A roaring sound filled Vivian’s head. It felt so real that she flinched, cowering back against the wall.
Maggie was still talking. “Especially with a little makeup on. I haven’t lost that knack, even after all these years, so don’t talk to me like I’m stupid, Honor.”
“Like you’re stupid?” Honor demanded. “Like you’restupid? After what you did,that’syour biggest worry?” Her voice cracked, and when she spoke again, she sounded small and lost. “You told me it wasn’t you, Ma.”
“Did you believe me?”
“No.” Honor’s voice was bleak.
“Oh, baby girl.” Maggie stood, shaking her way through another bout of coughing. Her bluster faded away as she came down the steps to wrap her arms around her daughter. “He doesn’t deserve this from you. He’s the reason your life has been so hard. He’s the reason we lost Stella. This way, he’s finally taking care of you like he always should have. All I did was make the world a fairer place.”
“All you did—” Honor pulled away. “Can you hear yourself talking, Ma?”
Maggie glared at her. “Don’t pretend like your hands are so clean, my girl. I know what sort of work you do. So don’t get all high and mighty and act like you’re better than me. We’re the exact same kind of trash, you and me, and we do what we need to so we can survive.”
“This is different,” Honor said, her voice so quiet that Vivian could barely hear it. “And you know it is.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Vivian could have sworn the whole city had gone silent around them, waiting.
“What are you going to do, then?” Maggie asked, before she was interrupted by another hacking cough that shook her whole body.She grabbed the railing and slowly lowered herself back onto the steps. When she spoke again, her voice was weaker. “I’m yourmother,Honor.”
“And he was my father.”
“And he didn’t give a damn about you!” Maggie yelled, coughing again. “I was there every goddamn day, when you were hungry or sick or getting into trouble. I was there when Stella—” She broke off and took a deep, shaking breath. “I was there. I didn’t owe him anything, and neither do you,” she said, her voice small and sad.
“It’s not just him—” Honor started to say, but her mother began coughing again. Honor abandoned her protests and knelt next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She closed her eyes, pressing her forehead against her mother’s.
“It’s just you and me, right, baby girl?” Maggie Chambers said, cupping a hand around her daughter’s cheek. “We’re all we have left.” Neither of them moved.
“Come on, Ma,” Honor said at last. “Let’s get you inside.”
“I don’t need you to tell me…”
Vivian couldn’t listen to any more. She turned, walking so quickly that she was nearly running, and then she was running, pushing her way blindly through the alley, until she burst onto the quiet Brooklyn street, gasping for air almost as badly as Maggie Chambers had.
She wanted to blame Honor. She wanted to hate her—but oh, she couldn’t make herself do it. She understood too well.
What if it had been her and Florence? Could she have turned on the only family she still had in the world, the one person who had never left her when everyone else had?
Vivian lifted her face toward the cloud-bruised sky, letting the cold air dry the tears that wanted to fall. She and Honor had always been too much alike.
“Viv, are you okay?” Leo’s touch on her arm made her jump, but she didn’t pull away. “That was… was that really…”
“She was the maid,” Vivian said. “The one who told him—” She laughed bitterly. “So all the other servants who said no one else came to the house that day were telling the truth. It was her the whole time.”
“She ripped it up,” Leo muttered. “That was your proof, and she’s just going to throw it in the trash.”
Vivian pressed her hands against her temples. “I can try—I can still tell him tomorrow, right? The commissioner. I can tell him about Maggie Chambers…” She was pacing back and forth across the pavement, she realized, her steps jerky and frantic. She stared at Leo. “Will he do anything about it if I have no proof?”
Slowly, Leo shook his head. “I don’t think he’d have done anything even with proof.”
“But maybe someone will,” Vivian said, wrapping her arms around herself. “A cop, a lawyer, someone…”
“Maybe,” Leo said, but his heart wasn’t in it.
“And if they don’t…” Vivian’s voice cracked. “I guess at least I got my answers.”
Leo pulled her roughly to him, and Vivian laid her head against his chest, shivering. “Are you cold?” he asked. “We need to get you inside.”
