Storm Child (13 page)

‘I don’t know.’ Isaac shook his
head slowly. ‘But it’s my fault she’s gone and I intend to make amends. I
promise I will find her and that’s all you need to know.’

‘It took great courage for you to
stand up the man… Ernesto,’ Charlotte said. ‘And yet, despite knowing that he
almost killed you, you intend to go back and try again.’ Isaac nodded grimly.
Charlotte paused. ‘Who is he?’

‘Calls himself our guardian. More
like a slave owner if you ask me. He buys us from the orphanage or he finds us
on the streets; Annie and her sister were the last to arrive. Was a time I were
grateful for it, at least I had a roof over my head and no
whippin
’
every morning like the nippers at the workhouse, but not any more…’ Isaac
rubbed a hand through his long fringe. ‘Not at the price Ernesto asks anyway.’

‘Why was he so desperate to get
Georgina back? And why doesn’t he come for the rest of you?’

‘I stood up to him so I reckon
he’s finished with me. He perhaps don’t realise Annie and Poll are gone
yet.  As for the little ‘un…’ Isaac fell silent, staring moodily into the
fire. ‘As for the little ‘un…’ he repeated quietly, ‘I can only imagine. I
reckon Polly knows more than she’s
lettin
’ on
though.’

‘You and Polly…’

Isaac looked up and the darkness
cleared from his expression, just for a moment.  ‘She pretends she’s all
high and mighty, but I know Poll’s soul better than anyone, and she knows
mine.’

They were interrupted by
Charlotte’s mother stirring in her chair.  Her eyes opened and she gave a
broad smile as she saw Isaac sitting up.

‘Oh thank goodness! We were so
worried about you.’

Isaac grinned. ‘That’s awful kind
of you, but there weren’t no need. It’d take a lot more than
ol
’ Ernie Black to keep me down.’

Mrs Harding nodded. ‘I’m sure
that’s true. Charlotte…’ she turned to her daughter, ‘have you checked on
Annie?’

‘Not yet,’ Charlotte returned
with a slightly guilty look. She had been so engrossed with listening to Isaac
that she had found herself not wanting to leave his side. Still reluctantly,
despite the guilt, she rose from her chair. ‘I’ll go now, Mother.’

Mrs Harding raised her hand.
‘Stay. I’ll go. I will be able to gauge her condition better than you.’

At the moment she rose to go into
the bedroom, Polly returned, a blast of cold air roaring through the house in
her wake.

‘As soon as Annie is awake, we’re
going to rescue her sister,’ Isaac said. The tone of his voice invited no
argument. Polly simply nodded.

‘That’s
if
she wakes,’ was
all she offered in reply.

‘You’re not going to make a fuss?’
Isaac said, slightly taken by surprise that she had not contradicted his
statement.

‘I promised Annie that we would
if she came to heal you. And as she’s kept her end of the bargain, I intend to
keep mine.’

Mrs Harding bustled back into the
room, all traces of weariness gone. ‘Annie is awake but still weak. I’m going
to give her some broth and hopefully that will give her a little strength. Then
we can all sit down and talk this mess through.’

As the sun peeped over the horizon, Annie sat in front of
the fire on Isaac’s makeshift bed with a blanket wrapped around her
shoulders.  Isaac had now moved to the table, feeling much better for a
wash in an ice-cold barrel of water in the garden (Mrs Harding had offered to
warm it but Isaac had insisted that the cold would
improve his wits
) and
had a bowl of broth. Annie had eaten very little before abandoning her portion,
but Isaac had wolfed down his own and hers afterwards.  The spoon
clattered into his bowl a second time and without a word, Mrs Harding filled it
again, Isaac shooting her a grateful smile.

‘Three of us can’t ride Chester
at once,’ Annie said. ‘And it will take so long to get back on foot that we’re
sure to lose Georgina forever.’

‘You certainly can’t go like
that, you’re far too weak to be useful to anyone,’ Mrs Harding chided.

‘But I have to. She’s my sister.’

‘I’ll go by myself,’ Isaac
offered as he slurped at a spoonful of broth.

‘Ernesto would kill you for sure
if you turn up,’ Polly snapped. ‘Better if I go. I can get round him.’

Isaac looked doubtful. ‘You sure
about that? I don’t think you’ll be ‘is favourite once he finds Annie out of
the cellar and you and Chester gone with her.’

