BooksBarbecue
Back The Woman in Red Save as PDF
Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Epigraph
  4. Prologue
  5. Part One
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Part Two
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Part Three
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. Thirty
  38. Thirty-One
  39. Thirty-Two
  40. Thirty-Three
  41. Thirty-Four
  42. Thirty-Five
  43. Thirty-Six
  44. Thirty-Seven
  45. Thirty-Eight
  46. Thirty-Nine
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Part Four
  51. Forty-Three
  52. Forty-Four
  53. Forty-Five
  54. Forty-Six
  55. Forty-Seven
  56. Forty-Eight
  57. Forty-Nine
  58. Fifty
  59. Fifty-One
  60. Fifty-Two
  61. Fifty-Three
  62. Epilogue
  63. Author’s Note
  64. Acknowledgments
  65. Discover More
  66. Reading Group Guide
  67. Discussion Questions
  68. ESSAY FROMDIANA GIOVINAZZO
  69. Antoinette’s Sister
  70. Chapter One
  71. Chapter Two
  72. About the Author
  73. Praise forThe Woman in Red

He took a deep breath and slowly let the air escape from his lips, puffing out his cheeks. “The Imperial army has made an offer.”

“Surely that should be good news.”

“I suppose.” He shrugged. “According to General Gonçalves, the new Imperial general is willing to pardon all Brazilian citizens.”

“Only citizens?” I sat back. “People such as myself and the landowners would be spared, but what about the others? The slaves?”

“The Imperial general made the terms of the offer very clear. Brazil will never free the slaves.”

My heart sank as I thought of Pedrina and her family. “But Rio Grande do Sul promised they would be free. What will happen to them?”

José sighed and looked away. “They’ll be sent back to their owners, who will probably kill them for running away in the first place.”

“What about you and Menotti?” I watched my husband gently rock our son in his arms.

He shrugged. “We aren’t citizens. Menotti, I am sure, would be fine, but the Brazilian government is no friend of mine. The official edict is that those who want to go back, who want to go home, will be free to do so. Those who choose to stay will do so of their own free will.”

“And what will happen to those who stay?”

“The Imperial army will not be merciful.” José went back to playing with Menotti.

“What are we going to do?”

José looked up at me. “I don’t know.”

A knot grew in my stomach. José always had an answer, a plan. If we stayed, we would be forced to fight a losing battle, but if we left we would have nowhere to go. And what of the freed slaves we had made promises to? José had insisted on their freedom as a condition of his involvement. I know my husband; he felt responsible for them. As irrational as it might be, he felt he had created the situation that caused them to be in limbo. If they were to die, the weight of their souls would rest on his shoulders.

José smiled up at me, and I stopped wondering what was going to happen tomorrow. So long as we were together we would figure out a plan together.

*  *  *

The Imperial army offer had its intended effect on our forces. Almost all of those who could leave did. The small number who stayed were those who were too stubborn to give up or who truly had nowhere else to go.