Page 139 of A Duchess for his Family

“I missed you, too.”

She kissed the child’s wet hair. Then she forced herself to let her go.

“We must go.”

Marjorie looked at the water. “I cannot.”

“Yes, you can.”

“It nearly knocked me over before.”

Sophia crouched until they were eye to eye. “You are going to hold my hand. You will put your feet exactly where I put mine. You will not look at the water.”

Marjorie’s eyes filled again. “What do I look at?”

Sophia held her gaze. “Me.”

The girl nodded. Sophia took both her hands. Slowly, they stepped into the stream. The current struck Sophia harder on the return. She moved sideways, placing herself between Marjorie and the deepest flow.

“One step.”

Marjorie obeyed.

“Good. Again.” Another step. Sophia’s foot slipped. Her heart lurched, but she recovered. Marjorie whimpered.

“I have you.”

She did. That was all that mattered. The bank came closer.

Ten feet. Six. Three.

Sophia pushed the girl forward, and Marjorie managed to find her way toward the bank. She turned around, trembling.

“Sophia!”

“I am right behind you.” Sophia smiled.

She turned toward shore.

One step, she told herself. Then another.

Her boot came down upon nothing. The riverbed dropped away. Sophia gasped. The current caught her instantly. Her feet disappeared beneath her.

“Sophia!”

She reached for a branch of a nearby tree, but she could not grab it. Water struck her side with terrifying force. For one suspended second, she saw Marjorie on the bank, screaming her name, then the current pulled Sophia backward.

Cold water closed over her head and the world vanished.

The night was already fading toward dawn when Benedict, unable to sleep, found himself outside the twins’ bedchamber.

He told himself it was habit. The maid had already checked the fire, the windows, and both girls twice. There was no reason for him to enter.

Still, he opened the door. The room was quiet. One candle burned beside the bed, its flame low within the glass. Amelia slept nearest the fire, one hand curled beneath her cheek. Admiral lay at her feet, his small body rising and falling beneath the coverlet.

Then, Benedict noticed that the other side of the mattress was empty.

For one foolish moment, his mind refused to understand what he saw. He thought Marjorie had slipped beneath the blankets, or curled herself at the foot of the bed. She had once fallen asleep inside the wardrobe while attempting to prove it suitable for exploration.