Band of Sisters (59 page)

Joshua’s appreciative chuckle was cut off by Maureen’s playful but reproving “Hush now!” But the moment she pushed his fingers away, she reconsidered and tucked hers back into his strong grasp.

Curtis gave Olivia his coat just before they slipped through the French doors.

Members of the circle smiled knowingly at one another, took up their purposeful and animated conversation, and discreetly turned from both blushing couples.

But from the corner of her eye, Maureen sensed more than saw the nearly imperceptible shift in her sister’s shoulders. She caught the momentary strain in her forced smile, the too-bright shine and flash of hunger in eyes that followed Olivia and Curtis through the glass doors. She saw Katie Rose blink—almost wince—as the latch clicked behind them, then quietly separate herself from the group of women and creep closer to the glass doors.

Maureen squeezed Joshua’s hand, bade him stay, and followed Katie Rose. She stopped just as she realized her sister’s mission, watched her lean against the doorframe, saw her spy as Curtis ushered Olivia through the early spring garden. As she stepped closer, Maureen, too, could see Curtis swipe his handkerchief across a low wrought-iron bench and carefully settle Olivia there. Framed by a budding purple and white wisteria, he knelt, taking Olivia’s hands in his own.

It was a beautiful but private moment, one that Maureen knew neither she nor Katie Rose should share. She reached out to chide her sister to come away when she saw Katie Rose lick her lips and swallow hard. Something in her younger sister’s vulnerability, in her all-consuming fascination with the scene before her, stayed Maureen’s hand. She watched Katie Rose’s reactions to Curtis’s upturned face—a face transformed into light by his love for Olivia. She saw the hunger in Katie Rose as Curtis’s lips moved, surely asking the all-important question, and as Olivia’s hands cupped her lover’s face.

Katie Rose swiped a renegade tear, and Maureen could wait no longer. She stepped closer and wrapped her arm around her sister’s waist, drawing her to her side.

“I’m glad for them—I am,” Katie Rose stammered.

“And so am I.”

“It’s just . . . it’s just that I want that too. I want someone to . . . And it’s what Emma really wanted. But she never had the chance—and what if . . . ?”

Maureen buried her face in her sister’s hair, whispering with a kiss, “We’re safe now, sweet Katie Rose. We’re safe, we’re loved, and we’ve all our lives ahead.”

But Katie Rose shuddered, her shoulders trembled, and the tears Maureen knew her younger sister had held back began to fall, a cleansing rain. Maureen held her close, praying silently for her spirit, willing strength into her fragile frame.

At last Katie Rose heaved a sigh, coughed, and breathed more evenly. Maureen kissed her forehead, then pushed damp tendrils from reddened eyes and wiped the face she loved with her handkerchief.

Katie Rose sniffed and drew a nearly clean breath before braving a wobbly smile, replete with the determined brightness Maureen longed to see. “We do.” She sniffed again, her arms encircling Maureen at last. “We’ve all our lives ahead.”

Caught suddenly in the fragility and wonder of that truth, Maureen felt her heart and smile swell until both breached their bounds—
We do! Thank You, Jesus!
—and embraced her sister in return.

I’d planned to write a historical novel about female immigrants who were hounded in the late 1800s by traffickers lurking near Castle Garden, New York—gateway to the New World—and members of the settlement house movement who came to their aid. I’d planned to include the story of Jacob Riis, his exposé of the extreme poverty found in New York City, and his crusade for change through rousing the social conscience of his time. But while I was busy making plans to tell a story, the Lord shaped a vision to ignite a cause dear to my heart.

I discovered that my agent, Natasha Kern, shared my passion for helping women and children caught in modern-day slavery. I learned that my editor, Stephanie Broene, was fascinated by Ellis Island and the immigrants who’d poured through those doors. And I learned through crusaders and research that today, in this twenty-first century, there are far more people trapped in bondage, more people exploited and enslaved in every way, than at the height of the transatlantic slave trade.

