It’s a red Honda Civic, and there’s a woman in the driver’s seat. When I squint, I make out who’s in the passenger seat. “Duck!”
Cain follows my lead and lies down flat against the leather seat. Our bodies cross each other, my face pressed against his taut stomach. Slowly, Cain wraps his arm around my waist. Almost immediately, my pulse slows. I hear the sound of a car door opening and closing, and then quick steps leading away. The car backs over the gravel drive and out the gate.
Cain and I wait five minutes before lifting our heads and checking to ensure Mr. Hodge went inside. Even after I see that we’re in the clear, fear still racks my body, sending tremors through my limbs.
“What does he think he’s doing?” Cain says. “It’s one thing to do it on the sly. But to have that woman drop him off in front of the house? Madam Karina will kill him.”
Would that be a bad thing? Wilson asks.
Hush.
No, really. You should ask him. I’d like to know his response.
I roll my eyes at Wilson, and remember that though I’ve told Cain the secrets I carried about my mother and the things we did together, there’s still one I’ve kept to myself.
Don’t you dare, Wilson warns, hurt flooding his voice. Don’t you tell him about me. Please.
“Hey. Are you okay?” Cain asks.
I gaze up at the house. “We’ve got to be quiet when we go inside. No one can know we were gone.”
“Domino, about what you said. About getting the money?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I tell him. “I can take care of myself.”
I open the car door and float toward the house like a ghost. Like I left the real me back in that Pox county jail.
Chapter Fifty
Lullaby Lie
The next morning, the rankings scroll across the Tulips’ digital placement board. I’m awarded top rank for the week, but Poppet falls into third place. I guess the customers were as tired of the stuffy atmosphere as I was. They wanted some excitement, Poppet tells me, and I gave it to them.
She pretends to be happy for me, but I can tell she’s afraid of being separated. I reassure her that it won’t be an issue for much longer, and when she asks what I mean, I cave and tell her what Cain and I discovered the night before.
Poppet and I are standing on the front porch when I share the news. The sun shines merrily, ignorant as I speak in a hushed tone. Poppet rocks on the porch swing, the chains squeaking in time with her movements.
When I’m done explaining, she says, “So when do we leave?”
I can’t stop the smile that parts my mouth. “You mean you’ll come?”
“Well, yeah. I’m sure as hell not staying here. Did you think I would after you told me this?”
“I wasn’t certain,” I admit. “I wondered if you’d believe me.”
Poppet moves her jaw side to side as she thinks. “I would never have believed it before I saw the madam the way she was the other night. She shoved you, Domino. And she was acting crazy.” Her voice grows small. “And I see the bruises. Are you okay?”
I rub my hands together. “I’m fine. But I think things will get worse. Mr. Hodge is seeing another woman, and when Madam Karina finally catches him in the act, she’s going to tighten her hold on her remaining assets.”
“So what do we do?”
I can’t help but love Poppet when she asks this. She’s so ready to believe me, so ready to follow where I lead. “We need some cash before we run. I don’t think we’re in immediate danger, and though those girls looked pretty bad, I believe they can hang on a little longer.”
“How will we get the money?” Poppet asks.
My gaze travels to the Lilies’ guesthouse. I can just see it from where we stand.
Poppet must follow my line of thinking, because she says, “I can’t go with you. I don’t think Madam Karina ever cared about my advancing. It was always only you.”
As strange as it is, I’m struck by the urge to correct Poppet. To assure her that Madam Karina cares about her as much as she does me. But we both know I’d be lying. The madam selects her favorites on impulse, without much reasoning other than a gut reaction. And why should we care who she favors, anyway?
“Will you try to convince the customers to pay you in cash?” Poppet asks.
“Just one.”
She scratches her cheek. “I’ve heard of girls doing it before. Just mumblings.”
Poppet seems like she’s about to add something else when the screen door swings open. My stomach clenches, and Poppet’s mouth snaps shut.
