Chapter 14

 

The two-room flat Mary and Robert called home grew stifling hot by midday and never cooled enough at night to make any time spent there bearable. The adjacent buildings blocked any breeze from entering their two windows, no matter how far Julia was able to prop up the sash. Mary and Julia were forced to fan themselves with whatever they could find, Mary a tin pie plate and Julia a leaflet paper on the virtues of regular prayer, while they sat at the table. With only a nappy to cover her bottom, Lucy slept in a wooden box lined with blankets between them.

“It’s been too long,” Mary said fretfully. “’E’s been gone too long.”

By the time Julia arrived, two days prior, Robert had already gone in search of his friend, Jeremiah, who hadn’t been seen since he made the journey on foot to Belgravia. Julia knew now Jeremiah was the man discovered tied to the lamppost, but she said nothing for fear of distressing Mary even further.

“Something’s ’appened to ’im,” Mary said. She looked to Julia imploringly. “What do we do?”

“We wait,” Julia said, trying hard to keep her voice even and calm. By the time Julia arrived, Mary had been driven to near-hysterics, worrying and fretting for her husband’s safety. She couldn’t just leave her niece in the care of a woman who could barely care for herself, so Julia stayed. She did her best to care for the child and Mary, who seemed less concerned with the running of the house and more concerned with perpetuating her worry. No matter how much Julia tried to coax her from her listless state, Mary became despondent and preferred to sit at the table staring at the opposite wall.

“T’is yer fault,” Mary said, somewhat casually. “’E was going to take us far away from ’ere, but ’e insisted on taking ye wit’ us.” A fresh set of tears glistened in Mary’s eyes. “We would ’ave been ’alfway across the Atlantic by now.”

Julia shook her head at the woman’s careless words and her lack of geographic knowledge. “Hardly halfway,” she said under her breath.

Mary turned at the sound of Julia’s voice, and gave a look of disgust. “’Ow can you know?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.

Julia ignored Mary’s protest and craned her neck to look out the window. They couldn’t see much of anything save a small sliver of the alley below. Julia had spent much of the night before watching for signs of both Robert and Thaddeus. If anyone had seen her walking into Robert and Mary’s place, he’d know before long.

“Ye know, I ain’t ever seen anyone put on so much airs as ye. Ye’d think ye were a princess the way ye prance around here in yer fine dresses and shiny hair.”

“Please, Mary, let’s not get at odds here.” Julia looked down to Lucy, who stirred in her makeshift cot.

“Ye spend one ’ear with the toffers in Belgravia and that makes ye better ’an the rest of us?”

Julia closed her eyes and turned her head as her sister-in-law raised her voice. It had come to her attention there were two types of people when it involved the hardships of life: those who use adversity to spur action and those who use it to wallow in misery. She highly suspected Mary was the latter.

“I am not your enemy, Mary,” she said. “My only wish is to help you and Lucy until Robert returns and even then perhaps I can help with your passage to Boston.”

Mary snorted in disgust. “We don’t want yer help, not from the likes of ye. Ye forget, Princess. I know who ye really are.” Mary stood and leaned over the table to point a finger at Julia. “I know what ye’ve done, Julia Calvin.”

Julia snatched Mary’s wrist and pushed her hand hard into the table. “Pipe down,” Julia hissed. “Or you are going to get us all killed!”

Lucy let out a deep-throated wail at this and Mary simply collapsed back into her chair, holding to her injured hand. She cried openly as Julia bent down to pick up the baby.

“He’s dead,” Mary said, crying into her hands. “I know he’s dead. And ’ere I am left with a babe and no way to feed her. I’ll be in the workhouse ’fore long.”

“Don’t speak like that,” Julia said, cradling Lucy against her chest and shoulder. “He will be home. We just need to wait.” Julia bobbed Lucy up and down gently. “Quietly,” she added.