“Yes, sir,” he says, bobbing and backing away.

“You want me to go to Master Thomas now?” I ask, keeping my eyes lowered. I feel Henry standing behind me. I can hear in his breathing that he ain’t happy.

“Yes,” says Master. “Yes, I do. And you’ll stay with him tonight, horse or no horse.”

“Yes, sir,” I say, and scoot on out of there before he want to ask something else I can’t answer.

When I glance back, I see Henry watching me go. His shoulders sag and he stands crumpled staring after me, and I can tell he don’t want to accept this. And I wonder if this is the thing that’s gonna make him want to move on.

All day long I tend to Master Thomas. In the evening, he messes up his bedsheets with his sick, and I strip the bed and give him fresh sheets and set the old ones out in the hallway before they stink up the room.

Before long Missus comes in asking what I think I’m doing stinking up the house. I tell her Master said I have to stay with Master Thomas, but she tells me to get rid of the sheets, so I do. I take them down the back stairs into the carry-through and near about jump out of my skin when someone darts out toward me. It don’t take me but a second to see it’s Henry, and I drop my stink sack and throw my arms around his neck. He kisses me like it’s been a month since he last could, instead of less than a day. I pull away to tell him he shouldn’t be here, and he just kiss me harder, like he’s claiming me.

He’s got me all wrapped up in his arms, and I got my head on his chest and I can’t say a word because there’s a ball building up in my throat. I want to stay like this with him, but I got to hurry back upstairs, and he’s got to get out of this house before someone sees him. Something’s breaking in me and the only thing I can do about it is cry.

“I wanted to defend you and I almost made it worse,” he says. “This is… I can’t stand not being able to protect you. And I don’t want to hide.” He holds me tight and says, “It’s not right.”

He’s right about that because it ain’t, but the law says what the law says. And what it says is that me and Henry ain’t got no kind of chance.

“We had it bad in Ireland. We had rot and fever and more dying than living, but a man’s woman was his woman.”

I circle my arms around him. That ain’t never going to be how it is with us.

“I want you to come with me,” he says.

I shake my head. “I got to get back upstairs. I’ll be in trouble for sure if I disappear again.”