Madam Karina steps into view.
The woman’s face lights up when she sees Poppet. “Oh, sweetie, I thought Domino was alone out here. I saw you finished third in this week’s rankings.”
Poppet sucks on her bottom lip, instinctually ashamed. “I can do better.”
Madam Karina rushes toward her, bends down so that their faces are even. “What are you talking about? You did wonderfully! How many girls can say they climbed to the top of their class in one week?” Madam Karina lays a hand on Poppet’s knee. “The clients tell me you are the most captivating girl in the house. You have an energy about you, did you know that?”
Poppet smiles, and it makes me want to kick the madam in the spine. She can manipulate me all she wants, but not her. Not Poppet.
“As a matter of fact, if you go downstairs to market, you might find you have a bit more credit than you thought.”
Poppet glances at me, and then back at Madam Karina. “You mean it?”
Madam Karina bolts upright, and her voice booms with cheerfulness. “Go on then. Go and pick yourself out something special. You deserve it.”
Poppet throws a cautious look my way. With the madam’s back still turned, I nod over my shoulder, telling Poppet she should go. I don’t miss the excitement in her eyes as she bounds toward the house. We may be leaving soon, but old habits die hard, and it’s difficult for girls like Poppet and me, who have known real poverty, to turn down an opportunity for something new.
“What do you want?” I ask the madam. No use in pretending I’m not upset. If I soften too easily, she’ll know I’m planning something.
“I should apologize for last night,” the madam says. “But I know that won’t be enough.”
I pass by her and take Poppet’s seat on the swing. Play the part of a fuming child who wants nothing more than for her mother to grovel.
“As you may have guessed, Mr. Hodge and I are working through some things right now. But that doesn’t change the way I feel about you or any of my girls. I just get low sometimes, and when I do, I drink too much.”
“You were drunk last night?” I ask, as if I don’t know this. As if this warrants her abuse.
Madam Karina wraps her arms around her slim frame. “Might be time to admit I’m struggling with it. It’s not okay to medicate ourselves just because we’re feeling down. That’s why the doctor’s going to call on me this afternoon. I might have him see to you as well.”
I don’t understand what she means, until her gaze travels over my face. My nose got busted so thoroughly during the fight with the cop last night that I woke to find two blue-black rings beneath my eyes.
“You went out with Cain last night,” Madam Karina says. It isn’t a question. The porch seems to drop out from under my feet, and I grab onto the bench’s chain, thankful for the support. “I have little spies everywhere.”
She knows where we went. She knows what we found.
I’ll never leave this town.
I wear a mask of indifference while fighting a wave of dizziness. The madam nods toward the empty end of the bench, asking if she can take it. I look away, communicating that I don’t care what she does. When her weight settles in next to me, the entire half of my body that she touches goes numb.
“I know the temptations boys present, but you must trust me when I tell you they bring nothing but trouble.”
I turn and face her, confusion tightening my
features.
She raises a hand and strokes the delicate skin beneath my eyes. “But I suppose you learned that the hard way.”
Understanding dawns on me. She thinks Cain and I snuck off to be together last night, and that he inflicted the damage to my face. Relief floods my body, and I find the courage to breathe again. Knowing I need to respond, I say, “I feel like I can’t trust anyone.”
Not entirely a lie.
“Oh, Domino.” Madam Karina slides her arm around my shoulders. “Don’t say such things. You can trust me.”
I touch a hand to my throat. To the place she sent me a message. That’s what it was. She was showing her dominance—like an alpha wolf pinning a pack mate to maintain the hierarchy.
She withdraws her arm and folds her hands in her lap. “I’ve already apologized for what I did to you. And I told you the doctor is calling on me. I’m sick, sweetheart. Can you understand that?”
Ellie’s face springs into my mind. Her bruised face, her busted lip. A figure that must have once been voluptuous and healthy, now shrunken from inadequate meals. She clung to those bars and begged for this woman’s forgiveness. Said she’d work for Madam Karina for however long she wanted, if she’d only let her out.
