Chapter Twenty-Four
Rachel was warm from the fire, but she felt like she was still shaking. Hearing Daisy’s story was terrifying, and it left her with cold chills. The poor girl had been through so much with no one to love her. Even with a family, she didn’t have that love.
It made her want to hug the girl and not let go.
“Why don’t we have something to eat?” Nate suggested, raising his eyebrows at Rachel. “Daisy, you must be starving, and it’s going to be even warmer in the kitchen.”
Taking the hint, Rachel stood up and hurried into the next room. That was something she could do. She had no idea how Nate could sit there and not react to what he was hearing. Rachel felt like she was going to cry.
Pressing her hands tightly to her eyes, she took a few deep breaths, trying to get her tears to stay back. Her chest was tightening, and it was a struggle to breathe. She couldn’t do it, and a sob did come out.
Nate came into the kitchen and turned around and pulled her against his chest. She sagged against him, feeling the warmth from his embrace as he wrapped her in his arms. He didn’t say anything, simply rocking her gently with his hand stroking her hair.
It was a beautiful sensation, and Rachel found herself practically melting into him.
“I know,” he whispered, his mouth near her ear. “I know. I felt it, too.”
“How could… how could anyone…?”
“There are cruel people out there. They’re going to pay for what they did.” He rested his forehead against hers. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Rachel wanted to point out that it wasn’t her that was in danger, but there was something comforting about the way he said it. She was reminded of how Isaac Vane had approached her. Maybe she had been in more danger than she had thought. It was too scary to think about.
And she couldn’t wallow in self-pity. She needed to make sure Daisy was safe and well. The poor thing had escaped from Silver Lantern, desperate to get away.
She couldn’t let her down.
“See if you can make something for all of us to eat,” Nate said, brushing her hair off her cheek as he stepped back. “I’ll make some coffee and keep an eye on Daisy.”
“You don’t need to do that.” Daisy’s voice in the doorway made them jump. She was leaning against the doorframe, one of the blankets around her shoulders. “I’m not a child. I don’t need to be babysat.”
“That’s not…” Nate began, but Daisy smiled at him sadly.
Daisy cleared her throat. “Sorry, I’m just not used to it.”
“Not used to having someone else look after you?” Rachel guessed.
Daisy nodded. Rachel squeezed Nate’s hand and stepped away, heading toward the pantry.
“I was very much like that. I was lucky that I had people to look after me, even when my parents didn’t want to.”
Daisy looked curious at that statement. Ignoring Nate’s own stare, Rachel collected some items from the pantry, shivering as she went back into the kitchen.
“I’ll make something simple for us,” she said, laying everything on the table. “It should keep us warm and our bellies full. I bet you’re starving, Daisy.”
“I am,” Daisy murmured, sounding distracted.
Looking up, Rachel saw that she was staring at her mother’s recipe book, laid closed on the table. She watched as Daisy wandered over to the book and opened up to see the writing on the inside of the cover. Her eyes widened, and she stared at her mother’s name.
Rachel exchanged a confused look with Nate. What was going on there?
“Whose book is this?” Daisy asked.
“It was my mother’s,” Rachel replied. “It was the only thing left with me when I was abandoned at the orphanage.”
“And your mother’s name was Mary Bell?”
“Yes.”
Nate frowned.
“Why are you so curious about this, Daisy?”
Daisy looked up, the stunned expression on her face still present.
“Do you… do you remember anything about your mother?”
Rachel wondered where the questioning was going. She shook her head.
“No, I was a newborn when I was dumped at the orphanage. I don’t even have a photograph of her.” She watched as Daisy sat at the table and began to turn the pages. “Why are you asking?”
“Olive, the cook at the Silver Lantern. She’d been there for twenty-five years. She’s always been kind to the girls. To me.”
Nate’s jaw dropped.
“Twenty-five years? How on earth did she manage that?”
“She paid off her debts, and then decided to stay on as the cook to look after the girls who came through. Said that she couldn’t simply walk away when she knew others were suffering.
