14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen
W hy had Lizzie left him so abruptly?
Numb, Byron climbed the steps to the Greeley & Company workshop. Her feelings for him were evident. She’d let him … no, she’d encouraged him to make love to her, only to leave him. He rubbed his brow. Why? What had changed? Something must have prompted her actions and her insistence that they should part ways.
He entered the workroom and headed toward his office. He shouldn’t have allowed himself to lose control like that. What if Lizzie found herself with child? Hope flared to life. She’d come back to him then, wouldn’t she?
“Byron,” Ruby called out. “A moment of your time please.”
Ruby worked at a table with Ada today, one of their milliners. His sister’s worried expression didn’t bode well, and as he approached them, dread sank into his skin.
“Ada was just telling me she saw Lizzie with our mother at The Tea Room a couple of days ago,” Ruby began, then gestured toward Ada to explain more.
Confusion suffused Ada’s features before her skin flushed. “Ah yes. I only meant to tease Ruby that she may have a new sister-in-law soon.” She cleared her throat and glanced at Ruby. “I haven’t seen Lizzie for quite some time. Some of us speculated that she must have been unhappy here … then I saw her having tea with Mrs. Greeley, and I wondered …”
Byron held in a curse. His mother certainly hadn’t welcomed Lizzie to the family.
“It appeared they were talking about something serious, although I didn’t hear their conversation,” Ada finished.
“I see,” he half choked out. “Thank you for letting me know.”
Frustration burning in his gut, he turned around and strode toward the door. What exactly had his mother told Lizzie? How could he fix the damage she’d done? His walk home felt like the longest of his life. When he finally entered their apartment, he found his mother reading in the sitting room.
“What did you say to Lizzie?” he demanded as soon as he saw her.
His mother pursed her lips and lowered her book to her lap. “Of course, she’d tell you that we spoke.”
“She didn’t tell me. I heard about it from someone who saw you with her.”
Her eyebrows rose for an instant. “I only told her the truth.”
“What truth? That somehow the fact that she grew up in a brothel will be detrimental to our family?”
“Yes, because it will be. If her past becomes known, Greeley & Company will be adversely affected.” She placed her bookmark and clapped shut the tome in her hands. “You choose to close your eyes to reality, so I took matters into my own hands for your own good.”
“For my own good? I love her. I’d give up everything for her.”
“That’s the problem. You’re not thinking clearly. That love you have for her is hindering rational thought.”
He didn’t care. If gaining clarity meant being without Lizzie, he’d rather not think rationally again. “If need be, I can hire a manager to take my place. I’ll distance myself from Greeley & Company. That way, any backlash from gossip won’t affect the company.”
Then again, they might not have to worry about rumors. The company was already in dire straits. A chill crept down Byron’s spine. Not only could he lose his family’s business, but he’d was losing Lizzie as well. He couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t.
“What’s this I hear?” His father appeared in the doorway from his bedroom, as pale as ever. “You’re stepping away from the company? Nonsense.”
Byron held in a curse. He hadn’t intended to disturb his father, but his voice had risen. He shook his head. No matter how frustrated, he’d never raised his voice to his mother before.
“Greeley & Company might be better off if I left,” Byron admitted. “I’m sure I can find someone who will run the company well.”
His father stepped more fully into the room. “What about you?”
“I’ll find another job. With Lizzie at my side, I’ll be happy no matter what I do for a living.”
His mother’s eyes narrowed. “You’d disappoint your father for a woman who—?”
“Alice,” his father warned before his attention returned to Byron. “You shouldn’t leave Greeley & Company, any gossip be damned. I’ve built up this business for the last twenty years. Some idle rumors aren’t going to tear it down.”
Byron averted his gaze. No, but perhaps his own mistakes would deal the final blow. He should be focusing on saving Greeley & Company, but he no longer had the will to do so without Lizzie by his side. If she wasn’t a part of his future, he had nothing to look forward to. “What if you end up regretting handing the company over to me to manage?”
