Yellow Wife(47)

“Pheby,” he called to me. “Come, this one loves a good whipping. Give her a slap on the old arse.”

I tried to hide the disgust from crossing my face as the other three women appeared at my side. David rose from his seat and beckoned to Helen.

“Ladies, you ever see a good arse whipping? This one likes it rough,” he slurred.

Silas stood and smoothed out his jacket. “We had better go. It is getting late.” He reached for Corrina.

Hector followed his lead. “Thank you for a very nice evening.”

“Where are you going, boys? We are just getting started.” The Jailer turned the girl loose and she scurried from the room. “The night is young. We have not had our cigars.”

“Next time.” Hector shook his hand.

Abbie gathered everyone’s things and stood at the door with Tommy to hand them out. The women bid me goodbye, and then followed their men across the courtyard. When they were all gone, I burst.

“Why would you do that?”

“Do what?” he roared.

“Bring them in here. Tonight of all nights. I thought we were celebrating our daughter. This is not the tavern. It is our home.” I had spoken without thinking of the consequences. And now I braced myself to be slapped. But he just grinned.

“All in the name of fun. Get the stick out of your arse, would ya?”

I was spitting mad. This was my first attempt at friendship. Being with women who understood my experience of the last year and a half, and he’d ruined it with his crude ways. I turned to go.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to nurse the baby.” He pushed up from his seat, grabbing my arm and pulling me back toward him.

“Do not turn your back on me.”

“That hurts.”

“You do not do that.” His face shifted.

The two girls in the hall flinched at his tone. I then recognized the one with the gray eyes as the girl who’d sat on his lap in the tavern. The baby started to whine.

“Would you rather she starve?”

He let me go with a jerk. I marched down the hall to the nursery and slammed the door. July rocked Hester.

“Unhook me from these things!” I cried out. July fumbled with my hooks and ties and released me from the dress. I was in my chemise and bloomers when Hester found my breast. Monroe placed his head on my lap. Though I was trying to make peace with my fate, I was reminded again that the Jailer was an uncouth animal. It took everything in me to calm down. I stayed in the nursery with the children until they were in a deep sleep before taking the back stairs.

When I reached the landing, his bedroom door was slightly ajar. As I passed, I heard the springs of his mattress, so I glanced through the gap. That is when I saw him with the cat-eyed entertainment bent over the side of the bed. His hands cupped her dark breasts as he pounded into her flesh. I moved quietly to my room. Moments ago, I’d been the mother of his firstborn, mistress of the jail; now I was reduced to the woman across the hall while he bedded another. I placed a chair against my door to bar him from entering, then searched for sleep.





CHAPTER 21




Sissy

The entertainment had a name: Sissy. Where she came from or when she had arrived I did not know. Hard not to picture him plucking her off the auction block in the same fashion he had me. Three days after the dinner party, he moved Sissy into the room above the tavern. A small space but private, one that she did not have to share. Her new jobs included working alongside Elsie, boiling the laundry, canning vegetables, and passing out the meals to those in the holding pen. Given her promotion, I spent several days worrying over my status as mistress of the jail. Even though I did not love the Jailer, I suffered through our arrangement for the safety of my children, and I could not let another woman threaten my position, not until I figured out a way to get them to safety.

On my shopping day, I ran into Corrina at Thalhimer’s buying dry goods. She convinced me to stop with her at the bakery. Over tea and crumpets, I confided my fears surrounding Sissy.

Corrina brought her eyes to mine. “You have given him a daughter white as snow. His allegiance is to you. Sissy is nothing more than his black concubine; all men have one or two. Even though white men do not consider us women fully human, they cannot stop lusting for our flesh.” She took a deep breath. “Rest assured, you are his prized yellow wife. Just make sure she respects you and knows her place.” I carried Corrina’s words with me from the bakery like armor and shield.

The servants and I had been attending the First African Baptist Church regularly. I still could not take either of my children from the jail. This week Abbie stayed back and Basil was permitted to go. The next week someone else would be on rotation. When we gathered in the courtyard, I noticed that Sissy had joined us for the first time.

“Morning,” she said without looking at me, then went and stood out of view behind Elsie, as far away from me as possible.

We passed through the front gate and made our procession to the church. Basil was the closest person to me, probably ordered to protect me. I had not exchanged pleasantries with Basil often, but he wore his devotion to the Jailer in his posture, always anticipating his next need and moving when told. He had been walking slightly behind me, and I slowed until we were side by side.

“Basil.”

“Miss Pheby.” He kept his eyes on the ground.