Antebellum BK 1 (29 page)

Amid the applause, Carlotta folded her umbrella and the three women began working their way through the crowd toward Pennsylvania Avenue. “Odd that he would invoke the name of God in his speech after he refused to swear his oath on the Bible,” Carlotta said.

“
Jane must have insisted on the affirmation,” Nancy replied, referring to the new First Lady. “She is nearly mad with grief and thinks that God took Bennie from them as punishment for her husband’s acceptance of the nomination.”

“
Nearly mad?” Carlotta said. “That sounds as if she’s gone completely around the bend.”

“
I should think that there’s no pain greater than losing a child,” Anna suggested.

“
That would be especially true for poor Jane, who has already lost her other children,” Nancy added.

Carlotta was looking up and down the street. “Where is our carriage?”

Nancy pointed to an empty space at the curb. “I’m certain that we left it right there. The constables must have made the driver move to a park. There’s no telling which, unless we do a lot of walking, and Anna’s not dressed for that.”

Carlotta looked both ways again. “We’re only a few blocks from the Willard. We could walk there so Anna could change into something warmer.”

“
Good idea,” Nancy said.

“
I’ll ask the concierge to send a boy to find your carriage,” Anna added. “We can have something warm to drink in the dining room while we wait.”

“
Why didn’t you dress warmer?” Nancy chided.

“
This is the only coat I brought with me from New Jersey,” Anna said. “But it’s my legs that’re cold – even though I’m wearing so many petticoats that I feel a hundred pounds heavier.”

“
Stockings and flannel drawers are the solution,” Carlotta said. “Petticoats are no help in a wind. Three pairs of long stockings and flannel drawers. That’s the ticket.”

They had walked a little more than a block and were passing an alley between two nondescript brick buildings when a young black woman burst into the alley and ran toward the street. She was nearly halfway to the sidewalk when four men appeared and raced after her. They caught and knocked her to the ground at Carlotta’s feet.

“
Unhand that woman, you fiends.” Carlotta swung her umbrella like a bludgeon, striking at one man after the other until the umbrella began to disintegrate.

“
This ain’t no woman,” one of the men protested, covering his head. “She’s a runaway slave.”

“
I ain’t,” the woman squealed. “I is free. But they’s tryin’ to take me south and sell me.”

Nancy had overcome her shock and started toward the fray, but she stopped suddenly to look at Anna who had pulled the hem of her dress up to clamp it under her chin while she struggled to capture her petticoats in her arms. “What in the name of God?” Nancy exclaimed.

“
I have a gun,” Anna grunted. “In my garter.” She groped toward her thigh with her right hand but her skirt and petticoats fell to her ankles again. “Help me, damn it.”

Nancy dropped to her knees and groped under Anna’s dress, then with a squeal of triumph turned and fired a shot over the men’s heads. “Back off, you blaggards. I’m not likely to miss at this range.” She stood up slowly and aimed the Derringer at first one man and then another.

The four men got to their feet. “You’re goin’ against the law, Ladies. This here slave is private property.”

“
I ain’t,” the woman protested.

“
We’ll call the police and let them decide,” Anna shouted at the men.

The men looked at one another, but none spoke up.

“
That’s what I thought,” Anna said. “Get out of here or my friend is going to open fire.”

After another moment of indecision, the spokesman stood up and trotted back down the alley with the other three men close behind him.

“
What good is a pistol if you can’t reach it when you need it?” Nancy asked.

“
About as good as one with no bullets,” Anna replied.

“
What?” Nancy looked at the little gun.

“
It’s a single shot.” Anna took the pistol back and put it in her coat pocket. “It was useless after you fired that warning.”

Carlotta had helped the young black woman to her feet and was holding her in a tight embrace. “See if you can hail a cab. I’ll take her to my place.”

“
The Willard’s right there.” Anna pointed.

“
They’re not going to let us bring a colored girl into the Willard,” Carlotta replied.

“
Just let me go,” the girl said. “I knows a man that can get me back up north.”

“
They’ll have you as soon as we’re out of sight,” Nancy replied.

“
We’re never going to get a cab,” Anna said. “Keep walking toward the Willard and I’ll run ahead and get her some clothes.” She took off her coat and gave it to the girl. “There’s a gun in the right pocket. It’s empty but it might scare those men away if they come back.”

