“I could kill those apes,” he grumbled. Then he looked up at me and smiled. “But I’m glad to see you’re awake. Moving around some?”
“As little as possible,” I said. “Still sore.”
He sat on the side of my bed. “I’ll never get that image of you falling out of my head.”
I looked down.
“Got rid of that Jim,” he continued. “Seems young Beau warned him that pulley wasn’t strong enough to hold more than fifty pounds.” He paused, and I watched his jaw clench. “I could’ve beaten him to death for putting you at risk like that. He should’ve said something.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m okay now.”
“Lucky for him.”
I remembered the blood. “His hands—”
“The girls are all calling him a hero,” Evie said. “They’re taking dibs on who gets to help him change those bandages.”
“The girls are idiots,” Roland grumbled. “They should save their tricks for the fellows with money.”
“He was brave,” she insisted. “Reached right out and grabbed that rope. It was flying by, and he just grabbed it. Shredded his hands, but he caught you.”
I shuddered at the memory of his wounds. “I should thank him.”
“You just take it easy,” Roland said. “We need you ready to go for tomorrow night.
“Tomorrow? But what about tonight?” I tried to jump up but was halted by a sharp pain in my torso that made me gasp. “I have to sing tonight. No one else can do the numbers!”
Roland caught my shoulders. “Easy.”
“She’s a trouper,” Evie said. “Don’t worry,
cher
. They’ve already worked it to do everything but your parts tonight.”
My worried eyes found Roland’s, and he shrugged. “We’ve added some extra dance numbers, more Frank and Carla. It won’t be the same without you, but we’ll make it work.” He stood and then leaned back to kiss my head. “Sleep.”
Evie followed him to the door and he stopped. He spoke to her in a low voice, but I could hear part of what he said.
“Will that work for you?” he asked. I watched Evie nod and look down.
“They’ll tip you extra for your silence,” he said.
She didn’t look up at him. “If Gavin says it’s okay.”
Roland gently patted her cheek. “Leave that to me.”
Cautious hope filled me as I watched them. They could only be talking about one thing, but was it possible that Roland could actually help her? He didn’t have any money, and he’d never seemed able to change anything. But maybe he could?
Evie shut the door behind him and walked back to where I lay. “Just you and me tonight,” she breathed, sitting and picking up her book. “Want me to read to you? This one’s blazing. Might read it before my next visitor.”
I tried to smile, but the thought of what she meant made my throat tight.
“I think I’ll try and sleep if I’m actually being ordered to.” Then a flash of panic hit me. “Where’s Teeny?”
“In the wings watching. She’s convinced the show’ll be just awful without you. Actually we’re all pretty curious.”
I was quiet a moment, but I needed to know. “So you’re not dancing at all now?”
Her eyes flickered to mine. “No need for that.” She tried to laugh, “And Fiona’s glad to have me gone, I’m sure.”
I nodded and looked down. I’d known Evie so long, I didn’t want to make her feel ashamed. I thought of how proud she’d been to be a dancer, and I wondered if she ever thought of leaving now that her fate had turned. Now that she was selling herself for money.
“It’s not so bad, you know,” she said, reading my mind. “I mean, the first one was bad. It wasn’t how I’d planned it to be.”
Her voice trailed off and her eyes looked past me at some memory.
“Did it hurt?” My voice was barely above a whisper.
She sniffed and pushed her hair back. “First time always hurts,” she said. “But Gavin found an older fellow. He was gentle.”
“Oh, Evie.” Tears were threatening in my eyes, but I fought them back. If she could talk about it without them, certainly I could listen without them. For her.
She stood and walked over to my bed, straightened the blanket and fluffed my pillow. “No need to go all sentimental,” she said. “I knew what went on here. I could’ve left.”
“You wanted to be a dancer.”
“I was never any good.” I watched as she studied her hand a moment, spreading her fingers. “I will miss having a family.”
My whole body was clenched and painful and tears were threatening again. “I’m so sorry.”
She dropped her hand. “Well, don’t worry about me. And now Roland’s found these two gentlemen who want me exclusive.”
“Roland—? But he…” I couldn’t finish. Roland was supposed to be on our side! How could he be helping Gavin?
“I know, and I wasn’t sure at first. Especially as I see them at the same time.”
“The same time?” I bit my lip. “What does that mean?”
She studied my face a moment. “I promised to keep it a secret, so I probably shouldn’t be saying.”
I realized I was leaning forward and stopped. Evie waited, but sickness was in my stomach. I didn’t want to know what it meant, and I couldn’t believe Roland betrayed us.
“Then you shouldn’t say,” I said, my voice flat. “Goodnight.”
She frowned. “You’re tired?”
I nodded and pulled the blanket over my shoulder. She didn’t believe me, but she didn’t pursue it. I felt like my world had tilted sideways as I closed my tear-filled eyes. I’d grown used to trusting Roland, but now I realized I’d been acting like a child, trying to escape the knowledge that it was up to me alone. I was the only one who could change our fate here.
A long time passed before I drifted into an anxious sleep, and when I awoke much later, the room was dark. Evie was gone, but Teeny was curled up beside me. I turned and saw her bright head sleeping on the pillow, and I curled with my arms around her. She whispered words in her sleep, and all I could think about was Freddie.
The revised show dominated the morning rehearsal chatter. I moved slowly to the coffee, trying not to make eye contact with anyone.
“She’s up and moving!” Roland called as he crossed the stage to where I stood. I didn’t meet his eyes. “Still smarting?”
I nodded, focusing on my cup.
