Aside from the chief, she hadn’t discussed her offer with another soul. She turned back to Ellis. “You heard?”
He appeared just as baffled as she was. “You landed a column?”
“I thought… You sounded as if you knew.”
“I didn’t,” he said.
“Then, how…?”
He shrugged with an amused air. “Just seen you with Nellie Bly’s books about a thousand times. Always figured she’d brought you to the paper from the start.”
Lily was touched by his close attention, though she wouldn’t dare tell him so. “Am I that predictable?”
“Based on tonight? I’d say you’re anything but that.” She broke into a smile, which he sweetly mirrored, adding the charm of curved lines to his cheeks. “Anyway, congratulations. To get a slot like that from the chief, your writing must’ve really wowed him.”
“I think it was more a matter of pestering to the point of wearing him down.”
“I doubt that. The chief never had much trouble with the word ‘no.’”
That much was true, and the compliment filled her with a heady sense of pride.
“So, when does the column start?”
She had no answer. As she remembered why that was, the purse on her lap gained the weight of iron. Specifically from the diamond ring inside. An anchor to reality.
“Actually…I’m not entirely sure it’s going to.”
“Sorry?”
“It’s just that my plans might be changing.”
He peered at her, a wordless prod.
The news business was a small community, a collection of professional gossipers. Ellis deserved to hear it directly from her.
“Clayton’s been offered a job. It’s on the national desk at the Chicago Tribune. He wants us to go with him. I mean, not us, us.” She motioned back and forth between herself and Ellis, growing flustered. How ridiculous of her to clarify. “What I’m saying is, he’s proposed.”
Ellis’s eyes went wide. “I…didn’t realize…”
Good heavens. She could see him revisiting their time in the kitchen. He thought she had withheld this from him.
“It’s new news,” she told him. “Brand new. I’ve barely had a moment to process it, with the Dillards and all.”
“And you’re accepting?”
She didn’t know yet—though she should. As planned, Clayton had given his notice at the Examiner, evidenced by the chief’s crabbiness that would fade only with time. She had consequently spent the day steering clear of her boss unless necessary. For a vastly different reason, she had done the same with Clayton. He would want an answer soon, and she would give him one.
The right one, she hoped.
“I…think I am…”
Ellis went to speak but seemed to change course. “What about the column?”
“I suppose it would have to wait. It’s really not that important.” She mustered certainty as she went. “Being with Samuel, creating a family, that’s what matters.”
After a pointed pause, Ellis offered a pleased look. His eyes, though, said he was unconvinced.
“Please don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
Look at me that way. Like you understand everything about me. “What happened between us…you and me… I was emotional after Samuel’s fever, and I was grateful for your help and for what you said. It truly meant so much. But I can’t make another mistake, not with my son to think of. And Clayton… He’s a good man, and he’ll be a kind, dependable father. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Ellis just held there, taking in her words. When he leaned back in his seat, he conveyed his understanding through a wistful smile. “I’m happy for all of you. I am.”
She refused to meet his eyes, determined not to falter. “Thank you.”
Over the eternal stretch that followed, tension turned thick as stone. It formed with little effort, both of them experts at forging walls around them.
“It’s time,” he said at last and grabbed a flashlight from under his seat.
Only when he climbed out did she realize the orphanage had gone dark.
Chapter 37
This was the room. Aiming his flashlight through the chest-high window, Ellis confirmed they were outside the office. A pair of stacked files awaited on the desk, just as Lily had described.
The only problem: the room’s lone window wouldn’t budge. He shoved harder, but the lock was set.
“How about this one?” Lily whispered, already moving on.
Ellis followed and beamed his light into the neighboring room. An array of toys denoted a play area. He tried to gain entry.
No luck. On to the next.
This one was a classroom.
Same result.
Just a handful of windows remained on the first floor, at least on this side of the building. Still, the odds of finding any of them unlocked looked slim.