She raced to the table, sliding her hand around the woman’s chin to lift her head. She found tears falling from the woman’s eyes, her cheeks splotched with redness as if she had been crying for a long time.
“What has happened here?” Damien demanded.
Miss Willa’s slim shoulders did not flinch when she heard his voice, which surprised Caroline. Like her, the woman in her mid-thirties had a slightly nervous nature. Her lack of reaction to Damien’s sharp tone spoke volumes, revealing just how drained she was.
“They took them,” Miss Willa whispered, then drew in a shuddering breath.
“Who?” Caroline urged. “Who took what, Miss Willa?”
Then, suddenly, a terrifying thought erupted into Caroline’s mind, and her eyes shot to the ceiling.
“Are the children—” she began to ask, but Miss Willa quickly shook her head.
“The children are fine; they do not know,” Miss Willa replied.
“They do not know what?” Caroline gently asked.
“That we were robbed,” Miss Willa said, her voice breaking into a sob as she lowered her head again. “I... I do not know who, but they came in late last night. They beat the poor old man and took everything. The food. The donations hidden in my office, anything of value. Thank God they did not go upstairs. They left the children alone.”
Fear trembled through Caroline, followed quickly by regret. No matter how late Mrs. Parks had kept her, she should have made time to go to the orphanage, to at least check in. Though what she would have done if confronted by the criminals was beyond her. Her skills with the scissors had been subpar at best.
“Is Jasper all right?” Caroline asked, but as the question left her lips, a creaking sound came from the back of the kitchens.
Caroline looked up, only then noticing the sorry state of the broken door when Jasper, the kind elderly man who helped Miss Willa run things, hobbled in. A large, ugly bruise spread over his left eye, which was swollen shut. There was a cut on his withered cheek, and as he took another step inside, he winced in pain.
“I am all right, Miss Mason,” Jasper’s fatherly tone drifted into the tense air. “Takes more than a beating to put me down.”
“Oh, Jasper,” Caroline breathed, her heart hurting for the older man as he limped to the work table. “You do not look all right! Please sit down before you fall down!”
Jasper winced, his breath hitching as he fumbled with the back of an empty chair. Suddenly, Damien appeared, his large hand wrapping around the rung and pulling it out for the old man.
Jasper looked up at him and smirked.
“Oi, ain’t you a big one?” Jasper said with a raspy laugh as he took his seat. “Could have used you last night. Maybe I could have caught the buggers that did this.”
“You went after them?” Caroline asked, startled.
“Once I came to, I tried,” Jasper muttered. “It was no use, though. Lord only knows how long I was out before I found Miss Willa here shaking me awake. Tried to follow their tracks once I was up, but they were of no use once they hit the cobblestones.”
“Who would do such a thing?” Miss Willa sobbed, shaking her head as she took Jasper’s hand in hers and squeezed. “Who would hurt a poor old man like this? Who would steal from orphaned children?” She shook her head woefully. “I have run this place for ten years, and though we have had our hard times, no one has done something this awful.”
“Selfish gits, the lot of them,” Jasper grunted.
Though she was clearly distraught, Miss Willa sat up straight and swatted the man’s arm.
“Language, sir!” she scolded.
“Pardon, Miss Willa,” Jasper said with a wheezing laugh. “Just a bit upset over all we’ve lost, is all. Got nothing left. Not even enough to serve breakfast.”
Caroline’s heart bled for the situation, and her mind scrambled for a solution.
“I have work at the shop in a couple of hours. I can ask Mrs. Parks to give me some wages in advance,” she insisted. “It might take some convincing, but I am sure I can manage something. We cannot let the children starve!”
“That will not be necessary,” Damien stated.
Caroline jumped. He had been so quiet she had nearly forgotten he was there. She quickly recovered from her surprise and gave him a glare.
“I am not just going to sit back and do nothing,” she all but snarled.
