“My husband was born in Buckinghamshire.”
“So, he’s British?”
“Was.”
“Right. I’m sorry.”
“As long as he was alive, people left me alone.”
“And after he died?”
“I don’t have to tell you that a widow rarely enjoys the same protections as a married woman.”
She does not. It is positively primitive, the way Sally has witnessed her own rights and liberties slip through her fingers in the years since Robert’s death. “Some days, it feels like I don’t exist at all.”
Mrs. Cowley moves around the side of the bed and takes Sally’s hand. “It is hard being ignored.”
“Yes, I think that’s it,” she says, and she is surprised to feel her lower lip begin to tremble.
Mrs. Cowley opens her arms, and Sally is glad to lean into this unfamiliar woman’s embrace, to press her face against Mrs. Cowley’s shoulder and allow her tears to fall onto the well-worn cotton of her calico dress. Mrs. Cowley pats her back andshhhs her like a baby, and because it has been so long since anyone has taken care of Sally, the gesture makes her cry all the harder.
After a few minutes, her tears slow and she chokes out the words “It was like that in the theater, too.”
Mrs. Cowley waits patiently for Sally to continue.
“We couldn’t find Margaret, and Archie wouldn’t go back for her. Ithink that’s why the situation downstairs makes me so furious. That he should abandon her so completely, only to be able to make such an important decision about her future well-being. It’s not fair.”
“Very little is.” Mrs. Cowley pulls back to get a good look at Sally, then she pats her cheek affectionately. From her apron pocket, she removes a piece of letter paper folded into quarters. “Here.”
“What is it?” Sally asks as she unfolds the document, but the answer soon reveals itself.
Mrs. Archibald Campbell, of Richmond, broken leg
Mr. Alexander Scott, of Fauquier County, laceration, burns
Miss Maria Price, of Richmond, head injury
Mrs. Milroy Kimball, of Manchester, burns
Mrs. Charles Crump, of Hanover, burns
Mr. Norman Hargrove, of Petersburg, shortness of breath, burns
Mrs. Oliver Cousins, of Richmond, burns, sprain
Miss Winifred Harris, of Richmond, burns
Unidentified girl, burns
“Is this everyone in the house?” Sally asks.
Mrs. Cowley nods.
Sally’s eyes settle on the last entry. “That poor girl in Maria’s room. We still don’t have any idea who she is?”
Mrs. Cowley shakes her head. “Who could recognize her?”
It’s a fair question.
