Ultimate Nyssa Glass by H. Burke (best value ebook reader .txt) 📕

can have him deported, or at least put in a good word for us at the police station.”

The tightness in Nyssa’s stomach eased. “They do owe us. I don’t like depending on others, but in this case, it might be our best option. Do you think we can just walk up to their mansion and ask for an audience, though? We’ve hardly seen them since the trip over, and Renard is royalty here. Do you know their videophone frequency?”

“No, but I’m sure they’ll see us. I’ll send a telegram in the morning.”

Nyssa rubbed her neck. Her back and shoulders felt sore. “Just to be sure, let’s go over those ledgers after dinner and see how much we have left. Even if we get rid of my uncle, it might be a while until the locals trust us with their business again.”

***

Along with cash and bonds, the ledgers were kept in a basic, sturdy safe. About the size of a suitcase, the safe was bolted to the wall in Ellis’s study, one of two small adjoining rooms Ellis claimed for himself. That evening, Nyssa dialed the combination. Three right, one left, four right.

Her lips quirked upward. Ellis and his pi jokes.

She took out the leather bound book and plopped into an arm chair. So many red entries. So few deposits. She shook her head.

“It can’t be that bad.” Ellis rolled into the room and positioned himself across the small coffee table from her.

Nyssa laid down the book and flipped it around so he could see.

“We aren’t bringing in any income. How long do you think we can sustain this lifestyle? With a housekeeper and a shop that’s hemorrhaging money … and now a boy we’re caring for? He needs new clothes. He needs an education, maybe even a private tutor to get him to where he should be.” She rested her forehead in her hand.

Ellis raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you wanted to keep Theo?”

“Of course I … I mean … I didn’t, but now that we have him, we’re responsible for him.” She cleared her throat. “But what if we can’t provide for him?”

Ellis tapped his fingers on the table. “I can ask around. See if there are any couples interested in adopting him, but honestly, I like the kid. I don’t want to send him away.”

Something squeaked in the hallway. Nyssa froze. She put her finger to her lips, tiptoed to the door, and jerked it open. Theo jumped back from the keyhole with a yelp. He stared, saucer-eyed, at her for a heartbeat. Then he bolted for the stairs.

“Wait, come back!” Nyssa called, but he disappeared into the second story. She glanced helplessly back at Ellis. “What do I do?”

Ellis’s mouth tightened. “He just heard us say we are going to pawn him off on some other family. I think you’d better go after him.”

Nyssa nodded and rushed upstairs. Oh God, I don’t know the first thing about reassuring a child. Please don’t let me mess this up.

She slowed near the top of the flight. Sniffling rose from the sitting room beyond. She winced and crept up the last few steps. He sat on the couch in front of the potbelly stove. Red glowed through the grates onto his pale hair and shaking shoulders.

“Theo?” Nyssa whispered.

He didn’t look up.

She slid onto the couch beside him. Hesitantly, she reached out and touched his arm. “Please don’t cry.”

“I don’t want to leave. It’s … it’s awful where I came from. No one here yells at me or hits me … and now you have to send me away and it’s all … it’s all my …” He sat up straighter and clamped his mouth shut.

Nyssa’s brow pinched. Was he going to say it was his fault? How could it be? Even a child should be able to see this is my uncle’s fault, not his.

“We don’t want you to leave either. I shouldn’t have said what I did. I was just worried and frustrated.” She tightened her grip on his arm in what she hoped was a comforting way. “Ellis likes you. Mrs. H likes you. I even like you, and I didn’t intend to. Ellis and I were just worried we might not be the best home for you, what with everything that has happened over the last few days.”

“You’re the best home I’ve ever had.” He wiped his nose on his sleeve.

She grimaced and fished a handkerchief from her pocket. “Here, use this.”

They sat in silence. The quiet crackle from the stove and the tick of the clocks on the wall harmonized with Nyssa’s own breath and Theo’s sniffles. She turned her eyes to the clocks, mounted in an elaborate display Ellis had come up with when they’d first purchased the shop. There were three faces, one depicting the local time, the other the time back in New Taured, and the third the date. One of many things they’d spent time and money on when they should’ve been establishing their business … of course, in those days it seemed like they had both time and money to spare.

“You said you couldn’t pay for a tutor,” Theo said. “You don’t need to. I don’t even want to go to school. I want to learn how to fix things, in the shop, like you. That’ll be my trade. It’s better than picking pockets. Look.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. “I found this in the pile you were going to throw out.”

“I recognize it.” She took it from his hand. “The face was crushed, and I didn’t have a new one.”

“Most of the clockwork was still good. Open it up.” His eyes shone in the firelight.

She pushed the button, and the casing snapped open. Two mechanical arms, the remnants of the clock’s bent hands, popped straight up, at angles to the clockwork. A small cardboard cutout tipped each arm, one of a cat and the other a mouse.

“Wind it up!” Theo prompted.

Nyssa turned