Chapter XXV
AS MAE STEPPED off the streetcar, she recognized Winona’s unmistakable shape pacing back and forth along the playground fence.
Winona had not seen her yet, and Mae considered getting back on the car, pretending this was the wrong stop.
She stepped toward the fence line. Her blood felt like thick glue pumping through her veins, and no amount of shaking her head would clear the foggy feeling.
How could she face Winona when she couldn’t bear to face herself?
Another step. She felt a thousand-pound weight compressing the air from her chest. Her plan had failed.
Another step. There was nothing she could do now.
The removal would become permanent. For her.
For Winona. Her muscles tightened spastically with each movement forward.
Winona looked in her direction. Mae froze like a squirrel in the street, trying to decide how to avoid the oncoming wheels.
Winona charged toward her. As Mae gazed longingly at the brick building that held her precious son, she saw a woman peer through the window.
Immediately, she began walking as if the goal had been just to walk past the home.
She picked up her pace, fearing that being seen loitering out front would somehow prevent her ability to visit Simon before the day was out.
Cutting at a diagonal, Winona reached Mae in front of the feed store.
Mae turned down the side alley. When Winona appeared in the alley, Mae could hold back no longer.
At first, Winona quickened her step, seeming ready to embrace her.
But when she heard the low wail leave Mae's mouth, she halted. She stood at arm’s length from Mae, her mouth falling open automatically.
Mae crumpled to the hay-strewn ground and rocked back against the building’s side. Heavy sobs tore from her as her shoulders banged violently against the wall. “It’s over,” she moaned.
“What do ye mean, ‘it’s over’?” Winona demanded.
Between her wails, she blubbered, “The judge… I presented the case… I showed him all the evidence… He said…” She caught her breath, sniffing up the mucus dripping from her nose. “He said he couldn’t upend the system that could help so many just for a few.”
As she brought Winona into focus through her tears, she saw Winona place her hands on her hips, jutting one hip out toward her.
“And ye were surprised?” She scoffed. “The law don’t care about hurtin’ us.
All’s it cares about is lookin’ right and gettin’ to be right. And ye played right into it, Mae.”
“But Winona, I did what we were supposed to do,” she protested.
“Aye, ye did. And while ye were trying to use pretty words to git me Lily back, ye ended up sealin’ ‘er fate.” As Winona said the words aloud, Mae recoiled as if she’d physically slapped her. “And Simon's too!” Winona’s hand flung out to gesture toward the red building.
The sobs came back with force. “What will we do?”
“I don’t know…” Winona’s bluster deflated, and she wrung her hands. “We can’t jus let ‘em go.” She worried her lip and looked out at the opening of the alley.
“I need to see him, Winona.” Mae tried to compose herself as she forced herself up to a standing position.
“I haven’t seen me Lily come back all day. Do ye think she’s already gone?” Winona’s knuckles went white with the tightening of her fingers.
“I don’t know.” Mae leaned against the building.
“Poor wee bairns. There’s so many of ‘em.” Winona peered back toward the home. “And to think, Foster’d just sign ‘em away to who knows where.”
Mae came to stand next to Winona. As she peeked around the corner, a man in a well-tailored charcoal jacket approached the home. The wind gusted, shifting his felt hat on his head. His gait was measured, and he paused momentarily before the door opened before him. “Who is that?” Mae wondered aloud.
“No clue, but ‘e sure didn’t wait to git let in, did ‘e?”
As she rounded the corner, she saw a small blonde child in the distance being dragged along by an older man and woman.
They were heading toward the Children’s Home.
As they approached, the children playing in the yard turned to watch.
The front door swung open, and a nun stepped out onto the landing. “Winona,” she hissed. “I see her!”
Winona materialized next to Mae to peer over at Lily. “Oh! Me Lily! I’ve got to get to ‘er before they send her off. I’ll nab her if I have to.”
“We won’t make it there in time to steal her away. And the nuns will fight back,” Mae pointed out as she remembered the sea of white expelling her from the Foundling House. “We would be caught and arrested for kidnapping before you could even touch her. Who will it help if we’re behind bars?”
“I don’t care. I have to try!” Winona made for the brick house.
Mae braced herself against the wall of the alley.
Her eyes scanned over the muddied hay that had been packed down into the earth with her feet and traveled up the shoddy wooden structure.
She glanced back at the impeccably tended brick facade of the home.
Ideas of how each of these people benefited from the scheme came into her mind.
She grabbed Winona’s arm and yanked her back into the alleyway. “I know what we can do!”
Winona twisted her arm in Mae's grip, trying to free herself. “I’m done with yer ideas. They’ve done nothin’ but push me Lily further away!”
“No… Not this time,” Mae struggled to keep her voice down while she tightened her grip on Winona. “Judge Matthews’s order may not be valid here, but it shows that someone noticed inconsistencies… An official in New York thought enough of those inconsistencies to draft an order…”
“So what! It hasn’t helped yet. What makes ye think it’ll do anythin’ now?” Irritation and urgency laced through Winona’s words.
“The nuns will know it’s invalid—but they’ll also know what questions it invites. Any impropriety will put off payments for funding the home.” Mae's mind whirred while she held fast, this piece of information penetrating Winona’s head.
Winona’s attempt at escape weakened as a thoughtful expression settled onto her face. “So what are ye goin’ to do? Just threaten to tell on ‘em?”
“I need to frame it as a legal review that has far-reaching consequences.” Mae stared blankly ahead, letting the idea take shape in her mind’s eye.
“If they think something will be revealed that hurts them and their arrangements, they might hand over the children just to prevent scrutiny… This building can’t be maintained from just placement fees alone.
They must have local benefactors. Any hint of scandal could freeze their funding. ”
Winona narrowed her eyes as she considered this.
“But if it doesn’t work…” Mae's voice trailed away as the gravity of the situation became clear. This could prevent her from ever seeing Simon again. Or get her arrested. If she couldn’t be convincing, it would be over.
Simon would be placed out. Gone forever.
She couldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t.
“Do ye have it wit ye?”
Mae scooped up her previously discarded bag.
“It’s right in here.” Mae paused with the bag in her hand and glanced back at the home.
That man hadn’t left yet. As the potential consequences came flooding into her mind, she decided to accept them in any form.
She had to get Simon back. Damn the consequences.
“Time’s a-wastin’. They might be sneakin’ me Lily off right now!”
With their plan tenuously in place, both women dashed around the corner and hurried toward the home.