Sarah glanced at Jon, who shook his head almost imperceptibly.
“She has the baby,” Luke continued. “They tell her it’s a healthy baby girl, and she gets hysterical. She says if she doesn’t bring home a son, her husband will beat her. She actually begged them to kill the baby. She got so hysterical they had to sedate her. She never did see the baby. She left the hospital refusing to. I guess she went back to White Birch and told her husband it died.”
“What happened to the baby?” Jon asked, trying to sound as though he didn’t really care.
Luke smiled. “There’s a happy ending,” he said. “The baby’s being adopted by a claver family. She’ll never know where she came from.”
“Is she still in the hospital?” Sarah asked. “The baby?”
“I don’t think so,” Luke said. “I think the family took the baby home that day. I can ask my dad if you want.”
Sarah shook her head. “Don’t bother,” she said.
Ryan laughed. “Admit it, Goldman,” he said. “No decent human being would act that way. Grubs are animals, just like I’ve been telling you.”
“It takes one to know one,” Sarah said, looking at her watch. “I’ve got to go. I don’t want to keep the driver waiting.”
“I’ll walk you outside,” Jon said. He’d been doing that since school had reopened, so he knew Ryan and Luke wouldn’t think anything of it.
“See you tomorrow,” Sarah said. “Maybe by then you’ll have some manners.”
“Don’t count on it, Goldman,” Ryan said.
“See you in the gym,” Jon said. “Come on, Sarah.”
They walked out of the lunchroom without speaking. Even when they were outside, Jon spoke so softly only Sarah could hear him.
“Miranda was right,” he whispered. “Her baby’s alive.”
“They stole it,” Sarah said. “Jon, we’ve got to get the baby back.”
Jon nodded. “We have to be quiet about it,” he told her. “Don’t say anything to Miranda. It’s better if she thinks the baby’s dead until we can figure out what to do.”
“It’ll be so hard,” Sarah replied, “driving in to White Birch with her and not saying anything.”
“Distract her,” Jon said. “Distract yourself. Talk to her about me. Ask her what I was like as a kid. Ask her about Alex. She’ll expect you to distract her anyway, to keep from thinking about everything that’s happened. Just relax, as much as you can.”
“I’ll talk to Daddy,” Sarah said. “We have to make sure no one else had a baby recently.”
“Be careful,” Jon said. “It’s safer for him not to know.”
Sarah stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Love you,” she said. “I’ll talk to you tonight.”
“Love you, too,” Jon said. He watched as she walked to the car. Alex wasn’t driving. That was a relief. The drive to White Birch was going to be hard enough for Sarah. At least she was spared having Alex in the car.
For once Jon was grateful for four hours of workouts and practices. He focused on the work, not minding when Coach shouted at all of them for being fat, lazy bums. The more noise Coach made, the less Jon had to think.
When he got home, he played with Gabe. They stopped only when Sarah called to say Miranda had been the only grub at the hospital for the past week.
“You didn’t tell your father why you asked?” Jon said.
“No, I was careful,” Sarah said. “I told him we’d been talking at lunch about whether laborers could stay at the Sexton hospital. I said I thought they all could. Daddy set me straight. What are we going to do, Jon?”
“I don’t know yet,” he admitted.
“Mr. Jon, dinner’s ready!” Ruby called.
“Go have your dinner, Mr. Jon,” Sarah said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Jon played with Gabe after supper until Lisa got home and put him to bed. Jon peeked in and wished Gabe a good night. “I have to talk to you,” he said to Lisa. “Privately.”
“All right,” Lisa said. They went downstairs and found Ruby in the kitchen washing the dishes. “Ruby, did you clean the living room today?”
“Yes ma’am,” Ruby said. “Little Gaby helped me.”
“Little Gaby could’ve done a better job than you did,” Lisa said. “I want you to clean that entire room, Ruby. Finish the dishes and then dust everything in the living room and scrub that floor until it’s spotless.”
“Lisa,” Jon said. “It’s eight o’clock. Ruby’s been working since six o’clock this morning.”
