Mr Todd seemed never to have left me when I woke up. He still sat by my bedside, waiting with a glass of water in one hand, prepared for when my eyes opened. In the same way he had done with the soup, he held my head up and put the glass to my lips. He did not speak to my immediately, and instead only carried on with attending to me. I would have protested had I not realised I was, indeed, thirstier than I first imagined.
"How long have I been asleep?" I asked again.
"Only a few hours this time," he chuckled. "You needn't worry about such things."
"I do not worry about it, I merely wish not to intrude on your flat for a more than appropriate time." His small smile dropped again, and he cleared his throat, as if finishing such hopes for leaving. I thought over the simple action of it, and could not help but pity him ever so slightly. He assumed so lightly that he knew what I had meant.
Silently, he pressed a hand against my forehead, and nodded faintly.
"Your fever has gone down," he said, a sigh of relief playing on his lips. "I'd say within the next few days we'll have you out of bed."
"Why not now?"
He laughed at my effort, but did not reply to the comment. Mr Todd stood quietly, and I could not help but be surprised as he turned to the door.
"Where are you going?" I asked, sounding ever so slightly more earnest than I had meant to.
"Our Mrs Lovett wished for me to tell her when you woke up again," he replied, chuckling silently at my tone in the question. "I'm sure she still wishes for me to stay by that promise."
"Will she come to see me?" I continued, purposefully excited by this point. He tilted his head, observing the excitement in my eyes and cheeks- I could sense them blushing in the intense need for my friends dear company.
"I think you're far too excitable," he said softly.
"Most certainly not! Please, sir, I do miss her ever so much."
With a quick nod of the head, he left the apartment. I smiled widely. I did not know why, as I knew little of the woman. All I knew was that she was the shoulder I had cried on those nights, and she was the woman who had freed me, if only for a few days. It was a duty of mine to hold her hand in affection.
It did not take very long before the two returned to the flat. Mr Todd led the way in a most protective behaviour, and Mrs Lovett solemnly followed. She had been staring down at the floor, but upon looking at me gasped in slight surprise. Her eyes watered, but I could not fathom the reason why.
"Can you please leave us be, Mr Todd?" I asked quietly, my eyes not leaving Mrs Lovett, who seemed to start weeping silently as I asked it. He looked at me in an alarmed way at first, but then relented without a single sound before he left.
We both watched him as he left, slightly awed that we had been given the chance to be alone together to speak. I expected him to be far too protective of his treasure. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could do so, the quick sound of Mrs Lovett's footsteps sounded before she dropped to her knees beside me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
"I'm so sorry," she sobbed, her voice shaking. "I promise, love, I promise I never told 'im."
"I never once said you did!" I cried out, holding the poor woman in return. "Mrs Lovett, do not cry in such a way, I wished ever so much to see you."
She let go of me and wiped away her tears with a brave smile. She clutched my hand sweetly before talking with a forced calm to her tone.
"Yeh're up the mend, I guess."
"I hadn't much noticed I was at all ill."
"Mr T said yeh were knocked for six," she said with a titter. "Poor thing, what must 'ave 'appened to yeh."
"You mustn't think such silly nonsense, Mrs Lovett. Whatever has happened to me can not cause a fever."
"Oh, I wouldn't 'ave thought it impossible."
"Then you must change your thoughts. It was simply chilly, I should assume." She sighed sympathetically, stroking my hair out of my eyes.
"We both know something happened to yeh out there, love," Mrs Lovett said, patting my hand. I looked down at our hands, only so as not to look into those large, brown eyes that made me wish to cry all the more. I could not help but ask myself bitterly why she wished to torture me in this way, but I supposed I would not know.
"I do not wish to speak of it," I said firmly, although my voice cracked as I did so. "Neither of us are clueless about what happened."
"I'm sure I know a little less than you think I do."
"You know that I am here," I stated. "And you know that I have not once spoken about my father."
"It was easy enough to guess that, love. But simple things like that don't send you into a fever, now, do they?"
Wincing slightly, I moved my hand away from hers. She tried to snatch it back, but I turned away, slumping back into my pillow. A small amount of tears started to well, and I would not allow them to be seen.
"There is little to speak of," I said as she tried to turn me to face her. "I wandered the streets and Mr Todd found me."
