My Mail Order Wife (The Value of a Man Book 1) Read Free Page A

that all African Americans or Negros arrived in America the same way, on a slave ship. The Cromwell’s, like John Pedro and others arrived at the shores of Virginia like many whites, as indentured servants. After working hard as a skilled tradesman, many of these servants earned their freedom and entered into a different class of socioeconomics that held no ideology of racial inequality.  Many of these men were free and owned land, voted and testified in courts. Others were teachers of industry and farming, instructing land and plantation owners how to grow rice and tobacco as they did in their own countries.
    The Cromwell’s were learned and skilled craftsmen who worked hand-in-hand with White landowners and businessmen.  Well-spoken and well respected, Elijah Cromwell opened one of the first trading posts in upper New York, selling grains and apple seeds to farmers as far west as Vermont. Since 1622, a Cromwell was a leader of the community.
    Fast-forward to the new millennia, and times had not changed.  Thurston Cromwell, a Harvard educated lawyer, teacher and political advocate for conservatism, married well.  He understood that there was new money, old money, and even older black money. His son, and namesake, also married well, although she was more new money than he would have preferred; they also produced fine sons and several daughters who married well.
    Thurston Cromwell the third was a different sort of bird who loved power.  The more he could muster, the better he felt.  Unlike his father and grandfather, he was not content to have his fair share; he wanted the lion’s share.  Under his direction, the family fortune quadrupled, which brought with it a different kind of power—political power. He was never one to stand in the limelight; he preferred to pull the strings from the background. He married a quiet woman of impeccable breeding and high station who had the personality of a wet noodle.  With no real presence nor a real voice of her own, she did as her husband instructed and even bore him three well-mannered children. Veronica, their daughter was married off to man of equal standing who had the disposition of a sad clown.  This led the way to the birth of four little sad puppets that continued the family line of following instructions.
    The second son, born with a high functioning form of autism, did not earn the moniker of Thurston the fourth and was often seen poking about the gardens on the estate of the upper New York home. In the winter months, he poked about the greenhouse, caring for his plants and flowers. Now in his mid-thirties, many in the family often envied Lawrence because he did not know any better, which made him the one true happy person in the whole clan.
    The younger son, now approaching 32 years of age, was a mover and shaker.  A man with his own mind, but tied to tradition and family. He followed instructions like those before him, whether he wanted to or not.  Thurston Cromwell the fourth was educated at Princeton and held an undergraduate degree in communication and advanced degrees in public administration and a Juris Doctorate from the Harvard School of Law. In him, his father saw opportunity. His father wanted him in Congress.
    With careful finesse and structuring, an internship was acquired for a young Thurston at the Republic National Committee.  With an impressive educational background and former editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, he was pulled into the fold with giddy anticipation.  In less than a year he had climbed in the ranks and in two years, he was the Head of Communications for the party. A political future was on the rise for him.  The scandal that loomed overhead for Congressman Owen was ideal for him to make his move.
    His phone rang.  It was his father, “Son, that Congressional seat is yours.  We just have to get your married before the campaigning starts.”
     
     
     

Chapter 4. She’s a what …?
     
    Thurston had