Page 97 of Meet Me on Greenwood

He ran his hand over his balding head. "I need a nap, and you two—well, you need your privacy," he said with a wink.

My skin burned, not because I was embarrassed of how Houston and I were with each other, but because Paul felt like a paternal figure in my life. It was strange seeing as I hadn’t even felt that way about my own father.

"I’ll send Lettie in to check on you," Houston said, closing his door behind him.

Houston’s hands encircled me as soon as we were alone, and I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around his neck breathing him in like it had been days and not hours. "You are in a good mood," I murmured against his lips.

"I have good news."

I tilted my head waiting expectantly.

"We found Susan’s aunt. She is in the tunnels as we speak."

I pulled back enough to thoroughly search his face. "What? Our Susan at Frissel? She has a living relative?"

"She does. We’re lucky we found her before the Klan did. She has a bounty out on her."

My brows furrowed. "Why would she have a bounty?"

He sighed. "The whole family did. They were witness to a lynching in Mississippi that involved some prominent people. Now that they are catching heat in national papers, they’ve been quietly going after all the witnesses. That’s why they traveled this way in the first place."

"Where is her aunt now?"

"Her name is Freida and she’s in the tunnel waiting to be reunited."

"Oh, Susan is going to be so excited! We have to go get her."

A grin crossed his face. "That is the best part. She is already here. I thought you’d want to see how these tunnels work in action."

I hugged him tightly before pulling back. "I would."

"Good," he said lifting my chin. "You are going to need a gun."

We found Susan by the pond throwing bread in the water. A group of ducks had congregated around her, happily gobbling up the chunks of bread faster than she could throw them.

"I called out for her, and she turned, dropping the bread and running towards me, oblivious to the frenzy of ducks behind her. I reached out for her tiny body and gave her a big hug.

"You look so pretty," I said. "Where did you find this dress?"

She spun around in her pink frills circling her like parachute. "Becky gave it to me. It twirls, do you see?"

"I do. You look so much better." I said running my hands over her cute pigtails, tied at the ends with ribbons. Her hair was coming in thick now.

"Did you hear the news? My aunt Freida is here!""I sure did," I said smiling at Houston. "Dr. Whitaker is going to take us to her. Are you ready?"Susan grabbed my hand and skipped by my side as we walked past the barn, into the woods, where the sun was just going down. Houston stopped at a large oak tree, then looked around to make sure we weren’t being followed. Then, he used his keys to unlock a circular piece of metal. I could see a ladder below.

He strapped a rifle to my back, securing it before saying, "You first."

I didn’t much like confined spaces, but it was better than going in the water, I supposed. I gave Susan a reassuring smile before climbing halfway down. Susan followed slowly.

"That’s right, Susan. One foot, then the other."

She was timid at first, but every time she looked down, I gave her a reassuring look which seemed to help. Soon, all three of us reached the bottom. Houston had replaced the metal covering before coming down. I noticed this part of the tunnel didn’t have crates, like the stretch closer to the house. The walls were carved out, and every once in a while, I glimpsed more steps.

"There are several entry points," Houston explained. "We created it so that there are dead ends." He pointed to the carved stars etched into the ground. You wouldn’t have seen the symbols if you weren’t looking for them.

"The North Star," I said, recalling my history lessons. "This is literally an underground railroad."

Houston shrugged. "Well, it is the underground that will get us to the railroad. We are headed to the train station."