The Address(77)

“Sara, you’re free.”

If she had any qualms about how they ought to greet each other after so long apart, she had no time to question what to do, as he pulled her to him and held her close.

Her entire body erupted in convulsive sobs. He stroked her hair and spoke words that soothed, but it was no good. She’d dreamed of this moment for so long. All of the pain and anguish poured out of her. But even more, she cried because he hadn’t forgotten her after all.

He reached into his pocket and handed her his handkerchief.

“Come into my office.” He led her to a settee opposite a large desk covered with drawings, never letting go of her hands. “My God, what you’ve been through. If I’d only known. When I spoke with Mr. Douglas, he said he’d offered you the opportunity to return home, and you left on the next ship back to England. I hoped you might send me a letter, but when none came, I figured you were done with New York. Done with me.”

“Mr. Douglas lied. He locked me away so that the scandal wouldn’t taint the Dakota.”

“You’ve suffered so much. I read the papers, what you went through.”

She looked away. No one on the outside could truly understand. “I have friends there who need help. Like me, they were locked away for no reason at all.”

“The mayor and the commission are looking into it; there’s been a huge outcry. That reporter has single-handedly changed the course of events.”

“Nellie. She saved me.”

Theo shook his head. “It should have been me. I should have been the one who saved you.”

“No. You couldn’t have known.”

“Are you all right? Now, I mean? Did they hurt you?”

She thought of the baby. To have felt it grow in her womb and then have nothing left, nothing in her arms, was the worst pain she’d ever experienced. Her body shook.

“Are you cold?”

“No. I’m fine. Better now.”

She’d never tell him about the child.

Theo’s face darkened. “Mrs. Camden is terribly sorry that you were falsely accused. She wanted to apologize in person, but I’m afraid she’s taken ill. The doctor says it’s bilious fever, and recommended she go upstate to recover and rest. Away from the city. The children are with her.”

“I see.” Sara couldn’t shake the idea that she’d been behind the scheme, in some way.

“As soon as I saw the article, I knew I had to find you.”

“It consoles me to think that you cared enough to think about me while I was away, to wonder.”

“Of course. I’d go up on the roof of the Dakota and stare across the park, hoping to see someone with your gait, your coloring, that you might return one day.”

“To think I was on Blackwell’s Island the whole time, staring into the distance at the outline of the Dakota. You can see it from there, did you know?”

“We were looking at each other but didn’t know it.”

How she’d missed him. She looked away, intoxicated at being so near to him after all this time, but embarrassed, too. “Sadly, yes.” She forced a laugh. “But I’m out. Now I have to figure out what to do. I don’t like being the center of attention.”

“It will work in your favor, you know. The new agent at the Dakota is intent on hiring you back, to show the rest of the city that you have been absolved.”

“Who is in charge now?”

“Mrs. Haines.”

“Best to keep it that way. I’m sure she’s doing a lovely job.”

“She doesn’t have many friends, if that’s what you mean.”

Daisy’s jolly “hello” each morning, her way of making the most arduous tasks seem enjoyable, came to mind. They had made a good team. “What about Daisy?”

Theo frowned. “She’s been put away for good. At Blackwell’s Island women’s prison, strangely enough.”

“How do we know Daisy wasn’t set up by Mr. Douglas, too? She wasn’t one to steal anything. I knew her well.”

“Are you sure?” His expression was guarded. There was something he wasn’t telling her.

“What do you mean?”

“Mrs. Haines told us that a couple of months after Daisy’s run-in with the intruder, she saw her walking with the same man in Central Park.”

Sara thought about it. The night that Daisy had been attacked, something had seemed off. The man’s lack of urgency when he was discovered, to begin with. The way Daisy avoided Sara’s gaze. She knew him, had invited him to her room, then pretended to have been attacked when he’d got caught. Sara and Mrs. Haines had come running to her defense as if she were a damsel in distress. Sara wondered what else she’d gotten wrong, what else Daisy had been up to.

“Why didn’t Mrs. Haines tell anyone?”

“Daisy’s mother died soon after, so she decided to put off confronting her until after the holidays. And then”—he paused—“well.”

Right. Then everything had come tumbling down. “Daisy had to support a large family; maybe that’s why she stole. Shouldn’t that be taken into account?”

Theo rubbed his brow. “After everything you’ve been through, you’re worried about Daisy?”