“Now that I’ll accept.” Her green eyes sparkled with happiness. “The sooner we get there and fetch our girl and the babe, the happier I’ll be.”
He said a brief prayer that both the woman and the child were in good health and able to make the trip home. It was only then that a thought occurred to him. “I’m an idiot. I must send my coach back for my mother. There is no reason you should take yours when you can ride back in mine.”
Mrs. Odell shook her head. “Thank you for the offer. But if Emily or the child are doing poorly, we might have to take a few days more to return.”
“It was just a thought.” It was frustrating to want to do more and not be allowed to.
“And a good one.” Mrs. Odell smiled. “I’ll say farewell now. Have a good journey.”
“You too.” He climbed into his traveling carriage. Mr. Odell kissed his wife and joined Nate. They followed the Odell coach out of the drive to the main road, but quickly overtook it.
The sun was still up, but low in the sky when they approached the workhouse that afternoon. They’d made good time to the metropolis, stopping only for changes. Nate had had his cook pack sufficient food in a large basket so they didn’t have to waste time halting to eat.
“I’ll tell you, my lord, I never could abide London. It’s the smell.” Odell watched out the window as they pulled up in front of the long brick building.
Well, this wasn’t the most salubrious area of Town. Still, the degradation of White chapel surprised Nate. And he was certain most people wouldn’t want to be walking around here at night.
The coach door opened and a footman let the steps down. “Do you want me to come in with you? Just until they allow you to see her? I have no idea what the protocol is.”
The older man frowned. “That might be a good idea. I suppose they won’t deny a peer much of anything.”
“No, I believe you are correct.” As sad a state of affairs that was, at least Nate would be able to speed things along. “As soon as you’re with her, I’ll come back out here and wait.”
Odell inclined his head. “Thank you.”
The soot-covered building stretched down the street in both directions, with one arched entrance in the middle. Men, women, and children were held in a queue waiting to be admitted to the single entrance. There was a time when Nate would not have thought anything of walking straight in ahead of everyone else, but the last four years had humbled him. Still, he was a peer of the realm and had some rights. He slid a look at his companion. Dressed in his good wool jacket and breeches, Odell would still no doubt be made to wait in a queue.
Taking his cane, Nate descended from the coach. “Go to the door and announce me.”
“Yes, my lord.” The footman hurried away to do as he was bid while Nate waited for Mr. Odell. “Stay beside me, if you will.”
Odell stared at the long queue. “I begin to think it’s a good thing you’re with me, my lord.”
Nate allowed himself a small grin. “We peers are good for something every now and again.”
The other man flushed. “My lord, you know I meant no—”
“I am not at all insulted. Come, let’s find your daughter.” He strode up the steps and reached the door as it opened. A man attempted to stop Mr. Odell, but Nate waved him away. “It is on his business we are here.”
By the time they entered the hall, his footman was speaking with a thin, stern-looking woman whose mobcap almost covered all the steel-gray curls at her forehead. “Here is his lordship now.” His footman bowed. “My lord, this is Mrs. Rankin.”
Nate handed the woman his card. “I am Fotherby. My companion, Mr. Odell, is here to take Miss Bywater and her child home.” Mrs. Rankin, a hatchet-faced woman of middle years, frowned. “We have been searching for her since she left and were only yesterday apprised of her location. Mrs. Odell is waiting at my home for her.”
“If you will wait in here”—she opened the door to a small, plainly furnished parlor—“I shall fetch her, my lord.”
A young maid brought in a meager tea tray and set it down on the only table in the room. Nate went over and poured, adding sugar and thin, bluish milk to the cups.
Odell took his cup. “If all they have is this, no wonder my girl is too thin.”
Several minutes later the door opened, and Emily Bywater entered the room. Nate had seen her once or twice before John died. London had not been kind to her. Her once-golden hair was dull and her complexion almost ashen.
“Emily.” Odell didn’t wait to be greeted before enveloping her in his arms. “We’ve been looking for you for an age. Mrs. Odell is here, or will be soon. We’re taking you back home with us where you and the babe belong.”
“I can’t. My father—”
“We won’t have anything to do with him unless you want to.” He stepped back. “John would have wanted you with us.”
Tears streamed down Emily’s face, but she nodded her head as she made an attempt to wipe her face.
