Notorious Pleasures (Maiden Lane #2)(103)

“And I will be the happiest woman in the world to be your wife.” She smiled back, her heart overflowing with joy, and rose on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear, “I don’t think I truly want perfection anyway.”

—from Queen Ravenhair

“Mamoo!” Mary Darling giggled as she knocked over the tin cups Silence had carefully helped her stack on the kitchen floor.

The cups fell with a great clatter, and the little girl clapped her hands in glee.

“Goodness! That was very loud,” Silence said fondly.

The baby bounced on her bottom. “Mo’! Mo’!”

“Very well, we’ll stack them once more, and then, young lady, I think it’ll be time for a nap.” Silence had found that though Mary Darling might protest mightily at the thought of a nap, she was much happier with one.

“You look cheerful this afternoon, sister.” Winter came in the kitchen and set down his bundle of books.

“Do I?” Silence was aware that Winter had been keeping a close eye on her since William’s death.

“Yes.” Winter made a sudden horrible face at Mary, which sent the baby into gales of laughter. “I think that cap becomes you.”

Silence smiled a little sadly. It wasn’t the cap, she knew. It was little Mary Darling. One couldn’t let oneself wallow in grief with an active baby to care for. And perhaps that was for the best. She stroked a finger over Mary’s downy cheek. Life had to go on, after all.

“Is it stew again?” Winter peered into the pot on the hearth.

“Beef and cabbage,” Silence replied.

“Good.” Winter never seemed to notice what was set before him, but like all men, he had a deep appreciation for tasty food. “I’ll just go and wash before luncheon.”

“Hurry,” she called after his retreating back. “I’ve still got to put Mary down for a nap.”

He waved over his shoulder to indicate he’d heard her.

“Let’s just hope Uncle Winter doesn’t start reading a book up there,” she confided to Mary.

The baby chortled and knocked over a tin cup.

“Mrs. Hollingbrook!” Joseph Tinbox, one of the home’s older boys, ran into the kitchen. “Look what I’ve found on the step.”

He held out a small wooden box.

Silence stared at the offering like it was an adder. Their step had been mercifully free from any gifts since the morning of the riots, and she’d been hoping that perhaps the giver had forgotten them.

“Shall I open it?” Joseph asked eagerly.

“No,” Silence said a little too sharply. She inhaled. “Shouldn’t you be at your afternoon lessons?”

“Aw!”

She lifted a brow. “Now, Joseph.”

Joseph wrinkled his nose but slumped off obediently to his lessons.

Silence picked up the box with trembling fingers. She prized open the lid and stared inside. A lock of hair lay there, tied with a scarlet ribbon. She picked it up between thumb and forefinger, but no note was hidden underneath.

“Whose do you suppose it is?” she whispered to the baby.

It was a black lock, the hair so dark it shone blue-black. In fact, it was very like Mary Darling’s own hair. Now that her curls had grown in thickly, they’d revealed themselves as inky black. Silence held the lock to the baby’s head experimentally as Mary bent over her tin cups.

The hair was a perfect match.

But the lock didn’t come from Mary Darling’s head. Silence would know if someone had cut it, and besides, Mary’s hair was still too short. No, the lock of hair was long and curling, and really rather beautiful. A woman with hair like this—

Silence suddenly dropped the lock in shock.

Or a man. She knew of one man who had long, curling, inky-black hair. She gazed in horror at the baby playing before her. The baby she’d nursed and played with and sung to like she was her very own for the last seven months. The baby she’d given her heart to.

Mary’s hair matched Charming Mickey’s hair exactly.