Heat bathed the packed ballroom.
Kitty and I navigated the crowds.
A fiddler and drummer filled the air with a happy beat that tapped down into my bones.
Men and women twirled, the music taking each for a whirl about the room. The beat pumped life into my chest. Folks came up and asked Kitty and me to dance, but we declined. Hearing the music was enough.
Kitty clapped. “I like church, Dolly.”
I brushed one of her fallen braids swelling in the humidity. “You know this is not truly church.”
“’Course it is. It heals you. You always come back smiling.”
A brawl started in the back of the room.
Men, men in uniform, were punching and breaking things.
I pulled Kitty behind me, like I’d be better at taking a wild punch.
Women near the fight ran out of the drawing room.
Men, the ones not in uniform, began backing away, too. I didn’t blame them. British soldiers could run amuck without any penalties. Free Blacks would be jailed if they did the same.
“Kitty, let’s go.”
My sister had become stiff, like her feet had rooted to the floor.
I put my arm around her. “It’s fine, dear. I’m here. You don’t need to be here with all this noise.”
“No, Dolly. You have to dance. Someone will stop the drunks.”
Mr. Lionel, Mr. Bates’s clerk, came to us. “Miss Kirwan, I thought that was you.”
“Are you having fun?”
My yell seemed to reach his ear, for his smiled broadened. “Yesss. Much better than going to the brothels. I hear it’s s-s-safer for s-s-sausages and such.”
His slurring words. The man must’ve drunk several barrels’ worth of wine. He yanked on my sleeve. “Oh. Oh. Miss Kirwan, I hear Mr. Thomas will be back at the end of the week.”
He covered his lips. “Oops, I’m not supposed to say. Thomas wants to come back and sweep you into his sloop. Working on a contract to marry you.”
Kitty and I guided Mr. Lionel to a chair, for he was very wobbly. Men who counted my money shouldn’t be wobbly.
Thomas was returning and wanted to take me away on the Mary. Did he think paper would make up for leaving?
Another fight broke out.
The fiddler stopped.
The drummer did too.
A command was yelled.
The crowd of men parted, and in the dust a fellow fell forward. Then he lunged and dropped at my feet. “Sorry, ma’am.”
Two men in uniform came and hoisted him upright. He looked at me and pushed free.
“Fellows, this is my doll. This is the woman I told you about, the woman in the sketch. The black beauty, the dame de couleur with my nose and Joan of Arc’s hair.”
Prince William’s flopping arm swatted the air like he’d thought about grabbing me, but was too drunk to do it.
“Stop. You’ve seen me. Now go with your soldiers but pay for the damages.”
“Miss Dorothy, don’t go away.”
I turned, grabbed Kitty, and started to the door.
“Dorothy, wait. Please. I came to your house but no one lived there.”
A hundred eyes were on me. I could feel their whispers. Miss Kirwan and the prince.
One person called me Dolly, the doxy for His Royal Highness.
I spun to the miserable man still calling after me. “What do you want, Prince?”
“I came back for you. I want to show you my new boat, the Andromeda. I can show you across the sea. Come away with me.”
No. No. No. “I have to leave.”
I took Kitty’s arm, and we ran.
We were halfway home when I stopped midstep. “We left our hats.”
“Dolly.” Kitty gripped my hand and kept me from turning back. “They’ll think you’ve come back to tease the prince. Remember how everyone mocked your name with his? The Old Market people called you Mrs. Prince for months.”
“I didn’t do anything. It’s not my fault that the drunk man knew my name.”
“It will be tomorrow. I took you to have fun and brought us trouble. Maybe you should go with Mr. Cells. Be away from the gossip. Let it die down. You’re starting to feel better.”
My head spun, then settled. In that moment, finally, I could see clearly.
“I do need to leave, Kitty. Will you help Mamaí take care of my children? Will you make sure our mother doesn’t work too hard, but keep our housekeepers working?”
“Of course, Dolly.”
“Yes. I need to go and sort things out and come back strong.”
I looped my arm with hers, and we ran home. Leaving was the only way to find my way. For the first time in a long time, I knew exactly what to do.