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26
Georgina held Daniel tightly to her chest as she ran through the woods, cursing her skirts and cloak which seemed to catch on every bit of bramble. If she could get to Lilian’s neighbors, whose house was somewhere beyond the pond now coming into view, she and Daniel would be safe.
Lilian crawling inside the house, her skirts full of blood.
“Oh, God. Please let her be alive.” She didn’t think William was any longer. Certainly, Nanny Gibbons was dead. A small cry left Georgina at the remembered sight of the nanny’s eyes, staring up at the sky.
William, you fool.
Daniel started to cry, protesting Georgina’s rough treatment as she fled through the trees and rapidly falling snow. His face reddened and scrunched up as he let out a particularly loud wail.
Georgina pulled him close to her chest as he started to wiggle. “Shhh. Please, sweetheart. Don’t cry.”
She’d been worried for so long that Harold would hurt Daniel, but now he needed her son for all his horrible schemes. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill her, just as he hadn’t paused in the least in shooting William and Mrs. Gibbons. Or that poor driver.
Lilian.
Georgina hadn’t heard another shot from Harold’s pistol, which she hoped meant he’d left Lilian alone. She paused long enough to catch her breath and listen for any sounds of pursuit. The woods around her were quiet. Nothing moved as the snow floated down around her.
Snowflakes covered Daniel’s cheeks, and she brushed them away. The Griest family lived just through the next clearing. They were German and didn’t speak much English, but they would help her. The pond was right in front of her.
She started around the perimeter, stepping near the withering cattails and grass before heading back into the safety of the trees. Careful to move as quietly as possible, she rocked Daniel against her chest, trying to keep him warm. Ben would come. Leo would come.
He’ll have to cross the river.Georgina had planned to make Leo a special tea, one her cook said would help soothe his stomach for the ferry. She had planned to hold him close to her, as she did Daniel, kiss him senseless until he stopped thinking about the water.
As she moved, Georgina concentrated on taking small, careful steps, not wanting to slide on the wet leaves beneath her feet. She despised her own foolishness at not telling Leo about Harold sooner. She hadn’t thought Harold would come here. How had he found William?
A sob caught in her throat. And Lilian. Her poor sister—
A branch snapped to her right.
* * *
Ben and Leodismounted from their horses after flying down the road in the direction of Lilian’s house. Mile after mile, the houses had become further apart, the stretches of forest longer. Eventually, Cooke turned his horse up a short drive with a large, brick home sitting majestically against the woods beyond. The snow was coming down faster now, wetting his cheeks and nearly covering the two people lying in front of the house. A man and a woman. A carriage sat off to one side, the horses stomping and shaking their manes.
Leo’s heart jumped into his throat at the sight of the woman, but it wasn’t Georgina. The woman’s auburn hair spilled across the snow, the small cap on her head askew.
“Nanny Gibbons,” Cooke said. “And William. I suspected she and William were involved with each other. I wanted to confront him but worried what the news would do to Lilian. She was far too young and pretty to be a nanny. She must have been helping him.”
Leo looked inside the carriage, but it was empty. He walked around the side, speaking in a soothing voice to the horses until he saw a dark form in the snow. “I found the driver.” The man was dead as well. Red splattered the snow around his body.
“It couldn’t have been that long ago,” Ben said, kneeling next to the two bodies. Steam came from the pool of blood forming around the man who Leo assumed was William Harrison. “They’re still warm.”
“Where are the servants?” Leo asked. The house and grounds were eerily quiet as he and Cooke made their way toward the porch. Suddenly, Cooke broke into a run, leaping up the steps. The front door was slightly ajar, a small bit of green fluttering in the doorway.
“Lilian.” Cooke’s voice broke.
At first, Leo’s heart nearly stopped at the sight of the woman lying at the base of the stairs, a pool of blood stretching out across the floor. It reminded him so strongly of what had happened to Tony’s mother, he had to shut his eyes.
“Where are you hurt, Lilian?” Cooke bent over her, his face stricken. “It’s Ben. Where are you shot?”
“She hasn’t been shot,” Leo said quietly, nodding to all the blood on the floor. “She’s lost the child and needs a doctor. Now.”
Lilian stirred in Cooke’s arms. She was beautiful, a slender, more delicate version of Georgina. “The woods,” Lilian croaked. “Georgina took Daniel.” A sob left her. “I told her to run. He—he shot William and Mrs. Gibbons. I tried to lock the door, Ben. I tried.” She clutched Ben’s arm. “I told her to go to the Griests.”
“Lil,” Ben said gently. “Where is he? The man who shot William.”
“I don’t know. He came up the steps and looked at me. I stayed very still when he nudged me with his foot. Then he mumbled that I was nearly dead anyway and didn’t...” A cry left her. “He didn’t want to waste a shot on me. Then he went after her. I—must have fainted. I yelled for help, but then I remembered no one could hear me. William gave all the servants the day off.” A tear escaped one eye. “He told me he wanted us to be completely alone because he had a surprise for me.” A trembling hand went to her mid-section. “The baby. He’s gone.”
