Page 83 of Freedom's Kiss
Olivia lifted the cover, her eyes scanning the handwriting on the first page.
December 24, 1935
Grandpappy has given me this book for Christmas. It’s full of empty pages, but he says we’re going to fill them up. Just him and me. I asked him what we were going to fill them up with, and he smiled at me like he held a deep secret. He bent down until his mouth was right by my ear, and then he whispered, “Our legacy of freedom.”
It all started more than a hundred years ago, he said. When his grandmother ran away from her owner and his grandfather found her, rescued her, and protected her. He said there’s more to the story. Much more. But he won’t tell me until tomorrow. Guess I’m going to have to wait, although I want to find out what great-great-grandpappy had to protect her from and what it has to do with me.
“I know you have your own family and it has its own history, and I hope I’m not overstepping or anything, but I wanted you to have this. Maybe it could help you or answer some questions that you might have.” Charlotte sounded uncertain, almost as if she were still that fifteen-year-old girl. “I hope that’s okay.”
Olivia couldn’t believe she held the story of where she came from in her hand. “What about Amy?” She closed the book and extended it to her sister. “You should have this.”
Amy didn’t reach out to take it. Instead she smiled. “I’ve already made a digital copy. You keep that.”
Mom reached over and fingered the edge of the book. “Would you mind if I read it too?” She gave Olivia a bright smile. “We may all be supporting characters cast in the story of your life, but I don’t want to miss out on the prologue.”
Olivia leaned to the side and rested her head on Mom’s shoulder. It hadn’t been that long ago she’d thought her identity had been stripped away from her. Who would have thought she’d end up with a broader understanding of herself—and those closest to her—than she’d had before?
