Page 57 of With Good Grace
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Olivia continued to pace after Jake left, missing his reassuring presence and resenting the fact that she had not been permitted to accompany him. Knowing that he was right and she really had no choice but to remain in Grosvenor Square did nothing to quell her disgruntled state of mind. She alternately paced, threw herself into random chairs and stared at the flames leaping in the fireplace, brooding, feeling ill-used for all the travails she had been forced to endure over the past few years. Naked fear for her son’s welfare froze the tears that would otherwise be streaming down her face in rivers of despair as she drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair and stared vacantly into space.
She had no idea how much time had passed since Jake left. It seemed like hours but was probably not more than thirty minutes. She refrained from looking at the clock. It hardly mattered. Besides, she was convinced that the wretched thing was working backwards. She clutched Mr Rabbit—the toy that she had made herself for Tom when he was a baby and which he still refused to sleep without, always asking for it when he was tired or upset. He would be missing it now and Olivia tried to console herself with the thought that she would soon be in a position to reunite Tom with his rabbit.
But she did not feel consoled.
The door flew open, interrupting her bout of self-pity. Reed stood there looking discomposed.
‘What is it, Reed?’ she asked, hoped flaring. ‘Is there news?’
‘Molly is back, ma’am.’
‘Molly?’ Relief washed through Olivia. ‘Tom is with her?’
Reed’s mournful expression caused Olivia’s nascent hopes to evaporate. ‘No, ma’am,’ he replied with a gentle shake of his head.
Olivia leapt to her feet. ‘Then where is he? What does Molly say? No matter, send her in here and I will speak with her myself.’
Moments later, a bedraggled Molly with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders to cover her torn and damp clothing entered the room and burst into tears.
‘Bring some brandy, Reed,’ Olivia said sharply, steering Molly towards a chair next to the fire and crouching down in front of her.
‘I am that sorry, madam,’ she said contritely.
‘Hush, drink this. You are in shock.’
Olivia held the glass Reed handed her to Molly’s lips and forced her to take a sip. Molly did so, surprising Olivia when she did not choke on the fiery liquid she was unaccustomed to, as Olivia had done earlier. A small amount of colour gradually appeared through the dirt on her pale cheeks.
‘Now, can you tell me what happened?’ she asked.
Reed remained and Olivia did not ask him to leave. She suspected that Jake had given him instructions to stand guard over her and report any developments; not trusting Olivia to do so herself.
‘I still don’t rightly know. I got knocked down, you see.’
‘At the park? When there was a disturbance?’
‘Yes, I remember a child falling in and I was desperate to get Master Tom clear of the stampede when people rushed forward to offer help. But, like I say, I got knocked down and that’s the last I remember until I woke up about an hour ago with a headache.’
‘Where, Molly?’ Olivia resisted the urge to shake the girl. ‘Where were you when you woke up?’
‘Outside a tavern in Whitechapel, I think.’ A look of confusion graced Molly’s features. ‘There was a group of men standing around, looking down at me and making lewd remarks.’ Tears poured down Molly’s face and Olivia felt very sorry for her, aware of just how morally inclined she was. She had tried to protect Tom and almost paid for her dedication with her virtue. Olivia had been quite wrong to doubt her, despite all the evidence to the contrary. No one could fake such a degree of contrition, could they? ‘I called for help and one of them pulled me to my feet. I was that wobbly. I think I must have hit my head somewhere along the way. Anyway, I got away from those men and walked back here. I had no money, you see, no way to let you know…’
She broke down, sobbing, and Olivia ineffectually patted her shaking shoulders, desperate to know what had happened to Tom. But she could not ask until Molly had composed herself. She shared a helpless glance with Reed as she handed Molly her handkerchief. She mopped her eyes and looked up at Olivia with a helpless shrug. ‘I am that sorry, madam, but I have absolutely no idea what happened to Master Tom.’
Olivia’s insides quailed. ‘You and he must have been taken together,’ she reasoned. ‘Otherwise how did you finish up in Whitechapel? Oh, dear lord!’
Olivia sank into the nearest chair and rubbed her face in her hands. All this time she had supposed that Tom was safe, after a fashion, with his uncle, Sir Hubert, and that Molly would be there to care for him. That had seemed bad enough, but at least she was assured of his safety because the moment she handed Lady Marchant’s letters over, Tom would be restored to her. But what if he had been taken for other purposes? What if the fracas really had been random and Tom, a handsome child, just happened to be caught up in the middle of it? Some depraved person snatched him but had no need of Molly’s services; not for what they had in mind for Tom. What could be happening to her precious son at that precise moment made her heart tremble.
She was in danger of falling apart but could not permit that to happen. Presumably, if Molly ended up in Whitechapel then Tom was in that area too. It was a rabbit warren of back streets and cheap housing, almost impossible to search, but Olivia was confident that Jake had the necessary authority to tear it apart, make life intolerable for the less respectable inhabitants, until someone told them where to find Tom. After all he had done for Thorndike and an ungrateful government, they owed him at least that much.
‘Come upstairs, Molly, and get clean and dry. Lord Torbay will be back soon and will want to speak with you himself.’
Molly stood immediately and followed Olivia through the door that Reed opened for them. The compassion in his expression was almost Olivia’s undoing and she looked away quickly before what little composure she had managed to retain evaporated.
‘I will send Jane up to help you,’ Olivia said when she and Molly reached the first floor.
‘There is no need.’
