Page 80 of Bones
I hesitated, but before I could find the strength to resist, I put my hand in his again. His warm fingers curled around mine and gave it a firm shake.
“Friends,” I whispered and his face transformed into that sunshine smile.
Gods, I wasn’t sure I could hate Mac for dragging me here now that I knew why. I remembered the tension between Mac and Trey on our journey back to the Vault. I remembered Trey saying if they’d known Juck’s secret weapon was a person, they wouldn’t have taken the job. I doubted Mac would say the same if the alternative was Trey’s death.
I didn’t like the realization that Mac and I were more similar than I thought.
* * *
The next morning I went to see Madame. I'd never attempted to see her without being summoned, so I wasn't sure she'd see me, but when I spoke to the guards at the entrance of the watchtower, they beckoned me inside. Madame sat at a desk in her office with a map in front of her. She scanned me as I came in, her eyes as cold as always.
“What is it, Bones?”
“I want to use the orphans as my messengers,” I said, keeping my voice steady and respectful. “That way people can get messages to me or send for me if they need help and I can send messages and medicine to people. It’s not fair of me to keep Mac’s crew tied up. They’ve got better things to do.”
She eyed me for a moment. “You give those kids anything and you’ll never see it again.”
“I thought of that. An’ I thought maybe if I could offer them shelter and food at the clinic, they’d be more willing to work for me.”
Her eyebrows raised. “You want to house and feed the orphans at the clinic?”
“I know your policy is that only working folks can get rations,” I chose my words carefully. “I want to put them to work. I need the help, an’ they need the food and shelter. Everybody wins.”
She leaned forward, steepling her hands together. “Those kids become a vital part of our workforce once they’re big enough.”
I swallowed down the fury rising in my throat. She didn't want to take care of these kids, but she still expected them to work for her once they got older. "This could be a temporary thing. They could work for me until they're old enough to move on."
In the silence, I held my breath. I didn’t have a backup plan, and I had no clue what to do if she said no. Finally, she nodded.
“Alright. I think your plan could work. But you’ll be responsible for them, you hear? They step out of line and it’s on your head.”
“Yes ma’am,” I agreed, relief coursing through me.
“Tell Mac to find some supplies. I’ll tell the canteen you’re allowed to feed them.”
I walked outside and despite the cold wind, I felt warm inside and out.
12
The first night only a dozen of the children showed up to sleep in the loft. Apple was the first through the door, looking positively gleeful. The blankets Griz and Sam had scrounged up were tattered and threadbare but better than nothing. And to see the kids’ reactions, you’d think I handed them the world.
Hearing the kids sleeping above where I lay on my mattress comforted me. Their little whispers and sleep mumbles meant they were safe and warm. Trey came in, kicking snow off his boots, and I sat up. In the dim glow of the wood stove, he noticed me and smiled. I crawled out from under my blanket, shivering, and crossed the room toward him.
“How many kids showed up?” he whispered, glancing up at the loft.
“Only about a dozen,” I whispered back, frowning.
“More will come,” he assured me, “once word spreads.”
“I hope so,” I murmured.
He shrugged out of his jacket, hanging it on the hook by the door, and bent to shake the snow out of his wet hair, turning his waves into loose curls. "It's still coming down out there."
“Trey?”
He glanced up at me through his damp curls, and my breath caught for a moment at how the firelight reflected in his eyes and played across the planes of his face. He was strikingly handsome. I tried to ignore my feelings for him wrapping roots around my heart.
“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice hoarse with emotion.
