Tale of A Widow

Laurens Interlude

I may not live to see our glory.

"What...?" Laurens murmured with squinted eyes as he tried to make sense of the scene in front of him. Jefferson and Madison's eyes widened, knowing what this was.

Alexander? There's a letter for you from South Carolina.

Why is it such a big thing? Laurens wondered.

But I will gladly join the fight.

It's from John Laurens
I'll read it later

No. It's not

It was clear Esperanza's actress was struggling with this song. Hamilton's heart dropped into his stomach, knowing what that meant as well as Esperanza's actress' reaction to this.

And when our children tell our story

Will you read it?

Everyone's eyes widened as they realised what this meant. Washington noticed Mulligan's actor as well as Lafayette's actor appear on the overhead section of the stage with pieces of paper in their hands as Esperanza's actress started to read it.

"On Tuesday the 27th, Lieutenant Colonel
John Laurens was killed in a gunfight
against British troops in South Carolina
These troops had not yet received word
from Yorktown that the war was over.
He's buried here until his family
can send for his remains.
As you may know, Lieutenant Colonel
Laurens was engaged in recruiting 3,000
men for the first all black military
regiment. The surviving members of this
regiment have been returned to their
masters."

"No," Hamilton whispered, tears clearly streaming down his cheeks as Lafayette held the man close to him, also crying at the news of one of his close friends' death. Laurens quickly moved and hugged Hamilton, holding the two crying men close to him as his own tears trickled down his face. Mulligan soon joined them, allowing himself to sob.

Aspen was holding on to Es as she sobbed. For some reason unbeknownst to Es, she felt utter sorrow and grief wash over her at the news of this random man's death. Washington was kneeling on the floor beside her, gently taking the sobbing child into his arms and holding her close. He was immediately reminded of when Lillianna and Daniel had passed away to that dreaded illness, how he would have to hold her at night until she fell asleep because of the fear of being taken away from her family like her siblings had.

"You're okay," Washington murmured gently, kissing the top of Es' head. "Laurens isn't dead yet, we still have a chance to save him." Es nodded as Laurens pulled away from the three men and crouched beside the general, taking Es into his arms and holding her close. For a moment, he felt as if he were holding Esperanza in his arms after they had found out Alexander had had that affair with Susan Lee.

"I'm right here," he whispered softly, holding the 10-year-old close. Soon enough everyone had calmed down and sat back down, Laurens keeping a still distraught Es with him.

Tomorrow there'll be more of us...

Alexander. Are you alright?

I have so much work to do.

No, don't throw yourself into your work as a distraction, please, Alex, Laurens begged silently. Hamilton knew what his future self was doing, throwing himself into his work as a distraction instead of facing it. It's what he always did when faced with the death of a loved one. Hopefully, one day, that habit fades since it's unfair to Esperanza to do that.