“I’ll talk to Daddy,” Sarah said. “We have to make sure no one else had a baby recently.”
“Be careful,” Jon said. “It’s safer for him not to know.”
Sarah stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Love you,” she said. “I’ll talk to you tonight.”
“Love you, too,” Jon said. He watched as she walked to the car. Alex wasn’t driving. That was a relief. The drive to White Birch was going to be hard enough for Sarah. At least she was spared having Alex in the car.
For once Jon was grateful for four hours of workouts and practices. He focused on the work, not minding when Coach shouted at all of them for being fat, lazy bums. The more noise Coach made, the less Jon had to think.
When he got home, he played with Gabe. They stopped only when Sarah called to say Miranda had been the only grub at the hospital for the past week.
“You didn’t tell your father why you asked?” Jon said.
“No, I was careful,” Sarah said. “I told him we’d been talking at lunch about whether laborers could stay at the Sexton hospital. I said I thought they all could. Daddy set me straight. What are we going to do, Jon?”
“I don’t know yet,” he admitted.
“Mr. Jon, dinner’s ready!” Ruby called.
“Go have your dinner, Mr. Jon,” Sarah said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Jon played with Gabe after supper until Lisa got home and put him to bed. Jon peeked in and wished Gabe a good night. “I have to talk to you,” he said to Lisa. “Privately.”
“All right,” Lisa said. They went downstairs and found Ruby in the kitchen washing the dishes. “Ruby, did you clean the living room today?”
“Yes ma’am,” Ruby said. “Little Gaby helped me.”
“Little Gaby could’ve done a better job than you did,” Lisa said. “I want you to clean that entire room, Ruby. Finish the dishes and then dust everything in the living room and scrub that floor until it’s spotless.”
“Lisa,” Jon said. “It’s eight o’clock. Ruby’s been working since six o’clock this morning.”
“If she did the work right the first time, she could go to bed now,” Lisa said. “And if you insist on talking to me about how I should treat my domestics, then do it in private.”
“I do want to talk about it,” Jon said.
“Fine,” Lisa said. “We’ll talk. What are you waiting for, Ruby? Didn’t I give you a job to do?”
“Yes ma’am,” Ruby said. “I’ll do it right away.”
“And we’ll go upstairs and talk about the servant problem,” Lisa said. “Come on, Jon. Let’s get this over with.”
They walked to Lisa’s bedroom, but she shook her head. “We’ll talk in yours,” she said softly. “Mine’s over the living room.”
Jon nodded and followed Lisa to his bedroom, then closed the door.
“Did you have to do that to Ruby?” he asked.
“She didn’t clean the living room,” Lisa said. “Did you look at it, Jon? It was filthy. I know you think she’s a sweet girl, and I assume you’re sleeping with her, but she has to learn her job.”
“I’m not sleeping with her,” Jon said.
“Fine,” Lisa said. “I apologize. I had a long day, Jon. What’s so important that we have to talk about it privately?”
“It’s Miranda,” Jon said.
Lisa nodded. “I checked,” she said. “All the corpses were removed on Sunday.”
For a moment Jon didn’t know what she was talking about. Then he remembered Mom. “Good,” he said. “I’m glad. But that’s not it.”
“What is it, then?” she asked.
“Luke told us something at lunch today,” Jon replied. “A grubber girl had a baby at the hospital on Saturday. A perfectly healthy baby girl. Only the grub said her husband would kill her if she brought home a girl. She got hysterical so they sedated her and sent her home. A claver family took the baby. They’re going to adopt her.”
“Tell me you’re kidding, Jon,” Lisa said. “Please tell me this is a joke.”
“Miranda was the only grub in the hospital this week,” Jon said. “Lisa, they stole Miranda’s baby.”
“Did you tell Miranda?” Lisa asked. “Did Sarah?”
Jon shook his head. “You and Sarah and I are the only ones who know,” he said. “Lisa, we have to get the baby back.”
Lisa sat absolutely still.
“Lisa,” Jon said. “Remember when you thought you might lose Gabe? It’s the same thing.”
“No, it’s not,” Lisa said. “It’s worse. At least with Gabe I would’ve had a choice. I can’t believe they did that. No, actually I can. Women here are so desperate for babies, they’ll even take a grubber one. We don’t know what the hospital told them. Maybe they said Miranda died in childbirth.”
“Or maybe they didn’t care just as long as they got a baby,” Jon said. “Lisa, that’s why they kept Miranda in the hospital so long. So they could be sure her baby would be healthy before they gave it to clavers.”
“Your righteous indignation isn’t helping any,” Lisa said. “And don’t talk so loudly. We have enough problems without Ruby hearing.”
“Sorry,” Jon said. “But I can’t keep from thinking about what Miranda’s been through. Mom, and now this.”
“We can’t get Laura back,” Lisa said. “But maybe we can find the baby. I should be able to figure out who got her. We know it’s a claver family. They’d need a wet nurse and a nanny.”
“Do you remember anyone asking?” Jon asked.
Lisa shook her head. “Things have been so crazy the past few weeks. My guess is it was a green-file request. My assistant handles those since they’re automatically granted. I’ll look through the paperwork tomorrow. It’s got to be there somewhere.”
“Maybe they’ll give us the baby when we tell them the truth,” Jon said.
“Maybe they’ll throw us out of Sexton,” Lisa said. “I’m not kidding, Jon. We’ll get Miranda’s baby. I promise you that. But no one can know. No one’s going to care that the baby was stolen. They’ll say we’re kidnappers. Don’t say a word about this, not even to Sarah. I’ll see what I can find out, and we’ll go from there.”
“Miranda and Alex have to get their baby back,” Jon said. “Lisa, they have to.”
Lisa nodded. “We’ll figure something out,” she said. “For everybody’s sake.”
“Ruby, this kitchen is disgusting,” Lisa said.
“But I scrubbed it this afternoon,” Ruby said. “Honest I did.”
“You don’t have an honest bone in your body,” Lisa said. “You think you can get away with this?” She ran her finger over the counter, and even Jon saw the grime.
“I didn’t know I was supposed to clean the counters,” Ruby said, sounding close to tears. “No one ever taught me that.”
“I’m teaching you,” Lisa said. “Ruby, Gabe adores you, and I appreciate all the time you give him. But you’re the only domestic in this house, and it’s your job to keep it clean. Jon, when Carrie was here, didn’t she clean as well as look after Gabe?”
“It’s a lot of work, Lisa,” Jon said.
“I work, too, Jon,” Lisa replied. “We all do. Scrub the countertops, Ruby. Then the floor. I don’t care if you cleaned it already. You want to eat tomorrow, you clean tonight. Jon, don’t give me that look. I’ll talk to you upstairs.”
“I know we have to have privacy,” Jon whispered to Lisa when they got to her room. “But do you have to take it out on Ruby?”
“I’m not beating her, Jon,” Lisa said. “And I can forbid her to eat to my heart’s content and she’ll still eat whatever she wants. She eats more than Val and Carrie put together.”