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The bed dipped next to him, and Esta was there. She’d put on a large sweater, but her legs were bare. “We’re going to have time, Harte. I have to believe that.”
He tried to give her a sure smile, but he couldn’t quite make his mouth curve. “If anyone can steal it for us—”
“I will,” she promised. “Now get dressed. We have work to do.”
AN ARRIVAL
Esta threw on her clothes quickly and left Harte still lying in bed because she knew if she didn’t keep moving, she’d be back there with him. As much as she wanted to laze the day away, the truth of the matter was that they were running out of time. It had been days since Ruby had gone back to be their spy, and they hadn’t heard anything. Every day Viola went to the park to wait for her, and every day she’d been disappointed.
There was still no sign of Jack, despite Abel’s best efforts, and there had been no further word from Nibsy.
It didn’t feel right, the silence from the Bowery. Esta couldn’t believe that Nibsy had simply let them walk away with Morgan’s papers. If he wasn’t coming after them, he must have a reason, and whatever that reason was, it was likely linked to the future they’d seen in his diary.
That was, in large part, what had been keeping her awake at night. Nibsy’s silence—his inaction—was like a splinter festering beneath her skin. But last night she’d had an idea.
She and Harte had taken one of the empty rooms on the fourth floor, away from the people who’d already made the safe house into their home, and she took her time descending to the floor below, thinking through the ideas she’d come up with in the dead of night.
At the landing of the third floor, she hesitated. In the distance, she could hear the soft murmur of voices, but there in the stairwell, it was quiet. It seemed impossible that Dolph had somehow managed this, an entire building that no one knew existed. It was another secret about her father discovered too late. Another piece of the puzzle that might have been her life if things had gone differently.
She wondered if Leena had known about this place. Maybe she and Dolph had come here before Esta was born. Had her parents spent time in these rooms together, planning their future or helping those in the city that needed to be hidden? Or had this been a place Dolph had kept from Leena, just as he’d hidden his intentions and plan to use her magic to fuel the cane?
What a lonely existence that must have been. So many secrets and so many lies. He’d been so afraid to trust that he’d left himself isolated. Maybe if he hadn’t, Nibsy wouldn’t have been able to strike.
Esta forced herself to push those thoughts aside. That part of the past was a page that could not be unwritten. Leena was gone, dead long before Esta had arrived in the past—far beyond where she could go and impossible to save. Dolph was gone too. Not even Viola could bring people back from the dead. It was time to focus on the future and on what could be done to try to change it.
The building was bustling when she finally made her way to the large communal area in the back of the third floor, where everyone usually gathered. Viola and Jianyu were already there. Cela was too, along with some of the other occupants who had warmed to them.
Not everyone had. Some still held suspicions about Jianyu and Viola, because of their skin or their gender, or because of the lies Nibsy had spread. But that morning the gathering room seemed like a friendly place. The mood was light, and the sun was shining in through the opened drapes.
“You slept awful late this morning,” Cela said with a knowing grin. She glanced at Esta as she sipped from her mug. “Long night?”
Esta ignored the heat in her cheeks and poured herself some coffee. “I refuse to dignify that question with an answer.”
Viola laughed knowingly. “I think you just did.”
Cela lifted her mug in a salute, and Viola returned the gesture. Jianyu pretended he wasn’t listening.
“Where’s Darrigan this fine morning?” Cela asked, still smiling. “Too worn out to join us for breakfast… or is it lunch?”
“Darrigan is right here,” Harte said from the doorway. “And he’s fine this morning, thank you very much.”
“You always did have such a high opinion of yourself, Harte,” Cela murmured into her cup. But her eyes were smiling when she glanced at Esta. “But is it well founded, I wonder?”
Esta’s cheeks were burning, and as much as she was enjoying the gentle ribbing—the camaraderie and friendship of these women—she had little experience with either and had no idea what to do with it.
“You’d think that the lot of you would have more to do than sit around and gossip like a bunch of chickens,” he muttered. But he came up behind Esta and, wrapping her in his arms, nuzzled into her neck. “I told you we should have stayed in bed.” He kissed her softly before letting her go.
Esta couldn’t exactly argue. The heat of his mouth on her sensitive skin brought with it memories of his mouth on other places, and she had to focus much harder than anyone should just to slice herself a piece of the brown bread Viola had baked earlier. She took her time and only turned back to the room after she’d composed herself.
But from the knowing looks on the other women’s faces, she’d failed miserably.
“Esta had something she wanted to discuss,” Harte told them, thankfully drawing the attention away from her. “Something to do with Nibsy.”
Grateful for the opening, Esta brought her breakfast over to the table. “I’ve been thinking—”
“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Viola asked, her mouth twitching.
It was only Jianyu’s steady, encouraging expression that let Esta shake off the teasing and get to her point.
