Page 87 of Discovered Magic
“Sit down, child,” Damian ordered from behind her.
The command in his voice had her complying, and he slid a bowl of stew in front of her, then offered a second to Wilder.
“Eat, girl, and when you’re done, you’ll point out your employer.”
She paused, spoon halfway to her mouth as she got her first good look at the Aether’s jaw-dropping good looks. But she quickly regrouped.
“He’ll kill me, sir,” she mumbled before shoveling in steaming bites.
“Not on my watch,” he assured her.
An understanding passed between them. Damian’s calm assurance eased the young woman’s fears.
“Tell me about your mother,” he said out of the blue.
Wilder wasn’t sure where he was going until the girl’s face crumpled.
“Ma?” the girl asked. Her lip trembled, giving away her plight, before she bit it.
“What happened to her?”
“She up and died last year. Pox, Doc said.” She gave a half-hearted shrug, then tucked into her bowl. “She wouldn’t have wanted this for us kids. But Pete, he promised her he’d take care of us. She didn’t know he ran girls with Bart.”
“Bart? Would that be Bartholomew Mercer from Perdition Ridge?” Wilder asked.
Her nose curled as if smelling something foul. “Yeah.”
“I see.” And he did. Abbie’s fate would’ve been the same as this child’s had people not cared enough to search for her, and had she not gotten lucky in the canyon. “What’s your name?”
“Molly Mae.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve and winced. “Ma would be sore at me for doin’ that on account it ain’t ladylike.”
“Molly Mae, you said ‘kids’ meaning plural. How many siblings do you have?”
“I gots me one sister and a half-brother, Gus. His Pa was a mean’un, though.”
Gus. The boy who had been shot trying to save Abbie. Christ, it was a blow. One he wasn’t ready to deliver on this poor girl.
Wilder met Damian’s considering gaze. “An Evie project?”
“I think that would be best. She’ll make it her mission to save the lost lambs in Pete’s care.”
He grinned, happy to know his great-great-grandmother was a woman of action.
“You want to tell her, or should I?” He nodded toward the first of Evie’s ‘lost lambs.’
“Please, be my guest,” Damian replied with a small smile.
The girl sucked in her breath, causing his frown.
“Must be tough looking as gorgeous as you do,” Wilder quipped.
Damian’s voice was pained as he said, “You have no idea.”
“Nothing wrong with good looks, mister.” Molly waved her spoon as if to emphasize the point. “’Specially when you got a handsome heart. Or that’s what Ma would say. The two aren’t mutually excluded.”
“Exclusive,” Wilder corrected. “And your mother was right.”
A rotund man in a green suit approached. His greasy hair was slicked back, and his graying, bulbous nose spoke of drinking to excess. “Molly’s here for work, not sittin’ around. You gents want her company, it’ll be five dollars apiece.”
