The Strange Case of Baby H (11 page)

Hattie clenched her hands in front of her on the tabletop. “‘What do you mean,
get rid of it
?' I shouted.”

“‘Dump it—so it can't be traced to us,' ordered Herman, and they sent Denny at gunpoint into the streets.”

Hattie shuddered. “I couldn't let it happen. I was screaming like a banshee, and Sid slapped me hard, but I ran out after Denny and the baby … and another tremor knocked us to our knees …”

Hattie gasped for breath. Clara felt her own heart beating hard. She could picture how it must have been, with Hattie running through the smoke and chaos after Denny.

“We escaped!” rasped Hattie. “But we had no money and no place to go, and what were we going to do with this orphaned baby? I knew she had grandparents over in Oakland—but we couldn't get to the Ferry Building because of the fires. We heard that people were being sent to Golden Gate Park for safety, so we headed that way, too. Oh, we walked for blocks and blocks, up and down so many hills, and everywhere were homeless people crying and looking for their lost loved ones … and then I saw your house. It seemed calmer here—and I thought this would be a safe place to leave the baby. I snuck into the back and took the quilt and the laundry basket and tucked little Helen in. She was asleep by then, poor lamb, worn out from so many frights …”

“And we know the rest,” said Mother. She reached over and patted Hattie's hand comfortingly. “It seems you saved the baby's life.”

Clara glanced over at Mother sharply. “After endangering her in the first place!”

Hattie looked down at Mother's hand resting on hers. “I'm afraid—”

“Who wouldn't have been afraid, dear?”

Clara cleared her throat. “I suspect there's more to the story, Mother.”

“The Borden brothers, right?” demanded Edgar.

“I'm afraid so,” said Hattie. “When Herman and Sid saw the posters that said the Forrests were searching for me and the baby, they were livid. They realized that even though the Plumsteads' house had collapsed and burned, somehow the Forrests were still alive. No doubt the Forrests rushed home to Oakland on the first possible ferry after the quake struck, only to find their baby girl missing. The housekeeper over in Oakland had seen me heading for the ferry before the quake, so she must have reported that to the parents, and they hurried back to San Francisco. When the Borden brothers read the posters, they decided to get their kidnapping plan back on track.

“They found me and Denny in the park and told us to get the baby back. When I refused, they beat us up. So I came here—and I tried, you know I tried! But you sent me away, and I couldn't blame you, really. And then Sid and Herman sent me and Denny here at night. We were supposed to break in and snatch Helen … But that didn't work, either.”

Clara winced, remembering the dull thud of the heavy iron poker on Denny's arm and his howl of pain. But she had kept Helen safe that night, without even knowing the danger awaiting her.

“Wait a minute,” Clara interrupted. “Why didn't you and Denny just run off together, leaving the baby with us? That way, when we saw the poster,
we'd
be the ones to take her back to her parents in Oakland. The two of you would be safely gone to Alaska, and the baby would be safe with us!”

“You still don't understand,” Hattie protested. “The baby
isn't
safe with you. She'll
never
be safe here. Sid and Herman beat us both up something terrible when we came back without the baby—Denny worse than me—he's still unconscious! I hated to leave him, but I had to try to save Helen. Sid and Herman have vowed to capture Helen themselves. Sid wrote that note asking you to meet him at the Japanese Tea Garden and made me slip it under the door. But you didn't go—I'm glad you didn't!—and they'll be truly furious now.”

“Oh, dear Mr. Midgard and Mr. Stokes,” murmured Mother. “I'm so desperately sorry if we've sent them into trouble!”

“Sid and Herman will kill me if they find me here,” moaned Hattie. “But I had to come. I wanted to take Helen to the police while the Bordens were waiting at the tea garden. Her parents must be frantic, and I must try to right the wrongs I've done. If anything happens to Helen, it will be on my conscience forever!”

“On yours
and mine
,” declared Mother. She kissed Baby Helen's bristly head. “I thought it was Providence who brought this baby to us. The Lord working in mysterious ways, you know.”

Father reached over and patted Mother's shoulder awkwardly. Clara was surprised and pleased to see this; it had been a very long time since her parents had touched each other. Since before the accident, she guessed.

“But you understand far too well,” he said in his deep voice, “about losing a child.”

“Oh, I do,” she whispered.

And with a sweep of memory Clara was back in time to those two stormy days after the shipwreck when they didn't know whether Father and Gideon would be found … whether father and son had been smashed on the rocks along with the steamship or whether they had somehow made it to shore along with the several crewmen who had been pulled from the wreckage … Clara remembered how time seemed to stand still while she and Mother didn't know, how every breath hurt and there was a terrible ache inside her instead of a heartbeat.

This was how Roseanna and Lucas Forrest felt now. All the wealth in the world wouldn't shield them from the pain of losing their baby girl, and Mother understood this.

“So of course Helen must be returned,” Mother said resolutely. “We had best go for the police right now.” She stood up with the baby in her arms. “This minute.”

Clara pushed back her chair. “I'm coming with you,” she said.

“Me too!” said Edgar, his eyes shining with excitement.

“Oh, no,” said Mother. “You two will stay here. Clara especially. Am I to lose first Gideon, then Helen—and you, too?” She put her hands on her hips. “Oh, no. You will stay home and stay
safe—
”

“I won't be safe if the Borden brothers come here looking for Helen, Mother!”

Father cleared his throat. Clara looked at him in irritation, sure he would say, as he always said,
Mother knows best
.

But he spoke to his wife. “Alice,” he said firmly, “I think you shall remain here.”

