A Perfect Mistress (7 page)

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When Sophie opened her eyes, it was dark and her mouth was dry. Her head ached almost beyond bearing, and she let out a little moan. She started violently when a hand touched her face.

“
Shhh
!” said an urgent voice. “She’ll hear me. Here, take a sip of water.”

A hand helped her raise her head, and Sophie gulped down a drink.

“Not so fast, you’ll be sick.”

Sophie recognized the voice – it was Claire, the little
maid
, only
twelve
years old, the one Delia planned to…her stomach roiled, and she gagged.
Claire patted her back and gave her another sip. Sophie rested her head against the child’s thin shoulder, and tried to force herself awake.

“Mrs. Ferguson warned me, and I only pretended to
drink what she gave me. I pretended to
get sleepy
, too
. She put me in here with you, and Mrs. Ferguson has sent a message to her sister. She’s waiting outside for us, in the alley. We have to get away, Miss Sophie.
I waited for you to wake up. I didn’t want to leave you here with her.” Her voice was insistent, and she tugged on Sophie’s shoulder. “She’s not right. Mrs. Ferguson is leaving, too.
She’s
going to sneak out and never come back here.
We’re
going to have to go out the back way. ”

“I think I can do it,” Sophie whispered. “Just…just give me a minute.”

“I’m so afraid,” Clair
e whispered, and her voice was taut with fear.
“I’m so afraid
that
she’ll catch us and my folks will never know what happened to me.
I heard her talking to herself when I was supposed to be asleep. She has a man coming to pick us up later.
”

Sophie swung her legs over the side of the bed and the mattress rustled. She held her breath, and stood up with Claire’s help, leaning heavily on the child.

“The window,” she whispered. “We’re going to have to climb down the tree, Claire.
Otherwise
she will hear us. The stairs creak, and the doors all need oiling.
We’ll
never make it out without her hearing us.
I sometimes open my window at night for air, and I made sure it doesn’t squeak.
”

With Claire’s help, Sophie pried the window open, letting out a sigh of relief when the night air rushed into the room. She helped the child out onto the big limb that
she’d
been warning Delia needed cutting for months now, and laughed at the irony of it. If Delia had listened to her,
they’d
be stuck here – thank goodness Delia was so cheap with the household money. Her
eyes
burned and my throat ached as Sophie
threw one leg over the sill.
She
climbed out the window and down the tree
slowly, following Claire. She
hung by
her
hands from the lowest limb and dropped to t
he ground, so weak that she could barely stand. Claire helped her up, and urged her on to the alley behind the house.

It was
pitch black outside, and Sophie
stumbled. There were no stars, and the moon was a tiny sliver in the sky.

“Look!” Claire whispered. She pointed into the shadows. “There she is! She’s got my mother with her!”

She pulled Sophie with her into the alley, and
flew into an older woman’s arms.

“Hush, child, we don’t want to be heard
” the woman murmured, and
Claire was instantly silent. She hooked her arm through one of her mother’s and pressed against her side. When Sophie swayed, Claire’s mother
took Sophie’s arm, as well. “Bonita, help me with her. She’s all a-tremble.”

A small, round woman who looked
remarkably
like Mrs. Ferguson came and took Sophie’s other arm. “We’ve g
ot a wagon around the corner. Claire’s father is too ill to come, but his brother is waiting for us. Hurry now, Miss Sop
hie. My sister is already in the wagon waiting. We thought we might have to storm the house
.”

They half-carried her to the wagon and boosted her inside. She fell into Mrs. Ferguson’s embrace, and then the strain was too much for her. Sophie fainted dead away, while Mrs. Ferguson clutched her to her ample breast. The last thing she heard was Claire’s uncle clucking quietly to the horse and the harness jingling as they drove away.

Chapter Four

When Sophie opened her eyes, she was nose-to-nose with a little girl. The
child
, who
couldn’t
be more than two, giggled when Sophie smiled at her
and sat up
. She popped a thumb in her mouth and Sophie lifted a hand to ruffle her brown curls.

“Hello,” Sophie croaked.
Her mouth was parched, and Sophie thought longingly of cold, clear water.

“
Pwitty
.”
  The child reached out and snarled her hand in Sophie’s hair.

“Becca!” scolded a voice. “I told you to let her sleep.”

“
She
not
s’eepin
’,” said the child. “Look, Ma.
She awake.”

The woman swooped in and picked the child up, and she giggled and pushed her head into
her mother’s
neck. Sophie recognized the woman
now – it was hard not to, since she looked so much like her sister.

“
Bonita,
isn’t it?” she whispered. “Where is Mrs. Ferguson? And is Claire all right?” Sophie looked around. “I don’t remember anything after getting in the wagon.”

“Don’t fret yourself, child,” Bonita soothed
as Becca squirmed to get down
.
She put the child down, and she began to skip around the room, singing. Sophie smiled at her, and Becca clapped her hands and sang louder.

“
Hush, Becca!” said her mother. “Pay no attention to her, she’s just showing out for you.
Claire is with her parents, and
m’sister
Nancy
is in the next room. Claire’s uncle carried you
in
last night, and you never even stirred. We had the doctor ‘round, and he said just to let you sleep, that the laudanum would be in your system a day or two and we weren’t to worry if you didn’t come to for a while. He’ll be back later to look in on you again.”

