21st November, 1894 — Whitby & Co. Printshop

Yesterday had been long and emotionally draining, and Tess had tossed and turned even after everything had been decided. Sage would have it ten times worse than the rest of them, of course, so she couldn’t complain – but it was distinctly odd, waking up to a house that now suddenly contained a young child. Adorable, but unsettled by the upheaval to her existence, not to mention a haunting reminder of Sage’s past dalliance. (Their parents would have supported her through this too, Tess was sure, but still, she was a little relieved they were not here to deal with it.)

Declan had been there, though – Tess had not been able to discern what he thought about anything the day before, and most of today they had been catching up on printing a large order whose deadline was in. Prescott had taken the stacks down to Sam to be duly distributed, but while they were left to reset the presses and tidy up the mess of paper in the printroom, Tess glanced at him. Once, and then a couple times more before before she screwed up the courage. On the fourth glance sidelong, she commented, “You’ve been quiet.” And no wonder, really. Tess sighed. “Sorry about yesterday. I know it was –” she waved a hand, wordlessly. A lot.

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Declan Buchanan

  

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Declan was still thinking about yesterday, even as he set about dutifully resetting the presses for the next job. He felt as if he was a bit behind on some of his lettering work, because of yesterday — but he knew that Tess wouldn't hold it against him when he spent time catching up. Fabian and Sam might, though — so he was going to have to get to it sooner rather than later. And he was worried about thinking about the lettering. Mostly he was thinking about Sage, and about Maggie, and about all the things he didn't know.

He started at Tess' apology. Declan steadied himself, and bent down to the pile of discard papers. He glanced over at her. "It's alright," he replied, because he was not sure what else to say — because he did not have a right to feel upset about any of this.

  

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set by Bee

Declan was always quiet, and often lost in his head while they worked, but – this quiet felt different. Weightier, maybe. She was a little worried: they had depended on Declan through everything, and perhaps taken him for granted as well, solid and unshakeable. (But now, given the fresh tension in the house, Tess simply couldn’t afford for the stress to seep into the printshop too.)

Maybe Maggie’s arrival had shaken him, after all. “You sure?” She would rather he air his objections or qualms to her directly than have to infer any unsaid upset or resentment. He had been with Sage in the printshop before the talk in the kitchen, she’d gleaned. And it was a lot to process for anyone – Tess had been shocked enough, and she had known that Sage’s daughter existed. “I take it – Sage never told you, before?” Tess queried. Declan had never brought it up in conversation, and it was supposed to have been an old, buried secret, so she thought not – back at the time she had resolved that the fewer people who knew, the better. Still... she was almost impressed that Sage had actually managed to keep it from him, too.

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He wasn't alright, but it didn't feel fair that he wasn't. Maggie's appearance wasn't about him. He shouldn't feel hurt by it, and he should keep his qualms about the path forward to himself — but he was still left feeling unsettled by them, and Tess knew him well enough to know that his quiet was different.

He shrugged his shoulders at her. "She didn't," he said, keeping it simple.

  

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set by Bee

“I told her not to tell you, last time,” she said swiftly, because she would still rather Declan hold it against her than Sage (who presently needed all the shoulders she could cry on she could get). And it was mostly true: with the plan they had had, Tess had wanted her to keep the pregnancy from everyone she could, everyone beyond the family – especially Declan.

Not because she thought he would judge Sage for it, though – never for that. (Should they be worried what Declan thought of them now?)

“And it was never supposed to come up again, like this.” Tess grimaced: she couldn’t begrudge the girl for it, or her dead adoptive parents – but it wasn’t exactly helpful, having the same problem come around again. And maybe Tess had been too tired last night to be sensible, but – she had been ready to be braver this time, even if Sage was still stubbornly trying to protect everyone.

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Tess told Sage not to tell him, sure, that made sense — all of it made sense, but Declan still felt as if he had been a stranger last night. None of the girls had asked for him to be there — he'd just happened to be manning the shop when Sage got home with Maggie.

Maggie, with her bouncy, blonde curls.

"She looks like her," Declan said, quietly.

  

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set by Bee

Tess let out a slow, heavy exhale. “Yes,” she agreed eventually, a little defeated. “I thought so too.” And if she and Declan had noticed that in a night, denying it might not even get them as far as Sage evidently hoped it would.

She rested her forehead in her hands for a moment; no one had gotten enough sleep last night, after that. “You think it will be any better this way?” Sage’s choice. It was unfair of her to ask Declan his opinion, probably, when it had all been sprung on him – but Tess was a little afraid the lie was going to blow up in their faces sooner or later, regardless.

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Declan mulled over the question, taking a long beat to consider it. "People will think she's someone's," he said. He would not have pointed this out to any of the other Whitby girls — Tess was, he thought, the only one who could handle it and not either try to fall on a sword or catastrophize. And he was probably just saying something she'd already thought of.

"If she keeps looking that much like Sage, they'll figure it out."