~

It was almost midnight. Anna and Nancy were sitting cross-legged on the bed in Anna’s bedroom at the Willard playing honeymoon bridge. “One spade,” Nancy said.

“
I already bid one no trump,” Anna grumbled.

Nancy threw her hand down. “I’m too tired to play. I quit.”

Anna began gathering the cards. “I still don’t think I can sleep. I keep remembering how close that girl was to being sold into slavery.”

“
Would you like me to sleep here tonight instead of in my room?” Nancy asked.

“
If you don’t mind. Having you with me is always comforting.”

Nancy got off the bed, took off her robe and turned back the bedcovers. “You know that girl was probably lying, don’t you?”

“
About what?”

“
About being free.” Nancy got into bed and pulled the blankets up to her chin. “From her manner of speech, I’d bet that she was really a runaway.”

“
It hardly matters.” Anna put the cards away and began extinguishing all the lamps.

“
It matters legally,” Nancy argued. “If she
was
indeed a runaway, we broke the law.”

“
I can live with it.” Anna got into bed and turned down the bedside lamp until it was little more than a glow.

Nancy giggled.

“
What?”

“
I was thinking about Carlotta beating those men with her fancy silk umbrella.”

Anna chuckled. “Imagine being a pedestrian walking by while you were groping under my dress.”

Nancy cackled. “You’ll have something to tell your grandchildren.”

“
Grandchildren?”

“
Yeah. Grandchildren. Quincy’s a grown man. You could be Grandmother Anna at any given moment.”

“
What a cruel thing for you to say.”

“
Cruel but true.”

“
You’ll never be a grandmother.”

“
Thank God.”

“
Really?”

“
No,” Nancy admitted. “I wish I’d had children.”

“
It may not be too late.”

“
Who do you have in mind?”

“
My brother Robert,” Anna replied.

“
You’ve been pushing us at each other for twenty years.”

“
It was a good match twenty years ago and just as good now,” Anna said.

“
Maybe,” Nancy said after a moment.

“
Really?”

“
Good night, Anna.”

“
Good night, Nancy.”

March 10, 1853

Washington, D.C.

S
enator Samuel P. Rucker of Missouri shook his head. “I am very flattered, Mrs. Van Buskirk, but I am not the man that you have taken me for.”

“
Then please accept my apologies, Senator,” Anna replied.

He looked into her eyes. “You are an extremely attractive woman. What made you stoop to such a tawdry scheme as this?”

“
I saw you here when last I visited Doña Carlotta on business and I thought… Well, I thought that we both had physical needs and no healthy way to satisfy them.”

He sat back in his chair. “I see. Perhaps you are unaware that this establishment is a gentlemen’s club, not a bordello.”

“
Perhaps you are unaware that the upper two floors are in fact a bordello,” she said sharply.

“
That is not illegal or unusual in Washington.”

“
I suppose not.” She got to her feet. “Once again, I apologize.”

“
Wait.” He caught her wrist. “Sit down a moment. Please.”

Anna sank back into the chair with a sigh.

Rucker kept a gentle grip on her wrist. “Have you done this sort of thing before?”

“
Certainly not,” she said indignantly. “And I assure you that I shall never do it again. I am so utterly humiliated that I am considering putting an end to it all.”

“
There, there.” He caressed her hand. “Nothing is that bad.”

“
That’s easy for you to say.” She pouted. “You still have your dignity.”

“
I handled the situation clumsily and I regret it.”

“
It wasn’t your fault.”

“
Yes it was. To be perfectly honest with you, Mrs. Van Buskirk, I was unaware that a woman might have the same needs as a man and your comment unbalanced me momentarily. I had heard rumors, of course, but never had them confirmed by any member of the gentle sex.”

“
Oh surely a man of your intellect and experience doesn’t believe that Victorian claptrap that only men enjoy lovemaking.”

“
Well, neither of my wives enjoyed it.” He thought a moment. “Or perhaps that was my fault.”

“
They may have been hiding their enjoyment if they thought you wouldn’t approve.”

He looked dubious. “I pray that you are incorrect.”