‘He won’t know it were me, could
have been Annie
gettin
’ herself out.’

‘He
ain’t
that stupid.’

‘Perhaps we can organise a rescue
party with help from people in the village?’ Charlotte cut in. ‘What about
that, Mother?’

Mrs Harding looked doubtful.
‘People have their own business to tend to. I’m not sure they’ll want to spare
the time looking for a child who everyone will believe has gone back to her
proper place.’

‘But we can tell them she is in
danger,’ Charlotte insisted.

‘We have the word of a group of…’
Mrs Harding paused as she glanced in turn at the three guests in her house.

‘Ragamuffins?’ Polly said with a
barely disguised sneer.

‘I don’t want to be insulting,
but that is how others will view you. As far as they’re concerned, they only
have your word that any of this is true. In fact, Charlotte and I only have
that too.’

‘I believe them!’ Charlotte said.
‘Isaac almost died trying to protect Georgina, we saw him with our own eyes!’

‘But we only have
his
explanation for his actions.’ Mrs Harding sighed. ‘For all anyone knows, Dr
Black could well be Georgina’s father.’

‘But he
ain’t
!’
Annie cried.

‘I believe you. But others might
not.’

‘So I go alone, like I said.’
Isaac let the spoon fall into his empty bowl a third time and leapt from his
seat. ‘Thank you for your hospitality, but I’d best be on the road.’

‘I’m coming,’ Polly said, getting
up too. ‘You need me whether you think it or not.’

‘You can’t expect me to sit ‘ere
waiting for you an’ doing nothing.’ Annie pushed herself up slowly from the
bed.

‘Annie, you’re far too weak,’ Mrs
Harding said sternly.

‘I’ll get better. They’re
goin
’ to need me too.’

Charlotte suddenly jumped up from
her seat too. ‘Mother… I know you won’t approve but I’m going with them.’

‘Now really!’ Mrs Harding thumped
the table making everyone jump. ‘This is quite ridiculous!’

‘Mother…’ Charlotte said more
gently now, taking both her hands. ‘You want Georgina back, don’t you? And I
want her back too. But she doesn’t belong to us. However, she belongs with
Annie and we love her dearly so it seems right that we should do everything in
our power to give happiness to the child who brought so much happiness into our
lives. If that means reuniting her with her sister, then I want to do
everything I can to help.’

‘NO!’ Mrs Harding shouted. ‘I
absolutely will not allow it!’

‘But, Mother –’

‘NO!’

Charlotte scowled as the others
watched the altercation. Every occupant of the room sensed the impasse. 
After wordless moments, Mrs Harding gave a deep sigh and embraced her daughter.

‘I’ve already lost one child, and
another of sorts. I could not bear to lose you too; it would break my heart
completely. You understand that, surely?’

‘Of course I do.’

‘Then indulge me this one wish.
Please stay here with me.’

Charlotte shook her head slowly.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said in a small but determined voice. ‘I have to help them.’

‘What can you do?’ Mrs Harding
replied, a vexed note creeping into her tone.

‘I don’t know. But I cannot sit
here, safe and warm by the fire doing nothing yet knowing that they and
Georgina are in danger.’

‘You can read?’ Isaac cut
in.  Polly fired him a hate filled glare but he ignored it.

Charlotte nodded. ‘Of course I
can.’

He looked at Charlotte’s mother.
‘Then she might be able to help after all.’ His gaze flitted to Charlotte. ‘I
ain’t
sayin
’ it won’t be
dangerous, mind.’

‘I saw what happened yesterday; I
am well aware of the danger.’

Isaac shifted his weight
slightly, Charlotte’s steady gaze making him feel slightly uncomfortable. ‘I
was just saying.’

‘You surely cannot intend to go?’
Mrs Harding cut in. ‘Charlotte, this is madness.’

‘Then, Mother, I am sorry, but I
must be mad. I am almost a woman. I am old enough to make my own decisions and
I am going. Let that be an end to it.’