  

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set by Bee

Someone’s. If the people in town had to pick a Whitby girl, Tess doubted anyone would think Sage first – they would probably imagine it was one of the younger ones. Someone full of flight and fancy, the romantic amongst them, like Mia; or perhaps Saffy, rubbing shoulders with arrogant sportsmen and Ministry cads every day. Or Archer’s, even – because illegitimate children were almost expected of men.

But Declan was right, she looked like Sage already. Tess shrugged, although this was what she worried about, that it would all come out in the wash anyway. “Maybe no one will care enough,” she posited, because they were – two-a-penny working class girls, not anyone the society magazines cared about; maybe their neighbours would notice but be sympathetic, and keep their mouths shut.

Tess knew that was wishful thinking already. Tongues would wag, because they always did, no matter the person, no matter the scandal. Rumours, theories. “Or – if there’s no hard proof, she might keep her job, at least.” Tess was half-aware that she oughtn’t talk to Declan about this, a distinctly Whitby problem – but sometimes talking to Declan was easier than batting ideas through her own head.

“She’s never told me who the father is,” Tess confessed, in a smaller voice. Sage was too good for that, too kind and too proud and too private, and even if she did say one day, Sage would simply never allow Tess to go confront him, or stoop so low as to ask him for money.

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   Declan Buchanan

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"I wish she would," Declan admitted, because if he was able to admit as much to anyone, it would be Tess. "He should have to take some responsibility, too." Even if Sage kept acting like Maggie was all on her, even if she didn't want to bring the man into it — he was just as responsible for the act that led to Maggie as Sage was. He should have to do something.

But Sage wasn't like that, and sooner or later rumors would start flying, and the gentleman would just get to keep on living his life. He sighed.

  

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set by Bee

“He should,” Tess agreed, still low. It was comforting to her to have Deck on her side. Not that either of them or both of them united could actually stop Sage from choosing what she wanted to do with her life or her daughter’s, but still. Maybe she and Sage ought to have told Declan sooner, after all. He might have swayed her sister with more success than Tess had had, if only she’d let him.

She let out a small, almost-amused huff; half-laugh, half-sigh. “You know I didn’t want her to tell you back then, because I was afraid you might,” Tess said, not entirely sure why she was admitting it; she had been worried he might have stepped up and taken responsibility for something that he had had nothing to do with. Sage hadn’t wanted to be rid of the pregnancy, had decided to bear it and had evidently already been attached to her child from the start, so if Declan hadn’t been able to persuade her of another path either, then he might have – “Do something noble like marry her.”

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   Sage Whitby

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"Oh," Declan said. He let her sentence and his sound hang in the air awkwardly, a slight pink blush growing on his cheeks. He looked down at one of the presses, then back up at Tess. "I probably would have." It was obviously too late now, and he was pretty sure that Sage didn't like him in that way and never had, but he probably still would have. There were plenty of marriages of convenience in the Slums, and he could have been happy in one with Sage.

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   Tess Whitby

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set by Bee

“See,” Tess said, knowingly. And there was no telling if he definitely would have, and no telling if Sage would have ever agreed to it, and Tess wouldn’t have liked it for either of their sakes’ – but maybe she was more selfish than she pretended, and it had been partly for herself, because she liked having Declan here. In the printshop. Not just liked; she needed him here, and didn’t want to lose him, and his marrying any of her sisters would have made things – difficult, or at least more complicated.

She rubbed at a grubby mark on her other hand, some faded smudge of ink from the last job, eyebrows drawn together, and perhaps embarrassed at herself. “My sisters and I aren’t your problem,” she reminded him, more matter-of-fact. “Well, not that much of your problem, anyway.”

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Declan furrowed his brow at her. "I never think of you and your sisters as problems," he said, to correct her. The Whitby girls kept telling him this, like he didn't think of them as people or as parts of his family, and he was starting to get sick of it.

He leaned over just to brush his shoulder against Tess', trying for awkwardly reassuring.

  

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set by Bee

“Thanks, Deck,” Tess said, in surrender, because she was really too tired to fight him on this. Sighing, and in spite of her better judgement, she tilted her head to rest against his shoulder. Just for one weary second: if she let herself go any further she may as well just fall into his arms, and they couldn’t have that. If anyone needed the comfort or support or reassurance today, it ought to be Sage, after all, and not her; and for all Declan was one of them, she was very aware he was also much too good to be true. He had enough to deal with, with his own family, never mind all that he took upon himself to support theirs. He probably would have married Sage back then, if it had helped her; Tess was certain he would have held her, wordless and without protest, if she had fallen apart on him now, for as long as she had needed. When would he be the one to ever need something? And what would they ever do without him?

She picked up her head again, glanced quickly away. “Well, cleaning down the Columbian can be your problem too, if you really want one,” Tess joked, as she picked up the rags herself in order to give the bulkiest press in the room a deep-clean to remove the excess ink before the next job. She had best let Declan get on with things; and a good scrubbing might get herself out of her head again.

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   Declan Buchanan

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