It was on a rainy morning that Emma woke up once more to the crying of her little girl. Weatherby was already at work so she went over to see what the problem was. As it turned out, someone had been knocking on the door. She answered to find Madelyn soaking wet, but without her son.
"Is something wrong? Where's William?"
"He's with his father for right now. Then I'm afraid I have some bad news."
"Would you like to come in and dry up first?"
"No, I haven't the time. I just wanted to tell you that, well it's difficult to say, but I have to leave town for a while. See, I got a job cleaning the house of a local businessman and he wants me to live there and take care of his children as well. It's over an hour away and Bill came back to help me get ready for the move. I'm so sorry to be telling you like this but we're leaving later this afternoon."
Emma was greatly upset by this news; Madelyn was really her only friend in the world and now she was going to leave her, just like her brothers. She hastily wiped her tears.
"No, it's fine really."
"I'm so sorry Emma."
"It's not your fault love, but perhaps I can bring Elizabeth over before you leave. To say good-bye to your son and all."
Madelyn nodded. "Why don't you come by in an hour or two?"
Emma gave a brief smile and nodded. Madelyn began to walk away but turned back once.
"You don't actually know where our house is, do you?"
Emma thought about it for a moment and shook her head.
"It's just up on Grape Street. I'll be outside waiting."
Emma nodded and closed the door behind her. She looked down at her daughter and her daughter looked up at her.
"Looks like you're not going to be playing with William anytime soon," she said lightly touching her face.
The baby pouted but did nothing more. Emma smiled.
"It's almost like you can already understand me," she whispered.
Putting on a light outfit for her daughter and putting a hat on the girl's head that she had knitted herself, Emma was almost ready to go. She put a letter to tell her husband of her whereabouts onto the table. Making sure that the candles were all put out, she put a scarf on her own head. Picking up the girl, they got left the warm house into the cold, stormy afternoon.
"Great, rain. Just what we bloody well need in England," she muttered to herself.
She adjusted the parasol that she had in her arms. It wasn't very good but as long as her child wasn't getting wet. She noticed that as they got closer to where they needed to be, the houses were increasingly getting shabbier. When they finally got to the right house, she knew that she was in the much poorer part of town.
"I really had no idea," Emma whispered to herself looking around.
There was rubbish and rats in the streets. After walking a few more steps, she finally saw Madelyn talking with her next door neighbor while waiting for her.
"Ey Lynnie, ya got some chickie looking at ya."
Madelyn turned her head and smiled. "Thank ye Sara. Welcome to my humble abode. This is Sara, my neighbor and landlord."
"Good day Miss," Emma said.
The woman nodded stiffly and went back into her house.
"Was it something I said," Emma asked.
"Sara's a bit umm cranky today. Shall we step inside then?"
Though the house looked very quaint and cozy, there was a distinct feel of poverty surrounding it. It was all one room with mismatched furniture throughout. Bill seemed to have just finished helping Will eat.
"Bill, we've got a guest," Madelyn said closing the door.
The man looked up sharply before smiling. "Good day Miss," he said while removing the food that was all over him (since not all of it got into the boys mouth).
"Oh, no need to be so formal Bill. Just call her Emma. Why don't you take a seat dearie and I'll put on a quick pot of tea for us."
Madelyn found a rather damaged pot while Emma sat down with Elizabeth still in her lap. Bill stood up and walked over to where the ladies sat.
"And who is this little lady," he said motioning to Emma's girl.
"This is the pride of my life, Elizabeth," she said smiling brightly.
Bill sat his son on the ground and went over to them. The baby looked over to him and smiled. Bill tickled her stomach and she giggled.
"She seems to be a very happy baby," he said going over to his wife.
"Yes, though there is the crying that seems to happen more often than I'd like."
"Here we are," Madelyn announced.
She brought over a tray with three hot cups of tea. She handed one to Emma and took one for herself.
"If you two would like a moment for yourselves, I'll go over to the corner with the children," Bill said.
"All right," Emma said.
Bill carefully took the little girl and Will and brought them to the corner to play with one of Will's toys.
"You know, Will took his first steps the other day," Madelyn said looking at them go by.
"Really, well isn't that wonderful," Emma said.
Bill sat Elizabeth on the ground and handed her a small rag doll shaped like a monkey that had little bells sewn on. She took the doll and shook it before banging it on the ground.
"She seems to be having fun," Emma commented dryly after a few minutes.
Madelyn nodded as she watched her son playing with a paper sword her husband had made for him. The two of them didn't talk much that afternoon; they drank their tea and just watched their two children play together for the last time. When it was time to say goodbye, there weren't many words that could be said. The two women hugged tightly. They might have just known each other for little over a year, but what they had gained was a friendship which had lasted a lifetime.
"Say good-bye to Elizabeth son," Bill said picking up the boy. The boy waved and said a quiet "Bye-bye," as Emma put the girl's hat on. She waved and the two of them left as the storm finally began to let up.
Sorry this was so late. We were on vacation. Hope this chapter was informative as to why they didn't remember each other. I hope everyone has a nice week. Review please.
a/n This is just a repost thanks to one eagle-eyed reader. More will come soon.