I perk up at the mention of Katherine’s mom. She’s as much a mystery amongst the girls at Miss Preston’s as my own mother. “Is that so? Does your mother go to a lot of dinner parties?”
Katherine’s expression shutters and she bends back down to her magazine. “A few. What about your mother, Jane?” Her tone is mild, but it’s clear she’s avoiding my question.
“Oh, my momma’s been to a few.” None since the last dinner party held at Rose Hill Plantation, though. It was just after the major returned, battle weary and grim, talking about the end of the world and God’s judgment. Momma sat me next to her at the table during the dinner as she always did, stroking my hair like a favorite pet. The neighbors were used to this behavior, since they’d been to dinner at Rose Hill a number of times. It seemed normal to all of us, but the major’s expression grew stormy throughout the courses. When momma had me grab the Bible after dessert to read a few passages to the neighbors, the major’s simmering temper exploded.
“You taught a darkie to read? Have you lost your goddamn mind, Ophelia?” he screamed while the neighbors watched, bug-eyed. Momma sent me off to Auntie Aggie to get tucked into bed before she escorted the neighbors out, making excuses for the major, talking about the stress of war and the horror of watching half of your regiment get slaughtered only to rise up and start eating the other half.
The neighbors nodded and made polite clucking noises as they walked to their iron ponies. They believed my momma, but they hadn’t felt the way she tensed when the major yelled, or the way she gripped my arms when he called me a darkie. I was old enough to know that things were about to get bad at Rose Hill. But I wasn’t afraid of the major.
No, I’d seen what happened when momma didn’t get her way. It never ended well.
Two days later, the major was a shambler with a bullet in his skull and I had my first harvest at ten years old.
“Jane, are you even listening?” Katherine’s sigh jolts me from my reverie. There’s an ache in my chest from thinking about my momma for too long, and I curse myself for getting lost in the past. Now I’m going to be maudlin for the next few days, remembering times gone by. This is why it’s better not to think about Rose Hill at all.
“Jane!”
“What?”
“I do believe that’s Jackson waving to you from the tree line.”
I glance up, and sure enough there’s Red Jack, jumping around on the other side of the barrier fence like he hasn’t got a lick of sense. I shake my head and point him toward the back of the school, through the trees to the old slave cabin. We used to meet back there when we were something more than uneasy friends, and I hope he remembers the spot. If anyone from the house sees him, they’re going to wonder why a boy is tromping around the school grounds, and I’ll be in hot water.
I wait a full minute or so before climbing to my feet and going to the back of the yard. Katherine stays put, flipping pages and muttering to herself about my inability to appreciate good fashion. The sound of fighting comes from the practice grounds as I cut toward the back of the property. The younger girls have their first evaluations coming up at the end of the month. How they rate will determine their rankings, and those rankings will one day make the difference between eking out a living on one of the mayor’s cleanup crews or an assignment as a lady’s Attendant, offering protection and companionship while living the good life.
I manage to make my way to the barrier fence without discovery, and Red Jack is there, leaning against the tall wrought iron and looking like he hasn’t a care in the world. His nonchalance is belied by his split lip, swollen eye, and the blood dotting the front of his waistcoat.
“Uh-oh, did Harvey Parker finally catch you fooling around with his wife?”
Jackson scowls at me. “Very funny. No, this is what happens when you try to sneak into Mayor Carr’s estate.”
“You went trespassing at the mayor’s? Near as I figure, you’re lucky to still be breathing.”
“That’s the same thing his boys told me. Luckily one of them is a fan of the dog races, and he did me a favor in exchange for making sure a few of the well-known puppies never make it to the track to run again.” Red Jack winces as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other, hand holding his side.
Katherine gasps, stealing up behind us like a shambler in the night, me near to jumping out of my skin from the surprise. I scowl at her, but she ignores me. “You aren’t going to kill a dog are you? That’s awful.”
Jackson raises a single brow at her. “Of course not, I ain’t a monster. There are lots of kids in the city who’d like to claim a stray as their own, that’s all. And you’d be surprised how easy it is to switch out a winner for a similar-looking loser.”
“You came all the way here, half-broken, just to tell me that the mayor’s boys
