CHAPTER SEVEN K TWO: A PROMISE AT THE WASHHOUSE
They found Adelaide in the washhouse instead of the front hall.
She stood beside the stone trough with her sleeves rolled above her wrists.
The water in the trough was cold, and she had been trying to scrub a stain from a child’s linen collar.
Elias stopped at the threshold.
“That collar belonged to Hannah,” Martha said.
Adelaide looked up sharply.
“I did not know you would recognize it.”
“I washed it after she spilled blackberry juice on it,” Martha answered.
“She complained that the stain made her look careless.”
Adelaide lowered the cloth into the water.
“I found it with the things Ralston left in the nursery,” she said.
Elias stepped inside.
“Why were you keeping her belongings?”
“Because I was afraid someone would ask me what happened to her.”
“People have asked for years,” Martha said.
“You did not answer.”
Adelaide drew a breath that trembled in the cool room.
“I knew she was taken from the kiln,” she said.
“I was told she would be placed with another household.”
“Who told you?” Elias asked.
“My husband said the decision had already been made.”
Martha turned away from the trough.
“A decision about a child was made without asking the people who raised her,
” she said.
“And you decided that was ordinary.”
Adelaide did not defend herself.
“I accepted what I was told,” she answered.
“That was wrong.”
Elias looked at the collar, the careful stitching, and the stains that had survived years of storage.
“What did Ralston want you to say tonight?” he asked.
Adelaide pressed her palms against the trough.
“He wanted me to say that I ordered the children moved,” she replied.
“He said Thomas would protect me if I took responsibility.”
“Why would Thomas protect you?” Martha asked.
“Because the pregnancy has made him frightened of public scandal,” Adelaide said.
Elias felt the answer settle between them.
The pregnancy was not a secret that explained the missing children.
It was a weakness Ralston had discovered and was using to control the woman who had once used fear to control Elias.
“You threatened to sell me whenever I questioned you,” Elias said.
“Now another man is threatening you with what people might believe.”
Adelaide looked at him.
“I know the comparison does not make us equal,” she said.
“It does not,” Elias answered.
“You can speak to your husband and expect him to listen eventually.”
“He has not listened tonight.”
“You can still speak without being sold,
” Elias said.
Adelaide’s face reddened.
She did not ask him to soften the statement.
Martha took the collar from the trough and spread it across the wooden table.
“If you want to tell the truth, begin with what you saw,” she said.
“Do not begin with what you hope will excuse you.”
Adelaide nodded.
“I saw Ralston bring three children to the nursery before sunrise,” she said.
“One was Hannah.”
Elias felt his throat tighten.
“Was she injured?”
“She was frightened and angry,” Adelaide replied.
“She kept demanding to see Martha.”
Martha closed her eyes.
“Did you tell her where she was going?”
“I told her she would be safe,
” Adelaide answered.
“I did not know whether that was true.”
“Then you lied,” Martha said.
“Yes,” Adelaide replied.
For several moments the washhouse held only the sound of water dripping from the collar.
“Who were the other children?” Elias asked.
“One was a boy called Joseph, and the youngest was a girl whose name I never learned,” Adelaide said.
“The boy had a bandage around his hand.”
Elias remembered Joseph from the tobacco shed.
The boy had disappeared after he refused to work with a fever.
“Did they leave together?” he asked.
“Ralston brought a covered wagon to the service gate,
” Adelaide said.
“I heard the wheels, but I did not see who drove it.”
Martha touched the blue thread at the collar’s edge.
“You could have told us that years ago,” she said.
“I should have,” Adelaide answered.
Elias watched Adelaide struggle to meet his mother’s eyes.
He felt no satisfaction in her discomfort.
It was too small beside the years in which his mother had searched the roads.
“You will tell Thomas exactly what you told us,” he said.
“I will,” Adelaide replied.
“You will not say Elias persuaded you,” Martha added.
“I understand,” Adelaide said.
“And you will not make your pregnancy the reason we should forgive you.
”
Adelaide rested one hand against her stomach.
“I cannot ask that of you,” she said.
Elias took the collar from the table and folded it carefully.
“I will give this to Hannah if I reach her,” he said.
Adelaide looked toward the door.
“Ralston will try to stop you.”
“He already has,” Elias replied.
“He sent men to the carriage house.”
Adelaide straightened.
“Thomas does not know that.”
“Then you should tell him before anyone gets hurt,” Martha said.
Adelaide started toward the door, but Elias stopped her with a question.
“Why did you keep summoning me to the bedroom?”
She looked back.
“Because I thought you knew how to find Hannah,” she answered.
“And because I was too cowardly to ask openly.”
“You could have asked me once,” Elias said.
“You chose months of threats instead.”
Adelaide nodded without speaking.
“I will not carry your shame into the next room for you,” Elias said.
“You must carry it yourself.”
Adelaide went out into the yard.
Martha remained beside the trough with the folded collar between her hands.
“I wondered whether I would recognize Hannah if I saw her again,” she said.
“She will be older,” Elias answered.
“So will I,” Martha said.
Elias took her hand.
“We will let her tell us who she has become,” he replied.
