The Untold Story of Mary Seymour

Chapter 44

"Paul, what are you doing here?" I asked as Paul walked past me as if I was invisible. I grabbed onto his arm and Paul finally looked at me, but I could see that he was frantic. "What is going on?" I asked again.

Paul shook his head as if to clear his head. His eyes flickered all over the pub as if he was searching for something. "I need to speak with Sam. Your brother said that he was here but he did not mention that you would be here as well."

I ignored his last comment and pointed to Sam behind him. "He is over there. Why don't you tell me is going on, Paul."

Paul pulled his arm out of my hand and walked further into the space. "I don't want to repeat myself." Sam looked up from his conversation at that moment to see Paul standing next to me. I could see that he was just as shocked as I was to see that Paul was not in Boston.

Sam quickly walked over to us and pulled Paul into a hug. "What are you doing here? Is everything okay back home?"

Paul pulled Sam away to the closest table and spoke in a whisper. "Everything was fine until Washington got word that England is sending over more troops as we speak. And as predicted, Howe is moving his troops to New York. You need to get this vote faster, Sam. We are out of time."

"The vote got postponed for another couple of days. We don't have all the votes we need to pass the declaration. It also needs to get written, Paul. I don't know what you think I could possibly do," Sam argued. I could see that he was getting frantic, and the only way that Sam could handle that was through anger.

"Before you two start arguing over this issue and drawing attention to yourselves understand that we still have time. It is going to take months to for the soldiers to arrive, and it will take a couple of months for Howe to formulate a strategy," I explained to the both of them. They looked down at me, considering what I had to say. "Sam, as soon as the voting is done you need to form a committee to write the declaration. Congress can't afford to wait around any longer."

Sam nodded, but Paul didn't look pleased with what I had to say. I chose to ignore his reaction and planned to talk about it later away from Sam.

"Mary, take Paul back to Franklin's. I am sure he will be okay with Paul spending the next couple of days with us. I need to get back to these men if we want their vote," Sam said to me. He addressed Paul next. "I think you should stay until the vote is passed. I plan on meeting with more of the delegates here tomorrow and I want you with me. You'll be able to help me convince them for their votes since you've been working alongside Washington."

Paul considered it for a moment. I knew that he would be reluctant to help Sam when all he wanted to do was get back to New York. It was exactly what Sam was considering after the battle at Bunker Hill. Paul sighed but nodded in agreement. "When you are done here, we need to meet to go over everything, Sam. I am here to talk with you, not men who only seem to care about themselves."

"Okay," Sam said. The two exchanged a look, and I could see that there was something more going on here than I was aware of. Sam looked back to the men who were once again waiting for him. "I need to get back to them. Paul I will come and find you when I get back, and Mary have a good night. Don't forget that I still think we need to talk about things."

I pressed my lips together, but nodded anyways. Paul and I said our goodbyes and left the pub. I watched as Paul observed the city, and I couldn't help but wonder how things were back home. "Are things back to normal in Boston?" I asked quietly. There was still some tension from my previous visit between us.

"I don't think things are ever going to go back to the way they were. Things have changed, Mary." He looked at me with such a cold stare, I knew automatically that he was not talking about Boston.