I don't deserve to ask for anything good, but that ain't the case for Marita. She deserves something good, and well she thinks that I'm good for her. So ask as unselfishly as I know how for you to please hear and answer this prayer…I can't make no promise that I'll never ask for anything again, but I will do the best by Marita if you will allow for us to find a way to be together…" Sean continued his morning prayer. After his mother died, he always went to church faithfully every Sunday, mainly because his father made him. Ned knew that Libby would've rolled over in her grave if she knew that they quit going to Sunday service. But Sean also neglected prayer mainly because he was mad at God. He thought that if God could take someone as special as his mother away then everyone else was doomed, but then as he got over his mother's death and as Marita helped him, his bitter feelings toward God softened. It was because of Marita, that he began to start to pray again. Prayer worked when his engagement to Vivian fell apart, and it worked again when Marita was about to marry Henry. But Sean had learned that there was a lot more to God than just praying to have prayers answered, he actually felt lighter and peaceful after praying. Sean began his day, even before sunrise. It was only about a week before Marita would be coming home, and he still had found nothing, but for some reason he was determined between today and the next day to search the last of those files, and if that didn't work some way a door would open for them. Sean washed and dressed before the rest of the family got up. By sunrise, he was in his office working away.
KNOCK! KNOCK! Sean walks over to the door.
"Morning Sean, you must've left before sunrise," Ned said.
"Yeah, we only have a few days before Marita comes home and I wanted to check the rest of these files. I know it's a long shot, but I still want to try."
"I admire that, so just show me a stack, and I'll start looking."
"Thanks Pa, that'll really help."
An hour later, KNOCK! KNOCK! Sean goes to the door, it's Clay.
Sean spoke first, "Hey Clay, I'm sorry I know that I promised you that we'd go and look at that horse, but if we could just put it off for a while…"
Clay interrupts, "Sean, don't worry about the horse, I'm here to help." Sean is awestruck by his brother. Clay never puts horse business off for anything, much less just to help him and Marita. "Thanks Clay…thanks a lot." Sean smiles warmly at his brother.
"Sean you don't have to thank me. I'm doing this for myself. If I have to see you and Marita sneaking out of the barn again, I'm gonna be sick."
Sean, Ned, and Clay are working diligently KNOCK! KNOCK! This time Sean just yells "Come in" It's Alice and Lexy. "We thought that you could use some help."
Sean just laughed, "The more the merrier."
Less than 30 minutes later, the door to Sean's office burst open causing everyone to stop what they were doing.
"Geez Jeremy, break the door down why don't ya," Clay said.
"I knew ya'll were all here," Jeremy said as he and Isaac walked in. "When I came downstairs, Vivian was there already working. She said that she had no idea where everybody was. Then I went to the dining room and only Isaac was there for breakfast. So, we assumed that this is where everybody was."
"Did you tell Vivian?" Ned asked.
"Yeah I told her, and I even told her what we were doin'" Jeremy replied.
"You what?' Ned asked irately.
"Relax, relax, I didn't tell her anything. Gosh what do you guys think I'm stupid or something?' Jeremy asked.
Everyone just looked at him for a few seconds before Sean spoke, "Or something." Everyone laughed and began working together.
"Hmm, I wonder if Sean has anything new in his room? I guess that we'll just have to go and see…" Vivian spoke quietly to herself as she got up from her desk and tip-toed out of Ned's office. Her first stop was in the dining room. "Have you seen any of the Logan's this morning?" "Yep, they all done gone into town already," The butler replied.
A smile appeared on Vivian's face, "Good" she said.
When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she lifted the hem of her dress from the floor and took of her shoes because she didn't want them to be heard on the wood flooring. Vivian tip-toed up the steps and made it to Sean's room. When she opened the door, she was appalled to see Sean's room in such disorder. There was a shirt on the floor, the bed cover was just pulled up, but not neatly tucked like she had previously taught him, a couple of the drawers were even open. Then she saw it. "Yes, I knew that he still had it," Vivian said as she tipped over to the open desk drawer and pulled out the heavy leather document holder that she had given him for Christmas several years ago. Vivian insisted that Sean keep the plans and drawings for their house in it. Vivian opened the holder to find a picture of the house that was to be hers, but there was a letter attached to it that read: "Marita, now that you've seen the perfect spot, do you think that this house will do the land justice? Vivian refuses to even consider living in the cottage even if I remodel it, and I'm not gonna move into her house. So, I hope that this will satisfy her. I know that it will take me forever to build it, but we'll just have to push the wedding back. But please, let me know what you think." Vivian turned that parchment over and Marita's response read: "Sean, I think that the house is magnificent…I hope that Vivian realizes how blessed she truly is."
"That's it…that's all that she had to say," Vivian said to herself as she flipped through the pages in the notebook. "Does she ever say anything bad about me? Come on Marita, give me some ammunition so I can get my man back." Vivian looked through all of the other papers but found nothing else that was interesting until she looked over on the night table. "Ah ha! if this were important to him, he wouldn't have left it lying around," Vivian giggled as she tip-toed out of the room.