His father nodded at his wife. “I think your mother would agree that your happiness is more important to us than Greeley & Company.”
His mother held her silence, her expression inscrutable.
“Go to her,” his father urged. “Convince Miss Finn to trust you in this matter. If needed, bring her to me, and I’ll talk to her.”
A heavy weight lifted from his shoulders, and Byron charged toward the door. He quickly slowed to a stop. Teague had people watching him and Lizzie. Still, he needed to take action. He wouldn’t let Lizzie sacrifice their happiness because of his mother’s harsh words. He would do whatever he had to in order to persuade her to come back to him. She meant everything to him.
Lizzie sat at her dressing table, Byron’s latest note in her hand. Once again, he implored her to meet with him. He insisted he’d spoken to his parents. His father already approved of her relationship with Byron, and Byron was confident his mother would relent as well. Unlikely. His mother had been quite adamant in her belief that Lizzie would be their downfall.
She set the note on the table, next to the others he’d sent to her. She’d been fooling herself. Even if Byron’s mother relented, her uncle would never allow her to be with Byron. Not that long ago, he’d told her to marry whomever he chose, or Byron would suffer. She should have distanced herself from Byron then instead of giving in to her desire to see him, no matter how good he made her feel.
No, she would stop being selfish and accept her fate. She gazed at herself in the mirror as a shiver raced through her. Who would she be forced to marry? Her hand lowered to her abdomen. And what if she carried Byron’s child?
A knock on the door made her flinch. “Yes?”
Emma opened the door. “You have a visitor, miss. He’s waiting for you in the parlor.”
The skin on the back of her neck prickled. He? Byron? It couldn’t be. Stay calm. No need to panic. Even if it was Byron, at least her aunt and uncle weren’t home at the moment.
Lizzie hurried out the door and down the stairs, her maid following. When she reached the parlor, she stopped dead in her tracks. The sight of him sent flutters of happiness to her chest, almost making her forget her fears. She waved Emma away and entered the parlor. “Byron, what are you doing here?”
He rose from his seat on the settee. “You wouldn’t come to me, so I came to you.”
She strode toward him. “The house is being watched. My uncle will know you’ve visited.”
He stared into her eyes, his expression earnest. “I had to see you and explain.”
“I’ve read your notes. What more is there to say?” She took his arm and tugged him toward the door. “You should leave.” The less time he spent here, the easier it would be to explain away why he’d come. She could say he’d stopped by to give her the last of her pay. Or had she used that excuse before?
Byron pulled back, stopping their progress. “My father fully supports our relationship. He’s told me to arrange for the two of you to meet, so he can tell you that himself.”
“I know. You said so in your note. What about your mother? Would she tell me the same?”
“I’m sorry for my mother’s actions. She never should have sought you out and warned you away from me. Trust me. She’ll accept our relationship in time.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ll see to it.”
Lizzie ignored the part of her that wanted to take him by the hand and run away far from here where they could live in peace. After all, where would they go? Instead, Lizzie tugged on his arm again. He was deluding himself. His mother would never change her mind.
Byron wouldn’t budge. He settled his hand on hers. “Ruby has been keen on you from the start,” he offered, as if that would make up for his mother’s objections.
“Your family isn’t the only reason we can’t be together.”
“I know. Your aunt and uncle may never approve, but that shouldn’t stop us.”
She pulled her hand away. “If we insist on being together, my uncle will destroy you.” Why was he making this more difficult for her than it already was? She huffed out a breath. “Now you show up here, alerting his spies. You’re making matters worse for both of us. Leave now.”
“No matter what happens, we can get through it together.”
Did Byron believe her uncle would spare him if she became his wife?
“I love you, Lizzie. Don’t you love me?”
Her mother had insisted she’d loved Declan Finn. She’d loved and lost. A familiar ache pierced Lizzie’s chest. Would she suffer the same fate?
