“You deserve to die!”
Fletcher shrugged. “We all do.”
Grady thought of Edward Coop’s lifeless body—of the guilt that had haunted him after he’d murdered Coop. Grady knew that he deserved to die for killing him. But Jesus had taken the death penalty for him so that he could live.
For some reason, as Grady gazed at his father, he saw his own son. And he realized that if Fletcher hadn’t sold him all those years ago, he never would have met Anna, never would have had a son.
“I’ve dreamed of killing you,” Grady repeated. “But I’m not going to. I have a son of my own, now. I want to live as a free man, not hang for giving you what you deserve. I want to be a father to him. I want to show him what a real father is like.”
Fletcher’s jaw trembled with emotion. “What’s his name?”
“It’s … it’s George. But—” Grady started to tell him that it was just a coincidence, that his son wasn’t named after him, but Fletcher gripped the arms of his chair and suddenly pulled himself to his feet. Grady was stunned to see tears in his eyes. His father walked over to a bookshelf, pulled down a volume, and opened it. It was hollow inside and hid a drawstring bag. He tossed the bag to Grady. He felt the jangling weight of coins.
“What’s this?” Grady asked.
“Open it.”
Grady loosened the strings enough to see dozens of large, gold coins inside. He glared at his father. “Why are you giving me this? Are you trying to soothe your guilty conscience by buying me off?”
“I know you won’t believe me … but I loved your mother. Tessie was—” He paused, clearing his throat. “I’m giving it to you because you’re a Fletcher.”
“I don’t want your money,” he said, holding out the bag. “I ain’t gonna help ease your guilt.”
Fletcher shoved his hands in his pockets. “Then give the money to your son. He’s a Fletcher, too.”
Grady studied his father for a long moment, surprised to find that he felt only pity, not hatred. George Fletcher would have to give an accounting to God for what he had done—and hadn’t done. The way Edward Coop had. The way Grady himself would, someday.
Grady knew there had been a time in his life when he would have thrown the money in Fletcher’s face, too bitter to take anything from a white man. There had been a time when he would have taken the gold and demanded even more in payment for a lifetime of slavery. But he didn’t do either of those things. His father was asking for forgiveness in the only way he knew how—and if Grady wanted God’s forgiveness, then he had to forgive his father, as well.
Grady put the bag of coins in his pocket and slowly turned away—a free man at last.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Prologue
PART ONE
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
PART TWO
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
PART THREE
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Lynn Austin, A Light to My Path
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