Location: Boston Setting: Marita sat on her bed. She was so upset with Sean because he had totally stopped writing her. When she was upset or disturbed about something, a feeling of nausea settled in her stomach. "I don't understand him. He promised me that he would not do this, " Marita spoke to herself as she looked at the ring on her finger.
KNOCK! KNOCK1 Marita was startled by a gentle knock on her door. She slipped the ring off her finger and into the drawer. "Come in."
It was Miss Liza. Marita always thought that she was a strikingly beautiful woman with her fiery red hair and clear blue eyes. "Good morning," Marita said sadly.
"Good morning, I just came to tell you that Shawn's downstairs waiting for you. He said that this was the last day of classes."
"Yeah, it is, but we still have another 3 days before they can look through our file and make sure that we passed and then we can leave."
"Gosh you've just come in here and now you'll be scootin' on out."
"Yes, I'll miss you too Miss Liza," Marita said to soften the moment. "Well, I've gotta go, but I'll be back early today okay. Talk to you later," with that Marita left to meet Shawn.
"Hey what's wrong with you?" Shawn asked before Marita even got to the bottom of the stairs.
"What? Nothing's wrong," Marita replied.
"Liar! I know when something's wrong with you. Just tell ole' Shawn what it's about," Shawn put a friendly arm around Marita's shoulder as they walked to the college.
"Well, I wrote Se…Sal three letters, and he hasn't written me back once. It's just not like him to do that."
"Marita, sounds like you're getting to know Sal for what he really is…You should be glad that you didn't marry him because now you can see that he's worthless," Shawn said.
"SHUT UP! You don't know anything about him. He's more a man than you will ever be!" Marita blasted Shawn and took off into the college. Shawn stood there for a minute awestruck, but he eventually came inside the classroom. After about three hours of "What to expect in your first classroom," Marita's last class at Boston College was dismissed. If she passed her course, there would be a certificate with her name on it in her host's office, Miss Liza's office, in the next few days. Then, she would be on her way back home. Home to Sean. Of course, if he still wanted her. There was that nauseating feeling again. But, she could only deal with that later. Now she had to deal with the other Shawn whose head she had bitten off. Marita walked out of the classroom hoping to catch up with Shawn, but to her surprise, he had waited on her. She saw Josiah through the corner of her eye, but ever since the church fair, he had totally backed down.
"Look Marita, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to say that Sal was worthless. It's just I think that you deserve to be treated better than that."
"It's alright. I'm sorry that I bit your head off. I guess that I'm just a little on edge. Please forgive me."
"Forgiven," Shawn said with a smile. "So, was it good?"
"Was what good?"
"My head. You bit it off remember."
"Yeah, but it didn't settle well in my stomach." Shawn and Marita both laughed.
Location: Lexington Setting: Sean's office
"Let me see that," Jeremy said and grabbed the file from Lexy. Everyone froze while he perused the file. "Yep, she's right." Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Hamilton purchased 150 acres of land just outside of Lexington about 4 years ago. Says here that they have three children. Their property is only 4 miles from the old creek."
"Sean do you want me to go talk to 'em?" Ned asked.
"No Pa, you've been doin' things for me all my life. I want to do this for myself and for Marita. I appreciate everyone's help. I'll meet you back at the house." Everyone bids Sean good luck as he heads out the door.
The ride over there gives Sean some time to think. "Why haven't I ever heard of these Hamilton's before? Where have they been? God, please let them be able to help me," Sean thought to himself as he rode. The rest of the way, he just thought about Marita. As he arrived at the property that he assumed was the Hamilton's, he was greeted with a sign that read "Private Property- Do Not Enter." He was a little perturbed by the sign, but not enough to get him to turn around. He proceeded on horseback until he got about a quarter acre from the house. He tied his horse to a nearby tree and proceeded to the door, then it hit him. "What am I gonna say? Hi, I'm Sean Logan and I wanna marry a colored girl, can you help me?" The whole way over there, he could've been thinking about this, but instead he was thinking ungodly thoughts about Marita. "What do I say…what do I say?" Sean was at the door. His hand was reaching up to knock. KNOCK! KNOCK! A few seconds later a large man with a thick gray beard opened the door slightly, "Didn't you read the sign? This private property," the scruffled voice yelled.
Sean jumped in "Mr. Hamilton, I'm Sean Logan and I'm here to…"
"I know who ya are, but how do you know who I am?"
The truth was that Sean just assumed that the man was Mr. Hamilton, fortunately his assumption was correct. "Well, I like to visit my constituents every now and then and get their opinion on things."
"Well what do you want my opinion about?"
Sean had to think quickly, "I wanted to see if you had any opinion about my performance as State Assemblyman."
"Well yeah, there's a few things that I could discuss with you. Come on in and take a seat."
"Yes!" Sean said to himself as he entered the Hamilton home and removed his hat.
