“Is he still breathing?” Miss Olive asked.
“Yes,” Wheeler said. “He’ll wake up with a big headache, though. Help me get him to the porch and I’ll get some of the other fellows to help me deal with him.”
Briar found Ethel packing her carpetbag.
“You can’t go with him,” Briar said.
“No. Never again,” Ethel said with fire in her voice. “I need to run farther away.”
“Who is he?” Briar asked.
“My husband.”
Mim stood in the doorway. “Your husband! You never said anything about being married.” Mim sat down on her bed. “You must have thought I was so silly with my imaginings of what married life was like.”
Briar turned back to Ethel. Leave it to Mim to focus on herself at a time like this. “You can’t leave, not now anyway. He’s still downstairs. Wheeler knocked him out cold on the stairs.”
Ethel stopped packing and faced her room-mates. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything.”
Briar reached for Ethel’s trembling hands and pulled her to sit on the bed. “I can see why you didn’t.” They sat for a minute, Briar and Mim watching Ethel stare at the floor.
“Your name is Lola?” Briar asked.
“My husband is a mean drunk and if I try to divorce him he’ll get custody of our baby. I have no rights to her.”
“You have a baby?” Mim said.
Ethel took a shaky breath. “That’s why I’m so interested in both temperance and getting the vote. If we can stop our men from spending everything we earn on drink, we’d have our husbands back. And if we can’t do that, at least if we get the vote we’ll have options. We’ll be able to change the laws so women like me can legally leave with our children.”
“Where is your baby?” Briar asked softly. She thought of her siblings and how hard it was to be away from them, and she saw them every weekend.
“With my mother-in-law. She’s a good woman and promised to keep Addie until I was able to find a way to make a living for the two of us. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going, and I changed my name. If he shows up at the mill he’ll either cause trouble or take my wages. Either way, I can’t stay here.” She rose again and stuffed more clothes into her bag.
“How do you think he found you?” asked Mim.
“That payday when Briar and I went to the bank, remember, Briar? A man on the wagon called out to us. I knew him. I hoped he’d think he’d been mistaken if I pretended I didn’t know him. He must have told my husband.” She started breathing in great gasps, clutching her shirtwaist at the neck. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Her voice rose in pitch.
Mim sat on Ethel’s old carpetbag. “For starters, you’re not leaving us. You need to stay here so we can help you. It’ll cost you time and money to move and set yourself up again. It’ll be a step backward. Wait and see how this works itself out before you make any decisions. You’re not going to get a better house than this one. Miss Olive will know what to do.”
Ethel fell to the floor, rocking back and forth as the tears streamed, keening in a way Briar had never seen before.
Briar and Mim looked at each other in shock before falling to their knees with Ethel. Their strong, practical, logical room-mate was unraveling.
Chapter Thirty-One
“I’m not going,” mumbled Ethel, her face buried in her pillow.
“It’s the WCTU. You need to go. You have the white ribbons.” Briar turned to Mim. “See? She’s really not going.”
Ethel continued talking into her pillow. “You take them. You’re better poised to change the world than me, Briar. I’m not strong enough.”
“It’s a crisis of faith,” said Mim. “That’s all. Your drunk husband came ’round and now you’re back in his grasp. Snap out of it. You’ve been preaching this stuff to me since we met. Don’t make me go alone.”
Ethel lifted her face. It was puffy and wet with tears. “You? You’d go to the meeting?”
Mim crossed her arms and huffed. “If it’ll make you go, yes. Otherwise you’ll keep moping forever. You’re hard enough to live with when you’re happy.”
Ethel looked at Briar. “And you?”
Briar nodded. “Of course I’ll go.” She pointed to her shirtwaist where she had already pinned a white ribbon.
“‘Do Everything,’” Ethel said, pushing herself up. “That’s what Miss Willard says.” She wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” asked Briar.
“Not telling you. It was my deepest secret, and the one I wanted to talk about every day. At least, regarding my baby. Briar, you don’t know how many times I was tempted to go take her and bring her to your cottage to be raised by Nanny so I’d have her close by me.” She swung her feet over the side of the bed. “And you, Mim. With your ideals of marriage. I didn’t know what advice to give you. My experience has not been ideal in the least.”