Free A Mother's Wish by Dilly Court

stop at nothing in order to gain control of Owen’s son. Shifting Georgie to a more comfortable position on her shoulder, she rose to her feet. ‘It’s a long story, Zilla. Would you mind if we left the details until morning? I’m very tired.’
    ‘Of course you are. Anyone can see that.I didn’t mean to stick my nose into your business, my dear. Get some sleep and everything will look better in the morning.’
    When she had settled Georgie for the night, Effie lay down on the bunk, curling her body protectively around her baby son. She had made up her mind to leave as early as possible next day in order to continue her search for Tom. She tried not to think of the dangers that might beset a thirteen-year-old boy travelling the rough streets of the East End alone and penniless. She could only hope and pray that he had found Toby who, despite his raffish lifestyle and reputation as a lady killer, would see that no harm came to her young brother. As her limbs relaxed and she began to drift off to sleep she remembered a conversation she had once had with Toby in the bar of the Prince of Wales tavern when she had graduated from scullery maid to helping Ben serve customers. As she recalled it was one of the rare moments when Toby had talked seriously about anything and in particular his past. He had spoken tenderly of his mother who had been a maidservant in a large house on the edge of Hackney Marshes. He had been born there, he said, but he had only been seven years of age when his mother died and he had been sent to live with her Romany family. Effie would have liked to know more about him,but Toby had not been very forthcoming. ‘Where are you now, Toby?’ she murmured sleepily. ‘I pray to God that Tom is with you.’
    Effie awakened to the delicious aroma of frying bacon, but her pleasure quickly turned to panic as she realised that Georgie was missing. She fell off the bunk and ran to the door but she stopped, holding on to the doorpost as she saw Georgie playing happily with a group of children. His laughter was a sound that she had not heard for some time and her eyes unaccountably filled with tears.
    Leah was turning bacon in a soot-blackened frying pan and she looked up, waving the fork at Effie. ‘Come and get your breakfast, ducks. There’s tea in the pot if you’d like to help yourself. Zilla’s had hers and she’s gone to wash her beard in the stream. She says there’s nothing like fresh water to keep the hair soft.’
    Brushing her long hair back from her face, Effie was suddenly conscious that she must look a fright and she needed a wash, but she was hungry and she did not want to offend Leah by retreating into the van to make herself presentable. A quick glance around the encampment was reassuring in the fact that no one appeared to be in the least bit interested in her. In the distance she could see a man juggling brightly coloured wooden clubs,although he did not seem very good at it as he kept dropping them and starting again. Effie was about to turn away when a tiny woman, little taller than Georgie, clambered down the steps of a nearby caravan. Effie couldn’t help but stare at the little person, who had the body of a child but a rather disproportionate head and a face that was lined and anything but youthful.
    Leah slapped some bacon on a plate and thrust it into Effie’s hands with a knowing grin. ‘That’s Margery, the midget. She may be small but she don’t like to be reminded of it and she don’t like people staring at her, which is odd because that’s what they do all day when she’s on show as the World’s Smallest Woman.’
    Effie felt the colour rise to her cheeks and she averted her gaze as Margery turned to look at her through narrowed eyes. ‘I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to upset her.’
    ‘Don’t worry about it, ducks. You’ll find it a bit strange here at first but you’ll soon get used to us and our funny ways.’ Leah took a chunk of bread and tossed it in the