Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

“I am going.”

“Where is that brother of yours? I have told you time and again to keep him under control. I will not have him running riot around this house, do you hear me?”

“He doesn’t,” Molly protested.

Edith squinted at her. For a moment, Molly wondered if she was going to get another lambasting. Thankfully, Denzel’s presence prevented it. In the end, Edith huffed and turned her back. Promptly dismissed, Molly watched her aunt plaster an overly bright smile on her face as she turned to face her guest. Edith billed and cooed at him as she led him into her parlour, then rudely slammed the door behind her.

Molly shook her head in disgust and quietly made her way to the back of the house. Safely confined in the kitchen, she eyed her cloak and then turned to study the empty shopping basket resting on the floor beside the back door.

“Well, if I have to go out and fetch food to feed that woman, I may as well not come back,” Molly boldly muttered aloud.

Cautiously looking over her shoulder, Molly turned to the old battered tin her aunt usually kept the housekeeping money in. She didn’t have long before Denzel would appear as he usually did to leer and offer her his services should she ever get lonely. With hands that fumbled, Molly snatched up the old battered tin and yanked the lid off. It didn’t contain much, but there was enough money in it for her to be able to buy food for the next few days if Molly, and Oscar if she could find him, spent carefully. What they would do when it had run out was anybody’s guess. Molly knew she couldn’t think about that now.

“I have to focus on finding Oscar.”

With that thought locked firmly in her mind, Molly shoved the money into her pocket and tiptoed back through the house. Racing up the stairs as quietly as she could, she collected her bag and retraced her steps, all the while praying that Denzel wouldn’t venture out of the parlour until she had gone. As she passed Edith’s lair, Molly heard the falsetto cackle of her aunt’s laughter followed by the deeper rumblings of her lover. With a shudder, Molly clutched her bag and hurried on to the kitchen door.

Now that she had made her mind up, she was desperate to be on her way – and quickly.

Patting her pocket, Molly draped her cloak around her shoulders. She then shoved several apples into her bag together with what was left of the bread and a few small chunks of meat. When that was safely tucked away she helped herself to a knife, a knee rug and a few other small items, and hastily shoved those into her bag as well. Eventually, she was ready and crept silently out of the kitchen. She didn’t even bother to write her aunt a note, not least because she didn’t think her aunt would give a damn if she had gone. Edith would be angry that she hadn’t got anybody to boss about but would go no further than that, Molly was sure of it.

“I shall write to the solicitor to tell him that we no longer reside at the house so he can stop the allowance she receives,” Molly muttered as she hurried out of the back yard. She swiftly shoved aside the contrary thought that she didn’t have anything with which to write that note and hurried across the yard anyway.

Seconds later, she eased the gate closed with a quiet click and rested her forehead against it momentarily while she willed herself to stop shaking. All the while she had been making her escape, M

olly had expected to hear her aunt’s high-pitched petulant whine demand that she return to the house at once. Worse, that Oscar would appear before her and demand to know what she was doing. If he did, Molly knew that she would have no choice but to turn around and go back into the house and might never be able to leave again.

With a shudder, Molly glanced at the terraced house behind her.

“I would rather die,” Molly murmured fervently, with a bitter determination that was uncharacteristic of her. Just seeing the dratted house seemed to taunt her about the changes she had endured in her life and they weren’t good ones.

“Molly? What are you doing out here, dear?” Mrs Taunton, a rather too curious neighbour asked suddenly.

Molly whirled to face her and mentally groaned when she saw the old woman gazing steadily at the bag she held. She knew that just as soon as the old woman had said ‘goodbye’, she would be knocking on the door of Edith’s house to enquire politely where Molly was going with such a large bag.

“I am just delivering these to a friend,” Molly replied. Her gaze turned challenging. “Why?”

Completely unprepared for Molly’s brazenness, the old woman blinked owlishly.

“I say, are you all right?” Mrs Taunton asked, her dark eyes as shrewd as Edith’s were spiteful.

“I am perfectly fine,” Molly replied. “Yourself?”

Mrs Taunton nodded, but her gaze remained thoughtfully locked on the bag.

“Is your friend poorly, dear?”

“No. Why should you ask that?” Molly asked.

“It just doesn’t seem like something someone would take to a poorly friend,” Mrs Taunton replied, pointing a gnarled finger at the bag.

“It is laundry, if you must know. A friend in need and all that,” Molly replied. She lifted her brows. “Is that a problem? Would you like to check it?”

“I must say, you and that brother of yours are a secretive pair,” Mrs Taunton muttered.

“Oh? What would you know about Oscar?” Molly demanded, trying her hardest to ignore the wild leap of her heart.

“I caught him climbing out of a window not but an hour ago, I must say. I tried to tell your aunt about it, but she wasn’t answering.” Mrs Taunton threw her a dour look and shook her head as she sucked her teeth in warning. “You are just as foolish. Why, I have never heard anything as preposterous in my life as that young boy being allowed to travel alone like that.”