Céleste nodded silently.
“I can tell you, though,” Aldric continued, “since I had my mother in my life longer than you had yours, I suspect I have a few more memories of mine. There was happiness among the sorrow. She told me once that having me as her son brought her happiness. That, in turn, has brought me a lot of comfort.”
Her brow creased, and her mouth turned down in a sharp, ponderous expression. “Do you think I brought my mother any happiness?”
“I can guarantee that you did, and I do not guarantee many things.”
“You are proving a surprising person, Aldric Benick,” she said softly.
He liked that reply.
“Will you read to me, Monsieur Aldric?” Adèle asked.
“Horses can’t read,ma petite douce,” he answered.
Both of his dear traveling companions laughed, which he also liked quite a lot.
“Not the horse,” Adèle said with a giggle.
“OurAldric can’t read while he is driving,” Céleste said. “But I will read to you.”
OurAldric. While that was a gratifying thing to hear, it was also sobering. They were depending on him, something that had proven a mistake in the past.
Adèle twisted enough to drop into the footwell of the cart and, he assumed, dig through her bag. She returned to the bench, sitting in the small space between Aldric and Céleste, and gave her book to her aunt.
Aldric set his attention fully on the road and the journey ahead. Céleste would keep Adèle occupied, and Aldric would keep them both safe as they traveled. And he would keep himself focused and his heart from imagining foolish things.
“Aldric?” Céleste’s words shook. “We have a horrible problem.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Aldric heard fear in Céleste’svoice. And she’d spoken in English, which meant she didn’t want Adèle to understand what she was saying. “What is it?”
“There is a note in Adèle’s book. I know it wasn’t there yesterday.”
A quick glance showed she was watching him and holding up a folded piece of parchment.
“What does it say?”
She read aloud haltingly, no doubt because she was translating the contents into English.
I told you I would reclaim what has been taken from me one Fortier at a time if I must, but I am not unwilling to accept repayment in Benicks as well.
A blasted, pointed threat.
“You weren’t at the ball on our last night in Paris,” Céleste said, “but the man who tried to abduct me said he would be recompensed for what had been taken from him even if he had to reclaim it ‘one Fortier at a time.’ He intends to harm the members of this family as revenge, and now he’s clearly referencing you as well. He—”
“Tante Céleste, you are not reading me a story.” Adèle’s complaint was lodged in French, the only language she knew.
Céleste returned to French for her answer. “I will in a moment, dear. I need to talk to tontonAldric first.”
“Tonton Aldric.” Adèle pulled his name out long, in a tone of severely tried patience. “She isn’t reading me a story.”
The little girl had, in all actuality, been very well behaved and patient throughout the long days on the road. He could hardly be frustrated with her that she was, only now, letting herself express a little exasperation.
To Céleste, he said, in English, “Perhaps choose a very short story to read to her so she won’t feel neglected. While you do, I’ll ponder this new difficulty of ours.”
She took up a tale. Aldric didn’t listen closely. His mind was spinning. A repeat of the threats made to Céleste in Paris meant the note had to have been connected to Jean-François’s extortion scheme and the people he hadvictimized, people they’d not been able to identify. The threat of violence in the countryside and theactualviolence that had descended on Fleur-de-la-Forêt had occupied Aldric’s concerns so fully the past few days that he’d nearly forgotten that threat.