"Have a seat. Mrs. Hamilton the State Assemblyman is here. He wants our opinion about his performance," Mr. Hamilton yelled out.
Sean heard someone saying "Ssshhh" in the background and then he heard a door slam, then a large, gray-haired woman emerged from the back of the house. "Good afternoon Mr. Logan. May I offer you something to drink?"
"No thank you. I won't keep you long."
"Well, Mr. Logan I feel that you have done a good job for the people in Lexington, but what do you plan to do for me and my kind. You've made things better for the sharecrop farmers, but what about small farmer like me and the others 'round here. We're all on our own. How can you help us?"
Whew! That's an easy one. I've been working on that. Sean thought to himself. "Actually I'm working on developing an independent farmers union. Something where small farmers can communicate and help each other like we sharecroppers do.
"Well that's well and good. So, how are your children Mr. Hamilton?"
"They're fine. They're all grown and gone."
"Yes, I read in your file, that you had a son pass away some time ago. Was he ill?" Sean asked.
Mrs. Hamilton almost dropped her cup. Mr. Hamilton grabbed her hand as if to steady her. "Mr. Logan my son is resting in God's arms, and I'd prefer to leave it at that," Mr. Hamilton spoke softly as if he was remembering something. Then his attitude changed.
"I recall that some time ago you were shortly to be married to that Winters' girl. What happened to all that?"
Sean was shocked, "I…I…uh…well Miss Winters and I were fond of each other, but we were not getting married for the right reasons. So it was for the best."
"Right reasons! What other reasons were ya lookin' for!" Mr Hamilton's raspy voice raised.
"Mr. Hamilton, remember your manners!" Mrs. Hamilton exclaimed.
"Tween the pair of ya, The Logans and Winters would be able to own Lexington."
"Well Mr. Hamilton, it was not mine nor my family's goal to gain social position by having me marry Miss Winters. We believe that love should be first and foremost." Sean exhaled. This certainly wasn't going as he had imagined.
"Well said Mr. Logan, well said.
Another thing, there was a certain letter that had circulated some time ago. Do you remember the letter I'm referring to?"
Sean felt the heat rise in his face. "Yes Sir, I remember there was an erroneous letter but that was taken care of quickly. I had no idea that it became common knowledge."
"Well, I also know that you and the young lady that was mentioned in the letter were raised together."
Sean could tell that Mr. Hamilton had no racist feelings in his heart because of the way he addressed Marita as a young lady and not as a whore, servant, or any of the other names that racist people used. "Well Mr. Hamilton, you seem to know a great deal. Yes, Marita and I were raised together. We are…very close." Sean didn't feel to say anything else. Mr. Hamilton just stared him straight in the eyes.
"I will tell you this Mr. Logan. I was very concerned for you. You know that people in Lexington don't care much for certain things, but they stay close-lipped about it because 'lot of those men that are members of that there Jockey Club come home to their wives only after they've been with their mistresses."
"So why were you concerned for me Mr. Hamilton?"
"Well, people in town deal with things that they don't like by just acting like they don't see it, but out here there are some people who deal with it by eliminatin' the things that they don't like. If you know what I mean." Sean listened to Mr. Hamilton, and he felt that Mr. Hamilton was trying to tell him something, but he was beating around the bush. Sean wanted to tell him his dilemma, but he wanted to be sure that he could trust Mr. Hamilton before divulging any information.
"I am aware that there are some people who take the law into their own hands. But still, I can see how the mixing of races could interfere with the supremacy of the white race," there finally said it. Now he is waiting for a response from Mr. Hamilton.
Mr. Hamilton just looked at Sean, and then he looked to Mrs. Hamilton. Then Mr. Hamilton stood up with a sour look on his face.
"Mr. Logan, but my lunch break is far over. Don't bother makin' the trip out here again."
That was exactly what Sean needed. "Mr. Hamilton was your son married to a black woman?"
Sean heard Mrs. Hamilton gasp. "Mr. Logan, I've got to get back to work."
"Mr. Hamilton, please I need to know."
"What does it matter! My son is dead!"
"Exactly! Your're right what does it matter now that he's gone. But please, please Mr. Hamilton, it is very important to me."
Mr. Hamilton could sense Sean's sincerity. "Yes, my son was married to a young lady who happened to be colored, and now they're both dead. Now, you've got what you wanted so please go."
Sean saw the pain in Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton. Can you help me?"
"What could we possibly help you with?" Mr. Hamilton asked.
"I need to know how your son was able to marry her?"
Mr. Hamilton thought for a moment. When you said that you and that young lady were close, is this what you were saying but trying not to say?"
Sean waited and then exhaled, "Yes."
"Mr. Logan, I cannot help you."
Sean jumped in, "Please Mr. Hamilton, I want to do right by her. I love her more than my own life."
Sean saw the tears fall onto Mrs. Hamilton's cheeks.
"Mr. Logan, your blood would be on my hands. I cain't help you to order your own execution or the execution of the young lady you love."
There's more to come…Please review…Thanks.
