what kind of man Malcolm is.”
“Malcolm said if I told, it would get me in more trouble. I don’t want to get sent away.”
Olivia wasn’t naive. If it came down to Sadie’s word against Malcolm’s, everyone would take Malcolm’s version of events over Sadie’s. For girls like Sadie in this kind of situation, the reality was unjust and bleak. “Go home, Sadie, and tell your mother what is happening. You need her help.”
“She’ll throw me out.”
“Is your mother a kind woman?”
“Of course she is. She’s my mother.”
“Then trust that she’ll help you. You need her.”
“I don’t want this baby.”
“That doesn’t matter now. Unfair as this may sound, you also need to stay away from town until after the baby is born. If you weren’t so small, I’m sure someone would have noticed by now.”
“I’ve been wearing my brothers’ pants because mine don’t fit.”
“You have the advantage of the winter as well,” she said. “People tend to stay at home and not socialize as much.”
“What about supplies? I got to go into town to get those.”
“I’ll bring you your supplies.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I can drive.”
“I thought you didn’t want your husband to know.”
“Don’t worry about him. I’ll handle it.”
“What about Malcolm?” Sadie’s face was pale and stricken with fear.
“Leave him to me.”
“What are you going to do to him?”
Olivia shook her head. “I haven’t decided yet.”
Sadie and her baby were not far from Olivia’s mind as she drove the car into Lynchburg. Driving alone, she found herself second-guessing each twist in the road. Several times she took a wrong turn and was forced to turn around. Once she found herself on a hill and had a devil of a time. But she kept driving until—at around two o’clock in the afternoon—she pulled up in front of the hospital in Lynchburg.
As she sat in the car and stared at the place, she sensed a darkness emanating from the bricks and mortar. Her husband was a good man. She had seen pure kindness in his eyes.
After Sadie’s visit to the house, Olivia had quizzed Edward more about this place and why he had chosen this line of work. He had sidestepped her questions and, in the end, had only said, “If not me, then who?” Then as now, she sensed in her bones that terrible things happened within the brick walls.
She set the parking brake and shut off the car. After reaching for her purse, she opened the compact and checked her hair and makeup. She reapplied the red lipstick, taking care to contour the lines. After adjusting the collar of her dress, she opened the door and rose. She carefully smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt before reaching into the back seat for a picnic lunch.
Drawing in a breath, she stared at the bleak building. It reminded her of an attic—full of unwanted items that could not be tossed away.
She walked up to the front door and rang. Footsteps echoed inside before the door opened to a stern man with a thin face. She gripped the handle of the basket and, forcing a smile, walked up to the front desk, where an older man dressed in a frayed dark suit sat. “I’m Olivia Carter. I’ve come to see my husband, Dr. Edward Carter.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The man appeared both curious and hesitant. “Does Dr. Carter know that you’re coming?”
As with the first time, she was hit by the smell of unclean bedding and the musty scent reminiscent of the London hospital during the bombing raids. As much as she had scrubbed and cleaned herself after her shifts on the ward, there had been no getting rid of the bleak smell.
“He does not,” she said. “It’s a surprise. And before you tell me that he is busy, I must tell you that I know he finishes his surgery by two each day.”
The old man raised the black telephone receiver to his ear and stuck a bent finger in the zero on the rotary dial. Next came the nine. Then the two.
Olivia’s burst of bravery waned as she heard the ringing of a phone on the other end. Edward would be glad to see her, of course. Then he would wonder how she had gotten here. And then she would tell him she could drive and had been driving and was responsible for the accident with Sadie.
The old man nodded and then hung up the phone. “He’ll be right down. You may have a seat.”
She moved to a small wooden chair