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Unfortunately, the second I focused again, the women’s bellies made it impossible to pretend any longer. I snapped right out of my reverie, feeling my stomach drop along with my mood.
“Hey. You’re new, right?”
I glanced upward. I hadn’t even heard the young woman approach on my left. She was tall with long brown hair and green eyes. One hand rested protectively on her rounded abdomen.
“Yes. I’m Amerie,” I said, rising to my feet.
She smiled. “I’m Sapphire.”
“That’s a nice name.” I cocked my head. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”
“I don’t come up to the mansion much,” she said, shrugging lightly. “I spend most of my time in the cottage.”
My brows furrowed. “The cottage?”
“You haven’t seen that section of the farm yet?” she asked, eyes widening.
“I’ve only been here for a few days,” I replied. “I’ve spent most of that time throwing up in my room, and the rest of the time in here.”
Sapphire extended a hand. “Let me show you around a bit. The fresh air will help with the nausea.”
I took her hand and followed her down the hall, past the in-house medical center and pharmacy. When we reached a large glass door at the end, I stopped short of the threshold, heart pounding.
Sapphire noticed my hesitation. “It’s okay,” she said. “You know you’re allowed outside, right?”
I bit my bottom lip. “Zara told me that, but… I guess I wasn’t sure if it was a trick or not.”
“It’s not. We’re allowed anywhere within the boundaries, and you can tell where they are really easily. They’re all marked out.”
I nodded slowly and followed her through the door. The sky was dark and cloudy, perfectly matching my foul mood.
“So, the farm section of the property is over there,” Sapphire said, pointing toward a series of sheds. “Storage, workspaces, and so on. I don’t go there much, but the workers are all nice.”
She paused and waved at a middle-aged man as he slowly passed in a silver pickup. Then she turned back to me and dipped her chin toward the left. “We’re going this way,” she said. “Once we get around to the other side, you’ll see what I was talking about a minute ago.”
We headed down a lengthy path bordered with hedges, following the eastern perimeter of the enormous Georgian-style mansion. Eventually, the path wound toward its northern side. When we finally arrived, I was awestruck by the magnificent view before me.
Stretching out beyond a sloping expanse of lush green lawn lay a long canal with a marble fountain in the center. On either side of the canal stood a series of double-story English-style cottages, perfectly arranged in neat rows along cobblestone pathways, creating the impression of a quaint historical village.
“I had no idea any of this was here,” I said, head shaking slightly as I took it all in.
“Your window in the mansion must face the other way,” Sapphire replied. “Otherwise you’d have seen it already. It’s pretty hard to miss.”
“Why did they build it?”
“The mansion only has thirty bedroom suites, and there’s over seventy women here now. So they’ve added these cottages over the years to make extra space for us.” Sapphire pointed to the right. “I’m in that one. Number three.”
“You live there by yourself?”
“No. Emma has the upstairs bedroom. I have the downstairs one.”
“Oh, okay. I assume Emma is one of the other girls here?”
Sapphire’s lips twisted. “I wouldn’t really call her a girl. She’s in her late forties,” she said. She paused and leaned her head closer to mine, lowering her voice to a whisper. “She sold herself here in the nineties. Her family had some sort of debt that was impossible to pay, so she paid it for them.”
“If she’s in her late forties, does that mean she can’t get pregnant anymore?” I asked, brows rising.
“Yes, that’s right. She had her last baby about a decade ago. It wasn’t safe for her to have any more after that.”
