Yellow Wife

Pheby wears a soiled dress the entire time that Rubin and her children are gone. She works on her sewing until her hands blister. When someone tells her that Essex is starving, she admonishes herself for neglecting him out of anger. She visits Essex and cleans and cares for him. Essex tells Pheby that he has missed her, and the two are intimate with one another.

Essex tells Pheby that he heard a rumor that Delphina lost Bell’s fortune after his death, and asks Pheby to try to send the letter again. Pheby says it is too dangerous, but Essex reminds her that this is their only pathway to freedom. When she leaves the jail cell, she finds that Rubin has returned with her daughters. Monroe is not with them. Her daughters embrace her, crying that they never want to be parted from her again. Joan and Isabel tell Pheby that Monroe has been left on a plantation.

In the morning, Rubin asks Pheby to join him for breakfast. Rubin calls for July to come in the room, and tells her that she will be prepared that day for auction. When July asks why she is being punished, Rubin tells her that her sale is Pheby’s punishment for disobeying him and attempting to help