“If she did the work right the first time, she could go to bed now,” Lisa said. “And if you insist on talking to me about how I should treat my domestics, then do it in private.”
“I do want to talk about it,” Jon said.
“Fine,” Lisa said. “We’ll talk. What are you waiting for, Ruby? Didn’t I give you a job to do?”
“Yes ma’am,” Ruby said. “I’ll do it right away.”
“And we’ll go upstairs and talk about the servant problem,” Lisa said. “Come on, Jon. Let’s get this over with.”
They walked to Lisa’s bedroom, but she shook her head. “We’ll talk in yours,” she said softly. “Mine’s over the living room.”
Jon nodded and followed Lisa to his bedroom, then closed the door.
“Did you have to do that to Ruby?” he asked.
“She didn’t clean the living room,” Lisa said. “Did you look at it, Jon? It was filthy. I know you think she’s a sweet girl, and I assume you’re sleeping with her, but she has to learn her job.”
“I’m not sleeping with her,” Jon said.
“Fine,” Lisa said. “I apologize. I had a long day, Jon. What’s so important that we have to talk about it privately?”
“It’s Miranda,” Jon said.
Lisa nodded. “I checked,” she said. “All the corpses were removed on Sunday.”
For a moment Jon didn’t know what she was talking about. Then he remembered Mom. “Good,” he said. “I’m glad. But that’s not it.”
“What is it, then?” she asked.
“Luke told us something at lunch today,” Jon replied. “A grubber girl had a baby at the hospital on Saturday. A perfectly healthy baby girl. Only the grub said her husband would kill her if she brought home a girl. She got hysterical so they sedated her and sent her home. A claver family took the baby. They’re going to adopt her.”
“Tell me you’re kidding, Jon,” Lisa said. “Please tell me this is a joke.”
“Miranda was the only grub in the hospital this week,” Jon said. “Lisa, they stole Miranda’s baby.”
“Did you tell Miranda?” Lisa asked. “Did Sarah?”
Jon shook his head. “You and Sarah and I are the only ones who know,” he said. “Lisa, we have to get the baby back.”
Lisa sat absolutely still.
“Lisa,” Jon said. “Remember when you thought you might lose Gabe? It’s the same thing.”
“No, it’s not,” Lisa said. “It’s worse. At least with Gabe I would’ve had a choice. I can’t believe they did that. No, actually I can. Women here are so desperate for babies, they’ll even take a grubber one. We don’t know what the hospital told them. Maybe they said Miranda died in childbirth.”
“Or maybe they didn’t care just as long as they got a baby,” Jon said. “Lisa, that’s why they kept Miranda in the hospital so long. So they could be sure her baby would be healthy before they gave it to clavers.”
“Your righteous indignation isn’t helping any,” Lisa said. “And don’t talk so loudly. We have enough problems without Ruby hearing.”
“Sorry,” Jon said. “But I can’t keep from thinking about what Miranda’s been through. Mom, and now this.”
“We can’t get Laura back,” Lisa said. “But maybe we can find the baby. I should be able to figure out who got her. We know it’s a claver family. They’d need a wet nurse and a nanny.”
“Do you remember anyone asking?” Jon asked.
&n
bsp; Lisa shook her head. “Things have been so crazy the past few weeks. My guess is it was a green-file request. My assistant handles those since they’re automatically granted. I’ll look through the paperwork tomorrow. It’s got to be there somewhere.”
“Maybe they’ll give us the baby when we tell them the truth,” Jon said.
“Maybe they’ll throw us out of Sexton,” Lisa said. “I’m not kidding, Jon. We’ll get Miranda’s baby. I promise you that. But no one can know. No one’s going to care that the baby was stolen. They’ll say we’re kidnappers. Don’t say a word about this, not even to Sarah. I’ll see what I can find out, and we’ll go from there.”
“Miranda and Alex have to get their baby back,” Jon said. “Lisa, they have to.”
Lisa nodded. “We’ll figure something out,” she said. “For everybody’s sake.”
Wednesday, July 22
“Ruby, this kitchen is disgusting,” Lisa said.
“But I scrubbed it this afternoon,” Ruby said. “Honest I did.”
