Page 16 of Charlotte's Reckoning
“One thousand,”she breathed, feeling sick. One of her thoroughbreds went for almost that much. She had no hope of getting a job that would pay anywhere near that amount.
“You have only the clothes on your back and nothing to offer except what lies beneath them. You’re lucky he brought you here instead of to one of the volume houses. Some of those girls entertain twenty to twenty-five men a night. Here, since we charge more, they expect to linger.”
“How many here?”she asked, dreading the answer.
“Depends on the customer and what he orders, but about halfthat.”
She couldn’t begin to imagine a dozen men in a single night.
“A pretty girl like you will be popular. If you’re lucky, you’ll be a top earner with a few good paying customers and won’t have to take on whoever walks in the door.”The madam shrugged. “Either way, you’ll have a quota. Meet that, and before you know it, you’ll have paid me back and can move on.”
“This can’t be happening. Iwassupposedto go to Kansas with my husband and claim the land Mr. Lincoln promised,”she choked out, tears finally breaking the dam.
“Here come the waterworks,”Heloise muttered, thrusting a red lace handkerchief at her. When she realized Rowie’s hands were still bound, she scrubbed her face for her. “You need to toughen up. Weak women don’t last long in this business. You’ve got until Friday’s auction togettwice the amount to buy your way out of this.”
“Two thousand dollars?”she gasped.
“I have to be compensated for my troubles,”she insisted.
“Butthat’s only a few days away!”
“Soit is.”Heloise reached out and patted her cheek. “It won’t be so bad. YougetSunday all to yourself.”
She sounded sincere, as if she actually believed in her benevolence. A scathing reply was on her tongue, but Rowie held it back. Both sides of her face ached already.
“How long will I be indentured here?”
“Five or six years. Keeping busy, the time will passquickly.”
“Six years! You’ve got to be joking.”
“Hardly. If you’d wound up at one of the cribs a few streets over, where the sheets are never changed because there isn’t time between customers, oneleaving often rubbing shoulders with the next, you’d have never seen your freedom. You’re really quite fortunate.”
“Iseenothing fortunate about being kidnapped and sold into prostitution.”
“Andwe’re back to where we started,”she said with a drawn-out sigh.
A loud bang, like a gunshot, shook the floor beneath them, followed by screams and shouts. Heloisewasimmediatelyon the move and heading to the door.
“Damn drunks,”she muttered. “If it didn’t increase profits, I’d outlaw whiskey. As it is, I think I’ll start collecting a surcharge for repairs. Five bucks a head should cover all the busted tables and chairs and the bullet holes in the wood.”She wrenched the door open, issuing a warning before leaving. “Don’t get any ideas about running. Noah will be at your door keeping an eye on things.”
Alarge, barrel-chested man with café au lait skin and a gleaming bald head stepped into the doorway, his presence filling the space.
“Noah, this is our new girl—”The madam frowned and glanced her way. “You got a name?”
Rowie clamped her mouth shut.She’dlostso much already, this little piece of her past she refused to share.
“It doesn’t matter. I’d change it if it were something god-awful like Hortense or Dorcas. But I’ve got to get downstairs and see what those heathens tore up now. Noah,keep an eye on…”She pondered this for a moment. “Elisabeth.”She grunted. “No, Frances.Orperhaps, Frannie.”
“Beggin’ your pardon, Miz Heloise,”the big man said in a deep, rumbling voice. “Frannie is a name for a pale, pockmarked girl, not one with milky white skin and eyes the color of… Nothing I’ve seen before, so I don’t know what to call it.”
“She is a beauty, isn’t she?Evenifshe is a bit banged up.”
Rowie ignored them talking about her as though she couldn’thear. Theycouldcall her gone, for all she cared because that’s whatshe’dbe the first chance she got.
“What name would you choose, Noah?”the madam asked.
“Iheardthe man who brought her in call her Rowie.”
