The old woman who came to the door wore her gray hair in a single long braid that was draped over her shoulder, a woolen shawl wrapped around her in the cold autumn night. “What do you want, child?”
I looked behind me, afraid of who might be following. I licked my lips, dry from my escape. “You must help me. I’ve…I’ve heard you can help me take care of…things.”
She stepped aside and beckoned me in. “You shouldn’t say such things aloud.”
My hands shook as I held them up, pleading. “Please, you don’t understand. I can’t have it. It’s evil. You must take it.”
“Evil?” the woman repeated. “How can it be evil?”
“Please, just help me before he finds me,” I begged.
She studied me for a long moment then sighed. “I know who you are,” she said. “Your husband and father are very powerful men. If they find out what I’ve done for you…
“They won’t!” I swore. “Please.”
She had just turned to a cabinet filled with bottles and vials when a horse approached, hoofbeats drumming the ground, harness clinking. I whimpered, my fear and desperation flooding me with panic.
Frowning, the woman turned back to the door and then sent me a disapproving look. “Did you lead him straight here?” she demanded. She pulled back a ragged blanket that served as a curtain to reveal a small bedroom. “In here.”
I rushed toward the room, but before I could hide, the front door flew open so violently, it slammed the wall, rattling the glass on the shelves.
My eyes widened with panic as my father strode into the cabin, his eyes blazing with fury.
“Get out of the way, witch!” he barked.
The woman stepped in front of me. “Your daughter is a grown woman,” she said evenly. “You have no right to be here.”
His face flushed darker. “No right? Her husband demanded that I return her or our arrangement is forfeit. Andhehas every right to prevent your hellish interference.”
She laughed, not the least intimidated by my father. “You men,” she said, shaking her head. “You treat your women like chattel, to be bought and sold at your whim, and then demand they bear your children without a thought of the cost.” She laughed again, the sound mocking and angry. “Well, when it suits you, anyway. You are the worst of hypocrites, Fairland Dawes. On Sunday, you’ll rant against the help I provide, and then on Monday bring your mistress to my door.”
Ignoring her, my father shoved her aside and seized my wrist, dragging me toward the door. I pulled against his hold, casting the woman a silent plea for help, but she could only look on with a sorrowful expression.
When he delivered me to my husband’s home, Josef wasn’t there to greet me. Instead, he’d sent his women—those whose beds I knew he visited on the nights he didn’t come to mine. They had been nothing but cruel to me since my arrival, eager accomplices to my husband’s demands.
They dragged me up the stairs to my room and locked me in. I don’t know how many days passed—one? two? I was weak from hunger and sorrow when Josef entered. He stood at the door, his hands clasped behind his back, and glared at me for several minutes in disapproving silence.
“You clearlydo not care to be in this house with me,” he finally said, his tone flat, emotionless. “I am therefore returning you to your father’s. You will have the baby there. The child will then be delivered to me.”
I stared at him, unable to speak, not knowing what to say. Finally, I whispered, “What will you do with me?”
His brows lifted. “Do with you? Nothing. You were never anything to me. Your father may dispose of you how he will.”
“Dispose of me?” I breathed. “What do you mean?”
“I will have the others pack your things,” he said, ignoring my question. “A servant will take you to your father. I want nothing more to do with you.”
“I know who you are,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “You have everyone fooled, but I know. And I will tell anyone who will listen!”
He said nothing, merely turned and closed the door behind him.
“I know!” I screamed after him. “You evil bastard! Iknow!”
My eyes snapped open at the sound of breaking glass. I bolted upright and scanned my room. Not seeing anything to explain the noise, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and hurried into the hall to search the rest of the apartment. I peeked into Henry’s room first. He slept soundly, hugging his new teddy bear tightly, completely undisturbed.
I then went to the bathroom and flipped on the light.
The mirror had been smashed, shards of shattered glass scattered on the sink and floor. Only one triangular piece still clung to the mirror’s backing.
