Everyone in the large open room at the bottom of the stairs watched them. Kathryn kept her head down, but Odette glared at them all, meeting each person’s eye, including Agnes’s.
Agnes glared back. “None of the three of you are to ever set a foot in The Red House again. Do you understand?”
No one said anything for a moment. Then Jorgen said, “None of us will want to.”
“What about you, Kathryn?” Agnes’s voice was taunting. “Will you be back?”
Kathryn’s hands were shaking and she cringed, her shoulders bowed forward.
“She will not be back either,” Odette said stoutly.
Agnes merely smirked.
They walked out into the daylight, and Odette was never so thankful to leave a place in her life.
Jorgen said nothing as he set a rather fast pace down the street. But as Kathryn still held on to his sleeve, he reached toward Odette and clasped her hand in his. She moved closer.
He gazed down at her. “Thank God you were not hurt.”
Had she never noticed how inviting his lips looked? What would it feel like to kiss them?
Foolish, foolish girl to think of that at a time such as this. “Thank you for saving us from that terrible place, Jorgen.” She felt breathless, and it had nothing to do with the way they were hurrying along.
He was no longer looking at her but was guiding her and Kathryn through the street, dodging horses as well as people. He glanced at her for a moment. “It was incredible good fortune that Anna happened to see me and that I happened to be walking that way.”
His voice seemed tight, controlled.
Anna was running toward them. “Oh, you are well, you are well!” She threw her arms around Odette. “Did they hurt you?”
“I am not hurt, thanks to you and Jorgen.”
Anna hurried over to Kathryn and embraced her too. “I thank God you are both safe.”
Jorgen was staring down at Odette. He seemed about to say something.
“I have your things from the market,” Anna said. She ran over to a chandler’s shop and came back out carrying Odette’s basket.
“I had forgotten all about it.” Odette took it from her. “I don’t even remember where I left it. Thank you, Anna. You are a godsend.” She hugged her friend again.
“Peter will be worried about me,” Anna said. “I should go now. Fare well.”
They started walking again. But Kathryn was looking uncomfortable and near tears again. Odette went to walk beside her, put her arm around her, and said to her quietly, “That part of your life is finished. You are free from Agnes and The Red House. She set you free when she said you were never to come back there again. I know you felt you owed her something, and there was some part of you that told you that you belonged there, but that is a part of you that has no place in your future. Kathryn? Do you understand?”
She nodded and wiped at a tear on her cheek.
She only hoped Kathryn would take to heart the words she was speaking to her. If only she would cast away the broken part of her, the part that thought she didn’t deserve to live free and without someone using and abusing her. It had taken Odette a long time to stop feeling guilty that she had an uncle who was wealthy and who gave her everything she needed and wanted. For so long, part of her still thought she deserved to be despised as a lowly beggar child, forced to work like a slave and not allowed to have three meals a day. But that part of her was not welcome in her thoughts and her heart now. She simply had to convince Kathryn of that same thing—that her brokenness was a part of her past, not her present nor her future. It was possible to start anew . . . and to be joyful about starting anew.
Jorgen stopped, and Odette looked up to see that they had arrived in front of her house. Holding on to Kathryn’s arm, she turned to Jorgen. “Please come inside.”
Inside the first-floor room, Odette asked Jorgen to wait for a moment, then she took Kathryn to the kitchen.
“Heinke, I need you to prepare a bath for Kathryn. And, Else,” she called to the older woman who helped Cook in the kitchen, “will you take care of her and help her wash her hair?”
“Of course.” Else put her arm around Kathryn’s shoulders. She was a motherly type, exactly what Kathryn needed. “Come, love, and you can get a good scrub. Nothing like a warm bath.”
Odette hurried back to where Jorgen was standing just inside the front door. He didn’t see her come in. He still looked a bit angry, as if he was thinking of something unjust. He was so tall and strong, and his hair looked soft, the way it curled around his ears. If only she could gaze at him forever. Tears stung her eyes.