Page 70 of Miss Wylde and the Wynd

Damian chuckled. He wasn’t certain Jules would ever leave the estate, let alone travel to Italy. Besides, if anyone was going to visit Carrera, it would be him.

Damian pulled back at that thought. He had no reason to sail somewhere and he was not going to be as foolish as Georgie’s sister and chase someone across the Atlantic after having known them only a short time.

*

Georgie wished that she could do or say something that would make Damian feel better, but having not even met Jules, there was little that she could offer. However, she did understand the worry and it was likely just as heavy as what she carried for Grace.

She drank the rest of her coffee and pushed her empty plate aside. Damian was also done with his meal. “Shall we call on your friend?”

“Yes.”

No doubt he wanted his mind off his brother since there was nothing he could do so far away.

Once they were outside of the coaching inn, Damian hailed a hackney and gave directions to Chisholm Shipping offices and it wasn’t long before they were along the waterfront with ships docked and sailors and workers moving about and calling out orders—much the same as it had been in Southampton.

“Let us hope that Chisholm is here and will be of service,” Damian said just before they entered the office.

Georgie took a deep breath, more to calm her nerves than anything else. Each time they went somewhere that Grace was to have gone, she had gotten her hopes up, only for them to be dashed. She tried not to let that happen today.

“Would Mr. Ewan Chisholm be in?” Damian asked the clerk at the front counter.

“Who is asking?” the man returned.

“Tell him that Mr. Damian Wynd is here to see him.”

“Wynd!” a loud boisterous voice bellowed from an office behind the clerk. “Come in!”

Damian chuckled and then accompanied Georgie into the office where a large man loomed behind a desk.

“Why are you in Liverpool? You had better not be thinking about opening offices or putting a warehouse here.”

“No more than I would want you in Southampton,” he retorted.

“Then we understand each other.” The man gave a nod then motioned to the chairs before his desk. Only after Georgie had taken a seat did he settle in his chair.

“Then why are you here and why are you carrying luggage? Do you need passage somewhere?”

Damian glanced at Georgie before he answered “We are looking for my wife’s sister. We learned that she and a Mr. Harold Fisher came to Liverpool from London. He is hoping to hire on a ship to America where his wife could travel as a passenger.”

Georgie had never claimed that Grace was Fisher’s wife, and they had no idea if the two had married but she appreciated Damian protecting her sister’s reputation.

“Aye. I met him.”

Georgie sat forward.

“Was Grace with him?”

“I did not get her name, but I sent them to Greenock. It is the only place where our ships sail out of to America.”

She should have known that it would not be so easy to find Grace. How many more times would she learn where her sister had been and where she was going until they finally caught up to her?

“How long ago was this?” Damian asked.

“Three days, I suppose.”

“Did you hire him? Will they have passage to America?”

“Aye, I did because he had worked for Trade Wynd and since I knew you did not have passenger ships, assumed that was why he came to me.”