She was nearly knocked off her feet when a boy, a tuft of black hair sticking out from beneath an oversized hat, slammed into Claire, who in turn crashed into Evie, who bumped hard into Joanna.
Clutching each other for balance, the sisters whipped around just in time to watch the boy’s retreating back as he dashed off in the direction of the harbor, fearlessly winding and weaving his way through the heavy traffic.
“I never,” Evie sniffed as she patted her hair.
“He was in a very big hurry.” A bit wobbly on her feet, Claire leaned against the lamppost. “I wonder where he is—”
“The ring.” As a pit opened up in her belly, Joanna yanked her purse off her arm and began to feverishly sift through its contents.
There wasn’t much.
An ivory comb.
A small mirror.
A pencil.
Noticeably missing?
A leather pouch with their mother’s 120-year-old ring.
“It was right here!” Her heart pounding, she whirled in a circle and jabbed a finger at the harbor where billowing white sails snapped in the wind and, somewhere, a pickpocket was making off with their inheritance. “That little thief stole the ring!”
“No,” Evie gasped.
Claire paled. “What do we do?”
“We go after him. Follow me!” Filled with determination, Joanna took off like a thoroughbred who had just heard the toll of a race bell. Her height gave her a stride advantage over both her sisters and, within seconds, she had outdistanced them considerably. Dimly, she could hear Evie calling at her to wait, to stop, but she was not about to allow someone to escape with their fortune…and their future.
She knocked into a man with a dark beard. He yelled angrily at her and waved his fist. She shouted an apology over her shoulder, but didn’t slow down. The street narrowed, then widened as it approached the harbor. Large factories puffing black smoke out of tall, brick chimneys gave way to long docks and even longer ships. Joanna ducked under the arm of a sailor carrying an enormous coil of rope, then nearly collided with another as he rolled a barrel along the pier.
“Watch where ye’re going,” he snarled in a heavy cockney accent.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” Panting, Joanna leaned forward and braced her hands on her knees. She’d lost her hat somewhere along the way, and her hair spilled over her shoulders in a wave of red. “Did you see a boy come through here? Lean as a whip. Black hair. Large hat.” Dragging in a lungful of air, she managed to stand upright despite the vicious cramp piercing her left side. “He stole something very valuable from me and my sisters.”
“Prob’y down on the docks by now, gettin’ in a boat. TheQueen Marysails for London in a minute or so. They’ve already pulled the anchor.” The sailor jerked his head at the largest ship in the harbor, a schooner with three masts and too many sails to count. Men swarmed the top deck shouting orders to each other while seagulls squawked loudly overhead. As the last ropes were yanked from the water, the grand ship began to inch away from the pier.
Slanting a hand against her temple to block out the sun, Joanna’s gaze flew across the wooden gangplanks for a sign of the thief. There were just so manypeople. Crewmen, merchants, passengers. Finding the little rapscallion would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Then, by some small miracle, she noticed a slim figure scaling the side of theQueen Mary.
“There! He’s right there!” she yelled. “We need to stop him. Can you help me?”
The sailor followed the direction of frantic pointing and snorted. “Aye. Good luck with that, luv. The Mary’s good as gone.” Then his gaze dropped to her breasts, and his lips peeled back in a leer. “If ye need someone to console ye…”
Why was it, in times of great desperation, men’s thoughts always seemed to center on one thing?
With a pinched expression of disgust, Joanna shoved past the sailor. She reached the docks just as the schooner’s sails were released. They caught the wind with a deafeningsnapand she was forced to watch as theQueen Mary, bound for England, surged towards open waters.
“No,” she whispered, pressing her hand to her mouth. “No, no,no.”
Joanna was not accustomed to failing, and the weight of this defeat nearly sent her to her knees. Because it was more than a lost ring. It was a lost hope. It was a lost dream. It was a lost future.
How could this have happened?
How could she haveletit happen?
Turning around, Joanna staggered up the gangplank on legs that were numb from exhaustion and disappointment. When Evie and Claire found her, she was sitting on a bench, staring blindly out at the harbor.