Remembering a challenge my son once made (“Why don’t you write about a current need?”), but without a story, I went to New York and sailed on the earliest morning ferry to Ellis Island. I read everything I could beg or buy, asked innumerable questions, and left on the last ferry of the day. I spent two days at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and three days trekking through the Lower East Side, taking multiple tours, loading my bag with books and emptying my wallet of their purchase price, in search of a story.

There were fascinating accounts at every turn, but none that bore my name, none that connected with the growing frustration in my spirit over the gross injustices I discovered—those taking place today and those recorded in the pages of history. The problem of human trafficking simply loomed too big. It was not enough to state the problem, to paint a picture of grief—there had to be an answer, at least the beginnings of an answer.

Finally I returned to my hotel room, weary but satisfied with the extent of my research. I trusted that once I’d rested up and read my bounty of materials, one of the many tales I’d heard would emerge in some new and fictionalized form in my brain. But morning after morning came, and the story didn’t. By the time my stay in New York was nearly at its end, I was on my knees to the Lord, begging that He show me what He wanted me to write.
Whatever it is, as long as it is Your story, that’s what I want and all I want.

Because I knew I’d be searching, I’d taken two books with me to the Big Apple: one that is my guide and stay—my Bible—and one that set my feet on the path to consecration of my life to the Lord many years before—Charles Sheldon’s book
In His Steps
. In between the books I write, there’s something profound and revitalizing about returning to the roots of my journey, about seeking again the place of Christ’s strength made perfect in my weakness.

It had been a number of years since I’d read
In His Steps
. It’s odd that I would have packed it in an already-full suitcase. But after days of walking the history-laden streets of New York and researching dozens of story angles to no avail, discouraged, I closed the door to my hotel room and picked up my age-old friend.

I wasn’t through the first chapter when I knew that this book embodied the only question that mattered about human exploitation or modern-day slavery or how we treat immigrants or, in fact, any other issue in life:
What would Jesus do?
It’s the only question that matters because in Him is the only place we find answers.

If we all truly do what Jesus would do, slavery will end. Jesus never exploited men or women. He never used children or child labor for ease or gain. He never bought or sold baby girls to fulfill the “bride needs” of one-child cultures favoring boys. He never bought or sold human organs or fetuses or body parts. He never lied to immigrants, never enslaved them, never threatened their families or their loved ones or their lives if they did not comply with His demands, never coerced or forced, never shamed or punished a single person into submission to His will. But in every way He set a moral compass, employed divine compassion to the brokenhearted and broken-bodied, and held to account any and all who victimized others.

Band of Sisters
is a mild story in the world of human trafficking and modern-day slavery. The realities are far more grim—at the time the story took place and certainly today. But I pray this is a voice—one voice—that evokes a platform for discussion.

If we unite, if we all raise our voices in a demand for change, we will create a clamor that can’t be resisted.

To see what other groups and individuals are doing to raise awareness and to learn how you can help create that change, please visit my website and connect to the links for sites fighting modern-day slavery and sites that are holding out a hand of hope and help. The opportunities are there. Dozens of organizations are in place. But “we, the people,” are desperately needed.

Let me know what you think and what you’re doing to help. I’d love to hear from you at
www.cathygohlke.com
.

Cathy Gohlke is the two-time Christy Award–winning author of the critically acclaimed novels
Promise Me This
,
William Henry Is a Fine Name
, and
I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires
, which also won the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year Award and was listed by
Library Journal
as one of the Best Books of 2008.

Cathy has worked as a school librarian, drama director, and director of children’s and education ministries. When not traipsing the hills and dales of historic sites, she, her husband, and their dog, Reilly, make their home on the banks of the Laurel Run in Elkton, Maryland. Visit her website at
www.cathygohlke.com
.

1. Why is Maureen so resistant to Joshua Keeton’s help at the beginning of the story? At what point does she start to realize that maybe his intentions aren’t malicious after all? What still keeps her from accepting his help? Have you ever wrongfully doubted someone’s intentions?
   