The woman who’s soothing me with her false words is the same woman who’d throw me away like a used tissue if I upset her enough.
“I understand,” I whisper, fury swirling inside my chest. “But how can you be sure the doctor will make you better?”
Madam Karina reads my question as true concern and replaces her arm around me. “Don’t you worry about that. Not for one second. I will get better. I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you.” She opens her free hand on my thigh, and I stare down at it. Bile rises in my throat as I place my own hand in hers. She squeezes and lays her head on top of mine. We rock in silence as crickets violin their legs and the bench creaks back and forth. My muscles are clenched and my mouth painfully dry when she says in a lullaby voice, “You’re Mama’s sweet girl, aren’t you?”
I clamp my eyes shut and try not to scream. Wilson folds himself around my mind in a protective barrier, growling.
“Yes,” I say. “I am.”
Chapter Fifty-One
Pink Elephant
Moments after Madam Karina leaves me alone on the porch, Angie steps outside. She doesn’t look in my direction, but she doesn’t head toward her tractor, Black Betty, either. She just shoves her hands into her pockets and scrunches her face like she’s solving a riddle.
“I’m okay,” I tell her.
“That’s not why I’m out here.”
“Yes, it is,” I say. “It wouldn’t hurt you to be more direct about your feelings.”
Angie huffs. “Feelings. What good they do anyone I’ll never know.”
I roll my eyes and attempt a smile though I’m rattled to the bone. Angie’s Dobermans jump around near her tractor, nipping each other on the back and rolling in the dirt like newborn pups. My eyes are still on them when she takes two quick steps toward me and withdraws a peppermint from her pocket. She won’t even look at me when she hands it over.
I take it from her. Roll it between my palms. “I found the girls, you know.”
Angie shoots a glance toward the house.
“They’re in jail cells in the basement of the municipal building,” I whisper.
Angie curses under her breath. “I figured that’s where they were, but I wasn’t certain.”
“Why didn’t you do something if you knew, Angie?” I can’t help the accusation in my voice.
“Because I would have ended up like them if I had, and none of us would be better for it.” Angie turns her face away, ashamed. I can feel the fear and regret rolling off her, though it does little to lessen my disappointment. I can’t imagine not trying to help.
I have to help.
Angie looks once more at the house and lowers her head toward mine. “If you have a chance to leave this place unnoticed, you do it. You do it, and you don’t ever look back, not for nothing and no one.” Angie surprises me then. Grabs my arm and pulls me up from the bench and into an awkward hug. I feel her hand lowering, but before I can register what it is she’s doing, Madam Karina bursts through the door.
“Get off my girl, Angie,” she booms.
Angie leaps away as if electrocuted and sidesteps Madam Karina. She jogs down the steps, and her dogs lunge toward her at once.
Madam Karina flicks her fingers “That’s right. You play with your pets, and I’ll play with mine.”
I shoot Madam Karina a disgusted look, but she doesn’t notice. Angie’s dog Kali sniffs at her pockets, desperately trying to nab a peppermint. Angie shoves her away and climbs onto her tractor.
“Have you loaded everything?” Madam Karina yells.
Angie waves. “Enough for now. Be back next Sunday.” She keeps her head down as she rumbles up the road, no more than three boxes on the back, her dogs yapping at the oversized tires.
Madam Karina offers me a warm smile before heading back inside.
When are we leaving? Wilson asks in a snarl.
Soon.
I go inside and spot Cain coming up the stairs. Understanding passes between us, though I have trouble thinking past the way his red plaid shirt clings to his shoulders and biceps. The way it pulls tight across his chest. Strong, calloused hands emerge from the cuffs of his shirt, and for whatever reason, I’m gripped by an urge to feel those same hands on my hips.
