The Address(103)

“He said I owed it to him.”

“‘Owed it to him’? You’re as mad as he. He took my child. I want him back.”

“He’ll never let you do that.”

A child’s wail pierced the standoff.

“Luther?”

Mrs. Camden ran to the library and this time Sara followed. Luther sat at Theo’s desk, staring down at his open palm.

“My God, what’s happened?” cried Mrs. Camden.

Sara took the boy’s hand in her own. It was unblemished, other than a small pinprick.

Mrs. Camden knelt down. “There, there.”

As the child’s cries died down to a dull whimper, Sara looked around to find what had caused the injury. She reached down to pick up a letter opener that had fallen from the desk, and gasped.

It was a knife, a sharp one with a curved blade. She’d seen it before.

In the Rutherfords’ library.

“Where did you get this?” she asked Luther.

He pointed to an open drawer.

“Father usually keeps that locked,” said Mrs. Camden. “How did you get into it?”

“I found the key in the top drawer,” he mumbled. “I wanted to see if it fit. Then I saw the toy.”

“My dear boy, you could have cut yourself terribly.” Mrs. Camden took the knife from Sara and examined it. “This is no toy. What on earth was it doing in Theo’s desk?”

Sara imagined Theo slipping it into his pocket at the ball, while he distracted her with his touch. Taking whatever shiny object he wanted. Just because he could. Angry at the men’s dismissive insults about poor street children, wanting to strike back. Feeling that everyone else owed him something.

The front door opened.

Theo.

He stopped and surveyed the scene before him. “What on earth is going on?” He spoke cheerily, in a good mood.

Sara straightened. With the knowledge of the knife, she had leverage. She could threaten to turn him in if he didn’t let her leave with Christopher.

“Luther almost cut himself playing with this knife from your desk.” Mrs. Camden spoke with a harshness that Sara had never heard before.

“I told the boy not to play in here. Is he all right?”

“Luther, take your sisters and go to the nursery,” ordered Mrs. Camden. “Shut the door.”

The child scrambled away, calling out to Emily and Lula as he did.

Theo patted Luther on the head as he ran by. “He seems fine. I’m sure there’s no harm done.”

Sara pointed to the knife in Mrs. Camden’s hand. “What was that doing in your desk?”

For the first time since he’d arrived, Theo seemed off balance. “Right. It’s a keepsake, from an important night that I wanted to remember.” He gave her a pointed look.

“It’s the Rutherfords’ knife.” Sara stood tall, firm, even though inside she was terrified. His audacity astonished her. “You stole it.”

Mrs. Camden looked like she was about to pull her own hair out. She turned to Sara. “What are you talking about?”

“We went to a ball. Together, the night before you arrived from England. I saw this knife there. It’s part of the Rutherfords’ collection.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Theo dismissed her with a wave of his hand. “It’s not that at all.”

She ignored his lies. “That’s not the least you’ve done, is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I spoke with Daisy. She told me she tried to blackmail you. Got me sent away. Then you took my child.” Her breath came haltingly. She couldn’t speak any more than a few words at a time, and her emotions threatened to overpower her.

“You saw Daisy? In prison?” Theo took a step forward, then stopped. “I don’t know what to say. The girl’s a crook.”

“She told me everything.”

His shoulders sagged and he seemed more like a boy about to be reprimanded than a grown man. All bluster was gone. “I made a terrible mistake.”

“Yes, I remember you saying that. The day on the harbor. I didn’t understand at the time. How could you do such a thing?”

He avoided his wife’s gaze, directing his words at Sara. “When Daisy told me that you were with child, I knew that everything might come crashing down. My business, my reputation. She said she would take care of it, and I thought that meant she’d bring you to a doctor.”

“She tried,” said Sara. “You were a coward, trying to protect yourself.”

He pressed on. “But then there was that business with the necklace. I didn’t know what to think, until Mr. Douglas informed me that you’d decided to go back to England voluntarily. At the time, I thought that was best, for all of us.”

Sara shook her head. “Why would he lie to you?”

“Probably because, like me, he wanted everything tied up neatly, swept away. No hint of scandal. But after I read that terrible article in the paper, I realized that you were not in England. You’d been holed up in the madhouse all that time. The thought made me wretched. I realized what I’d set in motion, that it was my fault. Right away, I tracked down the reporter, to find you.”

“You not only found me, but Christopher as well. I saw your signature, where you took him out of the Foundling Asylum.” Sara turned to Mrs. Camden. “Did you know you’ve been raising my son?”