” Daisy took a deep breath. “She told me about a young woman who’d been brought to Silver Lantern when heavily pregnant.
She’d been recently widowed, too. She’d been brought there by…
” She shuddered. “Isaac Vane. He promised her that he could help her, that she could have a job as a housekeeper and earn money and security for her and her child. But…”
“That didn’t happen.” Nate pulled out a chair and sat beside her. “She was lied to, just like you were.”
Daisy nodded. She was taking everything in, although there was still a look of shock on her face as she absently turned the pages of the recipe book. Rachel watched her, wondering what was going through her mind.
“Are you saying that… my mother was one of… she worked at this brothel?”
Daisy winced.
“That’s what I was told. Olive talked about her fondly.
Mary would often come and help out with the cooking, trying to do something to keep out of the way of the…
customers.” She cleared her throat. “Olive taught her how to cook, and Mary would write them down in a book. Said she wanted to use them when she managed to get out of there. Olive didn’t scrimp on cooking; it was always good and healthy. ”
“She wrote it down in a book?” Rachel asked.
“Olive described the book, right down to Mary writing her name in the front.” Then she peered at Rachel. “She also talked about Mary, how she looked. From what she said, you resemble her. Right down to the same color eyes.”
Rachel felt like the bottom had dropped out of her world. She was still trying to get over the fact that her mother had been at the Silver Lantern.
“What…” She swallowed, her hands trembling so she had to grip onto a chair. “What happened to her? And the baby?”
Daisy glanced at Nate, who nodded silently. Then she looked down at her hands.
“Olive said that Mary went into labor, but none of the men cared. They cleared out of her room, saying it was nothing to do with them. She and a couple of the other girls delivered the baby, and they got Mary settled. She was weak, but alive.” Daisy brushed a stray hair from her face.
“Then, just a couple of days later, she overheard Mr. Pike talking to Isaac. They needed Mary to get back to work, because they were losing money. So they were going to take the baby away.”
Nate drew a sharp intake of breath. Rachel stared.
“They were going… what would they have done…”
She couldn’t get any further.
“Olive didn’t know, but she could guess. There was no way that Mary could go back to what she was doing so soon after birth, and if the baby was taken from her… Olive couldn’t let that happen. So she told Mary.”
Rachel’s heart was pounding so hard it felt like her chest would explode. She felt sick, pressing her hand to her ribcage. She was feeling a little lightheaded.
“What… do you know what happened then?”
“Only bits and pieces. But Olive said she got Mary and the baby out of there. That Mary was determined to keep her daughter safe. She had a friend who she often met when she was in town, ran the nearby orphanage. I guess she went there with her baby.”
Rachel was feeling like she was about to faint. Nate was out of his chair and by her side in an instant, pulling out a chair and urging her to sit down. That made the dizziness worse, but Rachel forced herself to focus, gripping tightly onto Nate’s hand hard enough to make him wince.
“She… I… I grew up in an orphanage,” she whispered. “All I knew was my surname was Bell. I knew nothing else.”
“Sounds like she was definitely your mother,” Nate said grimly.
“He found her and brought her to the Silver Lantern. Olive said she didn’t know what happened until the next morning, but she found Mary beaten and almost near death.
Her punishment for running away.” Daisy swallowed hard, tears trickling down her cheeks.
“Apparently, it was horrible for her after that. Olive told me stories that made me terrified of staying there. I knew I couldn’t stay. ”
“Mary apparently died about a year later. Her body couldn’t take it anymore, and Mary just…
slipped away.” Daisy blinked, but the tears wouldn’t stop.
“Olive said she’s the reason she hasn’t left.
She couldn’t let any of the other girls go through that.
She wanted to protect them. In my case, I just wanted to run the other way. I… I’m sorry…”
Rachel didn’t hear much else. It felt like she was underwater, the words reaching her but not well. It was getting dark around the edges of her vision.
She needed to shut her eyes. Just for a moment. Then she could get her composure back.
At least the room would stop spinning.