Yes, Master

Chapter Seventeen: Joy and Sorrow

   The next morning, with a trembling heart, I walk to work. I shuffle along, slowly, each step killing me with the uncertainty of everything. I eventually arrive at the house and slowly walk up the steps. I go inside and my mistress is waiting for me, her face stern. "Rosalie, we must talk. Come with me in to the parlor," she says.

  I follow her obediently, nicely. She sits down and pats the seat next to her. I sit down hesitantly, as if the seat is filled with something dangerous.

  She clears her throat authoritatively and says, "Well, your little friend came and beat up my Alexander. Now he has a black eye and will not be able to attend a party that many important people are attending." I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes at this point. She's only disappointed because she won't be able to present Alexander to possible marriage partners.

  She clears her throat again to recapture my attention. "Anyway, you are lucky I pity girls like you. I could have you fired for that. But, I am allowing you to keep your job. However, I am reducing your pay because you allowed a ruffian like that to invade my home. You also are on probation, so one more misstep..."

  I nod excitedly. I don't care about the pay reduction or the probation, as long as I have the job. I'm doing inner cartwheels. Then she hands me the to-do list, and barks at me to get to work.

  During the day, Alexander passes by me with a swollen, bruised eye and sneers. He mutters something about "poor bastard" and walks past. I roll my eyes. He could say whatever he wants, rationalize as much as he wants. What he did was wrong. Maybe Curtis's reaction wasn't justified but he deserved it. Not only for that. For all his cruelties, for all the times he toyed with my heart, for all his judgments. For all his wrongs.

    I'm dusting the windows in the parlor when the dressmaker sneaks in. She sits down on one of the settees and says, "Well, I guess you won't be going with Alexander to that party. Such a shame. You were a vision in that dress."

    I nod. "I'm not crying about it. Alexander is an ass," I say matter-of-factly.

   "Well, that boy of yours is a keeper. It's very sweet of him to do that. He must really like you," the dressmaker says with a far away look in her eyes, as if recalling one of her past loves. I nod and smile, thinking of sweet Curtis.

  All of a sudden, she jumps up. "Maybe the dress won't go to waste," she says. She looks to make sure our mistress isn't around, then runs to her room.

   She comes back with the dress, the petticoats, and a shirt folded in her arms. "Keep these," she says, thrusting the clothing in to my arms. "Have your boy take you out." She winks and turns around, leaving me staring down at the dress, wondering when I'm going to wear it.

   I get home that night and come inside the shop, where I know Curtis is working. There's no patient, so he's standing at the counter, mixing some herbs in to a thick paste. "I get to keep my job!" I shout.

  He turns around and breaks out in a grin. He hugs me and then picks me up off the ground and spins me around. It may not seem like a big deal, but to us it is. It means being able to support my sister, to support myself. 

  When he puts me down, he sees the stack of clothing in my hands. "What's that?" he asks.

  "The dress that I was supposed to wear to that party," I say. I tell the whole story with the dressmaker, leading down to her advice about having "my boy" take me out. Curtis's eyes light up when I say that the dressmaker said he is a "keeper."

  After I finish telling him the story, he says, "Put on the dress. I'm taking you out."

 "B-but Curtis," I sputter, "how will you get the money? It's so expensive.. a coach in to town, food..."

 "Just go, I'll explain later," Curtis says.

 We go home to the little hut and go our separate ways. Curtis goes to his room and I go to mine. Lily helps me dress. I emerge clothed in the dress. Curtis comes out wearing his father's baggy old suit. He tears up when he tells me his father bought it for his mother's funeral.

  We leave and take a coach in to town. On the coach, Curtis explains that for years he's been saving away money that his father used to give him for helping in the shop and from doing odd jobs for villagers for an emergency or if his father ever needed help with paying rent. He decided to use the money to take me out for dinner. I tell him how touched I am that he is using his money to take me out.

   We get out of the coach and walk to a small restaurant. Inside, there are people eating while others are whirling across a scuffed dance floor. We sit and eat, laughing and talking. Then Curtis takes my hand and we whirl across the floor. At some point, I whisper, "I love you." Curtis laughs and whispers it right back, then kisses me. Then we continue whirling across the floor. Together.

     

                                                                     THE END