as the men brought people to the banks. She joined the others to help care for them.
“Philippa!” Mary’s cry had Abby hurrying to her side where she had dropped down beside the limp form of her sister. Joining Mary, she looked down, helpless as to what to do now.
“Turn her head to one side!” The words came from a woman who was pressing on a man’s chest. “You need to breathe for her!”
“That’s Essex Sinclair,” Primrose Hetherington said. She was beside Abby, helping another woman. “Listen to her, she knows what she’s about.”
“Hold her nose. Place your mouth over hers, breathe in.” Primrose relayed the instructions as Abby lowered her head.
Gripping the nose, she inhaled. Lowering her head, she pressed her lips to Philippa’s and exhaled.
“Continue on,” Primrose counselled her.
While Mary wept, Abby focused on her sister, hopefully giving life to her through her breath. She had no idea how this helped, had never heard of it, and indeed rebelled at what she did, but Primrose’s steady assurance kept her there.
Beneath her, Phillipa coughed.
“Now we turn her to her side,” Primrose said, moving Mary to assist. Together they rolled her.
“Mary, you must watch your sister now, as there are more people who are in need of help,” Abby said. With Primrose’s help, she staggered to her feet, hoping her shaking legs would hold her weight.
“Can you see them, Primrose? The men, can you see them?” Abby scanned the water, trying to find people in the chaos. “I need to know they are all right.”
“Benjamin is with Daniel, Alex, and Will. Your brothers are there.” Abby searched and found them. “Now come, we must help others.”
They tended those who had been saved. She breathed life into three more people. Two died. Abby swallowed down the sobs as around them the guests from Vauxhall Gardens did what they could too. Every time she raised her head, she found more bodies lying on the banks.
She didn’t know how long she moved between people. How many hands she clenched and how many times she searched the dark waters for her family and Daniel.
“Abby.” She turned to find Gabe behind her with Nathan, Zach, and Michael. Exhausted, their shoulders were slumped. All in shirt sleeves and trousers that clung to them. She ran to them, trying to hug them all. Their arms closed around her.
“We’re all safe,” Gabe whispered into her hair.
“Daniel?”
“Safe also. And now we leave before you catch a chill.”
“I am warm, you are not. And a chill is nothing to how these people are suffering.” Abby tried to ease back. “There is so much more—”
“No. It is done. Everyone that can be saved has been saved. We leave now.” Gabe’s jaw was granite and his eyes determined.
“I must say goodbye,” Abby said, trying to see around her brothers. Desperate to see Daniel for herself.
“No.” He grabbed her hand. Michael took the other, and then they were walking.
“Don’t do this, Gabe. I must—”
“We are going home all together. I need us to be together right now, Abby. I hope you can understand that?”
“I do. I just need to know—”
“The terror and utter helplessness that I felt when I could not reach you and Zach will not be something I forget easily, Abby.”
“We are safe, Gabe. But Mary. I must find her.”
“She is with her family.”
“You would not lie to me, he is safe?” Right then, she didn’t care what her brothers thought of her words. She was exhausted and desperate for reassurance that Daniel had left the water.
“Dillinger is safe. I saw him exit the water myself,” Zach said softly. “I would not lie to you in this, sister.”
She climbed into the carriage and sat wedged between Michael and Nathan as they rolled silently away from Vauxhall Gardens and a night that would change the lives of many for years to come.
Chapter 22
Daniel had woken on the second day after the events that took place in Vauxhall Gardens with an aching head and streaming eyes. He’d lain there and thought about moving, but doing so had caused aches in his body to protest vehemently. Instead he’d sent word to Alan that he would not be seeing him that day. He’d then fallen back into a feverish sleep that involved visions of him trying to save Abby as she sank below the black waters of the Thames.
The pounding on his front door later that day had woken him. Staggering to answer it, he found his parents on the doorstep. Ignoring his protests that he