“What if you’re carrying my child?” he demanded, his expression as determined as ever.
She covered his mouth with her hand and looked around them. “I’m not,” she blurted in a harsh whisper. The last thing she needed was for the servants to tell her uncle she’d had relations with Byron.
He removed her hand from his mouth. “You know that?” he asked, his volume considerably lower.
“I do,” she lied, praying her lie would eventually turn out to be the truth.
Throat clearing caught their attention, and Lizzie’s cheeks burned as their butler, Ambrose, approached.
“Miss Finn, a messenger is asking for you. He says he needs to see you urgently.” Ambrose gestured down the hallway. “He’s waiting in the foyer.”
Had Ambrose heard their conversation? Dear Lord, help her. She turned to the butler. “Thank you. I’ll see to the messenger.”
Despite the flicker of curiosity in his eyes, Ambrose did as he was told. “Yes, miss.”
She would assume he hadn’t heard and hope for the best. Lizzie headed to the foyer with Byron on her heels. Ollie, an errand boy from Maude’s House, waited for her. He gazed around at his surroundings, his hat clutched before him. As soon as he spotted her, he stepped forward. “Miss Lizzie, you have to come to Maude’s House right now. Miss Stella’s in a bad way. Miss Effie is mighty worried. She wants you to take Miss Stella to that safe place you told her about.”
Lizzie swallowed past the dread that tightened her airway. “What happened?”
Ollie wrung the hat in his hands. “She’s been beaten real bad this time.”
“Has she been seen by a doctor?” Byron asked.
The boy nodded. “Dr. Brooks.”
“That charlatan,” Lizzie scoffed. He was no doctor.
Ollie jumped in place impatiently. “You need to come quick, Miss Lizzie. Miss Stella is locked up, and the madam is asleep.”
“Asleep? At this time of day?” Madam Maude typically stayed up much of the night and slept all morning. By afternoon, she’d be making sure everything was ready for their evening customers.
Ollie pulled on her hand. “We need to go.”
Lizzie and Byron donned their coats, Lizzie pinned her hat in place, and soon they were out the door.
Byron flagged down a hack. “I’m going with you.”
“There’s no need.” He shouldn’t be involved in even more matters his family wouldn’t approve of. She climbed into the carriage, mentally counting the coins she had in her reticule. Ordinarily, she’d walk, but speed was of the essence, and they’d need a conveyance to take Stella to the Moral Reform Sanctuary.
Byron climbed into the hack after her. “Stella has been beaten and is locked away. You’re planning to storm into Maude’s House and take her away all on your own?”
“Effie will help me,” she assured him as Ollie joined them in the hack.
Byron instructed the driver where to go and sat in the seat across from her. “Then I’ll help you both. I’ll protect you.”
“Your family wouldn’t approve,” she argued, although she had to admit her tone was rather bitter.
“I don’t care. I’m not letting you go alone.”
When they arrived at Maude’s House, Ollie led the way to the back door where Effie met them.
She ushered them inside. Her face was pale, and her body trembled. “You need to save Stella. Grantham came back last night, and he beat her worse than ever before,” she pleaded. “I’ll distract LeRoy, and you go into Maude’s office. Get the key to Stella’s door and take her away.”
The skin on Lizzie’s arms prickled with gooseflesh. Effie would distract the bouncer, and Lizzie would be the one to enter the dragon’s den?
“Don’t worry. Maude is asleep. I added a liberal amount of laudanum to her soup,” Effie supplied. “I would have done the same to LeRoy, but then suspicions would arise, and I’d be caught for sure.” Effie pushed Lizzie toward the hallway. “Maude fell asleep at her desk. Go. Go now before the laudanum wears off.”
Before the laudanum wore off? That was reassuring.
Effie rushed away in one direction while Lizzie headed in the other. Byron followed her up the stairs until they stood outside Maude’s office. Lizzie wrung her hands. No one ever dared to enter the madam’s office, or Maude would put their head on a block.
