Nevermor (5 page)

“We want to stay
here,” Wren said quickly.  Her heart was beating furiously, hammering away at
the nails in her coffin.  She felt that since this had happened, they would be
cast out on the street for certain, regardless of what she said.

Henry still
hadn’t tried to make a case for himself, and Nora was waiting for him to.  When
he did not, she called for his attention.

“Henry,” she
said sternly.  “Your sister loves you very much, and you have hurt her by
this.”

Wren saw his
eyes widen – saw the words welling behind his lips and she begged for them not
to burst free.  When he actually managed to keep quiet, she was relieved.

“I’m going to
try one more time to place you in work, but this is the last chance.  I have
often refused that any children in my house should go to the mines, but perhaps
that is the only place for you.”

“No!”  Wren
protested on his behalf.  She knew how treacherous the mines would be.  There
was often news of cave-ins, and even if not that, she still did not want to
imagine her brother down there alone in the dark.  “Please just put us in
another factory and nothing like this will ever happen again.”

Nora eyed them
both, giving particular consideration to Henry, but she didn’t say anything
else on the subject.

“Henry, you may
go.  Wren, I’d like you to stay a moment.”

Henry cast a
glance at Wren and then tromped out heatedly, glad to be free, but the idea of
time alone with Miss Nora did not make Wren feel at ease.  It could not have
led to any good conversations.

Once the woman
was sure that Henry had gone, she looked Wren in the eyes.

“You need to
prepare yourself for the worst,” she said firmly.  “The two of you lashed out
at a supervisor and caused him to be severely injured.  This is not something
that’s easily hidden or forgiven.  No one wants a defiant youth.”

“But you will
try,” Wren led on hopefully, though she felt she was asking in vain.

“That man violated
our contract, but that cannot explain away what you did to him.  I’m not going
to hold my breath, and you shouldn’t either.  I may still be able to get some
domestic work for you, but if I can’t place Henry within the next few weeks,
then he’s going off to Armstrong’s to work in the mines.  I’ll leave it to you
to tell him – or not – as you see fit.”

Wren felt tears
pressing behind her eyes, but she couldn’t say that she hadn’t known.  A
thousand consequences had gone through her mind and this had only been one
possibility.  They couldn’t get away with what they had done, even if it hadn’t
been entirely their fault.  It would have been better if Henry had just let her
take the beating.  At least it would have been over and done with.

She looked down
at the scarred surface of the desk, trying to keep herself together.

“May I go now?”
she asked, her voice low and strained.  But Nora would not release her.

“There is one
more thing.”  Wren looked up, wondering how this could have gotten worse, but
knowing it was about to.  “A husband and wife who were at the visitation
yesterday have expressed a desire for adoption, and I have approved it.”

Wren wasn’t sure
how to feel about that.  Her heart was tugging one way and her mind the other. 
If she were a puppet, she would have been tangled beyond use.  She remembered
the woman she had spoken to and her husband with the hungry eyes.  Was it them?

“They want to
adopt Max –
only
Max.”

Wren’s face fell
as understanding sank in, passing from cautious expectation to absolute fear.

“What?  No!”  It
was her natural reaction to protest, whether or not it was acceptable for her
to do so.  She had been looking after Max since he was a baby, and though she’d
claim she didn’t want him to look to her as a mother, she couldn’t help but
feel that her own child was being ripped from her.

“Wren, you know
how often we get to move children out of here,” Nora said reasonably.  “This is
for the best.”

“He’s
my
brother.  Don’t I get a say in this?”

“It’s a
courtesy
that I’m telling you first,” she said firmly.

Wren looked back
at her, hardly able to believe this harshness.  Miss Nora was not usually cruel
– distant, perhaps – but this all seemed particularly cold to Wren.  She stared
at the woman until finally Miss Nora sighed, looking so aged in that moment
that it was frightening.  Wren saw a reflection of herself beyond the hard life
that awaited her.

“Wren, I know
how you feel about the three of you staying together, but let us face the
facts.  You’re growing up to be quite an attractive young woman and you can’t
hope to hide it forever.  Despite your effort, you’ll eventually be bought off
to be someone’s wife – if you’re lucky enough to even get a commitment like
that.  Who’s going to protect them then?  Henry, with his attitude, may never
get out of here, and this could be Maxwell’s only chance before it’s too late
for him as well.  Would you rather him be on the street?  Down a mine shaft
somewhere with Henry?  You need to think about what is the best thing for Max;
not for you.  He’s young.  There is no future for him if he stays here.  Be
reasonable.”

Wren was
trying
to be reasonable, but all she could think was:
I’m going to lose
both of my brothers now.  All of this struggling to stay together, and for
what?

“The Ausbrooks
are wealthy,” Nora said as a way of consoling her.  “They have an estate in the
country and have traveled out to prepare the house for him.  He’ll be well
taken care of, will have a good education and will grow up to be a fine young
man with the love of a family, like he deserves.  How could you ask for more
than that?”

In her heart,
Wren knew she was right, but yet it was a lot to swallow at once.

“How long?” she
wanted to know.  She heard her own voice breaking up, but she swore she wouldn’t
cry – not now.

“Several weeks
yet.  They hope to be back by the end of the month,” Nora explained, her voice
full of finality.  “Plenty of time to say goodbye.”

2

After that, Wren
didn’t have much to say to anyone.  She was irresponsive to any verbal attempt
as she carried out her chores and helped to prepare supper for the rest of the
children.  By the time she sat down with her brothers to eat, she was like a
ghost, drifting about, transparent and with no purpose.