“A day or two?
How long have I been sleeping?”

Bonita handed her a glass of water and
Sophie drank it down thirstily. My, that was good. She looked longingly at the empty glass, and Bonita filled it again
.

“It’s nearly dark again, child,” she said kindly. “I reckon it’s about 6 o’clock.”

“Jackson!” Sophie whispered. Her
heart fell to her feet.
He’ll
be thinking I’ve made up my mind
, she thought numbly.
He’ll
go to the house, and Delia will lie to him.
I’ll
never see him again
.

“I don’t even know where he’s staying,” she said
out loud
.

Bonita patted her hand.
“That’s your man?” she asked kindly. “The one you been
seein
’, and caused your sister to go so ...” She made a little
twirly
motion with her finger beside her head, and Sophie laughed despite herself. She nodded.

“Nancy told me ‘bout him, and she was
worrit
that crazy Delia would tell him a bunch o’ lies. We sent m’ youngest boy over to the park and he waited ‘til he saw him. Good thing
he’s got
that eye patch, or my Robert would never have found him. He said the park was full to
burstin
’ with dark-haired, handsome men.
Nancy and I are
goin
’ to dress up right smart and go there tomorrow.
” Bonita laughed and slapped her hips, and Becca laughed from the doorway
, not knowing what the joke was, but happy to join in all the same
. “He told him where you
was
, and
your fella
will be here to see you tomorrow
at one
o’clock, same time he was to meet you in the park
.”

“What about Delia?
She’s
gone mad, I’m afraid. We
can’t
let her go unpunished. What if she kidnaps a child and sells her, like she was going to do to Claire?”
And
me
, she thought.
Her own sister.

“You don’t worry about that,” Nancy Ferguson said from the doorway. “Claire and I visited the police this morning. They know all about her now, and she
won’t
get away with anything. She
was told
that you would be pressing charges when you were well,
along with
Claire and her parents.  Claire’s uncle says she was seen leaving the house
not an hour after the police visited
, carrying a valise
and hurrying like she was
goin
’ to a fire
.”

Sophie let out a glad cry and held out her arms, and Mrs. Ferguson rushed over to put her motherly arms around her. Sophie put her head on her shoulder and hugged her tight.

“I’m so glad
you and Claire aren’t hurt
. If it weren’t for you, both of us would be…”

Mrs. Ferguson patted her back as Sophie began to sob.

“It’s over now, Sophie.
Don’t
you worry about it anymore, you hear me? None of it was your fault. Your sister is mad, and that has nothing to do with you.”

“She said my father…my father…”

“It’s best to forget it,” Mrs. Ferguson said firmly
, and her sister made an approving noise
. “Let’s g
et you
cleaned up and get some food in your belly. Everything will look much brighter then, you’ll see.”

“Yes, indeed,” Bonita said.

Both sisters were staring at her in an identical manner, hands on hips. Sophie laughed
shakily
and brushed the tears from her face.
They were as alike as two peas in a pod.

“Yes, ma’am,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am,”
said Becca, and laughed gaily.

Mrs. Ferguson was right. Sophie
did
feel better when her stomach was full of good food. The world
didn’t
seem such an awful place, and while she certainly regretted that her sister had gone off without receiving any punishment at all, she couldn’t regret that she wouldn’t be involved in putting her in jail.

Robert had arrived, and he sat
shyly beside her, sharing the cookies his mother had given him with his sister and peeping at Sophie with big, brown eyes. He blushed when she smiled at him, and Sophie hid a
smile behind her hand. He seemed a sweet boy
, no more than twelve. He was either on a growing spurt or his mother
couldn’t
afford to clothe him properly, because his pants and shirt sleeves were
too sho
rt, leaving his bony ankles and wrists sticking out. Sophie would bet on the former, judging by how many cookies he ate
while he sat beside her
.

They sat talking quietly for a time, keeping the conversation light. Sophie
sat with Becca on her lap until her mother whisked her
away,
stating firmly that it was time for little girls to be in bed. Becca protested vigorously, but her mother had her way in the end.

“She’s a corker, that one,” Mrs. Ferguson said fondly. “Bonita has her hands full with her children.
They’re
a blessing to my sister, though – when her husband died last year, Robert and Becca were her salvation. Someone to focus on besides herself, you know. Her other two boys are grown and gone, and she needs these two right now.
She’s
had a hard road to hoe since Jimmy die
d, but you never he
ar
her complain. She
says
it’s
just
what has to be done, and there’s no sense in crying over it.
She takes in washing and Robert
here
hires out to the stables down the street.
“

“It’s a good job.” Robert ducked his head when Sophie looked at him. “Mr. Johnson pays me well. He says
I’m
a good worker.
He asks after
Ma
all the time, and
he’s
always sending something home with me. Last week, he gave me a big bundle of clothes to give to her.
I think
he’s
sweet on
her
, but she’s always telling me not to be silly, he’s just a nice man.
“