by Afton Locke
“What happened to you?” Rose demanded.
Mary lifted a shaking hand to her mouth and gasped for air. When she showed no signs of recovering, Rose jiggled her arm.
“Are you all right? Would you like some water?”
She tugged at the neck of her nightgown. The lace around it was all but unraveled to shreds. Whatever anger Rose brought into this room evaporated as she watched the wreckage before her. This couldn’t be an act. Mary had clearly suffered some horrible tragedy. She squeezed her hand in silent apology for doubting her.
“I-I was raped,” she finally said.
By the sight of her, Rose believed it. “Not by Leroy.”
Mary rested her hands on the covers and looked down at them. “No.”
Rose jumped off the bed in agitation. “Then why did you tell everyone he did? They’re about to hang him.”
The other girl’s blue eyes watered. “I didn’t. They assumed.”
Rose gave her some water. She looked as if she needed it. “Take a deep breath and start from the beginning.”
Mary drank, almost choking. Rose put the glass back on the nightstand and sat on the bed again.
“When I found you and…Leroy, I was shocked,” Mary began. “I-I thought he was attacking you.”
“He wasn’t,” Rose said firmly. “I told you that.”
Mary nodded and swallowed. “I know that now, even though I can’t imagine why you would do such a thing.”
“I love him.”
“I was so distraught when I ran out of the room,” Mary continued, “I tripped and fell on the stairs.”
So that explained the bruises. “Are you all right? You didn’t break any bones?”
The other girl squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “The b-bellhop found me.”
Dread coursed through Rose’s veins at the mention of the creepy man. Things began to make sense. Physical injuries from a fall wouldn’t have shattered her mentally this way.
“Go on,” she said gently.
“I cut my lip. There was blood.” Mary spoke in a voice so low and soft Rose could barely hear her. “He told me he was taking me to see the hotel nurse. But it was…his room.”
Rose wanted to stop the girl before she told the awful truth, but she had to hear every detail to have any hope of saving Leroy.
“The bellhop had his way with you?” Rose asked.
Mary nodded as tears streamed from her closed eyes. Rose handed her the rumpled handkerchief from the nightstand, but Mary just held it with limp fingers.
“I’m so sorry,” Rose said. “What a horrible thing to go through.”
How many bruises came from her fall and how many from…? It was too awful to think about. Rose recalled the day of their picnic on the school’s lawn. Mary was terrified of the idea of performing wifely duties. Rose doubted she’d ever let a man touch her again. This was all her fault, she realized. If she hadn’t pretended to be white, she’d never have met Mary, much less ruined her life this way. Two people were paying the price for her folly.
Rose’s throat was drier than paper. Part of her wanted to run from the room with her hands over her ears. How could she bear to hear any more? The other part had to save Leroy.
“Then you came home,” she prompted.
“I didn’t want to wait for the steamboat, so I hired a private driver,” Mary said.
“I packed your things. They must still be at the pier.”
“I’ll send the butler. Oddly enough, my father never summoned my mother home.”
“The bellhop must have planned to get you alone all along,” Rose surmised.
“I see that now. When I got home, I was incoherent.”
The rest of the puzzle fell into place. “You muttered things?”
Mary nodded and frowned as if her head hurt. “It’s difficult to remember exactly. Mother called for the doctor in the middle of the night. He gave me a sedative.”
“I need to know what you said,” Rose said patiently as she patted her hand. “Take your time. This is important.”
“I think I mentioned the gardener…seeing him…naked. That I was…attacked.”
The air left Rose’s lungs all at once. “They assumed Leroy raped you. Didn’t you tell them it wasn’t true?”
“I tried. They won’t listen and I’m so…tired.”
Rose believed her. Those Klansmen were worse than bloodthirsty animals. Once they’d been given the sniff of blood, nothing could change their minds. She glared at the medicine bottle on the dresser.
“You’ve got to stop taking this stuff. At least you look better than you did when I walked in.”
Mary squeezed her hand with a damp, limp grip. “Seeing my friend has strengthened me.”
Rose sighed and clasped her hands in her lap. “I’m not your friend. Mary, there’s something I have to tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago.”
“You’re not white, are you?”
Rose’s gaze flew to Mary’s face. Instead of the disgust she expected to see there, she found only curiosity.
“How long have you known?” she asked.
“I suspected at the beauty parlor and then when I saw you and Leroy…”
“I’m surprised you’re so calm about it,” Rose said, staring at her own hands. “I deceived you and many others. I gathered from the way you talked about Cali and Leroy that you weren’t fond of colored people.”
Mary was quiet for a moment, her brow puckered with thought. “I wasn’t, but I assumed that bellhop was safe because he was white. It made me realize I can’t make assumptions based on a person’s color.”
Rose smiled for the first time since she’d arrived. “Mary, you’re quite a girl.”
“The truth is, you’re the first real friend I’ve ever had,” Mary said.
“Me too,” Rose admitted. “Will you help me?”
Mary nodded. “I’ll do my best. I don’t want Leroy to die, especially if you love him. Maybe you should ask the fairies for help.”
