Chapter 20

Parson Farm
Grindstone Island
St. Laurence River

September 2011

Spencer was beginning to wonder if the team would ever find him.

It was hard to think about. His mother would not be doing well at this point. Dr. Norman would do what he could, of course, but her condition would likely deteriorate until she was lost in her delusions. And would Henry even remember him? He loved his godson like crazy, but he might only know him as a story his mother told of a friend from long ago. And the team, how would they be able to pull together now that this had happened?

He wanted to go home. He wanted to go back to the world he knew and the people who loved him.

And he wanted to take Tally home.

Winter had turned to spring and then summer. Now there was a hint of fall in the air. Nights were noticeably longer now, mornings wanted a sweater. But it was still warm enough to let the kids out at lunch time, to settle under the tree by the creek beside the school with Tally at his side and go over lessons and memories of the world while her needles clicked. JD and the others never came out here, schooling slaves was beneath them, so the children could roam freely, their laughter music on the slight breeze. He settled back against the tree trunk, took a bite of the first tart sweet apple of the season and closed his eyes with a sigh.

"What is Foreman doing all the way out here?" Tally asked.

Spencer opened his eyes and looked. Sure enough Foreman was heading their way with a couple of the men. He got to his feet to meet the older man. "Man, I should have got me an education." Foreman said when he got close enough. "I could be lazy all day too." He gave them both a good-natured grin and Tally a polite nod, "Teacher."

"Foreman," she replied with an easy smile.

"We're here to check over the building before the weather turns." Foreman said, "If we're not going to get in your way."

"Not at all," Spencer replied. "We'll work with the children outside this afternoon; keep them out of the building."

"Sounds good. Go on." He said to the men, as they went off to work. He turned back to Tally. "Hey, Teacher, you're twenty-one this year, yeah?"

"That's right." Tally replied.

"And your birthday is coming up? Around when the pumpkins harvest." Foreman nodded and grinned. "I'll set one aside for you to squish so you can have your tantrum. It's still not going to shatter you know. Pumpkins don't do that."

"Actually they can." Spencer said. "I've seen it happen." Foreman turned and started at him a long moment, like Spencer might be pulling his leg. "Hopefully I'll be able to show you some day."

"I'd like to see that." Foreman said. "I got to go check the roof."

"And I have a history lesson to teach." To teach outside, Spencer thought, made it an even better day.

Later that night Foreman pulled Spencer aside. "You and Teacher," he said, clearly meaning Tally. "You love her, don't you?"

The question surprised Spencer. "Yes." He answered without hesitation.

"You ever think about marrying her?"

"Yes. Many times." Once upon a time he had dreamed of finding her somehow, taking her home with him and keeping her there. Only now that they were both on the other side of puberty, now that they carried adult hearts in adult bodies, did he realize that he had wanted to marry her and keep her all this time.

"You should then, and soon. Before her birthday."

Huh? "Why before her birthday? Let me guess." Spencer stopped him before he could say it. "We don't talk about that."

"No, we don't." Foreman looked around and pulled him even further aside. "But it starts when you're twenty-one, I'll tell you that. It's easier on the women if they know they have someone there for them, someone who really knows them. And you two are from the same people, yeah? That whole pumpkin breaking thing?"

"Yeah. I...we knew each other, back when we were children. I haven't said anything to her."

"Ahhh. Even better. Yeah, tomorrow you marry her. It would make it easier for both of you."

He would. Spencer would, he knew that, had known that for a while. "What does that mean here though? I mean, it's not like we can live together..."

"The responsibilities of a husband. It means love, of course. Love and loyalty are the only things we have left to give each other, and so you give her those and she does so in return. It means that if there is any chance of taking a punishment for her you do it, and she does for you. It means that you become the father to her children."

"Children?"

"Yeah. Adult women have children. It will be easier for her to endure confinement knowing you're there for her, and good for her to be able to bring her children to meet you. When her boys come over the fence you'll be responsible for them until they apprentice."

"Children." There was no way. Tally was far too small. It had to be the general less than ideal nutrition around here, her father was his height and his mother at least Emily's size if not a bit taller. But it meant that to safely have children she likely needed medical care, a cesarean was a very real possibility. As much as he wanted a family he would not risk it with her in this place. "No. I'll father her children." Or not, once he had a say in the matter.

Foreman nodded. "The most important thing is that you see each other as equals, always. She will know your name, and you hers, that is the symbol of the bond of trust between you. And when she is taken to the barn she will take that knowledge with her."

"When she goes... how do you know they will take her?" To the barn. To wherever they took people at night and they came back traumatized.

"They always take the women once they are old enough. And the men as well."

"They haven't taken me."

Foreman shrugged. "I can only assume they aren't stupid enough to call a Fed. Be glad of that. Come on, time for dinner."