“You don’t have an honest bone in your body,” Lisa said. “You think you can get away with this?” She ran her finger over the counter, and even Jon saw the grime.
“I didn’t know I was supposed to clean the counters,” Ruby said, sounding close to tears. “No one ever taught me that.”
“I’m teaching you,” Lisa said. “Ruby, Gabe adores you, and I appreciate all the time you give him. But you’re the only domestic in this house, and it’s your job to keep it clean. Jon, when Carrie was here, didn’t she clean as well as look after Gabe?”
“It’s a lot of work, Lisa,” Jon said.
“I work, too, Jon,” Lisa replied. “We all do. Scrub the countertops, Ruby. Then the floor. I don’t care if you cleaned it already. You want to eat tomorrow, you clean tonight. Jon, don’t give me that look. I’ll talk to you upstairs.”
“I know we have to have privacy,” Jon whispered to Lisa when they got to her room. “But do you have to take it out on Ruby?”
“I’m not beating her, Jon,” Lisa said. “And I can forbid her to eat to my heart’s content and she’ll still eat whatever she wants. She eats more than Val and Carrie put together.”
“She’s entitled,” Jon said. “She’s doing both their work.”
“Do you want to fight about Ruby?” Lisa asked. “Or do you want to hear what I found out?”
“Ruby can wait,” Jon said. “Do you know who has the baby?”
Lisa nodded. “Only one family requested a wet nurse and a nanny in the past month. Both of whom started working on Saturday.”
“That’s great,” Jon said. “Who are they?”
“It’s better if you don’t know until we have a plan,” Lisa replied. “You probably won’t know them by name anyway. But they’re very powerful.”
“We knew they would be,” Jon said.
“I didn’t realize how powerful,” Lisa said. “Powerful enough to have a private guard service twenty-four hours a day. We can’t put a ladder to the nursery window and steal the baby.”
“They’re the ones who stole the baby,” Jon said.
“That’s not the point and you know it,” Lisa said.
“All right,” Jon said. “You have the name and we need a plan. Anything else?”
Lisa scowled. “My assistant saw me going through the green files,” she said. “When we get the baby, they’ll trace it back to me.”
“Miranda and Alex are going to have to leave anyway,” Jon said. “We’ll go with them.”
“How?” Lisa asked. “It’s one thing to say we have to leave. It’s a whole other thing to do it.”
Jon grinned. “Sarah and I figured that part out,” he said. “Alex is driving Sarah to Virginia on Monday. If anyone stops them, Miranda’s there as her grub. Then Alex drops Miranda and the baby off at Matt’s and takes Sarah to Virginia. They can figure out where to go after he gets back.”
Lisa fell silent, thinking things over. Jon waited for her to speak.
“They can take Gabe with them,” she said.
“Sure,” Jon said. “You and Gabe and me. We’re clavers. Sarah’s travel pass will cover us.”
“What time is she leaving?” Lisa asked.
“Early Monday,” Jon replied. “That’s all I know.”
“The earlier the better,” she said. “There’s a two a.m. grubber bus to Sexton. Alex and Miranda will need special curfew passes. I’ll tell Dr. Goldman to arrange it for them. We get in the car, grab the baby, and get out of Dodge.”
“Where’s Dodge?” Jon asked.
Lisa laughed. “It’s an old expression,” she said. “Jon, are you sure Sarah’s agreed to all this? What we’re doing is dangerous and illegal.”
“She wants to help,” Jon said. “But I’ll explain the risks to her.”
“We shouldn’t tell her father,” Lisa said. “Or Alex or Miranda, and certainly not Ruby. The only chance we have is if we keep things absolutely quiet.”
“Sarah’s coming over tomorrow evening,” Jon said. “We’ll go to the garage. No one can hear us there. We’ll talk everything out. After we’ve been there a couple of hours, you’ll come out to chase Sarah home. We’ll tell you what we’ve decided then.”
“I’d better go downstairs,” Lisa said. “Ruby’s probably suspicious already.”
“It’s going to work,” Jon said. “It has to.”
Lisa nodded. “It has to,” she said. “We’ll make it work.”