A strangled chuckle left Rose’s throat. Things had gotten so serious she hadn’t even thought about them for a while. Between Cali’s vodou and the fairies, maybe they could save Leroy.
Rose hugged her. “Thank you for not hating me because of what happened. I am sorry.”
“I won’t tell anyone your secret,” Mary promised. “My family wouldn’t let us be friends anymore if they knew.”
Mary’s parents weren’t much different from her father, Rose realized.
She left the house and walked toward the school, knowing what she had to do. Would she really have the guts to go through with it? It didn’t matter. She had to do it for Leroy’s sake. Maybe Cali’s vodou could give her the strength she needed.
But instead of Cali, she found her parents waiting for her in the school’s parlor. Before she could say a word, her father enfolded her in his arms in a rare hug.
“Rose! We’ve been so worried since we heard the news. Please tell me that monster didn’t touch you.”
She pulled out of his arms and quickly hugged her mother.
“Oh, dear. You cut off your hair,” Mother said, touching it.
“Don’t talk about hair now,” Father yelled. “I asked Rose an important question.”
Rose’s first instinct was to lie, but the lying had to stop once and for all.
“As a matter of fact, the monster has touched me—several times—and I enjoyed every moment. A white man raped the mayor’s daughter, not him.”
The creamy tan shade of Father’s face turned a sickly purplish green. “He seduced you and took your virginity?”
“Oh, Rose.” Mother shook her head and rubbed her forehead. “It can’t be true.”
“It is true,” she told both of them. “I love Leroy. Maybe if you had let him court me from the beginning, none of this would have happened. Now Mary Carter is ruined for life and Leroy could lose his.”
Father patted her hand and pulled her to the sofa. “You’re distraught, darling
, which is understandable. Now here’s how we’re going to handle this.”
“No, I’m going to handle this.”
Father frowned. “How?”
“I’m going to tell the whole town the truth about me.”
He jumped off the sofa as if it were on fire. “Absolutely not. Now you listen to me, young lady.”
At least the rugs and textured wallpaper in this parlor softened the sounds of his yelling and pacing.
She stood and faced him. “No, you listen. I’m a grown woman. My lies have ruined my friend’s life and the man I love is about to die for it. It has to stop.”
“She is a grown woman,” Mother said.
Father turned to her. “I should have left you home. You’re supposed to support my decisions.”
To Rose’s amazement, Mother raised her chin and faced her father. “Not this time. I’ve had about enough of your poor decisions, Charles. If you want Rose and me to remain a part of your life, shut up!”
As if to underscore her point, she pulled every pin out of her hair and let them drop on the floor.
Father’s jaw hung slack as he sagged onto the sofa. For once, he didn’t say a word. Rose clapped, seeing a new person in her mother. She had a feeling her headaches would disappear.
Cali entered the room with a tray of tea. As if anyone could think of tea at a time like this.
“Is everything all right?” she asked. “I heard shouting.”
Rose took a breath so big it burned her lungs. “It will be as soon as I tell everyone the truth about me. Help me gather a town meeting, quickly.”
Her father gripped the arm of the sofa. “Please don’t, Rose. You’ll regret it.”
She passed him on her way to the door. “I’ll only regret it if I don’t.”
A couple of hours later, Rose stood on the front porch of the art school, facing the residents of Oyster Island as they clustered in the street. Many of the Klansmen were still wearing their uniforms.
“I have an important announcement to make,” she said.
Her legs shook so hard she could barely stand. When her vision darkened around the edges, she grabbed one of the porch pillars. Don’t faint now! She thought of Leroy, wondering how he felt in the prison cell. He must be so scared and alone. She swore she’d give away her own life just to feel his arms around her again.
“I might as well come right out with it,” she said. “I-I’m not white.”
She heard several gasps. The largest came from Jonathan Carter who stood in front of the crowd.
“What the hell does that mean? What are you then?”
“I’m white and…some colored,” she admitted.
There. She’d done it and thunder had not roared. But Jonathan’s face looked as if it had been struck by lightning. Disgust curled his lips into a sneer.
“I danced with you,” he said. “You paraded around this town and this school, fooling all of us. Maybe we ought to hang you.”
A few other men grunted, from disgust or agreement with Jon’s idea. Rose squeezed her eyes shut as unbearable heat seared behind her breastbone. She told herself she’d done the right thing, despite the consequences.
To her surprise, her father stepped forward.
“Father, don’t,” she whispered.
“If you hang anybody,” he stated, “hang me. I made her do all those things because I wanted her to have the best.”
Despite the frozen mask of fear on Mother’s face, she smiled. So did Rose.
Everyone’s attention turned to the girl, wrapped in a baggy brown coat, approaching the crowd. Bits of blonde hair blew in the breeze beneath her hat. Although she still looked ill and shaky, she seemed stronger than she’d been earlier in bed.
“Mary!” Rose stepped aside as the girl climbed the porch steps.
“I have an announcement too,” Mary said. “As you all know, I was raped in Baltimore.”
“To hell with the trial,” someone shouted. “Let’s hang that colored beast now.”
This was not at all what Rose had planned. Even if Mary meant well, she probably should have stayed home.
