Page 46 of Everything Under the Sun

I was beginning to lose hope.

Then there was a knock at the door, and my head shot up. Atticus, sitting at his desk, his attention buried in his maps and papers like it usually was, heard it as clearly as I had, but he was in no hurry to see who it was. He scanned the paper in front of him a few seconds longer and then slowly went to answer the door.

“De bath is ready,” a familiar voice said.

I craned my neck to glimpse the pregnant woman standing in the doorway. It’s her…

“Surely ya not goin’ to take her ya’self to get a bath?” she said with accusation.

I got up from my cot, setting the book I’d been reading down on the mattress, and I went to the door.

“I won’t be going inside with her,” Atticus said coldly, “if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Well, I’d hope not,” she warned. “My husband ain’t gonna like dat ya’ve had her in ‘ere, alone wit’ ya like dis—it doesn’t look right.”

I stepped up beside Atticus and the woman looked right at me, smiled mysteriously; a dress hung over her forearm, pressed against her rounded belly.

“I can’t help how it looks,” Atticus said flatly. “But I can assure you she’s completely safe in my room. This is the safest place in the city for her to be.” There was something else in his comment other than reassurance; something sharp, accusatory.

The woman smirked, and then she glanced at me.

“De safest, not to mention more appropriate place for Miss Thais”—she looked Atticus in the eyes—“is wit me and my sisters.”

He offered no response, but his rigid body language said things that words didn’t have to.

“Well in any case,” the woman said as she held out the dress “here’s a new dress and a clean pair of panties for ya to wear.”

I took the clothing into my hands.

“Thank you.”

The woman covertly looked at me, and then down at the dress. I thought it strange.

Atticus went to close the door.

“If she needs anything else,” the woman said, “I’m more dan happy to help.” From a two-inch crack in the door, she smiled in at me one more time, and then the door closed, cutting us off.

“If you want a bath,” Atticus said, stepping into his boots barefooted, “then let’s go before the water gets cold.” He didn’t even bother to lace the boots up and tie them.

I grabbed a little makeup bag I carried my personal toiletries in and left the room without discussion.

While Atticus sat outside next to the door in a chair reading a magazine, I set the toiletry bag down on a shelf and slipped out of my clothes. Something caught my eye as I hung the dress on a nearby hook: a tiny piece of folded paper lay on a square tile floor piece. I bent over and took it into my fingers, unfolding it slowly, glancing over my shoulder at the door where Atticus sat reading his magazine on the other side. I looked down into the handwritten note I immediately knew had been written just for me. It must’ve been hidden within the folds of the dress.

My heart raced as I read:

Meet me on the lowest floor of the building near the back exet where the water fountins are within ten minutes of Atticus leeving his room when the next scouting party arrives in the street come prepared to leave I have your sister wit me she’ll be waiting for you

I raised my eyes from the paper, cautiously looked over my shoulder again.

I could practically taste my freedom!

Crushing the note in my fist, I looked around the room for a place to hide it, settling with a loose strip of crown moulding that ran along the base of the wall. Crouching, I pried away the end piece from the wall and tucked the note behind it, patting the strip back into place.

I washed up quickly, even though I’d intended to take my time soaking in the water until it turned cold; I got dressed, and then stepped out into the hall.

ATTICUS

I was surprised she was already done. I set the magazine down on the chair in place of myself and escorted her back to my room without a word.

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