Lula stayed a moment longer, looking at the neat stacks around her.
Everything was in its place.Everything clear.She reached into her apron and touched the letter again.Maybe not everything.
She pushed the door open and stepped back into the cold.
“Ella,” she called.
Ella stopped a few steps away and turned, waiting without speaking.
Lula hesitated, then walked toward her, her hands tightening together as if she needed to hold onto something to say the words.“I need to tell you something,” she said quietly.“About Bill.”
Ella’s head tilted slightly, but she didn’t interrupt.“All right.”
Lula looked down at the ground between them, gathering her courage.“I haven’t told anyone here.Not Belle.Not Maggie.Not even Sebastian.”She paused, her throat tightening.“I told Sebastian my parents didn’t approve.That Bill was from a different background.That part is true, but it isn’t all of it.”
She drew in a slow breath.“His parents worked for mine,” she said.“His father was the gardener, and his mother was my mother’s maid.I grew up seeing them every day.”She pressed her lips together before continuing.“And Bill...he was a negro.”
Lula kept her eyes lowered for a moment longer, then forced herself to go on.“That’s why my parents turned me out.That’s why no one would accept our marriage.That’s why people said the things they did.”She shook her head once.“It wasn’t just that he was poor or from the wrong sort of family.It was...that.I couldn’t prove it at the time, but there’s no doubt in my mind he was killed because he married a white woman.”
There was a long silence.Ella didn’t react in any obvious way, but she also didn’t look away.
“I loved him,” Lula added more quietly.“I still do.I can’t pretend that part away.”She let out a small breath, as if she had been holding it for years.“And I don’t regret marrying him.Not for a moment.”
She finally looked up at Ella.“I don’t know how to tell Sebastian.I don’t even know if I should.”
Ella studied her for a moment, then took a step closer.“He should know,” she said simply.
Lula flinched a little at that.“You think so?”
Ella nodded.“He already knows you’re hiding something.”
“That doesn’t mean I have to tell him everything,” Lula said quickly, then stopped herself.“It could change things.It could break everything we’ve started here.”
Ella considered that, her gaze steady.
“Or it won’t,” she said.
Lula gave a quiet, humorless laugh.“You make it sound simple.”
“It isn’t,” Ella replied.“But it’s clear.”
Lula rubbed her hands together, more from nerves than cold.“Everyone minded before,” she said.“Everyone.It didn’t matter how good he was, or how much I...cared for him.It was all they could see.”
Ella held her gaze.“Sebastian isn’t everyone.”
Lula didn’t look convinced.“What if he is?”
Ella didn’t answer right away.When she spoke, her voice was softer.“Then you will know.”
Lula looked away first.“I didn’t want to bring that into this place,” she said.“I thought if I worked hard enough, if I did my part, if I built something here...”She trailed off, unsure how to finish it.
Ella nodded.“Youarebuilding something.”
Lula let out a slow breath.“But I’m still hiding.”
“Yes.”Then Ella shifted slightly, practical as ever.“Take the meat to Katie,” she said.“It won’t sell itself.”
Lula almost smiled at that.“I will,” she said.