Charlotte’s hands shook as she fastened the long woollen
coat over her dress. It was an old one of her mother’s – one that was rarely
used these days – excellent quality and had clearly been expensive when it was
new, many years ago. Mrs Harding had insisted that Charlotte wear it to protect
her from the cold on such a long journey on the road. She had done the best she
could for Annie and Polly too, gifting Polly the shawl to go over her own thin
jacket, and finding an old coat of Charlotte’s for Annie. Isaac had refused,
insistent that he wouldn’t feel the cold and if he did it would keep him awake.
Charlotte understood her mother’s need to do something – anything – to feel as
though she was keeping Charlotte and the others safe, at least a little. And so
Charlotte had agreed without question that she would wear the coat, even though
she didn’t feel she deserved it.  

She looked up to see that Polly,
Annie and Isaac were all ready and watching her with expectant and apprehensive
expressions – something like the expression Charlotte wore herself.  What
they were heading into, none of them knew, but giving up had never once been
mentioned since the decision to look for Georgina had been made. Mrs Harding
watched her daughter with eyes that held barely restrained tears. 
Charlotte turned to her.

‘I will be as quick as I can.
Please do not worry; the others will keep me safe.’

Her mother walked towards her and
pulled her close to plant a gentle kiss on her forehead. ‘But who will keep
them
safe?’ she murmured.

Charlotte pulled away and smiled
tightly. ‘Now is not the time for melancholy thoughts. We will have Georgina
back by nightfall and all will be well again.’  

Without another word, Charlotte
turned for the door, the others following. Isaac tipped his cap to Mrs Harding
as he left, and then the outside door was closed behind him and the room was
silent.

The dawn smelt fresh and sharp in their nostrils as they
tethered Chester up to the tiny trap that Charlotte had persuaded the smith to
let them borrow.  He had viewed her request with considerable suspicion,
but had eventually agreed to let her take it in return for Mrs Harding taking
in some sewing for him.  All four shared the same sober thoughts as Isaac
and Polly saw to the horse while Annie and Charlotte looked on, though nobody
had dared voice them. What if they were already too late to save Georgina? 
Charlotte glanced towards the tiny cottage as she climbed into the cart to see
her mother’s half sorrowful, half accusing face at the window.  The burden
of guilt at leaving her in this way was hard to bear, but the burden of guilt
at failing to protect Georgina even more so.

‘We’d best be moving,’ Isaac said
quietly as he climbed aboard last of all. ‘And quickly too.’

Polly gave him a short nod and he
clicked Chester into movement. Charlotte looked back one last time. Nobody knew
what kind of danger they were heading into. Her mother’s face was still at the
window, unmoving, her expression unreadable. Silently, Charlotte wondered if
this was the last time she would see it.

The journey had passed quietly with the briefest of
conversations, each lost in their own thoughts. While Annie panicked and
fretted for her sister, Charlotte doing the same, Polly brooded on her lost
fortune, on what sort of reception she would get from Ernesto, and on some very
confused feelings for a boy sitting not so far away, while Isaac simply
wondered whether he would still be alive by the time night fell. But nobody
spoke of turning back and nobody questioned their mission. Whatever any of them
thought, they would not abandon Georgina now.

As the morning grew old, Ernesto
Black’s mansion finally rose up in front of them, impressive in its
gloom.  Isaac pulled Chester to a halt outside the gates.

‘I’ll not take him in. We might
need to get him out quick if things turn nasty.’ He turned to Polly.  ‘If
Ern goes for me, you take these two and get them away.’

Polly screwed up her nose. ‘If
Ern goes for you, he’ll get a pan across his ‘
ead
.’

Isaac grinned. ‘But before you do
that, make Annie and Charlotte safe.’

‘I still say I should be the one
to go and talk to ‘
im
,’ Polly insisted.

Isaac shook his head, his quick
grin fading. ‘There’s no telling what mood he’s in right now. I won’t have it
on my conscience.’

‘You think I can’t look after
myself because I’m a girl.’

‘I think you can look after other
things a darned sight better than me, which is why I need you to be the one to
get away if things go awry. You’re sharp enough to track Georgie down and
rescue her without me, but I
ain’t
without you. So
these two girls need you.’

Polly nodded. ‘Fair enough.’

Isaac leapt nimbly from the trap,
the others following while he tethered Chester to the railings.

‘Right. I’ll see you all in a
mo
,’ he said.

‘Wait!’ Polly called him back.
Isaac turned with a look of faint surprise. Without another word, Polly strode
over and pulled his face towards hers, planting a forceful kiss on his
lips.  Isaac stepped back looking startled, while Annie and Charlotte
glanced at each other awkwardly.