Page 105 of The Missing Pages
Violet slowly read the other letters, handing them off to Theo as she finished each one.
“Look at this one.” Violet flattened it on the table. “It mentions that Ada’s so happy to learn Harry has a secretcompartment in his desk where he keeps a second copy ofTreasure Island.”
“A secret drawer… in his desk…” Theo peered over and read the words to himself.
“You’re definitely going to get your job back at the library when you show them all this, Vi. Maybe the book is still in there.”
“Maybe…” Violet said. “Now that would be something, right?”
Theo turned the letter over to look at Ada’s signature. His eyebrows furrowed as he brought the paper closer to his face. He could hardly believe what he was seeing.
“Wait,” he said as he lifted up his hand. “Did you notice this on the other side of the paper where she signed it?” Theo asked. “Look here.”
Violet took the letter back, her eyes boring into the area where Ada had written her signature. Next to it was the exact doodle that was on her grandma Helen’s fairy-tale book: a small bird, with the letters “A” and “L” used to make its little feet.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE
“GO,”ROSENBACH TOLDADA. “PACK UP YOUR THINGS.I will leave it to you to inform Quaritch why I can no longer employ you.”
Ada’s face flushed, her eyes were moist. Perhaps she had this coming all along. Unmarried, pregnant, and alone. If she had confessed these things when she first came to see Rosenbach in Philadelphia, he would have thrown her out then.
A hand shielded her stomach. She could take the daggers flying from his eyes, but her thoughts now were to protect her child. She needed money. A roof overhead. She did not want to give up the one thing she loved most in the world now.
“Please,” she implored. “It was a mistake to write to her. But I had my reasons.”
“Reasons? What reasons were those?”
“I… wanted… to…” The words choked in her throat.
“You wanted to do what?” She could see he was envisioning all the future books he presumed she wanted to sell directly to Mrs. Widener, eliminating him as the middleman. His relationship with Eleanor Widener was potentially damaged. He could not see the truth—how obvious it seemed to her as she stood in front of him—that she was frightened and was with child.
“It isn’t what you think,” she finally said, her voice cracked like glass.
He took a deep breath and looked down at his desk. “I’ll pay you through this week because I’m a gentleman,” he said. He lifted his hand, signaling her to leave.
Ada walked out.Gentleman, she thought to herself. There was nothing gentle about any of this. He had cast her out into the storm.
Love. It grew like a vine with a thousand different tendrils. Before Harry, Ada had only loved books. She found a sanctuary in them, earned a living from them. It had forged a bridge between her and those beyond her modest background. Would Harry have ever fallen in love with her, had she not loved paper and ink as much as he?
She knew the answer would have been no. Books had been her world up until now. She had read all types with all kinds of endings. The happy ones. The sad ones. But few authors had ever thought to depict the most difficult endings to bear. The ones that happened every day in the real world without anyone taking note. The quiet ending. Based on what every artist, poet, and romantic knows to be the death knell of art. Pragmatism.
Ada’s wrapper was damp from perspiration by the time she finally reached the boarding house. The fasteners were so tight they cut into her skin.
She knocked on Fanny’s door.
The woman opened it and already knew what Ada was going to say.
“It’s time, isn’t it?” Fanny said softly.
Ada nodded. “I need to go where you went. I don’t remember the name.”
“St. Anne’s Home for Unwed Mothers,” she said after she led Ada inside her room and closed the door.
“I don’t want to do this, Fanny.” Beads of tears rolled down her cheek. “But I have no other choice. I lost my job today.”
Fanny was quiet. “Even if you were able to work another month… or even two, you would have a lot of other challenges sooner or later. The baby won’t stop growing.”
She gripped her hand tightly around Ada’s. “And that’s actually a beautiful thing.”
