They were nearly finished with their meal when Xander cleared his throat meaningfully.
“Do you want to talk about Dugley and your father?” he asked carefully. “The wretch did mention that he had some information that might interest you…”
Ezra grimaced.
“I have long wondered what started that fire,” he said. “And I never thought it was just an accident. But now, knowing that Dugley was connected to my father… I wonder if he was the one to cause it. Now that I have, ah, improved upon his visage, I doubt he would tell me the truth, anyway.”
Helen, who had evidently not yet heard that part of the story, looked intrigued.
“Probably not,” Xander allowed. “But if you stayed a little while longer, we could see what else we could find. You don’t need to rush off, and Dugley has lived here a long time. Also, nobody likes him, so most people are willing to talk.”
Ezra was astonished to find that he wasn’t even tempted.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I do want answers, but Letty needs to go home. She needs to know she’s safe. She didn’t feel safe in Belgium. I need to take her home.”
Helen looked considerablymoreintrigued.
“Very well,” Xander said. “When will you leave?”
“Tomorrow,” Ezra said. “I need to get home myself, too. Poor Iris will be beside herself.”
This proved to be more than Helen could take.
“Enough!” she cried. “Someoneneeds to tell me everything that is going on hereright now.”
CHAPTER 26
Only one of Letitia’s feet had touched the cobblestones outside Hugh and Persephone’s house before she was struck by two cannonballs that nearly sent her careening back into the carriage.
“Miss Knightley!” Iris called from where she was clinging to Letty’s knees.
“Oh, Letty, oh my friend, you are here,” Sarah wept into her shoulder. “You have no idea how worried I have been. But you are here. You are here.”
“I am here,” Letitia confirmed, smoothing her friend’s hair. “I am all right.”
Ezra’s hand came to the small of her back, steadying her as she wobbled under the exuberance of her friend and the little girl.
He had been acting like this for their entire journey home—always nearby, always solicitous, always familiar, though notably unthreatening about it. She had tried to ask about it only once, but he had just shaken his head and said they would talk when they were back in London.
She had not argued. She wanted to be home.
And if what he was going to tell her was that he had realized she had been right all along, and that he had only come to help her out of a sense of duty, well. She wanted to soak up as much of this care and comfort as she could.
They were back in London now, though. Her time had come to an end.
“All right, all right,” Persephone said, coming to take Iris by the hand. “Why don’t we let Miss Knightley come inside, hm?”
Iris beamed up at Persephone. “All right, Aunt Percy.” She turned to look at Letitia and Ezra. “That’s what the triplets and I can call her. But Corinna and Nicholas call her ‘Mama,’ because she is their mama.”
For the first time since she had found Peter waiting for her, Letitia started laughing, open, broad, and true.
Iris adopted an expression of outrage. “It’s true!” she exclaimed.
Letitia bent down and cupped the little girl’s cheek. “It is true,” she agreed. “I am not laughing because you are wrong. I am laughing because you are wonderful and clever.”
Iris was appeased. “Oh, very well, then,” she said contentedly.
Iris kept up a cheerful patter as they all went into the house, Sarah clinging to one of Letitia’s arms, Ezra hovering patiently at her other side. Evidently, Iris had been having a completely wonderful time with her cousins and felt determined to relay every detail of every game they had ever played. She lost interest in this as soon as the Blackwood children came back into sight—playing was clearly more amusing than talking about playing.
