Page 56 of Again, Scoundrel

Violet wrapped the infant in a blanket and lay down next to the sobbing mother, holding her until she finally wept herself to sleep. Then she pushed herself up to her aching, exhausted feet and peered out the doorway.

Her eyes found Alistair immediately, his large form slumped on the dirty sidewalk, his back against the building. His arm was wrapped protectively around the boy, whose head was in his lap. Both were snoring.

“Alistair,” Violet whispered, startling him awake.

“Violet,” he said and looked from her to the doorway and back. “Did she—?”

“She’s stable for the moment. But she needs to be somewhere clean and decent to recover. Not here. The risk of infection is too high.”

Alistair nodded. “And the baby?”

Violet shook her head no. She had done all she could, but the child had not survived.

“I see,” he said and gently moved the sleeping boy from his lap so he could rise to his feet.

“I’m sorry, Violet. There was nothing more you could have done.”

Violet frowned. “Don’t you see?” she whispered, fighting the tears that again glistened in her eyes. “There is so much more that could have been done. First of all, the girl is only a child.”

“Fourteen,” Alistair said.

“How did you—?” Violet asked as she watched Alistair lean down and scoop up the sleeping Davy. “Ah,” she said. “I see.”

“Go on,” Alistair murmured while he turned from her to carry Davy back inside.

“Well,” Violet continued, watching him.

He is more tender than he knows.

“She has rickets, certainly,” she went on when he caught her staring. “And anemia probably. Both will complicate labor. Not to mention her age and her size. And, Alistair, look around.”

“I know,” he agreed, quietly making his way back into the home and nestling the boy next to his sleeping sister. “This is no place for children.”

He turned back to Violet. “Give the infant to me,” he said, “There’s a church nearby to bury him. And I’ll hail a hack for us.”

Violet nodded her tired head in agreement. “I’ll stay here with Jess.”

Alistair looked at her for a long moment before he said, “Very well. I’ll be back for you just as soon as I can. But please don’t go anywhere at all, Violet. This is not a safe place.”

Violet looked back to Jess and Davy, sleeping side by side. “I won’t,” she agreed, placing the wrapped infant in Alistair’s arms. Then she settled in to watch over the siblings while they slept.

Violet awoke sometime later to her body being gently carried through the rookery and loaded into the back of a waiting carriage.

“What’s happening?” she asked sleepily.

“I am transporting you,” Alistair whispered to her as he lowered her onto the worn leather squabs of a hack.

“And Jess?” she asked, her eyes flying open as she remembered why she had fallen asleep where she had.

“She’s in a carriage with Davy already. Esmee is with them. Close your eyes, Violet. You need your rest too.”

“Mmmhm,” she said drowsily but then startled awake once more. “Give her laudanum to help her sleep. And clean her, Alistair. Promise she’ll be clean.”

“I promise. Sleep now, Violet.”

“You’ll have to send a note, so my family knows where I am. I can’t leave Jess. I’ll have to stay with her.”

“I’ve sent a note already. The world is set to rights long enough for you to sleep, Violet. I promise.”