Lizzie rolled her shoulders back and pushed away the fear Maude had instilled in her as a child. She would get the key to Stella’s door. “Stay here,” she whispered over her shoulder to Byron.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded and slipped inside the room. Maude was slumped over her desk, her empty soup bowl next to her and an array of papers pillowing her head.
Where would Maude keep the keys to the doxies’ rooms? Lizzie grimaced. If Maude was determined to lock up Stella, she’d probably take the extra precaution of keeping the key to Stella’s room with her.
Her palms clammy, Lizzie approached the sleeping woman. Maude was right-handed. Perhaps she should check that pocket first. Lizzie’s heart pounded as she slowly slid her hand into Maude’s dress pocket. A ring of keys! She carefully tugged the keys free and breathed a sigh of relief when a book on the desk caught her attention. No, not a book. A diary. Her mother’s diary. The simple flower embossment on the faded red cover was all too familiar. It had gone missing after her mother’s death. Why did Maude have it, and why was it on her desk as if she’d been perusing through it recently?
Lizzie snatched up the journal and stuffed it into her reticule then strode toward the door. Maude emitted a soft groan, and Lizzie tensed. She glanced back, and Maude stared back. The air in Lizzie’s lungs left in a rush.
“What are you doing here?” Maude demanded in a groggy voice.
Lizzie escaped from the room and shut the door behind her. “We need to hurry. Maude is waking up,” she said to Byron.
She dashed down the hall to Stella’s room and fumbled with the keys, desperate to find the right one.
Maude’s door opened, and the madam stumbled out. “LeRoy,” she yelled.
Finally, a key turned in the lock. Lizzie opened the door and gasped at the sight of Stella lying on her bed. Her face and neck were bruised, and one eye had swollen shut.
“Lizzie?” Stella rasped.
“My God, Stella. You can’t stay at Maude’s House any longer.” Lizzie found Stella’s coat and shoes in the wardrobe and rushed to the bed. “I’ll help you up.”
Stella groaned and trembled as Lizzie helped her to sit. Stella’s skin burned to the touch. Lizzie bundled her in the coat and slipped the shoes on her feet, securing them with the laces.
The din in the hallway grew louder with Madam Maude still calling for the bouncer. Byron stood by the door, keeping an eye on what was happening both inside and outside the room.
Lizzie circled an arm around Stella’s waist and assisted her to her feet, but Stella cried out and her knees buckled.
“Lean on me,” Lizzie advised her as she half lifted Stella to a standing position.
“I can carry her,” Byron offered.
Lizzie shook her head. “I wish you could, but I’m going to need you to deal with LeRoy.” God help him. LeRoy was a stubborn brute who followed Madam Maude’s orders to the letter.
With Stella’s arm around Lizzie’s neck, they managed to hobble to the doorway as LeRoy reached the top of the stairs. Effie hung onto his arm, using her full weight in an attempt to hold him back. Several prostitutes now stood in the hallway, taking in the scene.
“LeRoy, what took you so long? Don’t let them take Stella!” Maude demanded as she sat on the floor, her eyes still dazed. She squinted toward the man in question then glared. “Effie! This is your doing, isn’t it? I’m going to have your hide!”
“If she stays, Grantham is going to kill her one day,” Effie shouted back.
Maude scowled. “Then so be it.”
LeRoy approached Byron. “Out of my way.”
Byron stood his ground. “I’d prefer it if you moved out of mine.”
“All right. I gave you fair warning.” LeRoy threw a punch at Byron, but he dodged the blow and delivered one of his own, knocking LeRoy farther down the hall.
Byron discreetly waved Lizzie forward as he blocked the bouncer’s path to them. Straining under Stella’s weight, Lizzie shuffled a few steps, and Effie hurried to help her, wrapping Stella’s other arm over her shoulders.
