Maren blinked and looked back and forth between the two siblings. “Will he be coming here tonight? Is my family safe?”
“He won’t be coming,” David responded. “He is in no condition to look for us tonight, and we will be long gone before he is.”
Maren visibly relaxed and then motioned for us to sit in the chairs by the fire. She’d laid out four beds on the floor, but Mama wasn’t in any of them.
“My mother is here, isn’t she?” I asked.
“Yes,” Maren said quietly, not wanting to wake anyone. She looked down at the four beds. “Mr. Garrett won’t be joining you?”
“No,” David said. “He’s gone to Kent.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
David took my hand in his and kissed it, his gaze steady and full of promise. “We are going to be happy,” he said.
We didn’t know what the path ahead looked like, but we would make it a good one. When problems arose, whether they came from Lord Murphy or any other source, we would solve them together.
And if there was a problem we couldn’t solve, well then, I suppose I would just have to get Julia to shoot it.
W
Epilogue
“To David,
Now that you are old enough to write, I wanted you to have this. Everyone should have a secret place to write out their dreams and their fears. Keep it hidden. You are the brightest part of my day—a joy to behold—and someday we will find a way to make your life so sweet the bitter will be washed away.
With all the love of my heart,
Mother”
—Celeste Tate, 1836, Age 29
David leaned forward against the back of the sofa, where I sat in our Lincolnshire cottage. His arms were draped around my shoulders, his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows. Several of his scars showed, but neither of us worried about anyone seeing them anymore. I lifted each page of the newspaper, searching the headlines for the story David wanted me to find.
“Could you give me a clue, at least?” I begged. “Which section of the newspaper should I be looking in?”
“Hmm ...” David rubbed his cheek against mine, the soft stubble making me tuck my chin into my shoulder with a shiver. It was such a distraction, having a husband. “But I’m so enjoying the anticipation.”
“Mama and Julia will be back from their shopping trip in less than an hour. Don’t you think there are better ways we could be making use of our time than having me read the entire paper?”
David huffed and nipped softly at my ear. “You always know exactly how to get what you want.” He swatted my hands away from the paper and quickly pulled down the pages until he found the one he wanted.
“The financial section?” I asked. What would be of interest to me in the financial section?
“There is a business for sale that might interest you.”
A business? David and I were happy here in Lincolnshire, going by the names of Mr. and Mrs. Ford. We’d made a life here quicker than I’d ever thought possible. Did he want a change already? If he did, I would follow him.
“Do you want to buy a business? I thought you enjoyed working as a steward for Lord Pippen.”
“I do enjoy working for Lord Pippen, and I don’t have any desire to buy this business, but ifyouwant us to buy it, I would take some perverse pleasure in it.”
I turned my neck to get a better look at him. That sounded very unlike my husband. He sighed and came around to sit next to me on the sofa, pointing to the exact article he wanted me to read.
Only it wasn’t an article. It was a notice.
Haberdashery and Butchery for Sale
