The Best Men 3: Man of Fantasy by Rochelle Alers

Author:Rochelle Alers [Alers, Rochelle]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, General, Contemporary, Fiction
ISBN: 9780373831647
Google: lXN7mAEACAAJ
Amazon: B002HJ1W5O
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2009-07-21T04:00:00+00:00

A silence ensued before she spoke again. “I wanted

more.”

“Have you achieved more?”

She smiled. “Most of it.”

Ivan angled his head. “How did your folks come to

settle in Beaver Run?”

“My parents are descendants of runaway slaves who

escaped to the North through the Underground Railroad. Daddy traces his family back to Virginia, and my mother’s folks came from Tennessee. Once they

crossed the Ohio River, they headed as far north as they

could to escape the patrollers who were paid a bounty

to bring back escaped slaves. I’d heard stories that some

of my relatives wanted to go to Canada, but they ran out

of food, so they settled in Beaver Run, where they hid

out in the cellars of abolitionists.

“Six months later Confederate forces fired on Fort

Sumter and the country erupted in civil war. Once the

war ended, many freed slaves migrated north, planning

to settle in Canada or other northern states. Some of

them drifted through Beaver Run, and when they saw

152

Man of Fantasy

people who looked like them working on farms or in

factories, they stayed and put down roots.”

“Do most Beaver Run African-Americans marry

each other?”

“A few do. The younger ones usually leave to go to

college, and if they decide to return, it is with a

husband or wife.”

“Is it the bucolic little town you see on postcards?”

Nayo smiled. “Yes. It has an elementary school, but the

junior- and senior-high students occupy the same building. Cheerleading, baseball and football rank up there in importance with history, calculus and chemistry. Halloween is a favorite time for kids—they really let loose.

Sweet-sixteen parties are the rage for girls, and getting a

driver’s license is a priority for the boys, even though

most of them learn how to drive as soon as their legs are

long enough to reach the pedals on a tractor. Thanks to

my parents’ restaurant, there are no fast-food joints.”

“Is there a Wal-Mart?” Ivan teased.

“Now you know there has to be a Wal-Mart. A new

strip mall went up about five miles out of town, and

some of the stores are giving Wal-Mart some serious

competition.”

“Are you saying if I go with you to visit your folks,

I won’t be able to get a Big Mac?”

“You can get one, but you’ll have to drive a few

miles.”

“What do you mean by a few? ”

Rochelle Alers

153

“At least twenty miles.”

“If there’s no traditional enclosed mall, what do

young kids do for fun?”

“When the strip mall went up, the family who owned

the movie theater moved their base of operation and

expanded to three screens, instead of the single screen,

so a lot more teenagers are going to movies.”

“Where do they hang out after they leave the theater?”

Ivan remembered that when he and Kyle got together

with Duncan, who’d take the subway from Brooklyn,

they would meet in Times Square to see a film. They

would then stop at a fast-food restaurant to eat; they

made certain to leave the area after nightfall, because

at that time Times Square was no place for anyone who

wasn’t a consenting adult. It wasn’t as if he could call

his parents to let them know the subway or bus was

delayed and he’d be home later than expected, unlike

nowadays when children were given cell phones as

soon as they learned to recognize numbers.

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