ORINDA
1898
We Have a New Owner
If there’s one thing that runs around a house of ill-repute faster than the clap, it’s a good bit of gossip—especially as it’s gossip that affected each woman personally. No sooner had my foot touched the upstairs landing, but Verna peered out from her room and waved me over.
“You hear?” she asked.
“Sure, I heard. How’d you hear?”
“Tommy. You give him a nickel, he’ll tell you anything.”
“That boy’s a born con artist.”
“Never mind that. Get on in.”
I sidled through the space she made, pushing aside the giant fronds she kept as ambiance, and found Maggie and Darby sitting on the edge of the mattress.
“Cullen Wilder won the business,” Maggie said.
“Cullen?” My throat closed up.
Darby mewled.
Maggie patted her back.
“With that rooster of his.” Verna held out a bottle. “From Tommy Gee’s description of Aristides, I’d be curious to see the size of Thor.”
Maggie took the bottle, poured it, and handed us each a thimble of whiskey.
“What about China Mary?” I asked.
Verna set the bottle on the window ledge. “Going to Sacramento.”
“California?”
“She has family there.”
“China Mary has family?” I hadn’t thought of her as having kin; or if she did, I figured she ate them one by one.
“We need to be calm,” Verna said. But she picked and pulled apart the knots on a curtain tassel and, when that was complete, moved on to the next one.
“Are we losing our jobs?” Maggie bolted from the bed and paced to the door and back. “I don’t have anything else but this.”
“Maybe he’ll pay better,” Darby said. She dragged her upper lip on her teeth. “He’s always giving extra to Pip, isn’t he?”
“He doesn’t give her stink,” Verna said. “Just a couple extra dollars to board her horse and a bruise or two for good measure. And I’ve seen how he looks at you.”
Maggie stopped mid step. “I make sure—”
“I’m telling it how I see it.”
“I know how he looks at me.” Darby’s skin was grey as old dishwater.
“How’s he going to be a madam?” I asked.
Verna took the bottle and refilled the glasses. “Ashes to ashes.” We drank again.
“We’d best get Pip.” I strode from the room and knocked my fist to Pip’s door. It swung partway open.
Cullen Wilder stared down at me, arms crossed, eyes at half-mast, stubble already darkening his jaw. His cheeks crinkled as he smiled. “Looks like I’m in charge.” He made a quick move like he was going to backhand me.
“I’m not scared of you.” I swallowed and thought how I damn well was.
“Maybe you should be. All of you running around doing whatever you want.”
“Leave her alone, Cullen.”
I stood on tiptoes to look for Pip, but he kept his shoulders to the space so all I could see was his satin vest and the gold pin in his lapel. “Meeting in ten minutes in the dining room.”
* * *
The dining table was too small for our assorted group. Cullen took two seats: one for his boots and the other for his bum. He kept his eyes on the task of cutting his cigar tip to the exact right place.
Pip sat next to him, though not by her own volition. He’d pointed and she’d sat. As the conversation progressed, her arms crossed tighter and tighter to her chest and her glare at Cullen would boil iron.
China Mary sat at the head, as she always did. She eked out a miserable smile and tapped her very large emerald-colored ring to the wood. Three taps and then a single.
It was one of the codes. Bastard.
Darby and Maggie and Verna and I were left to squeeze along a bench.
Cullen lit his cigar and worked at puffing a couple smoke circles. They weren’t much of anything, so he gave up and took to staring at each one of us in turn. You could see clear on his face what he thought of each of us, even though he tried to mask it in a smile. Maggie meant nothing to him. Verna annoyed him. Darby would need to watch her back. Pip was a second thought. China Mary was the vanquished. And I was nothing much but the size of an ant upon a sidewalk.
“No more shows,” he said.
“No more shows?” Verna waved her arms up. “As in, not even one song and dance?”
“No more dance floor?” Maggie asked.
The liquor in my stomach took a flop and turn. No more job for Ruby.
I cut a glance to Pip, but she turned her head away to stare at the whitewashed walls and fiddled with her cheap cut glass ring.