Thursday, July 23
“Sarah, it’s time for you to go home,” Lisa said, knocking loudly on the closed garage door.
Jon opened the door for her.
“Jon’s talked to you?” Lisa whispered as Jon closed the door.
“We have it all figured out,” Sarah replied. “I’m a little worried about Daddy, but my uncle can get him out of Sexton if he has to.”
“You can take Gabe?” Lisa asked.
“And you and Jon,” Sarah said. “Nobody’s going to care how many clavers are in the car.”
“We can’t risk Gabe waking up until we’re out of Sexton,” Jon said. “Sarah’s going to get a sedative at the clinic and give Gabe a quarter of it if that’s okay with you.”
“I’ll give Ruby the rest,” Lisa said. “We don’t want her waking up and asking questions.”
“That’s a good idea,” Jon said. “I should have thought of it.”
“Sarah, do you understand what you’re doing?” Lisa asked. “The house is under armed guard. You won’t be able to walk in and take the baby.”
Sarah grinned. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” she said. “Let me tell you the plan.”
Sunday, July 26
The Sexton clavers beat the Winston grubs 13–2.
Jon scored five goals. He figured it was the last time he’d be playing for Coach. He might as well leave him happy.
Monday, July 27
“They’re going to be here in a few minutes,” Jon said early that morning. “Lisa, why aren’t you ready?”
“I am ready,” she said. “Gabe’s sound asleep. When they come, you take him and go.”
“You’re going with us,” Jon said.
Lisa shook her head. “Jon, I can’t,” she said. “What if they blame my assistant? She’s a grub, Jon. You know what they could do to her?”
“They could put you in prison,” Jon said. “They could kill you. Is your assistant’s life that important?”
“It’s not just her life,” Lisa said. “They could go after Carrie if they think she was involved. They could go after Ruby. I have a responsibility to all of them, Jon. I have to protect them.”
“I still think you should come with us,” Jon said. “For Gabe’s sake.”
Lisa shook her head. “I’ve made enough mistakes,” she said. “I’m not going to have innocent blood on my hands. Matt and Syl will look after Gabe. They promised your father and me they would if anything ever happened.” She took Jon in her arms, holding him tightly. “I lov
e you,” she said. “Get Gabe. I want to kiss him good-bye.”
Jon went upstairs and took Gabe out of his bed. “You have a wonderful mother,” he whispered, carrying the sleeping boy downstairs. Lisa walked over to them and kissed her son.
“Keep him safe,” she said.
“I promise,” Jon replied. “I hear the car, Lisa. We’ve got to go.”
Lisa went to the closet and pulled out a suitcase. “Gabe’s trucks are in there,” she said. “His clothes. Some of yours.” She kissed Jon and Gabe. “Go,” she said. “I love you both.”
Jon cradled Gabe in his left arm while holding on to the suitcase. Alex had the car running but the lights off. Miranda sat by his side, Sarah in the back.
“Put the suitcase in the front with me,” Alex said. “We can’t slam the trunk.”
Jon did as Alex said. Then he put Gabe in the back seat and sat down next to him. “Start driving, Alex. Make a left at the stop sign. Sarah’ll give you the directions from there.”
“I don’t understand,” Miranda said. “I thought we were stopping at Lisa’s so you could say good-bye to Jon. What’s Gabe doing here? Does Lisa know you’ve taken him?”
“Lisa knows,” Jon said. “She’s not coming.”
“Why not?” Sarah asked. “Alex, at the next stop sign make a right.”
“She’ll get to Matt’s on her own,” Jon said, hoping that was true.
“What about Matt?” Miranda asked. “Alex, is this the way out of town?”
“Not that I know of,” Alex replied. “You’d better tell me what’s going on, Jon. If this is some kind of elopement, I’ll put a stop to it right now.”
“It’s nothing like that,” Jon said. “I have something to tell you, both of you, but you can’t react. No screaming, no crying. We can’t risk Gabe waking up.”
“We promise, Jon,” Miranda said. “Just tell us.”
“Your baby didn’t die,” Jon said. “They stole her. We’re stealing her back.”
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