Read Beloved Captive for Free Online

closing the door on his office and returning home to his flat with tomorrow’s work tucked under his arm.
    “Yet summer is coming, and the capital will not be the most comfortable place for a man to spend his days.” Likely the city’s households were already in the process of being curtained and cloistered for the long summer days when their halls would be empty of their owners.
    Indeed last year—and for much of the decade prior to that—he and a few others had suffered in the heat while those on higher rungs of the ladder summered elsewhere. Had he not prayed for relief more than once?  
    “Why then am I bothered that the Lord heard and answered?” He smiled. “Caught in a trap of my own devices, as it were.”
    Perhaps the challenge of learning would fill his days and make the time pass more quickly until he could say good-bye to Benning Plantation and the woman who presided over it. Caleb straightened at the traitorous thought. Though her great beauty had only been slightly faded by the years, her age was apparent in the slowness of her gait.
    To think of these weeks and months as exile was to belie the fact God had given Caleb a gift of time he would have otherwise missed. He’d been remiss in using that time to spend with his mother, leaving the entertaining of her to Fletcher, who seemed not to mind.  
    “I shall not take this for granted, Father,” he whispered. “Nor shall I endeavor to do anything but my best for You.”
    “Talking to yourself, son? I thought you’d given up that habit long ago.”
    Caleb whirled around to see his mother standing a few yards away. She wore the same clothing she’d donned for dinner, but to the ensemble she’d added a shawl of bright colors threaded with what appeared to be gold. This she wore draped over her shoulders and covering hair that was no longer the color of a raven’s wing.
    “The wind is fierce,” he said as he scrambled to don his shirt once more. “You shouldn’t be out here.”
    She shrugged as she made her way toward him. “You forget this is my home. The wind is nothing.”  
    At her arrival beside him, Caleb wrapped his arm around her. “Can you not sleep, Mother?”
    “I’m afraid Mr. Fletcher and I have been embroiled in a battle of epic proportions that has only just concluded.”
    Caleb laughed. The nightly chess matches between his mother and Fletcher had become legendary for their combination of intensity and humor. Often Caleb remained just to watch.  
    “Did you let him win again?”
    Mother smiled but said nothing. “You mention lack of sleep. I would ask the same of you.” Her dark eyes searched his face. “Perhaps you are wishing for the life from which I’ve stolen you.”
    “You’ve stolen nothing,” he said, “except for that place in my heart that has always been reserved for you.”
    Her smile was quick, as was the fading of it. “Yet a man of seven and twenty should have a woman of a much younger age in his heart.” She slid a glance in his direction. “Dare I hope there is someone of whom you have yet to speak?”
    “Aye, there is.” He winked. “And her name is Justice. I’ve been studying her now for nigh on a decade and I’m certain my love will come to fruition.”
    Mother gave him a playful nudge. “Your jest falls on deaf ears, son. A mother worries when her son finds nothing to please him save the reading of books and the pursuit of career.”
    Caleb managed a smile. “Then worry no more, Mother. For I’ve turned the matter over to the Lord and left Him in charge of my heart.”
    “As have I,” she said, “and perhaps more frequently have I also petitioned Him to move swiftly before my son’s intended passes him by while his nose is impossibly wedged into a law book.”
    Caleb’s grin was quick and broad. He reached for his mother’s hand and held it to his lips. “Then, perhaps we shall strike a bargain.”
    Another glance. “And that would be?”
    “I shall look up from my law book