***
Fin was awoken by frantic rapping on his front door. He rolled over and put his pillow over his head to block out the sound, but it didn’t work. Damn it, where was Simmons?
“Simmons!” he called, refusing to leave his bed in order to ring the bell. For heaven’s sake, was the man going deaf? The infernal racket would have woken the dead.
And then it occurred to him, as he came out of his sleepy haze, that perhaps it was about Victoria. Why else would someone be so frantically knocking on his door? Fueled by his panic, he slipped on his pants and shirt, and then raced down the stairs to the foyer. Simmons was still nowhere in sight. He could have been out on an errand, but it didn’t really matter now.
Fin flung open the door, expecting to see Tom. Instead, he found a child. A small girl, perhaps six or seven, wearing an outfit of rags.
“May I help you?” Fin asked slowly. Was she a beggar? And if so, why was she so desperate for him to answer the door?
“Please, sir,” the little girl said. “I’m looking for this lady, but I can’t read. Took a good many strangers to help me find this street, but I didn’t know what door to knock on.”
Fin took the small piece of paper from her and wasn’t at all surprised to see Victoria’s name and address. He looked down at the little girl. What possible business could she have with Victoria? “You’re very brave, knocking on doors at random.”
“I’m desperate, sir.”
“Well, I’m sorry to say that Victoria has taken ill.” The little girl’s eyes widened in panic, so Fin rushed to assure her that all would be fine. “No need to worry. She’ll be better soon. But for now, she’s not to have any visitors, especially little ones, such as yourself.”
Tears welled in the little girl’s eyes.
“Is there anything I might be able to help you with,” Fin ventured.
“I’m not wanting to impose, sir. I only came because the miss said I could contact her if anything…if…”
Fin bent down and made the girl look him in the eyes. “What is it? I’m here to help.”
The child flung her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shirt collar. “It’s Mama. She won’t wake up. I did everything Miss Victoria told me to do, but I couldn’t save her.”
Good Lord, what was she talking about? It didn’t matter, really, not right this moment. He could get answers from Victoria later. Right now he needed to figure out what had happened to the girl’s mother.
“Where is your mother now?” he asked.
“At home. In Southwark.”
Ah, so that’s what she’d been doing in Southwark. But he still didn’t know why or how she knew this woman and her child. “Take me to her.”
The Robber Bride (Regency Historical Romance) Page 20