“This came for you last night. Mr. Lovel, I presume.” He pulled out a small box with a card and handed it to me with a flourish. I took it quickly. “We can practice whenever you’re ready.”
He gave my arm a squeeze before returning to the piano, but the warmth his affectionate gestures used to give me was gone. Looking anywhere but at him, my eyes landed on Beau standing nearby. The hero. I needed to thank him, but Minette had him cornered. She was wearing a low-cut bustier, and her ample bosom was pressed against his arm as she described some problem in her dressing room with dramatic sweeping gestures. He seemed confused and quite distracted by her assets.
I decided to save my thanks and carried my cup with the package to a small table where Teeny sat watching the pair, an annoyed expression on her face.
“What do you have?” she whispered, leaning forward.
“A gift from Freddie.” I placed the box on the table and opened the card, a plain ivory sheet folded in half. I’d just started to read the words written in an elegant
script when Teeny swept it out of my hand and jumped up.
“My darling Hale,” she read in a loud, affected voice as she sauntered around the table. Everyone, including Beau, looked her way. It was her goal, of course, but I was annoyed that it was at my expense. “I am in despair to hear you are ill.”
“Teeny,” I scolded.
“Not seeing you has taken all the brightness from my world, and I count the moments until we are together again.”
“Do you mind?” I said louder.
“I hope this small token will lift your spirits. Until tomorrow. Yours devotedly, Frederick Lovel.” She smiled, slanting her eyes at me. “That’s
very
nice.”
“And I’ve failed miserably in teaching you manners.”
But her trick worked. Beau had drifted closer to us, and she giggled, skipping over to him.
“Who’s Frederick Lovel?” he asked.
“Hale’s gentleman admirer,” Teeny answered for me. “Gavin sent him, and he’s just waiting for her to turn eighteen next month.”
“A fact you just made up,” I said lifting the cup to my lips. The only comfort I found this morning was the dark liquid that warmed my insides.
“Eighteen?” Beau looked surprised. “I thought you were older.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“She’s
passing
,” Teeny added with an expression of exaggerated disapproval.
“Teeny!” She had no clue of her double
entendre
, but it irritated me anyway.
“No, I meant,” Beau paused, seeming embarrassed.
“That’s not so old. I’m only nineteen. We’re practically the same—”
“We are
not
the same,” I snapped, but I was sorry. I really did want to thank him for saving my life.
“You’re right,” he smiled, and his easy reply made me glance up at him.
“Listen, I wanted to thank you—”
“Don’t.” He cut me off. “There was no way I would’ve let you fall. I told you.”
“Yes, but your hands—”
“Will be well in a few days.”
My eyes held his dark blue ones a moment, until I felt Teeny nearby frowning at this backfire. Beau’s gentle tone was too warm, so I smiled and nodded. Then I rose gingerly and walked slowly away, toward the piano.
Dust floated in the sunlight streaming in from above, and I heard small feet scampering up behind me across the polished-wood stage. Teeny was at my side again, and she moved in close when we stopped where Roland sat playing. I could tell he was listening to our conversation as well.
“I thought you didn’t approve of Beau.” Her voice was worried.
“He’s a stagehand with a future as bright as a river rat’s.” I allowed the pain in my waist to sharpen my tone, easing her little mind.
“You’re very ungrateful, since he saved your life and all,” she scolded. But she was instantly swoony again. “His eyes are like cornflowers.”
“What?”
“His eyes,” she repeated. “Cornflowers.”
I didn’t want to think about Beau’s eyes. I didn’t want to think about him reaching out and grabbing a speeding rope, shredding his hands to save my life. I wouldn’t think of him as a hero, whatever the girls might be calling him, and I wouldn’t linger on the way he said he wouldn’t let me fall.
The last thing I needed was to think of him as anything more than an unreliable set worker, a drifter. A fellow of no consequence, who happened to do the right thing for whatever reason. And whose eyes were not at all like cornflowers.
“They’re darker,” I said. “More like irises.”
“Hmm,” Teeny thought about this. “You’re right.”
“And you know where irises are found?” I continued. “In the swamp.”
“How wonderful! Beauty growing in the ugliness.”
“They never get out of the mud.”
“But they’re so attractive while they’re there.”
“What’s so attractive?” Beau was at my shoulder, and I spun around.
Had he heard us?
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He held out the box that went with Freddie’s note.
How had I forgotten that?
“You forgot this.”
“Irises,” Teeny answered, bouncing over to him. “I said your eyes were like cornflowers, but Hale said irises.”
My eyes widened. Beau looked at me with a pleased expression, but I quickly turned back to the piano. My cheeks were burning, and out of habit, I glanced at Roland, who was now grinning as he watched his hands moving over the keys.
“You like irises?” Beau asked.
“No,” I said, wishing anything would stop this.
He laughed but I cringed.
“I think they’re beautiful,” Teeny jumped in, clutching his arm. I sneaked a glance at Beau who was looking down at her with nothing more than brotherly affection. He patted her little hand.
“I like that you discuss me so favorably.” Then he turned those blue eyes straight back to me. Only now they were more like little blue flames.
“
Rosa
’s probably waiting to do my fitting,” I murmured. As I hastened away, I heard Roland call after me.
“We need to go over your songs,” he said, but I kept moving without looking back.
* * *
The bones of the corset cinched into my bruised torso as
Rosa
pulled the laces as tightly as possible. The pain almost made me cry out, but I fought it. I had to get back to work. Freddie would be in the audience watching for me tonight, and I had to get him moving faster with that proposal.