Bound

Chapter Twenty-Four

Our plan was to leave that night while James was asleep, but Ruby never came to meet me. I waited for hours, packing and repacking Gracie's bag, until things were neatly folded into the sack. By the time the sun was starting to rise, I was worried. Had Ruby changed her mind? It didn't seem likely. She had been resolute about our need to leave the city, had pressed the issue since long before Gracie was born. She wouldn't just not show up for us when the time had finally arrived.

Stuffing my back beneath my bed so that it was out of side, I gathered Gracie from her crib and dressed her like it was a normal day, trying to keep up pretenses for James. I took deep breaths, trying to keep myself calm. Things hadn't gone to plan, but we would just try again the following night. I had lived over two years under the iron thumb of my husband, so what would it hurt to wait another day? It wasn't a big deal.

Though I tried to convince myself that I was overreacting, that Ruby had fallen asleep before she could make it to my room, or she hadn't thought it was safe to leave, or she had changed her mind, something felt off. It wasn't like Ruby to leave me to worry this way. I needed to talk to her and make sure everything was okay.

I propped Gracie on my hip and made my way downstairs. James sat in the dim kitchen reading his newspaper, just like most mornings, but I could already tell that something was off. The smell of freshly brewed coffee didn't meet me when entered the room. The fireplace that was usually teeming with flames was dark and empty, making the room an ice box. There was no breakfast spread on the counter, waiting to be eaten. And there was no Ruby waiting to greet me.

"Good morning," James said when I walked into the room. "I'd like you to make me a cup of coffee."

I furrowed my brows; this was normally Ruby's job. "What about the housemaid?"

James shrugged. "I got rid of her."

My stomach gave a nervous lurch as I tried to absorb his words. "What?" I asked, my voice deadened.

"I said I sent her back to the Factories. She'd begun slacking in her duties the last few months. I have no use for a No Name woman who can't do her job," James grumbled. "The Guardians came to retrieve her late last night. Don't worry, we'll get a new housekeeper," he said, misinterpreting the dread on my face for disappointment. "In the meantime, you can take care of the home."

My body and mind went numb. Somehow I found a way to put Gracie in her walker and start the coffee, but the movements were involuntary, a subconscious reaction to avoid meeting the same fate as the woman I loved. I couldn't speak. Ruby had done so much to keep me safe, and I hadn't been able to return the gesture. She'd been sent back to the place that had caused her so much pain, the place she still had nightmares about after years of being away from it.

I kicked myself for not leaving when Ruby first suggested it. If we had packed our bags just a day sooner, she wouldn't be confined to the Factories enduring God only knew what. She wouldn't have been ripped from her home, her lover, her child, without being able to say goodbye.

After James left for work, I sat on the floor and sobbed into my hands, too weak to get to my feet. Even Gracie couldn't stop crying. It was as though she could sense that her entire world had been flipped upside down, that the woman who carried her for nine months and birthed her had been subjected to a cruel fate that could ultimately result in her death.

Somehow I managed to get to my feet and lifted Gracie into my arms. I bounced her on my hip, walking across the room like a zombie as I tried to calm her, but my efforts were half-hearted. How could I console Gracie when I couldn't even console myself? Would I ever see Ruby again? The idea broke my heart. I loved her so much and wasn't ready to say goodbye to her.