Saving Grace (The Grace Series Book 2) Read Free Page B

she would ever be able to forgive him. Trent had told her about it. While on a Klan raid, Jon committed murder. He’d killed a colored man.
    Had Emily been planning to marry someone other than her brother, Jessica would have cautioned her not to rush into it, like she so foolishly did. She would have advised her girlfriend to take plenty of time, to know her future spouse well, to have no doubts before the wedding. In Emily’s case, however, she didn’t need to say those things. Jessica knew her brother would do right by Emily. Trent may have only one arm, but he worked hard and would provide a comfortable home for her friend. There was only one thing about Trent that worried her. Like Jon, he was also a member of the Klan.
    Jessica had tried to get her brother to see the error of his ways, but she didn’t think their talks did much good. Emily, of course, knew of Trent’s involvement, and like Jessica, Emily wished he would quit. Emily’s reasons, however, were different than Jessica’s. Emily’s primary concern was that if the police found out, Trent would be arrested. Two years before, upon orders from the federal government, the Klan was supposed to have disbanded. Since then it was illegal to be a member. This was why the name was changed to the Sovereign Sons of the South, and why members were so secretive about being part of it now.
    The Klan was the reason it was imperative no one find out about Jessica’s school. Anything white people did to aid colored people was frowned upon, and it wasn’t unheard of for the Klan to prey upon those who did. They had proved that in their attack on the Reverend Sebastian Nash. He’d started a charity drive, gathering everything from clothes and food to medicine and building materials to distribute to the poor colored community. In addition, when the colored church was burned to the ground, leaving its parishioners with nowhere to worship, Reverend Nash invited them to his church. For his compassion and goodwill, he’d been maliciously beaten.
    Thankfully he recovered, but he would always bear the scars. Reverend Sebastian Nash was a good-looking man. He was tall and strapping, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and soft blond hair. His handsome face would forever be disfigured by the abrasive line cutting through his pale eyebrow.
    Emily was droning on about her future wedding plans. She wanted to wait until the summer, until Jessica’s baby was born. She wanted Jessica to be her maid of honor, as Emily had been for her. Of course Jessica agreed to this. She wanted to be there for her friend, and for her brother, and she wanted to take part in their very special day. Thoughts of the Klan, however, were still at the forefront of her mind. She said, “I think you should tell Trent you won’t marry him until he quits the Klan.”
    Emily’s smile faded. “I wish I could, but it’s not that simple, Jessie. There are some things about the Klan that are good and there are business relationships to consider. Not only that, they preserve peace. They fight for justice. The people they go after are bad people. They have to—”
    “Don’t you dare, Emily!” Jessica cut in. “Don’t you dare defend them. Don’t you dare let Trent brainwash you! You know what the Klan does is wrong. I don’t care if the people they go after are criminals, terrorizing them is wrong! Lynching people is wrong! What about justice for them? Do you ever think about them? What about their families? Their children? What I should do is turn Trent into the police. I should turn Jon in, too!”
    “No! Oh my goodness, Jessie, you can’t do that! Trent is your brother! Jon is your husband!”
    Emily looked so stricken, Jessica relented. As much as she’d thought about telling the police of Jon’s involvement in the Klan—and she’d thought about it often—she couldn’t. This was not because she cared for her husband, or because she worried about what would happen to her and the comfortable home