Grace literally skipped as she left the room and I heard a sudden explosion of womanly excitement from across the hall. That commotion was more than I wanted to deal with, so I made my silent escape through the servant hallways that connected the various rooms. These small, almost hidden, passageways were designed so that the master of the house wouldn’t have to observe the servants at work, cleaning and replenishing the rooms. The main halls were kept pristine while ashes were hauled out via the servant passage.

Later, these types of passages, if they survived remodels, were assigned sinister or romantic purposes. Everyone likes the idea of a spy or romantic secret passage. The idea that it was how you hauled out ashes and spittoons wasn’t quite as romantic or fun. The truth was that the punishment for sullying the main hall with your presence included the lash; that was just not as romantic for most folks at all.

I made my way to the servants' quarters and cornered Grace’s senior manservant. I took him with me as I went to collect the three new slaves for the House. I gave him the rundown on what was happening with these three. I asked him to find me after they were sorted, for a fuller explanation of the changes to come. I was very explicit that I expected these three to be placed on the lowest rung and promised him a fuller explanation when Aunty arrived later today.

I tried to take a step back and organize my thoughts, Clara was scratching away at her notes, adding to the background distractions. People were still approaching me, asking questions, and I’d forgotten how many balls I had in the air. I would have started dropping them, had not Grace and Lucinda chosen that moment to reappear. I didn’t even get a chance to notice how well appointed Lucinda looked and they both appeared about to burst with things they wanted to say. I didn’t give them a chance.

I recentered myself and started issuing orders. We would be leaving in 36 hours and I still didn’t have a solid head count. I also needed the goods reports so I could understand our loadouts for the trip. At this time tomorrow, I needed to be inspecting travel packs and armament, not thrashing about, as I was now.

I wanted all of the people traveling with us to be here by supper time tonight. This was 'pack it or leave it' time and we weren’t waiting for the professional movers. We needed reports and I wanted to see tents and cookfires before dark. We would bring the herds in tomorrow morning and run our first practice at loading the boats.

Grace was the first to jump into action. She rounded up her staff and told them what was happening and to begin to prepare for the influx of people. The paddocks and pastures would be filled with livestock and we needed an outdoor cooking area set up. She quickly got things at Marine House under control. Amos and Brin had reappeared and the three of us immediately set out again. Clara and Lucinda were loaded into the carriage and I was on horseback. The first stop was the slave encampment; they were about to go mobile.

This trip would push people, but these folk were used to hard times and they would adapt quickly. We just needed to show them what was needed for the trip in the next day and a half. We left Lucinda and Sheriff to work on things at the camp. Amos drove us over to the tradesmen’s houses, where I got right down to it. We were starting to move today and Amos would be back with a buckboard to collect any belongings they couldn’t carry. Everything would be warehoused and brought upriver, as boat space became available. This was a people move and it needed to be clean, quick, and safe.

I almost said, “Just pretend the Nazi’s are coming,” but I held my tongue and urged them all to move with absolute decisiveness. I told them to mark everything that would be shipped and it would eventually follow them. The women and children were to join the boat riders as they walked through town. The men must be mounted and helping to move the herds; this would be the next month of our lives. They got busy and we left for the docks.

The docks were somewhat better prepared for this type of urgency. The passengers changed things for them a little, but otherwise it was business as usual. We picked up two of the captains' wives and Commodore Timmons, while the boat captains themselves accompanied us on horseback. They were all dressed in their best attire for a dinner with the new boss. I asked Amos to pick up the Byrnes and our new warehouse manager after he dropped us off. We were becoming a taxi service as well.

Marine House was all activity when we arrived. Jeb was waiting for me with his new builder friend and the builder's team. Grace Langdon still had her dressmaker in tow and wanted to corner me. The servants were all rushing around out back, preparing for the sudden invasion. Obviously, the head man had a slew of questions for me.

Good things did happen though. Amos’ new friend was a vision of true loveliness as she glided across the path and planted a delicate kiss on his cheek. Grace and her ladies had worked magic. I thought the boy was going to pass out on the spot. If he didn’t propose tonight he was an idiot.

She quickly turned from Amos and invited the captains' wives to join her in the sitting room. I overheard her introduce herself as the sub-princess Madeleine and companion to Lady Lucinda, Princess consort to the Second Prince of Botswana. Whatever it was about royalty titles, even if assumed, was enough to turn the captains' wives into complete adoring fans. It didn’t hurt that the girl was so pretty she made my heart ache.

I grabbed Amos by the arm and told him, "Go get cleaned up. If you don't propose to her tonight, I will. Clean up, check with Ms. Grace to ensure you are presentable, and say the right things."

I had to make sure Sheriff and Lucinda were on the same page as I. This match was great news if it came on its own. They were a bit young by modern standards but for the time it was appropriate. It was, however, another complication. I had not even considered what adding the ‘Gretzkys’ to our private compound would do. Since Amos knew everything, Madeleine would know everything soon as well.

Somehow, I just knew that this would turn out bad for me in some way.