Read Online My Sister's Prayer by Mindy Starns Clark - Free Book Online Page A

be.”
    Papa shook his head. “I’m sorry, son, but it can’t work. The population there isn’t large enough to produce the quantity of rags we would need for making paper. No paper, no printer. We’re staying in England.”
    Celeste knew that Papa had other reasons for not emigrating, including the fact that there was no freedom of religion in Virginia. “We’d all have to become Anglican,” he had explained over dinner one night. There was also the matter of the African people who were being kidnapped and enslaved, he’d added. The colony was quickly becoming dependent on their labor. “I’m afraid the Huguenots who are already there—if they stay—will end up becoming entwined with that miserable business. The mulberry seedlings they took with them in hopes of producing silk aren’t growing. They’ll soon have no choice but to grow tobacco, but it takes so much labor to produce the crop that a profit can’t be earned unless one uses enslaved humans to do the work.”
    Berta let out a soft moan, tearing Celeste away from her thoughts and back to her sister. She brushed Berta’s dark hair from her face and then dabbed at her hot forehead with a cloth. Once the moaning ceased, her mind again went to home.
    After their father made it clear that none of them would be going to Virginia, Celeste hadn’t given the colony another thought. She would soon marry George Barré, a young man in their congregation of Huguenots. They had known each other since childhood, and it had always been assumed they would wed. He was good and kind and helped out at the inn when needed. Although his father was a weaver,George would probably work at the inn once they were married. Weaving didn’t pay what her family’s business could provide.
    Celeste would continue helping her mother, both in the inn and attending to her younger brothers—Alexander, Frederick, and William. She’d been like a mother to them their whole lives, and she wanted nothing more than have her own brood of children someday. Celeste had had no concerns back then. She was content, unlike Berta, who had been restless her entire life.
    All of that changed, however, the afternoon Celeste first saw Jonathan Gray. Her heart skipped a beat at the memory. She was in the garden the first moment he appeared at the inn’s back door. He was in uniform, and his blond hair was pulled back from his face, revealing chiseled features and a perfect mouth. His blue eyes brightened at the sight of her, and when she curtsied, he gave her a sweeping bow in return, his black hat in his hand.
    Just an hour later, as they sat side by side on the garden bench that late autumn day, she already felt as if she’d known him her entire life. That, in turn, made her wonder what she’d ever seen in George. Comparing him to Jonathan was like comparing a candle to the sun. Jonathan was mature and disciplined and had a plan for his life. After he’d told her about his mother’s death when he was six, his father’s passing ten years later, and the subsequent loss of most of the family fortune, she felt more sympathetic toward him than she had anyone in her entire life. He’d had enough money left to buy a commission and become an officer, but he said that was all. In his duties, he’d been as far away as America.
    â€œThere are more opportunities there than you could ever imagine,” he said. “And everyone belongs no matter what their station is in life. Does that make sense?”
    Celeste nodded, enthralled. She asked if he would go back to the New World.
    â€œI’d like that more than anything, but I’ll be assigned here for the next three years at least.” Then he thought for a moment as he took her hand. “Actually, since meeting you, I’ve changed my mind. I’d rather stay than go.”
    Her heart raced in a way it never had with George. Jonathan