https://Voice.club -
New York
1864
The snow fell thick and soft on the horses and carriages. The two children, side by side, watched at the window.
Henry breathed on the windowpane.
“Where’s your father?” Emma asked.
Henry watched as the mist faded. “Da fell from a ladder and hurt himself. One morning he went for a walk and never came back.” He breathed on the pane again. “Ma says he’s dead.”
Emma drew a line through the mist with her fingertip.
“My mama died when I was born.”
She drew another line parallel to the first. “Do you think Mama will know me when I see her in heaven?”
Henry leaned on the sill.
“Henry?”
“I think she’ll know you, Emma. So don’t worry about it.”
She drew a line connecting the two parallels. “Aren’t you supposed to call me ‘Miss Emma’?”
He turned to her. “Do you want me to?”
Emma looked straight at him.
“No.”
“Then I won’t.” He pulled up his sleeve and wiped away the mist.
“Emma and I are getting married.”
Catherine dropped the sponge in the tub and spun her son around by his shoulders.
“Good God, boy, never say that! D’ye hear? Never.” She picked up the sponge again and scrubbed at his neck. “I’m a servant here and you’re a servant’s son. You’ll have us both in the street with that talk. Do you want that?”
Henry flinched. “But we’ve decided. We’ll have a house and a garden and a dog …"
“Stop!”
Catherine’s voice was low, but Henry knew she was angry.
“You must never say that. Not to anyone. You’ve been spoiled, child. You two are from different worlds.” She squeezed the water from the sponge down his back the way he liked it, to make up for the roughness. “When Miss Emma grows up, she’ll marry a rich man with a house like this one, or bigger. That’s her life. Yours will be very different.”
“Why? If we love each other, we can be together. We should be, shouldn’t we?”
Catherine sighed. “Hop out, Henry. The water’s getting cold.”