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Gladwell stood, clearing his throat. “This seems to be a matter for the two of you. I came here with Simon to check on you, Your Grace. I have done so and have duties to attend to. Send for me at the Red Boar in Ardle Heath should you need anything.”
He bowed and left the room. Alice sat on a stool beside Harold’s chair and rested her head on his knee. He stroked her silky hair, enjoying the softness and the feel of her delicate shoulders and neck as his hand followed its length down.
“What is the answer then?” Alice asked, sounding despairing.
“We continue as we had intended. The only way to sate your brother’s lust for revenge is to discover the truth. Clear my name,” Harold said.
It goes against the grain that my word is not sufficient. That I must clear my name for that man. But, it is not for me. It is for Alice and for our future together.
Alice lifted her head suddenly, looking up at Harold. “Wales,” she said.
Harold frowned. “What is the significance of Wales?”
“It is where Teddy was taken by my mother. And from where he did not return.”
“That is where he died?”
“Yes. But there is something unexplained about the whole journey. Charlie Hitch, our groundskeeper, and then assistant to his father who held the job before him, he went with Mama and Teddy. He was made to witness some kind of document. He said Teddy was very ill but what would need to be signed?”
“A legal document if it required witnesses,” Harold said.
“Something happened there. Mama would not let us see his body before it was interred into the family crypt. Simon believes it to be there but Master Hitch insists that it was never brought back from Wales,” Alice replied.
What on earth is the solution to this mystery? I believed I was here to overcome the animosity of the brother in order to win the heart of the sister. Now, we talk of bodies unburied and men dead or not dead.
“Then the answer is simple,” he said. “We go to the family crypt and look. If your brother is there, then there is no mystery. And we can focus on how to obtain your brother’s blessing to our marriage,” Harold said.
Alice smiled and climbed up onto the seat beside Harold. She put her arms about his shoulders, entwining her fingers in his hair, and kissed him, long and slow. He winced as she leaned into him and pressed against a tender area. Ruefully, Alice pulled back, stroking his face with gentle fingers.
“I do not recall you asking me for my hand?” she said.
“Forgive me. I have not,” Harold replied. “My imagination leaped ahead to the desired end state without first considering the steps we must go through to reach it. I must, of course, first win your heart, then propose.”
“The first part is achieved,” Alice said, slightly breathlessly.
There were twin spots of color in her cheeks and her eyes were bright and wide.
“Alice Hathway, you came to me as an apparent accident but as a true act of destiny. You are the first woman since I truly became a man, that I have wished to devote my life to. I would protect you, serve your needs and wishes and with you, continue the Clauder line. It would be the greatest honor that any man has ever known to be joined with you, to have you as the mother of my heirs. To share my life with you. Marry me.”
Alice’s eyes filled with tears as Harold spoke from the heart. She nodded her head, crystal liquid trickling from the corners of her eyes. He wiped the tears away gently with his thumb and pulled her head down to him to kiss her. The tears made her lips salty in taste, her cheeks wet against his.
“I will take that as a yes?” Harold said with a grin.
Alice laughed aloud. “You may.”
For a moment, all other concerns fell away. He had won the heart of the woman who had won his. They would be married. No power on earth would prevent that. No man would put them asunder. But, it was not enough. He knew that she would marry him without her family’s blessing. That she would be his wife even if that meant severing all ties with Simon and Ruth.
But I will not ask her to do that. I could not cut off my ties to Redwood and I cannot ask her to do the same. We must address this problem we face.
“I want this matter dealt with so that we are free to take the next step,” he said. “So, let us go to the Hathway family crypt and find out, one way or the other.”
Alice looked shocked by the idea.
“It is not a place I would like to be, with you. But is it not the most obvious place to discover the truth?”
“You are right. Logically, it makes sense to go there. It just seems to be a mite macabre.”
“I am not proposing that we go in the dead of night. It is your family crypt, no need to conceal our visit at all. You have a right to be there, do you not?”