2. Olivia had misgivings about Drake from the beginning, even though she had no proof of her suspicions. Keeping in mind the social restraints of her day, do you think she was wrong not to confront Dorothy about him earlier? Have you ever been in a similar situation? Without giving too much detail, how did you handle it?
   
3. In his book
   The Three Musketeers
   , Alexandre Dumas made famous the line “All for one, one for all.” Douglas Wakefield kept the literary trio (busts of the three musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis) in his study. Do you see a relationship between the philosophy of these characters and the way in which Douglas Wakefield lived his life? How did Olivia and Dorothy understand and embrace their father’s philosophy?
   
4. Much of the distance between Maureen and Katie Rose is initially due to assumptions they’ve made about each other. What other conflicts and misunderstanding arise as the story progresses to drive them further apart? As the elder sister, should Maureen have handled these situations differently? Do you think it would have made a difference?
   
5. In the midst of her conflict with Katie Rose,
   Maureen thinks
   ,
   You’ve made a god of your fear and jealousy, Sister. For what is a god but what we go to again and again?
   Do you agree that Katie Rose has made a god of her negative feelings? Have you ever found yourself returning again and again to a similar “god”—whether a person, achievement, emotion, etc.?
   
6. When Olivia expresses doubts about using her love of writing,
   Curtis asks her
   , “Why would God gift you with a love of something—and an ability, I have no doubt—unless He intended for you to use it?” Do you agree with his perspective? Have you seen God bring connections between your abilities and His purposes for your life? Are there passions you possess that haven’t yet found an outlet?
   
7. Do you think most of the women in the Ladies’ Circle grasped Olivia’s early challenge to ask, “What would Jesus do?” in every situation? If not, what initiated the change, and what factors influenced their decisions about what to do? What do you think about accepting the same challenge? How would it change your life?
   
8. Many characters in
   Band of Sisters
   struggle with issues of social justice and how to personally address them. Do you? How do you think the Lord looks at issues of social justice, and why? Are there Scriptures, Bible stories or principles, or other factors that help you draw your conclusion?
   
9. It has been reported that the number of humans trafficked in its many forms today is greater by far than the number trafficked at the height of the transatlantic slave trade. Does that surprise you? Discuss the various forms of modern-day slavery and human trafficking of which you are aware.
   
10. The characters in
    Band of Sisters
    operated within the legal and (sometimes) social restrictions of their time and within the opportunities they perceived as theirs. In what ways did they use their influence and opportunities to create change? (Consider the women in the circle, the immigrants, the women working at Darcy’s, Curtis, Joshua.) What opportunities do we have that the characters didn’t? In what ways can we influence change on a local, national, or global level to end slavery?
    
11. Among some of the women in the circle there was an attitude that the poor bring their poverty, abuse, and exploitation on themselves and that they should be grateful for whatever they receive from benefactors. The women also expressed fears or reservations about bringing the poor into their lives and homes. Have you ever shared feelings like these? If so, why? After reading and discussing
    Band of Sisters
    , have your views changed?
    
12. How did Jesus respond to women who were caught in forms of bondage or were hurting or broken? Consider the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5); the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4); the woman accused of wasting valuable spikenard to anoint Jesus rather than selling it to give to the poor (Matthew 26); Martha and Mary at the death of Lazarus (John 11); Mary Magdalene, from whom seven devils were cast (Mark 16, John 20). Can you think of other examples that display God’s heart toward women?
    
13. Once men, women, or children are freed from slavery, they often need help to heal and adjust to society. What organizations do you know of in your community to help support these individuals? What needs continue? How can you personally contribute?
    
14. Do you believe the church has a responsibility in working to end modern-day slavery? Why or why not?
    
15. How did the men in
    Band of Sisters
    reflect the worth of the women around them—both positively and negatively? What are some examples you’ve witnessed of the ways men value or demean women? How can we (men and women) help to encourage the boys in our lives and communities toward healthy perspectives on women?