Mary grasped a porch post for support. “Let me finish. The man who attacked me was a hotel employee. A white man. Leroy Johnson is innocent.”
Jonathan stepped forward and frowned. “Don’t try to save him. You told us the truth when you arrived.”
Rose gazed at him without blinking. “She only told you she’d seen him naked. That’s because she accidentally found him in bed with me.”
Mayor Carter stepped next to his son. “Oh, what a sordid mess this is. Free the damn man and let’s catch the bastard who really did this to Mary.”
When he faced Rose, her heart sped up. “As for you, you have humiliated my entire family. You’re nothing but a liar and a colored whore. Stay out of Oyster Island.”
Rose swallowed hard, but didn’t reply. The fear of being discovered and told something like this had always haunted her. Now that it was happening, though, she realized she could survive it.
After everyone left, Rose’s parents remained behind.
“I’ve humiliated everyone, it seems,” she told them.
Father shook his head. “That announcement was the hardest thing I’ve ever listened to.”
“If I hadn’t pretended to be white, no one would have been humiliated.”
He sighed. “Darling, I just wanted what’s best for you. I-I was wrong. Can you forgive me?”
She nodded and squeezed his hand before running down the street to the jail. The only thing that would make her forget this entire awful day was seeing her man alive and safe.
Chapter Nineteen
When Rose approached the jail, Leroy was already in the street. His mother and sister cried while they hugged him. Her parents arrived moments later, out of breath from following her.
Everyone else melted away before her eyes until she saw only Leroy. His white shirt was wrinkled and half-unbuttoned from everything he’d been through. Her gaze savored the prominent cheekbones and sculptured lips that were so familiar, yet so close to being lost to her forever.
She ran, tripping and falling into his arms. He squeezed her, harder than usual. She squeezed him still harder. Sobs ripped through her throat and it didn’t matter who heard them.
“You’re safe,” she cried against his neck. “I’m so sorry.”
Her tears made his skin wet and she kissed the pulse beating there. The thought of what the Klan almost did to him made her entire body tremble.
He finally clasped the back of her head, forcing her to look into his eyes. “What do you have to be sorry about?”
“Everything. Risking your life. I just told the entire town I’m not white.”
He kissed her and picked her up. “Well, hallelujah for that. Somebody find us a preacher.”
“Preacher?” Rose asked.
Her father and Wilma Johnson echoed the same word.
“We’re getting married right now,” Leroy said. “I’ve waited long enough.”
“Leroy, put me down and let’s talk about this. I can’t get married now.”
He dropped her to her feet. “Why the hell not? Woman, I laid down my life for you.”
“Which is exactly why you can’t marry her,” Wilma said.
Her father folded his arms. “I agree, Rose. You could do a lot better.”
Rose turned on him, fists clenched. “What happened to your big speech back there? I thought you’d changed.”
He shrugged. “I’ve given up the idea of your pretending to be white and marrying a white man. That doesn’t mean I approve of this riffraff.”
Wilma Johnson put her hands on her hips and stared him down. “Who are you calling riffraff?”
Father turned to Rose, ignoring Leroy’s mother. “Rose, darling, you need a refined man with an education. A businessman, perhaps.”
“Don’t be hasty, Leroy,” Sadie agreed. “We don’t need this pale troublemaker in our family. She would never belong.”<
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“Shut up, all of you,” Leroy yelled. “I almost got hung from a tree. I’m marrying this woman today and that’s that.”
“And if I say no?” Rose asked.
Leroy frowned and picked her up again. “You don’t have any say in this. Not anymore.”
She struggled out of his arms and stumbled to the ground. Righting herself, she ran.
“Where are you going?” Leroy shouted after her.
She had no idea, as long it was away from the crowd. Marriage? How could she possibly marry anyone now, especially him? He was alive. That was all that mattered. Maybe she needed to leave his life before she ruined it again.
When she caught sight of the school, she ran toward it, needing familiar ground. So much had happened today it blurred in her mind. Cali. Cali would know what to do. She raced through the door and into the kitchen.
It was empty, but sounds drifted from the study, which Cali used as her bedroom. When she walked to the doorway, she saw Cali bent over her cot, stuffing clothes into an old carpetbag.
The room still held faint remnants of pipe smoke and was eerily quiet after the noisy mob on the streets. A massive bookshelf had gaps between the books Caleb must have taken to Pearl Point. It seemed this house wasn’t permanent for anyone.
“You’re leaving?” Rose asked.
Cali straightened and wiped her brow. “Because of what happened to Mary and all, I imagine the school will close. Besides, anytime the Klan talks about hanging somebody, it’s time for me to leave town.”
Rose looked down at her hands, realizing they still trembled. “Where are you going?”
“Baltimore. My sister has a place there doing laundry and sewing. What about you? I heard your man was freed.”
“Yes, I’m so thankful.” Her words cracked on the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.
Cali grabbed a red dress from a hook on the wall and folded it. “Then why are you here instead of with him?”
“He demands I marry him right now, but neither of our families approves.” Rose sat on the bed and chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m so confused.”
“And what do you want?” the woman asked, fixing her with the usual cat-eyed gaze. “Has anyone bothered to ask you that?”
