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said …”
    Nicole pulled from his grasp, and Henri fell in step beside her. The night seemed to press in from all sides, so full of memories and heartache that the air itself seemed too heavy to breathe. Henri worked his chest like bellows and found the strength to say, “They told us there was nothing they could do about the madness sweeping the English. Nothing except help to save this one French baby. It was their act of peace, their small voice crying against the wilderness of war.”
    â€œOh, Papa.” Her face was luminous in the moonlight.
    â€œAll you need to know about your English parents, Nicole, is that they are the finest people on God’s earth.” The night seemed reflected in his daughter’s eyes, like starlight upon the Vermilion waters. “Though we have had no word from them in eighteen years, still I count them among my closest friends.”
    Nicole began walking again. “You wrote them?”
    â€œSo many letters. Through every contact we could muster. We even asked the family I worked for in Charleston to write on our behalf to the garrison commander at Fort Edward, and even to the military chief in Halifax. No answer was ever received. None. We are certain the letters did not arrive. We have heard the same from so many others of our people. Letters sent and never answered. It is an additional price we still pay to ensure our banishment.”
    â€œEnglish,” Nicole whispered. “I am English.”
    â€œYou are both,” Henri prompted. “You are French, more Acadian than most of those who claim the right by blood. But, yes, your first parents were English. Are English, as I can only hope your father survived.”
    â€œYou think he might have died?”
    â€œOf one thing I am so certain I know this in my bones, daughter. Andrew Harrow would never have taken up arms against the peaceful villagers of Minas or anywhere else. What may have happened to him for disobeying such an order, I am afraid to even guess.”
    â€œPapa, why did you not tell me all this until now?” The pain in her voice carried far more weight than the words themselves.
    Henri sighed deeply. “Yes, my beloved Nicole,” he began, “you have every right to wonder about that.” He paused for a moment. “In those earliest days of our banishment, only a handful of our closest family members knew at all. And the danger from the English did not cease when we were expelled. So your English roots were a carefully guarded secret. The danger of this becoming common knowledge was not simply to us but to our whole clan. During our years of wandering, the danger continued.”
    Henri paused again to search Nicole’s face. “When we settled here, your mother and I were also settled in our hearts. God had given us a peace and an acceptance of His will that led us to feel He would show us the right time and place to tell you.” With his tone as gentle as he could make it, Henri finished, “And we believe that has happened.”
    Henri could hear Nicole’s deep sigh. She did not speak but turned to walk on.
    They continued to where the village ended and the lane joined the trail north to Opelousas. Silently they turned back. Before them the houses glowed with candles and fires, the lights soft and yellow and welcoming. Henri felt his heart swell with thanks for the gift of a place to call his own. He murmured, “Home.”
    Nicole sighed again beside him and whispered a word of her own, disbelief still edging her voice. “English.”

Chapter 4
    The ball in Halifax was intended to be in his honor. Charles had no choice but to attend. He stepped from the governor’s carriage, nodded in response to the honor guard’s noisy salute, and climbed the steps to the governor’s mansion. The house was a rather grand affair relative to the rest of the colony, stone and stalwart. So was the ball, full of swirling gowns and