Later that night Spot stood along the tree line and watched the house.
He sighed, rubbing his hands over his weary face. He missed his family...
He would love to walk back into the house, but he wasn't sure that he could.
Would Rae be back to normal? Or would she drive more away?"
"SAMUEL CONLON get your little self back here!" He heard her yell. He watched as Sam raced across the grounds, giggling hysterically.
"Hide me, Daddy," he said, darting over to Spot.
"Hide you?" he said, surprised he'd been seen. "Hide you from what?"
"From Mommy."
"And why are you hiding from Mommy?"
"Cause I was bad."
"And what did you do?"
"I took a nibble."
He laughed. "A nibble of what?"
"Chicken."
"Well why did you go and do a thing like that?" he asked, picking him up.
"I wanted a nibble!"
"Well don't you know you don't take nibbles until it's dinnertime?"
Sam hung his head.
"Now why don't you go back to her?"
"Her will spank me." Sam hung his head.
"Go on, you can't hide from her forever."
"You go with me?"
He sighed. "I don't know..."
"Pwease?"
He sighed. "All right." Picking Sam up, he said, "Let's go."
Rae rounded the corner of the house. "Samuel Conlon..." she trailed off when she saw her husband.
"Hello Rae..." he said with a nod.
She took a shuddering breath. "Hello, Spot..."
He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Well... I talked to Duch."
She nodded, looking at the ground.
"Apparently... Her men were supposed to have brought them back." He took a deep breath. "She hasn't seen them either..."
She hugged Sam close. "What are we going to do about Robert and Lizzy?"
"Sippi said... well, basically ordered me to come home, that he would keep an eye out in the city for them."
"What about Andy?"
"He's looking for him too..." Spot scratched his head. "I reckon we ought to try looking around town here as well."
"We didn't see him when we went into town today."
"You went into town today?"
She nodded. "We went into town to look at a building for the bookstore."
"How did that go?"
She gave a slight smile. "It's ours."
And Spot found himself smiling as well. "Really? Our very own shop?"
Rae put Sam down and patted his little bottom. "Please go inside and play with Chris."
Sam sighed. "Okay." He ran off towards the house, bellowing, "CH'IIIIIISSS!"
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Spot looked at her and tilted his head. "I know..." he said quietly.
A single tear rolled down her cheek. With a sob she turned and ran for the house.
"Rae!" he called after her. "Rae stop!"
And she did, with her back to him, tears trailing down her cheeks.
"Come here...please..."
She turned slowly. He held his arm out to her. Just as slowly, she took it. He gently pulled her close, brushing the tears from her cheeks. "I missed you, Spot," she whispered.
"I missed you too," he whispered into her hair.
She hugged him tightly, crying on his shoulder.
He stroked her hair. "Everything will be alright, sweetheart."
"Everything's fallen apart!" she sniffled.
"Sippi will find them."
"I hope so." She buried her face in his shoulder. Then, suddenly, she said, "On a different note... I think you'll like the shop..." She lifted her head and wiped away her tears.
He gently ran his fingers down her cheek. "We'll go take a look tomorrow."
She nodded and sniffled.
He gently tilted her face up. "I love you."
She gave him a watery sort of smile. "I love you too."
He leaned down and gently kissed her.
"Ewwwww!" Ann and Ginny squealed from the porch.
He gave a slight laugh. "Remind me to make sure they aren't around next time."
She smiled. "I will."
He turned and started toward the porch with a mock growl. The two girls shrieked and ran inside.
~*~
Andy stumbled along behind Les and Skeeter as they made their way back to the lodging house long after dark. "I didn't know bein' a newsie was so hard," he croaked, rubbing his stiff shoulders.
"You'll get used to it, Pup." Les said.
"People are so mean too," he huffed, a bit irritated by how several people simply sneered at him.
"They don't like newsies," Skeeter replied.
"Well they outta try bein' one then!"
"Without us they wouldn't know nothin'." Les said, hoping to stop yet another argument.
"Yeah!"
He stopped just outside the door. "Here you go, munchkins. Get some sleep."
"You aren't coming in too?" Andy asked.
"He don't live here, stupid!" Skeeter replied, smacking Andy.
"Stop it!" Andy yelled, whacking her back. "I didn't know that!"
Les pulled the two apart. "If you two don't stop now, you can hold hands all day tomorrow."
"EW!" they shrilled simultaneously.
"Then stop fighting!"
They gave each other one final glare before stalking into the lodging house silently. Halfway up the stairs Skeeter tried to trip Andy. He yelped and then threw a dime sized pebble at her. She lunged at him, knocking him off his feet and sending the both rolling down the stairs.
Les growled, hauling them to their feet. "What did I tell you two!?"
Andy yelped.
"Tomorrow, you're holding hands."
"Please no!"
"You two brought it upon yourselves."
