‘You pay me, as you have. You take Edwin, I keep my mouth shut but you pay me. Think of it as charity; one less mouth to feed and I put more food in the mouths of the others. You pay me, I keep quiet.’
‘Half. I’ll pay you half of what I’ve been paying you. No more.’
‘Half? Not good enough. Not worth keeping such a secret for. You give me the same!’
‘Half. No more.’
‘Half and I tell the police.’
‘Half, and if you tell the police, I’ll lose my job, Edwin will be taken into the orphanage and so will all your babies. But I’ll also tell them they may want to dig up your yard, for they might find more than potatoes and the odd dead dog out there, am I right? After all, not all babies take to their medicine, do they, Ada?’
Ada nodded. The two women had reached an agreement.
*
Evaline managed to convince one of the housemaids to watch the twins as she had to run an errand for a friend who needed medicine for a sick child. The girl rolled her eyes and smiled.
‘Sick child, eh? Don’t you worry, I’ll watch them.’ There was a plague of sick children when it came to the young female servants doing each other favours, most often in order to meet a potential suitor under the cover of darkness.
‘I’ll be as quick as I can,’ Evaline promised, ignoring the girl’s knowing looks. And she meant it. Her heart was in her throat and wouldn’t go back to her chest until this was done.
Evaline crept out of the servant’s entrance with the body of little Thomas Lancaster inside her coat. It was an advantage he was so frail and small. She snuck into the gardener’s shed and borrowed a shovel, trying not to think about what she was about to do. Instead she thought of Edwin, and Helen. God had set her on this path for a reason. One more trial and then she and her babies would bask in His favour.
She made her way to the place they called Paradise, where a carpet of bluebells lay under the shade of the trees. It was not so very dark under the moonlight so she easily found her way. Paradise would be a fitting place for Thomas. All children belong in Paradise, she told herself. It was harder than she thought to bury him; the ground was hard and unyielding. She was breathless, hot, and exhausted by the time it was done. It had taken much longer than she planned and she had mud all over her hands. She put the shovel back in its rightful place and hurried to the nursery. As she walked in, the housemaid was jiggling Edwin in her arms. She looked Eveline up and down and smirked.
‘It’s just as well she likes babies, isn’t it Master Thomas!’ she teased.
‘I beg your pardon?’ said Evaline.
The girl laughed and nodded towards Eveline’s skirts. As she looked down at her legs, she saw the patches of wet mud on her knees and gasped in embarrassment, then burst out laughing along with the housemaid. She was going to get away with this. Fate was on her side.
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