The meal was one
of their more conservative.  It was an oatcake with onions and a small amount
of potato, which outshined everything else, despite it being such a little
chunk.  They did eat better than this on occasion, but it seemed that Nora’s
displeasure had affected the menu.  They were all being punished for it.  She
had lost the income from two workers and intended to make up the difference
somewhere.

Wren stared
blankly at the table, beyond her plate of food, not paying attention as Max
pushed his oatcake off onto the floor.  Henry tore his into little pieces,
stirred them around on his plate for a bit and then finally put one morsel past
his sore lips.  He had only just tasted it before he spat it back out onto the
plate and shoved all of it away from him across the table, making several of
the others look up from their own food in surprise.

“I don’t want
this,” Henry muttered sullenly.

Wren snapped
back to herself.  She could see that look on Henry’s face – the way he stared
down at the table, lips clenched.  She suspected that something else was
bothering him instead of the food, but decided to feign ignorance.  She hardly
had the energy to deal with his issues right now.

“What’s wrong
with it?  Is your mouth sore?”  He was still swollen from the beating he’d
taken.  There was no denying that.

“It tastes like
shit.”

“Henry!”  She
didn’t like to hear him say words like that.  It was unrefined, and they were
not lowlifes.  They had been taught better than that.  It did, however, make
several of the others at the table giggle, which roused Maxwell’s attention,
because he did not understand.

“What’s ‘
shit
’?”
Max asked, looking up at her with his inquisitive four-year-old eyes.  Wren was
aghast, but Henry snickered with his head down.  There was a short smile on his
busted lips.

“It’s a word
none of you should be saying,” she scolded them all, then glared at Henry.  She
lowered her voice to rebuke him.  “That’s perfect, Henry.  Just what we need is
to have him saying words like that in front of his new parents.”

It was out of
her mouth before she’d thought much about it.  Wren froze, waiting for him to
demand what she meant by that, but Henry did not seem to grasp onto it.

“We don’t need
new parents,” he told her.  “We
have
parents somewhere.”

“Who gave us
up,” she reminded him.

“Exactly.  It
didn’t work the first time.  Why would it work again?  There’s no point in
hoping for it.  It’s not going to happen!”

Wren was angry
with him, furious in fact.  He was so young and stupid that he could not
possibly understand what was happening right now, just under his nose.  She
almost erupted and told him what Nora had said to her – that he was going to be
sent away and Max was being taken – but she managed to keep it contained
inside.  It was stagnant water in an old bottle.

“What happened
today is not alright,” she warned him.  “It won’t be forgotten or forgiven.  We
won’t just waltz away from it like nothing happened.  You need to stop living
in a fantasy and realize that there are going to be consequences!”

“What happened?”
a girl across the table asked.  Her name was Polly and she was around seven
years old – much too young to be concerned about it.

“Wren pushed the
Devil into the machine.  Tore his hand right off,” Liam informed her quietly. 
He had been there to see it.

“Was he trying
to get the gold?” Polly asked innocently.

Wren felt a
chill run through her.  Henry looked at her knowingly. 

“Then there’s no
sense hoping that someone will adopt us then, is there?” he asked smartly. 
“That’s a fantasy too.”

Wren was fed up,
unable to take any more.  She wanted to yell at him but held back for the
others’ sakes.  Instead, she lifted her tin plate and slammed it back down on
the table, scattering food and making a loud noise that startled them all. 

“You’d rather
stay here and eat
shit
?  Fine.  Maybe you’ll get your wish.” 

Wren’s face
flushed when she allowed herself to say the forbidden word, but she was too
angry to go back on it.  She got up and walked away from the table, leaving Max
there and Henry bewildered.  He just didn’t understand.  Did he really have no
grasp of what they had done?  Did he not know that they weren’t going to be
excused from it? 

I can’t deal
with this.  I just can’t.

Wren went to the
girls’ washroom, closing herself away.  She sank down in the corner against the
wall, feeling the coldness of the tiles pass through her dress.  She was alone,
and she didn’t bother holding back her tears.  Everything was falling apart
around her and she could do nothing to stop it.  Soon, her family would all be
gone and she would be the only one left.

I won’t have
anyone at all,
she thought. 
Nowhere to go.  Nowhere to belong...

The door of the
washroom began to open and she tried to turn away so that no one would see her
sorrow.  Tears were contagious in this place. 

Glimpsing a
familiar form made her look up, and she was surprised to see that it was
Henry.  She was so shocked that he had come after her that she simply stared at
him, dumbfounded.  After that, it was too late to hide her tears.

“You’re not
supposed to be in here,” she told him, but that meant very little to her
rebellious brother, who didn’t care for rules.  He sat down next to her against
the wall, watching her as she tried to get a handle on her emotions.  She wiped
her tears away with the back of her hand, knowing they made her eyes look puffy
and old.

He was quiet for
a few minutes as he waited for her to stop sobbing, looking sober and patient,
which was very unusual for him.

“I’m fine,” she
said to him, but he still wouldn’t go away.

“You have never
ever
cursed at me,” he told her.  That was probably true.  She was usually
very good at keeping patient, but she felt she couldn’t be blamed for it now. 
Still, she supposed it had been uncalled for.

“I’m sorry for
that.”

“What’d she say
to you?” he asked, brushing off her apology. 

Henry had his
moments when Wren was certain he didn’t use his brain at all, but he was smart
enough to have figured this out.  When Miss Nora had kept Wren in her office,
it hadn’t been to chat about the weather.

She didn’t want
to dump this burden on him, but she guessed she didn’t have much of a choice
now.  He had already seen her distress, and he knew that it wasn’t going to be
good news.  He had a right to know.