Maybe.But I need to walk the same streets as my ancestors did.The first immigrants in a long line that led to my parents and then me.“You two can stay in the car…riage.”Not a car.Cars exist right now but this isn’t one.
“I am not letting you go in alone.”
I roll my eyes but don’t argue.It’s probably the best I’m going to get.“Don’t know how you’re going to help in this situation, but all right.It’s not like I can legally stop you from entering the area.”
I get out my notebook and pen, ready to take notes on this trip.Leo raises an eyebrow when he notices which notebook it is.“What?It’s a good gift.”I hold it closer to my chest in case he has any ideas about taking it back.
“I am glad you are enjoying it,” he says neutrally.
I tune out the judgement coming from across me in the small space over our destination, letting my own mind gather thoughts and questions I want to ask people.I jot down some general themes and organize some open-ended questions while they’re still fresh in my mind.
Since every witness to my time period is dead when I’m studying it, I don’t do a lot of interviews.So I have no idea how I’m going to go about things aside from maybe finding a pub and offering to buy a drink to anyone who will talk to me.
Actually, that sounds like a solid idea.
I open the carriage window and hang my head out, clutching the side of the door in case it decides to get a wild hair and open while I’m halfway out of it.“Excuse me!Do you know the busiest pub in Limehouse?”I yell up at the coachman.
“Miss, you want me to take you to a pub?In the Oriental Quarter?”
I wince.That might be what the area is called right now, but I don’t have to like it.Nor is now probably the time to explain why that’s not the best.“Yeah.Like where there are people and food and alcohol.”
“It’s fine.Take us to a pub, please,” Leo says from the opposite window.I can’t see him because the carriage is in the way, but it’s nice he’s not arguing with me anymore about why this is a bad idea.
When I pull myself back into the carriage, I can plainly see on his face that he still thinks this is a bad idea, but he’s helping.That deserves another giant smile.His eyes go straight to my lips at the movement, and I turn my face away before I give in to the urge to kiss him again, chaperone be damned.
But Leo isn’t one to be ignored for long.“I missed you last evening.”
“Yes.Her Majesty wanted to stay in for the night.”
“Well.I had some interesting conversations.First, I spoke to the most well-informed gossips, and they knew nothing about Forsyth.”I tense at the mention of the name.“And then I made some pointed remarks around the lady in question, and, well.I believe you.”
“You told…them?”I look to Anne to make sure she isn’t catching on to what we’re talking about.
Leo shakes his head.“I was very discreet.I told her about a situation I heard about, involving someone else, and her guilty reaction confirmed for me what you were saying was true.Which means, what else you said must be true, too.No matter how absurd.”
I breathe a sigh of relief that he believes me.It shouldn’t matter, but it does, and I don’t want to think too deeply about that.
Instead, I focus on the view outside the window.The streets are getting narrower now, and darker as the height and closeness of buildings cut off natural light.The smell is the same though: horrible.Apparently, that can’t get worse.Noise, already a problem in the posh parts of town, increases along with the number of people out in the streets.We make more stops now, as the street gets more chaotic around us.
Then we stop for longer than usual.
“We’re here.I think the Grapes will fit the bill,” the coachman calls out to us.
“Excellent.”I fix a confident smile on my face that I don’t entirely believe and leave the carriage.
If I hadn’t told the coachman where to take us, I would be shocked at where I started and where I ended up.Because even intellectually knowing there’s a divide between the West and East Ends of London in the form of a truly obscene wealth gap, it wouldn’t have been enough to prepare me for the change between my starting location and the destination.
It’s like I’m in an entirely different world.
I nod and smile in greeting to the people closest to me, but power through into the pub.Leo, Anne, and his coachman following behind with much less enthusiasm.
A complete silence descends as almost everyone stops what they’re doing to look at me; a silence as deafening as a scream when compared to all the noise outside.A sea of faces looks back at me.Everyone has on worn clothing, but the outfits themselves are a mix between South Asian, English, African and Chinese clothes to reflect the diversity of this neighborhood of London.
“Hello… everyone,” I say nervously.
CHAPTER19
“You can say you want to turn around and leave at any point, and we shall go.You do not have to prove anything to anyone,” Leo whispers in my ear.
