The Folly by Irina Shapiro Page B

him into her mouth.  She didn ’ t enjoy the task at hand, but if it got her what she wanted, it was well worth it.  At least he didn’t want to sodomize her tonight , and she was grateful for that. 
    Willa wiped her mouth as she climbed off the bed.  She was eager to get back to her room , since she would have to be up at dawn. 
    “Remember what I told you, Willa.  I hope to see results soon.” 
    “I remember and I ’ ll do as you ask.  Good night.”  She turned to leave, breathing a sigh of relief as the door closed behind her , and she was once again alone in the dim corridor and on the way back to her room.
    **
    Willa tried to sleep, but oblivion would not come easily.  The room was stifling, her nightdress sticking to her overheated body , and her face glistening with sweat.  She wished she could go sleep outside in the garden the way she used to when she was a little girl and it was too hot to be indoors.  The heat wasn’t the only thing keeping Willa awake , and she knew it.  It was the combination of bitterness and guilt.  She wasn’t sure which had the upper hand tonight. 
    At twenty, Willa had seen her share of suffering.  She thought everyone lived like her , until she came to work at the Shipley manor at the age of twelve.  Her mother had begged the cook, Mrs. Burns, to take on Willa as a scullery maid to get her out of the house.  Willa’s father, Herman Adams , was a brutal man , and Willa suffered beating after beating whenever he was in his cups or angry with his lot in life ; which was more often than not.  Her brothers helped her father on the farm so he valued them more, if only for their ability to share the work and make his life easier. 
    Willa, on the other hand, was just another useless female, sent to try his patience and eat his food.  Willa’s mother, Mabel, often sent her to stay with her grandmother at her cottage just to get her out of her father’s way.  Old Janey Adams was a midwife and a medicine woman , and Willa tried to learn as much as she could from her grandmother, hoping that one day she could use her skills to make a life for herself as well.  Mabel was also trained as a midwife, but Herman didn ’ t want his wife called away at all hours of the day to deliver babies , or tend to the sick , when his needs had to be taken care of. 
    Willa was happy living at the manor.   After living in a mean two - room cottage , which she shared with her parents and her three brothers, Willa was amazed by the splendor in which she found herself.  The Shipleys weren’t titled, but they were rich , and their prosperity showed in everything they owned.   Being a scullery maid kept her mostly in the kitchens, but she did manage to peek into some of the rooms, marveling at the thick carpets with intricate, oriental patterns, elegant furniture, polished until the wood glowed like warm honey, and crystal chandeliers sparkling like diamonds in the morning sunshine streaming through the windows. 
    The work was hard and tedious, but Cook took her under her wing, making sure Willa was well-treated and content.  She had to share a room with one of the kitchen maids, but she didn’t mind.  Daisy was only a few years older than her and they got along well.  For the first two years , Willa fell asleep with her arm over her face , still afraid to be woken up by the fist of her drunken father as he used her for a p unching bag for his fury.  It took her a long time to stop waking up in cold sweat, terrified that she would be dismissed and sent back home, back to the life of misery and abuse.  She went to her grandmother’s cottage on her days off, arranging to meet her mother there , instead of going home and facing her enraged father.  Things were looking up. 
    By the time Willa was fourteen, she had worked her way up to being a chambermaid , and was frequently in the room when Lucinda Waters, lady’s maid to Mrs. Shipley, was laying out her clothes or styling the