“Stop where you are,” LeRoy growled. He swung his fist at Byron, and when Byron once again evaded the blow, he shoved Byron to the wall and hit him in the stomach, doubling him over.
Lizzie gasped. Byron!
Byron grabbed LeRoy’s shoulder before the bouncer could get past him. “Go! Go!”
LeRoy swung around and punched Byron in the chin, sending him to the floor.
No! Lizzie’s breath caught in her throat, but she kept moving. Byron would be all right, wouldn’t he?
“Help us, ladies,” Effie called out in a winded rasp. “Stella needs you.”
“Don’t even think of it,” Maude warned from her position on the floor.
“Stella has always looked out for us. She wouldn’t hesitate to save you if you were in her state,” Effie reminded them.
One woman, then two, then more pushed at LeRoy then stepped in front of him to provide a barrier between him and Stella.
Although later they may feel Maude’s wrath, LeRoy would never hurt them. They were too valuable to Madam Maude.
Lizzie and Effie half dragged Stella to the staircase but stumbled as they tried to navigate the steps.
Byron appeared beside them, and relief bubbled up within her.
“Let me.” Byron lifted Stella into his arms and carried her down the stairs. With LeRoy still detained upstairs, they had no trouble escaping to the hack. Byron helped Stella inside and then assisted Lizzie. He offered a hand to Effie, but she didn’t move.
“You can’t go back, Effie. Maude knows you’ve had a hand in this,” Lizzie warned her.
Effie heaved a sigh and joined them in the carriage. “Even before this, my days were numbered at Maude’s House anyway,” Effie said as she took a seat. “Your uncle had a row with Maude recently. Somehow, he found out you’ve been visiting and demanded to know why. He wanted to make sure you weren’t told anything he didn’t want you to know.”
Was that the reason her mother’s diary was on Maude’s desk? What had her mother written? Was there anything in there that might be used as blackmail against her uncle? Lizzie shoved the thought away. She’d read the diary for herself and find out.
They rode to the Female Moral Reform Society Sanctuary where Stella and Effie were given a room. While they waited for a doctor to arrive, Lizzie ran a wet cloth over Stella’s heated brow. A lump formed in her throat. She’d been so immersed in her own problems that she’d failed Stella. She should have gone back as many times as needed to convince her to leave Maude’s House.
A doctor finally arrived, and Stella’s arm was put in a splint. Thankfully, it seemed Stella would recover with time. For now, she needed to rest.
Once Effie and Stella were settled, Byron ushered Lizzie out the door of their bedroom. “Should I take you home?”
Returning home … Lizzie held in a groan. Because of Byron, she didn’t know what to expect when she returned. He shouldn’t have visited her there. But as she stared at the red mark on his chin, she couldn’t bring herself to complain. She began to raise her hand to his face but stopped herself. “How badly are you injured?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe you wanted to go to Maude’s House without me. Don’t ever go there alone again. Promise you’ll take me with you.”
She couldn’t make that promise. Would they even see each other in the future? Her heart beat dully at the thought of that bleak future without him. “Thank you for your help today.” The gentle care he’d taken with Stella had touched a tender spot within her. He truly didn’t judge people harshly. If only everyone were as sympathetic.
“You don’t have to thank me. I’ll always protect you.” His gaze softened with tender concern. “Don’t go back to your uncle. Stay with me.”
“Then what? Run away? Marry and hope your mother will eventually accept me and that my uncle will show mercy? You’re deluding yourself.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and frowned. “Lizzie.”
“I’m going home.” She turned away and headed toward the entrance.
“I’ll take y—”
“No, it’s best if I go alone.” She waved away his offer despite the heavy weight in her chest. All her life, she’d been surrounded by people, but she’d always felt as if she were completely on her own. It appeared the future would be no different. She only prayed she could come up with a way to soothe her uncle’s anger when he inevitably discovered she’d been with Byron again.
What could she say? What could she do? At this point, she didn’t care what happened to herself as long as she could protect Byron.