The Girl Underground

Chapter 34: Love Will Find a Way

        

Chapter 34: Love Will Find a Way

New Orleans, Louisiana, 1850

"Rather stuffy in here, no?" Dorsey stood and gazed out the window. "Fancy taking a walk down by the river, Sibley?"

Ronald stood, nodding. "Yes, I do believe a walk is in order. Only..." he side-eyed Dorsey oddly. "You haven't yet finished the story."

"Well, that's just the thing," Dorsey sighed sadly. "After the Magistrate left, that was the end of the tale for me. That was the last time I saw the man. He left for London and was gone for months and months. In that time, a man from New Orleans came to Lanfore for reasons that I don't quite remember, and he and I got to talking. He said he worked in the river trade, and asked if would be interested. I thought it would be a grand opportunity."

"And in keeping with what you promised Malia, I assume."

"Yes," Dorsey nodded. "I promised her I would leave Lanfore if I could and start a new life elsewhere, a life I deserved," he chuckled. "I must say, the day that man came to Lanfore changed my life for good. He opened my eyes, he did. Took me from the only place I knew as home and helped me to find a new one. It was hard work, but I was so determined to start over again, I didn't care. Lanfore was history for me. New Orleans became my future."

Ronald nodded, smiling. "If I may ask, who was the man who came to Lanfore? Perhaps I know him."

"You do," Dorsey said, smiling as well. "It was your father, Charles Sibley."

XXX

London, 1823

Four months later...

Malia felt as though her world was spinning out of control. She could hardly function. She couldn't move from her position in the bed, and she desperately wanted to stand up and walk, or do something! She hated feeling like a useless invalid. She felt disgusting, unwashed, and sweaty... Just all around horrible.

"Your baby is going to come soon, you can't strain yourself," Amys said. "Any day now, my dear, any day! Try and perk up, don't act so miserable."

"But I feel miserable!" Malia whined. "This child won't come out!"

"It's not yet the time."

"When, then? When I'm old and withered? Then will it want to finally greet the outside world?"

"Now, that's crazy talk!"

"I don't care, I want this child out of me already!" Malia hated the rage of emotions going through her right now. She could hardly keep stock of anything. The other day, she dropped the book she was reading on the floor and burst into heavy tears, as though the world itself was ending and she was helpless to stop it. Any thought of John, or Brandon, or Lanfore sent her down into the deepest pits of despair and self-pity... And she craved the comfort of food more than ever!

"All these things are normal, Malia," Amys assured her. "You're not going mad."

"Well, it feels like I am!" Malia wailed, fresh tears in her eyes.

And it wasn't just her own misery, but others as well. She empathized with the other women she encountered in Amys's home. Amys was one of the many midwives in London, and a well known one too in the area they were in. When they stepped out from time to time, people knew her. The other pregnant women Malia met she wept with, as if their miseries were her own, which they were to an extent.

Damn you, John Quincy, for doing this to me!

While she sat around, doing nothing, Malia thought often of the Boatwrights, and wondered if she should write them and come out with the truth. She didn't have to say that it was John's baby that she carried, only that she carried one and the identity of the father was to remain a secret. She felt that she owed them that much, leaving the way she did without so much of an explanation. The one that she had given them wasn't enough. After all they had done for her, after everything they protected her from and the way they treated her, she owed them as much of the truth as she could give.