table, landing on the long-eared rabbit fashioned from a linen napkin. Like a puppeteer, Ellis sent the animal hopping to the bowl of glazed carrots, where it wiggled its nose. Samuel laughed again, and the intensity in the room gave ever so slightly. Even Lily’s parents couldn’t hide their surprise, their grandson’s joy reliably infectious.
Samuel’s interest had just begun to fade when Ellis said, “How about a turtle?”
This time Samuel nodded with vigor, and Ellis went to work. He folded and tucked and tugged until the rabbit had transformed into the shelled creature. The turtle crawled along the table’s edge, garnering more giggles, before Samuel asked for a bird. Ellis gladly obliged, appearing to almost forget his burden.
Lily slipped away to serve pieces of her homemade rhubarb pie, which Ellis praised though barely had the chance to eat. He was too busy filling half a dozen other requests. Even one by Lily’s father—at Samuel’s urging.
By the end of the meal, neither of Lily’s parents had fully relinquished their guardedness, but they did fulfill their roles as proper hosts. Her mother even offered accommodations for the night on account of the weather.
Lily’s mother tsked. “No sense leaving till it’s safe. Lillian, fetch the spare sheets.” The implied instruction was to make up the sofa.
For more than one reason the extended stay unsettled Lily. There was no practicality, however, in sending a tired driver out into a storm at night.
• • •
Every minute slogged into the next, stretching endlessly toward dawn. The pounding rain had gradually let up. In the bed beside Lily’s, the quilt over Samuel’s chest rose and fell with each breath. She inhaled his faint boyish scent, envious of his ability to rest.
In the dimness, she counted the stripes on the wallpaper of white and marigold, a relaxing habit since childhood. But tonight, not even warm milk would deliver her to sleep.
Just then, she caught a noise. She raised her head from the pillow and listened. Another creak suggested movement on the floor below. Her parents never ones to stir this late, she surmised that Ellis’s mind, like her own, was spinning over two children not meant to be sold.
How could Ellis—or she, for that matter—ever find peace until they knew more?
An idea came to her. It would mean shaving a few hours off her weekend with Samuel, but there was no better option. She had to tell Ellis, and now. If he were to leave by dawn, she would miss him altogether.
With quiet care, she slid out of bed, tied on her robe, and made her way down the stairs. In the sitting room, Ellis stood at the window, the curtains half-open. Moonlight softened his features as he stared into the night. Though he still wore his trousers, his suspenders hung loose down his thighs. Only a sleeveless undershirt covered his torso, the muscles of his arms and chest defined by shadows.
Lily suddenly worried over the unseemly meeting. She was dressed in little more than a nightgown. Not even slippers covered her bare feet. She took a step back, causing a floorboard to creak.
Ellis turned. “Did I wake you?” His voice was soft and raspy, threaded with concern.
She shook her head.
It would be silly to retreat now.
She moved just close enough to be heard well in a hush. “Tomorrow, I think we should go to the Dillards’ old area. To Laurel Township.”
“Lily.” Already there was an objection in his tone. Maybe he had considered it before. But he needed to hear her out.
“This train worker—the cabbie—he saw it all happen. He might know more: about where the kids went, why their mother did what she did. You said yourself she didn’t seem the type to do such a thing.”
“Lily,” he said again, “I appreciate the suggestion, and I definitely plan to dig around. You don’t need to get involved, though. That’s not the reason I told you. You didn’t do this. I did.”
“You’re wrong.” As he shifted to fully face her, Lily forced down the emotion, the guilt that had been mounting all evening. “I gave the chief your first picture. I found it in the darkroom. When I saw it, as a mother… Well, it hit home.” She opted to simplify, not up for delving needlessly into her and Samuel’s past.
Ellis’s brow lifted, an expression of finally grasping a missing piece. For a second, Lily wondered if he might resent her for instigating this terrible mess.