"Even I won't believe that," she said tiredly. "Come now, love, yeh can tell me."
I turned my head slightly to look at her through the corner of my eye, and the tears dropped slightly heavier upon the pillow. Mrs Lovett wrapped her arm around me and pulled me until I sat properly by her side. I was slightly ticked off that people kept throwing me about like a rag doll in this manner, but once she held me in such a dear way I could not help but allow it without a fuss.
"I found him," I at last whispered, clutching onto Mrs Lovett as if she were my mother.
"But, dear, yeh said-"
"I know what I said," I retorted thickly, as if I had a cold. "But that isn't how it went. I found him."
"Yehr father?"
"Yes, my father."
"Did Mr T see 'im?" she asked urgently.
"Of course not. I should think if he did, I would be free by now."
"Mr T can be a stubborn man."
"Even he cannot look truth in the eye and call it a lie."
Mrs Lovett did not reply to this specifically, but was quiet enough to listen to what I had next to say.
"I don't know where I was, but my…my father was getting a coach. I tried to run for him, honest I did. But…he didn't…"
I gasped out loud in attempts not to cry, but with no avail. Mrs Lovett held me tightly, hushing me as I wept.
"I'm sure 'e didn't see yeh, that's all," she murmured into my ear. "Until then, I've grown fond of yeh being around."
"That's sweet of you," I admitted with a slight smile.
"And, when yeh're feeling better, Toby's been missing yeh too." At this, a true smile lay on my lips. I had quite forgotten about little Toby, and my heart lifted slightly. If I could not be safe with my father, I might as well have the pleasure of the little child's company.
Mrs Lovett saw the smile return to me, and practically cheered because of it. She was settled with a last squeeze before rising with a sigh.
"Mr T'll 'ave 'eard yeh fussing, yeh know," she said. "I should be off. Pies to bake, I'm sure."
"Can't you stay only a few minutes longer, ma'am?" I pleaded.
"I can't be distracting yeh now, can I? Yeh need to rest."
"So as to simply sit for forever and a day? I much rather the prospect of staying in this bed so as to make the company I find now."
"We'll see, love," she said tiredly, but fondly. She smiled again before turning to the door, and with that, she was gone.
Mr Todd did not take long to come to see me again. He composed himself to seem as calm and tepid as ever, but there was an excitement that lighted his dark eyes that I could see brightening the room. I didn't know whether it was humorous, pitiful or endearing, but I decided it best not to try and chose now. He spoke gently to me, as if I were a child again. I suppose he was trying to coerce me into resting again, but I admit, I could not have done such without more persuasion. I had slept for what seemed like weeks now, and did not wish to do it any more.
I found no comfort as he fussed over me with the silence of some sort of angel, sent only with good intentions. I did not believe such intentions, although I had not yet decided what I thought those intentions were. I would perhaps have to ask, but did not dare do so simply because it seemed he was my only chance of staying alive at this point in time. I only assumed this, and should most likely have asked what I was there to do, but I realised that although I was not tired, the fever had taken energy out of me.
The night drew towards us, and we both grew silent, I having not spoken much at all over the duration of hours since Mrs Lovett left us alone. I could hear the sound of customers crowding around the pie shop, and a few quiet knocks on the flat door before Mr Todd would brusquely force them to leave. It was a sweet thing to hear, no matter how harsh he may have sounded, but I almost wished to cry out to those that he sent away, to ask for their help. I did not, though, and I don't suppose it would have made much difference if I had.
I had given in quietly now to the knowledge that I would spend the foreseeable future with this man. I still knew nothing of him, not even his first name. I knew nothing of the street I was on, and I knew nothing except that I was to expected to be named Lucy- whoever this was- for the remainder of my stay. This was the only certainty in my mind, and it was one I would not look kindly upon, but took it as a better option than roaming the streets again in search for a man who may not even have wished me to be there. No part of my mind told me what Mrs Lovett had already said. Nothing could persuade me to think that he simply could not hear me, simply could not see me, and in turn was searching for me. No. He had long lost hope in such findings, and was resorted to a life without his daughter who would soon have been married anyway. I was young, and would soon enough have indeed been married- I simply expected I would have known when the service took part rather than simply awaking one day to find that I was married.
Not at all taking kindly to the idea of awaking married, I resigned myself to sleep, in hopes I should wake up from this dastardly dream.