A sudden change came over it. Bragging and making other people feel jealous was much easier than... than this. Her eyes burned at the thought of her relatives and that she was on their mind.

Or perhaps it was the word 'missed'.

She wasn't going to cry. If she started...

She broke anyway. She brought her hands up to cover her face. She seemed to visibly shrink. Her shoulder shook as she began to sob, breaking down into the lost little child she felt like.

All was well. Alice had a nice life as wife to a man of means. She had a servant, good clothing, she looked warm –…

Lory’s eyes widened at the first shake of her shoulders.

“A-Alice?” she frowned.

Oh. Oh no.

She didn’t know what was wrong, or what to say. Instead, she put her arms around her and shielded Alice’s face from view with her own.

Alice rested her face against Lory's shoulder and sobbed. She was afraid someone she knew would see her or that Tobias would come back. But she couldn't stop herself now that she had started, and even less now that there was someone to comfort her. "I want to go home," she cried.

Lory stroked Alice’s hair, but her heart raced.

This was a scene. She dared a glance over her shoulder. People were watching. Did any of them know her? Eyes met her, and a chill ran down her spine: was that one of her johns, or just someone who looked like it?

But the man wrinkled his nose and walked on. Lory buried her face in Alice’s hair, trying to fight the contagious tears.

“But it’s better,” Lory insisted, voice too desperate to be convincing. “It’s better, right? The water won’t take you. Some nasty man won’t-” murder her and leave her body out to find after she sells herself to to him “-… won’t holler at you in the streets. Right?”

Alice was hardly aware of her surroundings or of the people watching. But she pulled back a little at last and tried to dry her tears when her cousin spoke.

It was better. That was what her father had said too. It was better. It was responsible. She'd be selfish if she didn't. Because it was better than potentially tipping her family into the workhouse if they fell on hard times. It was better because she had put herself into this situation, and had mercifully been offered an improvement of her conditions.

How was she to argue with that? She knew it was true, and yet admitting that only made her want to curl up even more.

But she nodded quietly and continued to wipe her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm sorry. Ye'r right. I ought to be grateful," she said weakly.

She couldn't just curl up here in the middle of the street.

After that, the tears did breach.

“No, it’s not-” she started, hating the way her voice cracked.

She knew as much had been said about Alice. Lory knew she had feared the fate of feeding Alice’s babe. What it meant for them. What it meant for her.

More eyes skimmed them, but Alice’s grief overwhelmed her.

“Alice, please! Your life is worth more than the miserable three seconds Noah subjected you to.”

At least, she hoped it had been quick. She hated, hated the bastards that could just hammer on for an eon.

That only made her feel worse. Fresh tears broke out. Her shoulders began to shake again. She hugged herself and closed her eyes. Noah. She had just wanted to be loved. And she had loved him. She had seen the goodness in him, or so she had thought. She had believed they could be happy together.

But Noah didn't want her either.

"Tis me own fault," she cried quietly. "I'm sorry. I've no right to cry." Yet she did.

Lory looked about nervously, aware of the eyes that turned to glance before mercifully walking on. A man in a boater turned his head, squinted, and glanced down from Lory’s tear-stricken face to her breasts. She didn’t recognize the man, but the unabashed once-over put her on edge. Had he..? Hadn’t he..? Or did he just want to..?

“I can watch the stand for you, Alice,” she said, quietly but urgently. “See the water. Take a moment.”

A moment where Lory could catch her breath. How much longer could she keep this up before word got around? Some of her clients had money to toss about … but most of them lived on the same streets as her family.

Would this kind of life be preferable to Alice? The thought killed her, but so did the sight.

Alice moved to the waterside and leaned against the railing, staring out across the familiar harbor. There were times she had hated the sight, times when she had dreamed of a more exciting life somewhere else. Now she wished it was hers again, that she was a girl, and life held promise even if she knew the promise was merely a daydream.

She manage to shut down and calm at last. She was very lucky after all. Behind her, the cart seemed to do good business all of a sudden. She turned and watched.

The man who had oggled her swooped around as soon as Alice’s back was to Lory. He was probably a few years older than her, and he had a face that she wouldn’t be surprised to be another brother of one of the other close-knit families.

“You Ruby?” he said, and she had the familiar feeling that this man knew more about her than the other way around.

She squared her shoulders, straightened her spine, and put on her ‘working’ smile as she gestured over what Alice was selling.

Alice was a crier. She had some time.

“Not right now,” she answered. “Are you here for the buns, or more for the eggs?”

From afar, plain, built-like-a-board Lory stood in a way that emphasized her hips, leaned in a way that gave her cleavage where she usually barely had any. The man reached to touch her arm, and she brushed his hand off in a way that seemed far more flirtatious than chastising.