“I don’t believe in charity, ladies. And, respectfully to the madam here, you’ve been running one.” He dropped his boots to the floor and leaned his elbows on the table. “We’re going to take out the stage. Expand the tables throughout. Blackjack. Faro, of course. Wheels of fortune. That’s where the money’s won.”
“What about us?” Maggie asked.
“Do your job. Butter up the men, give them a tip or two on how to play their hand. Then take them upstairs when they lose. Which they all will, in the end.”
Verna leaned back. “Half our income comes from that dance hall.”
“You’re just going to have to work harder on your back, aren’t you?” He stood up. “Friday’s the final show. Let’s make it China Mary’s farewell. Ruby’s, too, unless—” He raised his eyebrow.
“I got plenty of places I can find work.”
“Pip’s the new manager. You answer to her. She answers to me. Simple.”
We sat around in silence, except for China Mary tapping that ring. Her face grew all manner of reds and purples.
I stared at Pip. “What the hell—”
“You have something to say, Ruby?” Cullen asked.
Verna hit my thigh with her fist.
“No.”
“Then we’re all agreed. Miss Mary, shall we go look over the books?” He stuck out his elbow for her, but she didn’t take it. Instead, she huffed past him and out to the hall. “Some people are such bad losers.”
He strolled out as if he’d been enjoying a light repast with friends rather than upending everyone’s lives.
Once the door closed, our attention snapped to Pip. I thought she might be uncomfortable with her sudden improvement in station, maybe look downcast or show some humility. But she didn’t.
“I didn’t know any sooner than you did,” she said.
“Well,” Verna drawled, “It wasn’t like this was unexpected. Aristides was what—ten or twelve. He’s going to make a stringy meal.”
“This is what you think about, Verna? Our supper’s going to be a disappointment?” I asked. “How about the fact I am about to be a street urchin?”
“You’re the one won’t expand your job responsibilities.”
“Pfft.”
Verna’s eyebrow rose. “I’m just saying.”
“Whose side are you going to be on, Pip?” Maggie’s question shut us up.
Pip gave her a blank stare. Smiled without showing her teeth. “You know I’m on your side.”
“I don’t understand.” Darby stared at Pip, big eyes like a lost fawn.
Verna blew out a breath and shrunk down a bit in her seat. And me? Well, hell, who cared what I thought at that point? I would, within a space of days, find my ass in the yard with Wu Lin’s chicken.
The thought came that I should find Joe and rescind my rejection of his proposal. But I knew if I did, his trust in my affection would forever be tarnished. I may not have loved him, but I did think well enough of him not to be so cruel.
I felt quite virtuous and self-sacrificing after thinking those thoughts, so I dipped my head and whispered, “No matter the pain and loss, I will live, so please don’t worry about me or my future.”
Verna rolled her eyes and made a noise.
I reached for Darby’s hand, stroking the top of it. “You may have my room. It’s got a good breeze. And Pip—” I threw out a silent prayer. “—she’ll watch over you. And not steal most your wages such as China Mary did. She’ll let me join you all for supper every so often, at least until I can get on my feet and move them towards—”
“Towards what,” Verna interrupted. “The Jordan river?”
“Towards Missouri. Towards my home and kids.”
“You have kids?” Darby asked.
“Why, I surely do.”
“Oh. I’d like to have a kid.”
“You’re just a kid yourself.”
“I’m fourteen. My mama had me at the same age, and Wyatt the year after. He died, though. Maggie’s sure my dad done something to him and mama. But Maggie’s always thinking wrong of people, isn’t she?”
I had never heard Darby string so many words together. I thought her to have the personality of the wallpaper, but she had a tragic life and retained some sweetness. It gave me a rush of sentiment that I might miss her when I was booted out.
“The funny thing is, I still want to go home.” Darby looked around at us. “Isn’t that a funny thing?”
A horrific shriek came from the hallway, followed by a string of expletives mixed with Chinese and a smattering of Spanish and ending in China Mary slamming back into the dining room and then slamming out the back door.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“Maybe,” Verna said, “she just found out the contents of the stew.”