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“Edgar,” Mari said, laying her hand on his arm.
His eyes were still hard as steel, and his body rigid.
“Edgar,” she said again. “It’s over now.”
She saw him return to his body from whatever dark place he’d been inhabiting.
He took a quick breath and swiped a hand through his hair.
It was over. She hadn’t been forced into a carriage. Edgar had rescued her.
She hadn’t needed rescuing... probably. Though she was grateful for not having to find out.
“You were magnificent,” she said to Edgar. “Thank you.” Her shoulders shook, her knees suddenly weak.
Edgar laid his arm around her shoulders. “Can you walk?”
“I just... need a moment.” She steadied herself against his solid, comforting bulk.
“Can he block your railway?” she asked.
“It was an empty threat,” Edgar said, but a muscle twitched in his jaw, telling her that perhaps it hadn’t been entirely empty. “The threat to you, on the other hand, was real. He was trying to force you into his carriage. I saw everything.”
“I’ve been forced into carriages before and emerged to tell the tale,” she said flippantly, but she was still shaking inside from the panicked thoughts of what might have occurred.
“This was different, and you know it. Why were you talking to him?”
“I met him at the antiquities exhibition. He seemed a nice enough fellow, and I’ve been wanting to see the bronzes at the museum.”
It sounded unconvincing, she knew.
He searched her face. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter why you were talking to him. What matters is that you are safe, and that you didn’t end up in his carriage.”
His kind words made her feel slightly teary-eyed.
She’d never lied to him, not outright. Not with any kind of bad intent. She’d told half-truths. Diverted the conversation away from dangerous subjects.
How tired she was of evading his questions. She wanted to tell him everything.
Yes, Edgar. I’m everything Haddock thought I was. I’m not superior. I’m not a gentleman’s daughter. I’ve sinned by omission.
She couldn’t tell him out here on the street. Couldn’t bear to have him walk away in anger.
She glanced at him, a thought occurring to her. “Were you... following me?”
He avoided her eyes. “Might have been.”
“Why would you follow me?”
“Because I have an apology to make, and you wouldn’t let me give it to you earlier. And... I have a surprise for you and the children.”
The seashore. The thought cheered her. Even though it meant she couldn’t pursue her quest to discover the truth of her birth, going to the seashore with Edgar and the children would accomplish other goals. It would bring him and the children closer together.
And Mari wouldn’t have to be so wary and careful when she was away from London.
Mrs. Trilby couldn’t find her there.
“Come,” he offered his arm. “Let’s go home.”