I’m not sure why I’m suddenly struck by desire. Maybe it’s because I told him my secret, and he didn’t run. Or maybe it’s because he told me his. I’m comfortable with him now, and with that comfort comes a sensation I’ve never allowed myself to feel. Cain is unpredictable, and unstable, and if I ever admitted it to myself, I’d realize he is exactly what my hearts yearns for.
“You going to buy something today?” Madam Karina asks.
My head whips around, and I find her sitting on the sofa. The same sofa where three Carnations sat the first time I entered this house. They were happy, playful.
Went to the market,
To buy me a gown.
All the boys whistle,
And one fell down.
Sway my hips,
Lips stung by a bee.
Keep on walking,
‘Till he take a knee.
“I’m saving up for something special,” I tell the madam. The corners of her mouth turn down in disappointment, so I add, “The day I become Top Girl, I want to dress the part.”
Madam Karina grins. “Good things come to those who wait.”
“That’s right.” I return her smile, and then think to say, “May I have one more night as a Daisy? I’d like to say good-bye to Poppet.”
“So you will be leaving her behind? I figured you might fight me on this.”
“It’s time she made her own way,” I reply, not meaning a word I’m saying. “The ends justify the means, yes?”
She tilts her head. “Who said that?”
“Someone you’d admire.” I bow my head. “May I stay with Poppet?”
She sighs. “You may, but tomorrow I need you in that guesthouse. Besides, I’d think you’d be eager to earn your lily as soon as possible.”
“I’ll earn that lily and more,” I respond.
That night, after I’ve washed my face and checked beneath the beds, I climb under my sheets and look across the room at Poppet. She’s holding a pink stuffed elephant against her chest as if she’s afraid of the dark.
“Did you get that today?” I whisper.
She squeezes the stuffed animal against her chest. “I told Madam Karina once that I saw a pink stuffed elephant in a grocery store. Told her I begged for it for my birthday, but my mother said we didn’t have the money for such useless things. I don’t know why I remember that toy among all the others I wasn’t allowed to have.” Poppet holds out the elephant and inspects it. “It’s crazy how Madam Karina can be the same person who remembers these things
about you and the same person who can lock girls away.”
“She didn’t give you the elephant, Poppet,” I say in the gentlest voice I can muster. “She had Angie find this for you, and then she stuck it up on those shelves behind the cage wall. She knew exactly what would make you spend your money, and she knows that every dollar you spend lessens the chance that you’ll leave. There’s a reason they hold our money for us. And it isn’t so we can earn more.”
Poppet scoots down in bed until I can hardly see her frame. “I know.”
Guilt twists inside my chest. As much as I want Poppet to accept the truth about Madam Karina, I also don’t want to hurt her. I imagine it wouldn’t be easy for any of the girls living here to learn how twisted the madam really is. We all want to trust again, and Madam Karina’s Home for Burgeoning Entertainers provides a perfect mirage.
“I need you to be ready at a moment’s notice,” I tell Poppet. “But don’t make it too obvious, either.”
Poppet doesn’t respond.
“Poppet, you’re not having second thoughts are you?”
She shakes her head. “No, I know we have to get away from this place. But it doesn’t make it any less scary to start over again. And I haven’t even thought about what’ll happen if we’re caught.”
“I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” I say quickly.
And I won’t let anything bad happen to you, Wilson whispers.
I stand and cross the distance between us, pause at the side of Poppet’s bed. She realizes at once what it is I intend to do and lifts her covers. I slide in next to her and wrap her in my arms. Pretend she is my daughter and I am her mother and I’ll die before I let harm befall my child.
“All we need is a little money and a plan to rescue those girls,” I say.
“And what about us?” Poppet whispers, her back warm against my stomach. “How will we escape Pox?”
I bite my lip, trying to form a quick response so she’s reassured. But I can’t. Thankfully, Poppet’s breathing deepens, and I’m afforded complete silence in which to think.
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