“While wandering the house under the pretense of finding Father’s best wines,” he said by way of greeting, “I discovered he’s set sentries at each of the doors as well as at the stables. When I leave, I should be able to distract those at the front door and in the stables. I’ll make enough noise for you to know when I’m leaving. That will be your chance to exit through the library windows.”
We nodded. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but with Lord Murphy asleep upstairs, it was our best option. Garrett held some sway over his father’s men, and without Lord Murphy to contradict him, he should be able to keep one side of the house clear for us to escape.
Garrett embraced Julia first and then David, holding each of them for a long while.
Then he turned to me and placed his hands on my shoulders, pulling me in for a brotherly hug. “It looks as though you are to stay my sister after all, Mrs. Tate.”
“I am,” I whispered back.
“We are a strange lot, but welcome to the family.” Then he was gone, landing a soft blow on David’s shoulder as he passed him. The moment he stepped into the corridor, his posture shifted, one shoulder slumping as his step faltered. A low sailor’s song drifted from his lips in an uneven cadence, and even after David closed the door, we could hear Garrett’s progress down the corridor.
David dropped to the ground, watching under the door for any sign that his father had heard Garrett and followed.
When Garrett’s song faded, the house was silent for several minutes. I opened Julia’s window and dropped her parcel as well as David’s and mine from the window. If we were caught on the way to the library, at least it wouldn’t be obvious we were trying to leave.
The clock on the mantel ticked in the quiet until, finally, we heard Garrett demanding someone get his carriage ready. There were several back-and-forth comments, ending with Garrett’s slurred, “There is no one of import in this backwater town. I’m continuing to Kent.”
David threw open Julia’s door, checked for anyone in the corridor, then motioned for us to follow him.
I fought every instinct to hunch over and walk silently on my toes. David reached for my hand, and I grasped his, forcing myself to look calm. We were simply heading to the library in our own home.
We made it down the stairs and into the library without encountering anyone. Garrett had demanded the attention of most of the staff.
Once the library door was closed behind us, we divided, everyone searching the room to make certain we were alone before following David to a large window facing the side garden.
Garrett made another large ruckus, demanding to go to the stables himself and help the groomsmen ready the carriage. We used his disturbance to cover the sounds of the library windows opening. David jumped the few feet to the ground, before helping Julia and me scramble down. Our one tree-climbing incident together had proved useful after all. David then climbed back up and quietly closed the window while we waited in the bushes.
When the rattling of Garrett’s carriage and Garrett’s loud, slurred yelling covered any noise we would make, we left the darkness of the bushes and started walking toward the Mortensens’.
We didn’t speak. David held my hand, and I held Julia’s. I looked back to see the beauty that had been my home for weeks. We would never come back. Not as long as Lord Murphy was alive.
David never looked back, and when Julia did, I noticed her eyes only searched for the little plot of land we’d decided to make into an orchard.
We reached the first fork in the walking path. One way led toward town, and the other led to the Mortensens’. Even if Lord Murphy or his servants discovered we’d gone, they would assume we would walk into Breckenridge. Once we turned toward the Mortensens’ home, the most pressing part of our escape would be behind us.
I squeezed David’s hand, my breath finally coming a bit easier, when we heard a sinister laugh from the trees that lined the path toward town.
I narrowed my eyes, looking for any movement in the dim light when a large body, familiar in the breadth of his shoulders and his significant height, stepped away from a dark tree trunk.
Lord Murphy folded his arms in front of his chest, his legs spread wide. It was too dark to see his face at this distance, but I was certain if I could, it would be set in a sneer.
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice the strength of that scotch?”
David’s hand tightened over my own, but other than that, he didn’t move.
Lord Murphy jerked his head, and two other men stepped out from behind the trees. “Julia, I’m quite disappointed to see you leaving. I thought you, at least, would stay with your dear old father.”
Julia didn’t say a word.
“The first thing I did after you three so tastelessly left me in the dining room was check which windows had been adjusted to be opened. Once I knew you would leave by way of the library, this was the only path you could have taken without being seen. Everything about your foolhardy plan was extremely simple to deduce. Only one thing has surprised me.”
“What is that?” David asked tersely.
“That makeshift bag of yours. You don’t even have anything decent to put your wife’s things in. I’m sorry, my dear Mrs. Tate. David never was one to care about appearances.”
As tightly as David held my hand, I clung to his harder. Why hadn’t we thought to pack a pistol? Or a knife? Or anything that could have been used as a weapon.
“We are leaving,” David said, a hand on my arm, steadying me.
