“You going to be all right?” Tommy asked him.
“Just fine,” Colin said, waving him off. “I’m embarrassed how easily they got the jump on us. Like they were expecting us.”
“What happened with Jonny?” Tommy asked, looking from Rhys to Colin as they exchanged an uneasy glance.
“We’re not sure,” Rhys admitted. “He was supposed to be our lookout. The next thing we knew, he was in the river, and all went to shit. A bunch of Blackwood’s men came out from the shadows and surrounded us.”
“So, if it hadn’t been for our mysterious savior and the police finally arriving…”
“We would all be at the bottom of the river,” Colin finished grimly. “Emmaline is with Lily at my house. Why don’t we go and reassure them that all is well — and answer their hundreds of questions that are sure to come — and then we’ll have our carriage take you home?”
Everything within Tommy wanted to pick up Minnie and see her home right this moment, then not let her leave his side for days, but when he saw the desire to see and reassure her friends written on her face, he nodded, and away they went.
“There you are!” Lily cried out as they walked through thedoor. She immediately went to Colin, welcoming his arms around her as he held her close. “I was so worried.”
Tommy couldn’t keep his eyes off his own wife, but as he did, he noticed something. Minnie was eyeing Lily as though she was… suspicious. That was odd.
“Are you all right?” Lily asked Colin, as Emmaline simply went up to Rhys and placed a kiss on his cheek before he drew her in for a kiss much deeper than that, uncaring that they were not alone.
It was then Tommy noticed that Ada was also with them, sitting primly on the edge of the sofa, one leg crossed over the other as she watched them, appearing… aloof.
“What did you ladies do this evening?” Minnie asked, placing her hands on her hips as she stared them down.
“Nothing at all!” Lily said a bit too enthusiastically. “We were waiting for you all to return. Tell us everything. Did the police arrest Blackwood?”
“We were trapped for a moment,” Minnie said, her gaze flicking from one of her friends to the other. “In fact, we thought that we had lost everything. That Blackwood would take me, that he would put an end to the men — to your husbands.”
Lily flinched slightly, while Emmaline stood stoically at her husband’s side.
“Well, you’re all here now, so it must have worked out, no?” Emmaline said, just as a knock sounded on the door. They all looked at one another in surprise before Colin walked over and opened it, revealing a still-damp Jonny.
“Well, well, who do we have here?” Tommy said as Jonny walked in. “Where have you been?”
“Keeping my distance from the police,” Jonny said, running a hand through his hair. “I thought you’d all be here.”
“Care to explain what happened tonight, Jonny?” Rhys asked, his dark brown eyes trained on him.
“I was surprised,” Jonny said, a sheepish look on his face. “I was trying to keep an eye on all of you when one of Blackwood’s men came upon me. I should have taken him out, gotten to him before he got me, but…” he trailed off, looking to the side as though he had no wish to say more. Tommy would have thought he was ashamed that someone had got the better of him, but he had a feeling there was more to it.
“Now’s not the time to keep secrets, Jonny,” Colin said, a little more kindly than Rhys.
Jonny levelled them all with a bit of uncertainty before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“I was taken aback when the person who discovered me was someone I knew,” he said softly. “Someone I haven’t seen in some time.”
“Who would that be?” Rhys demanded.
“My brother.”
Chapter Thirty-One
No one seemed to have a response to that, especially based on how the admission seemed to take everything out of Jonny. He slumped forward in his chair as a slight shiver from the cold river overtook him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking around at all of them. “I am. Truly. I put you all in danger.”
“It’s fine, Jonny,” Tommy said. “You did what you could.”
Minnie felt bad for Jonny, although she was still a bit sore that he had left them all in such an impossible situation and then had abandoned them once the police had arrived.