Mother's voice was sharp. “Frederick! The telephones are out of order, and we must get the baby to the police
now.
”

Father shook his head. “In this confusion? Alice, I forbid it. The whole city is afire, people are homeless and injured, everything lies in ruins—and you think the police will be sitting at the station to take care of this baby?”

Mother's expression was determined. “I simply must keep this child safe, and that is my final word on the matter.”

Father stared at her, then slumped into his chair in defeat. It hadn't been much of a fight, really, Clara thought. But it was more spunk than he'd shown in two years. Before the accident there would have been no question. When Father put his foot down, his word was law. He had been captain of his ship, head of his household, and final authority over his children … until off they'd sailed, with Mother's prayers for safe passage ringing in their ears.

At least Father tried
, Clara told herself. But it wasn't enough. It never was with Mother, anymore. Gideon's death hung between them—
and it always, always will
.

Mother handed the baby to Hattie and reached for her shawl on the peg by the back door. “We shall leave right now,” she said. “Clara, you and Edgar shall serve the lodgers their dinner.”

Clara clenched her hands into fists. She felt like screaming at her mother, but she held herself in check.

“Wait. You ought to return this with the baby.” She reached into her pocket and withdrew the silver rattle.

Mother stowed the rattle in her own pocket, then sailed out the door with Hattie following.

Baby Helen's head bobbed on Hattie's shoulder and her wide brown gaze looked back at Clara.
Good-bye
, the baby seemed to be saying.
Pray for safe passage
.

C
HAPTER
11

K
IDNAPPED!

Clara and Edgar looked anxiously at each other until Father cleared his throat. “Alice is a determined woman,” he said. “But I should have put my foot down.”

“Shall I go after them, Father?” asked Clara.

He considered her. “Yes, do that. Run as fast as you can, and tell Mother I
insist
that she return. We will hide the baby here until morning. Surely Mr. Stokes and Mr. Midgard will have returned by then to help guard her. It is madness to go out into these conditions at night.”

“I'll run like the wind!” Clara jumped to her feet as Mr. Granger and the Wheeler sisters appeared in the kitchen looking for their dinner. “Coming, Edgar?”

“You bet!”

“Hurry, children. But if they won't stop, I want you to return. Don't linger in the streets. Do you understand?”

Clara nodded. “Yes, Father.”

“I will keep your supper warm, children.”

“Now where are those young ones off to?” wondered Mr. Granger.

Clara left Father to answer. She and Edgar were out the door and running down the street. The air was cooler than it had been and the sky was thick with bits of ash swirling in the wind. Clara coughed as she ran. Mother and Hattie must have turned the corner already; there was no sign of them.

“Come on,” cried Clara. “They can't have gotten far.” She ran around the corner with Edgar at her heels. She'd thought the wound on her foot had healed, but running made it ache again. She tried to ignore it as she leaped over piles of rubble and darted around people and their makeshift shelters at the sides of the roads.

It would be about ten blocks to the police station. But maybe Clara would find a policeman along the way. Where could Mother and Hattie be? Surely they couldn't have come much farther than this so quickly?

“Wrong way, young'uns,” a man told them as he pushed past on the next block. “You want to head for the park. Everything's gone up ahead. Everything's in ruins!”

“They must be taking the side streets,” Clara said to Edgar when, after another block, they still had not found Mother and Hattie.

“Zigzagging through the streets to throw the kidnappers off,” he added, a note of excitement in his voice.

Clara didn't answer. The closer they got to Market Street, the more misery they saw. It looked like the end of the world had come. Ash swirled in the wind. Burned pages from books flew past and crunched under their feet as they walked along. It was hard to tell which buildings and houses had been destroyed by the quake and which by fire—everything around them was leveled to piles of stone and brick, all blackened with soot, some still smoldering. Refugees streamed in all directions, some heading toward Golden Gate Park, some toward the ferries that would take them away from the hell that had been their shining city. And over everything hung an unearthly hush. Clara heard none of the ordinary city sounds—no jangle of tram bells or clatter of carriages. No whistle from deliverymen making their rounds. No call of paperboys:
Evening edition, hot off the press!
Only silence. A wounded quiet.

“Maybe we should turn back, do you think?” asked Clara. “What if the police station is gone, too?” She hated to think they had come this far without finding Mother and Hattie and the baby. But the scene around them was so much more terrible than what she'd seen in her own neighborhood, she felt helpless and frightened.

“There they are!” yelled Edgar suddenly, grabbing Clara's arm. “Up ahead!”

Up the block, Clara caught a glimpse of Mother and Hattie just disappearing over the crest of the hill. “Mother!” shouted Clara. “Hattie! Wait for us!” She and Edgar started running.

The sky darkened, and there was a rumble that at first Clara thought must be another house exploding for the firebreak. Then she realized that the rumbling came from overhead.
Thunder
! The sound of thunder was rare in San Francisco. Rain usually just
fell
, unaccompanied by thunder and lightning. “
Rain!
” Clara shouted.

“Just what we needed three days ago!” Edgar shouted in reply.

The rain pattered down in a soothing shower, wetting the ash and clearing the evening air. Up ahead of them, Mother and Hattie had stopped and were waiting. Mother stood with hands on hips. Her scowl looked most forbidding. Hattie, holding the baby wrapped in Mother's shawl, bent low to shield Helen from the rain.

“I told you to stay home, young lady,” Mother said as Clara approached. “I will not let you risk your safety, and I will not stand for disobedience!”

“Wait, Mother, please listen.” Clara put out her hand. “Father sent us. As soon as you left, he told us to run after you. He insists you return—”