“We’ll stay in the car,” he said to me as Ruth and Lucy started to get out.
The front door opened and two children—a little girl about four years old and a boy slightly older—ran onto the porch and down the two steps toward Ruth and Lucy, the screen door slamming behind them. The children were dressed for church, the little boy in a miniature suit and bow tie, the girl in a pink dress that flounced around her legs as she ran.
“Miss Lucy, Miss Lucy!” they both shouted, and I was surprised when Lucy set down the basket and leaned over to hug them. I so rarely saw any warmth from her.
Honor, in a pink dress and matching hat, opened the screen door. She shouted something to the children I couldn’t understand and the boy turned around and headed back toward the house while the girl took Lucy’s hand and walked with her, happily swinging her arm. Honor looked past Lucy and Ruth toward the car, unsmiling. I waved, an automatic gesture of friendliness. She didn’t wave back, but turned her attention to Lucy and Ruth as they walked into the house.
“The children are Honor’s?” I asked.
“Yes,” Henry said.
“They’re so cute. What are their names?”
“Butchie and Jilly.”
“Is Honor’s husband overseas?”
He nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Del. Though they’re not technically married.”
“Even though they have children?” I asked. That seemed appallingly wrong to me. But really, in my odd set of circumstances, who was I to judge?
“It’s not our business,” Henry said.
“He helps out though, I hope.” I thought of how fortunate I was that Henry had stepped up to the plate when I got pregnant.
“Not our business,” he said again.
“Their house is very cute,” I said. “It looks like a brand-new roof.”
Henry didn’t say anything for a moment. “Zeke and I put the roof on,” he said finally. “We look after Adora.”
As if on cue, a heavyset woman stepped from the house onto the porch. She clutched the railing as she slowly descended the two steps to the ground. Wearing a broad smile, she walked toward us. She was dressed in a matching pale blue skirt and jacket trimmed with navy piping. An enormous blue hat laden with faux flowers sat on her head. She waved as she got close to the car.
“Roll down your window,” Henry said, and I did. He leaned past me to smile at the woman as she neared the car. “Happy birthday, Adora,” he said. He was so handsome when he smiled. It made me realize he didn’t smile very often.
“Thank you, Mr. Hank,” she said, but her eyes were on me. “I told Miss Ruth I wanted to meet your new wife.”
“Hi.” I smiled. “I’m Tess.”
“Oh, she’s a pretty thing, Mr. Hank!” Adora said. She wore thick glasses and I could see myself reflected in them. “He taking good care of you, honey?”
“Yes,” I said, “he is.”
“You lucky you done landed with this family,” she said. “Kindest folk there is.”
I managed to hold on to my smile. “Yes,” I said.
“I seen that ham you made,” she said. “Ain’t that somethin’? I never seen nothin’ like it.”
“Get in the house, Adora, before you freeze,” Henry said, even though the day was hardly cold.
“He’s the boss.” Adora gave me a wink. “You take care of him for me, hear? I knowed him since he was nothin’ but a little tadpole. He tell you that?”
“He said you worked for his family for a long time,” I said. I remembered that she’d saved his life somehow, but this didn’t seem like the time to bring that up. I knew it wasn’t Henry’s favorite topic.
Honor opened the front door. “Mama, get in here!” she shouted. “We need to get ready to go.”
“Looks like I got two bosses,” Adora said with a shrug.
“Have a good birthday, Adora,” Henry said.
“Nice meeting you,” I said.
I watched her walk slowly back to the house as I rolled up the window.
“She’s sweet,” I said.
Henry glanced at his watch. He seemed suddenly impatient, his gaze on the porch of the house as we waited for Lucy and Ruth to return to the car.
“You’re going to need new clothes,” he said suddenly, out of the blue. “Given your condition,” he added, nodding toward my stomach, and I wondered if I was showing now more than I thought. I had on my panty girdle today in an attempt to mask my bulging middle for the church crowd, but maybe it wasn’t up to the job.
“Yes,” I said.
“I’ll leave you money tomorrow morning,” he said. “Get whatever you need.”
“All right,” I said. “Thank you.”
We were quiet for a moment. Then suddenly, he spoke again.
“I’m going out tonight,” he said. “Gaston Joyner and his wife are leaving tomorrow. I want to spend some time with him before he goes.”
“That’s good news, right?” I asked. “Good that they’re leaving? Will they go back to Pennsylvania where they got married?”
He shook his head. “They’re driving all the way across the country to the state of Washington, so I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again.”
Washington seemed like another planet to me. So far away. “Why there?” I asked.
“Gaston says they’ll be more accepted in Washington State. Interracial marriage is legal there. I hope he’s right. It’s a dangerous journey for them to make. Loretta will have to hide in the backseat if they’re someplace where they shouldn’t be seen together, which I suppose will be most everyplace.”
“Do you really think it’s okay for a colored person to marry a white person?” I asked. It was hard for me to imagine, and it bothered me that Henry seemed to think it was fine.
“Well, like Gaston says, it’s hard to control who you fall in love with,” he said. “You love somebody that deeply, you’re willing to risk everything to be with them.”
I wondered if he was thinking about us. How neither of us was in love, deeply or otherwise. Did that fact make him as sad as it made me?
34
I didn’t know what time Henry got in that night after being with Gaston. When I awakened in the morning, he was gone yet again but it was obvious that his bed had been slept in, and there were ten ten-dollar bills on my night table. I’d taken to staying in my robe well into the morning, but today I dressed quickly, looking forward to my shopping trip. I was about to go downstairs to breakfast when there was a knock on the bedroom door. I opened the door to find Hattie with one of Henry’s suits over her arm, most likely fresh from the cleaners.
“Can I hang this in the armoire?” she asked.
“Oh, I’ll do it, Hattie,” I said, reaching for the suit.
“You sure, Miss Tess?” She held it out of my reach. “Just as easy for me to hang it.”