Rose's Pledge by Dianna Crawford, Sally Laity Page A

providing the needed care for her new owner’s sickly wife? Please take care of both my sisters, Father …and please hasten the day when we’ll be together again .
    The trail broadened, and Robert the Bruce Bloom moved alongside Rose on his sleek black horse. Strange, he appeared every inch as much the savage as Smith’s Indians, yet he seemed as endearing to her as her youngest brother, Tommy. With skin several shades deeper than a white man’s, his features were pleasant, his form tall, lean, and honed. Since he and Mr. Kinyon had joined the party, one or the other would ride next to her whenever space allowed, each regaling her with exploits that outshone his partner’s.
    As Mr. Bloom approached, Rose planned to take charge of the conversation. His civilized ways fascinated her, and she wanted to learn more about his unusual past.
    “Miss Harwood.” He greeted her with a broad grin.
    She started right in. “Mr. Bloom. I’d like to ask you something, if I may.”
    “What is that?” Concern furrowed his dusky brow, making his dark brown eyes appear almost black.
    To put him at ease, she offered him a small smile. “I’m curious regarding your parents. Having just arrived from across the water, I’ve never had occasion to meet someone with your background.”
    His smile fell flat. “You mean about me bein’ a half-breed?”
    “Not at all. That term hardly describes your heritage. You’ve actually had the advantage of having parents from two different continents …a man of two worlds.”
    His jovial grin reappeared, and he sat straighter in the saddle. “That does have a more pleasurable ring to it.” He paused then continued. “My ma was captured and sold as a slave when she was young, and my pa took it on hisself to marry up with her an’ take her to live on his farm. So you’re right about the two worlds. Trouble is I never feel like both my feet are welcome in either one, an’ no matter where I go, seems part of me’s left on the outside.”
    Rose gave a light laugh. “I know exactly what you mean. From the moment I stepped foot on this continent I’ve felt as if neither of my feet is touching solid ground. In my wildest girlhood dreams, I never expected to be here in the colonies, let alone find myself traversing a wilderness trail to an unknown destination.”
    “You came as a surprise to us, too.” He chuckled along with her. “It’s different with me an’ Nate, though. His pa’s place bordered ours, so him an’ me grew up together as boys, playin’ together, fishin’ together, best friends. I even had me some schoolin’ along with him. When we go out on our own, explorin’ some new piece of country, my feet’s jest where they wanna be. A’course, there was a spell when the two of us was separated for some years, when Ma run off with me back to her own people.”
    “Mercy. I’m sure going to a whole new world must have been difficult for a young lad.”
    He shrugged a shoulder. “Not too bad. They was more willin’ to accept my English blood than the white man was my Indian side. I got used to bein’ looked down on or just plain ignored by folks. But I had some catchin’ up to do with Ma’s people, learnin’ to hunt with a bow an’ such. A lot of their ways seemed strange. Pa’s Presbyterian teachin’s pulled one way and theirs the other.”
    “I can understand that.” But she wanted to know more, so she plunged on. “How were you able to reconcile the two different teachings?”
    He laughed. “If you’d a’knowed my pa, you wouldn’t ask that. When I was near sixteen, I came back out to see how him an’ Nate was doin’, an’ Pa wouldn’t let up on me till he set me straight. He took down his big ol’ Bible ever’ night an’ read it out loud at the supper table after we finished eatin’. An’ once when that preacher Reverend Whitefield come through our town, Pa drug me to the meetin’ place to hear him. That Reverend Whitefield was one powerful