"But Les..." Skeeter whined.
"Sorry. I warned you several times already."
She gave him a puppy dog look.
"That won't work on me, missy."
"I'll tell Sippi," she said.
"I don't think he'll side with you on this one. You've both been given several fair warnings. I told you if you kept this up you'd have to hold hands." he said, "And you didn't listen to me."
She huffed and glared at Andy.
"It's not my fault!" Andy said, glaring back. "YOU kept tripping me and hitting me!"
Les knocked their heads together.
"OW!" they yelped.
"I don't want to hear another word out of either of you."
They grumbled to themselves, rubbing their heads.
"Upstairs. Now!"
'Yes sir..." They trudged silently up the stairs.
Snipes came up a few minutes later. "Pup! Skeeter! Get over here," he ordered. They groaned and headed over to him. "What's this I hear about you two giving Les a hard time today?"
Andy looked at the floor. Skeeter, on the other hand, said, "Well... we weren't giving HIM a hard time.. just each other..."
"Skeeter..."
"Well... it's true," she said with a pout.
"When I agreed to take you...you promised that you weren't going to be any trouble..."
"I'm not!... I mean... not really..."
"You've got to stop, Skeet. I don't want to tell Sippi to take you somewhere else."
She pouted.
He turned to Andy. "I can send you right back where you came from too, little man."
He frowned a little.
"Both of you go to bed. Now!"
"But lights out isn't for another hour," Skeeter protested.
"TO BED NOW!"
They both jumped and scurried across the room. They ignored each other the entire way.
~*~
"Uhh...Duch..."
"What?" Duchess demanded of the girl.
"I have news about Carney and Dwarf..."
She sighed. "What about those weasels?
"Well...umm..."
"Come on, spit it out."
"Alec found them this morning..."
"Yes?"
"They're dead...shot..."
".... What?"
"He found them in an alley...behind that pub they liked to go to..."
Duchess paced back and forth, frowning deeply. "No signs of children with them?"
The girl shook her head. "Nothing."
She shook her head. "This can't be good. THEY were last with Conlon's kids!"
"Do you think they actually took them back?"
"I don't know..." She swore under her breath. "Conlon's going to come raging back here to have my head! Those MORONS!"
"Should we tell him?"
"I don't know... Knowing him, he'll find out sooner or later- just like I would."
"Do you want me to go find out where he lives from Dr. Trent?"
"Yes. And hurry it up."
The girl turned and ran out the door.
As mad as she was at Dwarf and Carney, she couldn't help but wonder... who killed them? And why?
~*~
Spot and Rae were working on cleaning out the store when a telegraph delivery boy ran up and knocked on the window.
Spot opened the door, dusting his hands on his pants. "Yes?"
"Got a telegram for you," the boy said.
"Thanks." Spot took it and tipped the boy.
"Who's it from?" Rae asked, walking over to join Spot.
He scanned the front. "Duchess...?"
"What does it say? Read it!"
Quickly he opened it and scanned the contents. "The two men she sent to bring our children back... are dead..."
"What about the babies?" Rae asked.
"They weren't with them..."
Rae let out a soft moan and fainted. He ran to her side and patted her cheeks gently. "Rae... Rae honey, wake up..." He had nothing on him for this sort of occasion.
After a moment she began to stir.
"Come on," he encouraged.
She blinked and looked up at him.
He wrapped his arms around her.
"Did you have any breakfast this morning?" he asked.
She looked away from him.
"Rae, answer me."
She sighed and shook her head.
"Why not?"
"I can't eat," she said, attempting to move away from him.
He sighed. "Rae, honey, you can't do this to yourself... Starving yourself will make you sick."
"I'm not starving myself...I just can't make myself eat."
"You should try... I don't want you getting sick."
"I've tried."
He sighed, putting his arms around her.
She weakly rested her head on his shoulder. "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know... I suppose I should write Sippi... let him know… find out what he thinks..."
"Do you think we can find them? Honestly?"
"Yes," he said firmly.
"I want to go home," she whispered.
"All right... I suppose we've done enough here today anyway." They cleaned up their mess and locked up. She leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked home, James tucked snugly in his arms. Spot frowned deeply as they walked. What had they done to deserve this?
"Spot..."
"Yes?"
"I'm really sorry about Andy..."
He nodded. "I know... it's all right..."
"I hope his hand is alright."
"What happened to his hand?"
She sighed. "He burnt it on the stove..."
"What was he doing using the stove?"
"I had asked him to get Sam some breakfast...I didn't mean for him to use the stove..."
He sighed and was quiet for a while.
She sniffled.
Looking at her, he rubbed her shoulder. "It's okay.... we'll get through this."
She turned toward him. "Can I go to Brooklyn for a few days and look for Andy?"
"Is that what you really want to do?"
She nodded. "It's what I need to do."
"All right," he said with a nod.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."