Page 67 of Enslaved to the Seduction of a Lady
“When did she pass?” Luke asked.
“Ugh, must be eight… maybe nine years now. Missed her terribly since. We’d sit on the step and rabbit all day, so we would. Told each other everythin’, while our little ‘uns played in the street. She ‘ad an ‘ard life, ya know, our Lola. Poor thing.”
“How so?” Luke asked. “Wasn’t my father around to protect her?”
The old woman laughed and slapped her knee.
“Lola’s ‘usband was a right scoundrel. Ran around town like anyone’s business. Then one day, he just… disappeared. Never ‘eard a word from ‘im since. Lola was broken ‘earted.”
“What sort of man would do that?”
Luke was disgusted by idea that his father could desert his mother like that, leaving her to fend for herself.
“With a babe in arms, too,” Mary said, shaking her head sadly.
“Babe? Don’t you meanbabes?”
“No, Son,” Mary said. The humorous twist in her lips slipped and she looked at him perfectly seriously. “Just ‘er eldest. You and that lovely little sister o’ yours weren’t even born yet. Nor that last one.”
“I have brothers?”
“One,” Mary said, “and another sister. When that man of ‘ers left, she did all she could t’ look after that poor babe. Earned money the only way a woman can in our world, if you know what I mean.”
Luke sneered at the thought, not meaning to, but unable to keep the disgust from his face.
“Don’t you look like that, Boy,” Mary warned, a finger raised. “It may not be the most moral way of earning a crust, but she did everything she could to keep all of yous alive and with food in ya bellies. ‘ated every minute of it, so she did, but she did what she ‘ad to.”
“All right,” Luke said, feeling a thrust of guilt. “So what happened to my brother and sister?”
“Lola was only just making ends meet, scraping together everything she could,” Mary said. “And then you and the girl came along, and she didn’t know how she would continue. Then some rich fella—”
“One of her… customers?”
“Dunno about that,” Mary said with a shrug. “But he turned up at the ‘ouse one day, offering to buy one of you babes.”
“Buy us?” Luke gasped in shock, but Mary only shrugged again.
“Adopt, then. Sounds worse than it is. Poor Lola came to see me that night, sobbing her little ‘eart out. She didn’t know what to do for the best. She didn’t wanna lose one of ya, of course she didn’t. But this fella, he offered the babe a wonderful life, with all the riches you could imagine. And if she didn’t take up his offer, all four of you were gonna die of starvation. ‘Twas the best thing for the lot of ya. Told her so then, and I still reckon it now.”
Luke was astonished. His mouth worked up and down as he tried desperately to think of what to say. He couldn’t even look Mary in the eye.
To sell a child?
It seemed almost barbaric, no matter how desperate she was.
“I can’t even begin to imagine—”
“No,” Mary snapped, “you can’t, so don’t you go judgin’, neither.”
She looked at him harshly, her jaw set and ready to fight, and Luke softened. His life had been easy compared to his mother’s, he realized, and most likely easier than Mary’s. He had been extremely lucky to find Jack, and he appreciated his foster father now more than ever.
“So,” Luke began, tentative, “what happened next?”
“Lola did what all poor people do when they come into money. Instead of putting it aside, she spent the lot. The three of you ate very finely for a while, and you all ‘ad new clothes. But then, the money ran out and things went back to ‘ow they always were.”
“But that was a silly thing to do,” Luke said. “Why didn’t she keep it a little longer, try to make it last?”
Mary snorted. “Life ‘ain’t that simple for us down ‘ere. And if you’ve never been taught it, you’ll never know it. Take it you’ve landed on your feet, then?”
