by Bree Wolf
“S-Sophie…Sophie is your sister? She was my son’s nurse. She…”
For a short moment, Garrett saw himself standing outside a simple building somewhere in London after following his wife to a solicitor’s office and then continuing after them. The door had opened, and for a short moment, a young woman had appeared before she had bid them inside.
It had been the same woman he now saw up on the ship, his son in her arms.
His heart lurched into his throat at the thought that his little boy was only a few steps away. If he were to rush up the gangplank, he could draw him into his arms within moments. But what about his wife? Would Mr. Adams threaten her if he found out that she had not come alone?
Garrett gritted his teeth, glancing at the man out of the corner of his eye. There was something oddly unsettling about him. While he seemed perfectly polite, his manners easy and considerate, something dark lurked under that friendly exterior. Here and there, it had already reared its ugly head if only for a moment. Anger lived in the man’s heart, and its constant presence had taken its toll over the years. What compassion and decency he might have possessed once were now grotesque alterations, twisted into his very own ideas of right and wrong.
“Can I hold him?” Claudia asked, her voice trembling as she blinked back tears, her gaze fixed on the small bundle. Wrapped in a soft blanket, their son was all but hidden from their eyes. Only a little hand protruded from the bundle as though waving to them in greeting. His wife’s breath caught in her throat, and she clasped a hand over her mouth, fighting to remain strong.
“As soon as you decide,” Mr. Adams repeated, a rather triumphant sneer on his face that Garrett would have loved to extinguish.
Every fibre in his body strained to knock the man senseless and retrieve his wife and child. Still, they needed a plan. Who knew what Mr. Adams had told his sister to do should he be attacked? She stood so close to the railing that if she were to release her hold, their son would drop down into the dark waters. Was that intentional? Or was she merely standing so close for them to be able to see the child?
“Who are you?”
The moment Mr. Adams growled the question, Garrett knew that it was directed at him. Still, he remained immobile, glancing at the man out of the corner of his eyes.
“Yes, you!” Mr. Adams hissed, his gaze shifting to Claudia, a loathsome gleam in his eyes. “You said you came alone.” His voice sounded like a whiplash, and Claudia flinched. “You lied! Does your son mean that little to you?”
“No!” Claudia exclaimed, turning pleading eyes to the man beside her. “He means everything to me! Please let me hold him.”
Staring at her, he shook his head. “How can I believe a word you say?” His gaze rose to meet Garrett’s. “Who are you? You’ve been following us, haven’t you?”
Garrett’s eyes narrowed as he turned to face the man, his gaze running over him in speculation. How much did he know? How much was merely guesswork? Did he have anyone else working with him besides his sister? Were there others on the docks waiting for a signal from him?
Mr. Adams grinned, his eyes once more lighting up, a look of superiority in them. “Do not look so surprised,” he sneered at Garrett. “I’ve spent years in the service of others, trying my best to remain invisible−as is expected of a lowly servant.” He scoffed, his deep-seated anger showing in the snarl on his face. “However, only because no one noticed me does not mean that I was as oblivious as them. I saw. I heard. And I knew more than anyone ever would have guessed.” His gaze hardened. “Who are you?”
Squaring her shoulders, Claudia drew Mr. Adams’s attention back to her. “He’s my husband,” she said in a strong, clear voice, her blue eyes determined as she met his. “We’ve come to retrieve our son.”
Instantly, Mr. Adam’s face paled, and for a short moment, Garrett thought that he would faint on the spot. However, he regained his composure quickly, anger and betrayal now etched into his eyes as he glared at Claudia. “You lie,” he hissed the moment his right hand shot to his side, drawing a dagger from beneath the folds of his coat.
Garrett drew in a sharp breath, cursing himself for not overpowering the man when he had had the chance. “She speaks the truth,” Garrett said, carefully taking a step closer, his hands raised in surrender, hoping to appease the man before he could unleash his anger upon Claudia. “We were married almost a year ago in Gretna Green.”
Mr. Adams snorted, “If that were true,” he hissed, his other hand clamping down on Claudia’s arm, drawing her against him, “there would have been no need to hide your indiscretion.”
“I didn’t know,” Claudia hissed back until the blade of Mr. Adams’ dagger came to rest against her side, pressing into her flesh through the fabric of her dress. “I couldn’t remember. We only met again a few days ago.”
Scoffing, Mr. Adams drew her back toward the ship, his eyes fixed on Garrett. “That is ludicrous. You must think me a fool.”
Garrett certainly did; however, he managed to refrain from saying so out loud. “The point is,” he stated instead, trying to remain calm as that madman dragged his wife toward a ship bound for the colonies, “that we’re married, she and I. Aiden is our son, conceived and born in wedlock.” He clenched his teeth as he saw the man’s eyes narrow. “There’s no need for ye to protect him. He’ll be safe with us. He’ll have everything he deserves, everything that was denied ye. I’ll make certain of it. I swear.”
“Yes, he’ll be fine,” Claudia agreed, her blue eyes holding Garrett’s as she spoke to the man holding a knife to her body. “I thank you for your concern and…and your devotion toward Aiden. If it weren’t for you, I would never have found my husband again, I would never have known that no one would have a reason to think less of my son. I thank you for that. You’ve done what you could, but now you need to return him to us. He has a family, a mother and a father. He will be well. I promise.”
Garrett could see the dark glare in Mr. Adams’ eyes as though Claudia had betrayed him by being married, by providing a father for her child and thus robbing him of the opportunity to be her knight in shining armour. The connection that Mr. Adams had seen between them before was now gone, and he glared down at her with all the hatred Garrett had feared.
“Do not come any closer!” Mr. Adams ordered when Garrett had started toward him without even realising that he had moved. “One more step and I’ll end her right here and now.” Pressing the blade into Claudia’s side, he dragged her up the gangplank.
Pain shot through Garrett’s body as he stood stock-still, not knowing what to do.
Around him, people moved up and down the dock, sailors called to one another and seagulls screeched overhead. Here and there, someone turned their head to look at him or his wife and Mr. Adams, a slight frown coming to their eyes as they considered the scene. Still, with the blade hidden between their bodies, no one seemed to realise the dire nature of the situation.
Garrett wanted to scream.
No matter what he would do, his wife and child might end up dead…or lost to him across the sea in the colonies. What was he to do?
Panic filled his being, and he felt his heart break as he met his wife’s gaze. Her blue eyes held excruciating agony, and tears streamed down her face as she followed Mr. Adams up the gangplank and onto the deck of the ship. Garrett approached the end of the dock, one step short of falling into the water, his eyes never leaving hers. “I will find ye,” he called up to her, his voice only loud enough for her to hear as he was still afraid of what Mr. Adams would do should Garrett call attention to them. “I will find ye, Lass. I swear it.”
A soft smile came to her lips, and she nodded her head. “I know,” she called back. “I’ll take care of our son. He’ll be fine. I promise.”
Tears streamed down Garrett’s face as he watched the sailors pull up the gangplank. The sails unfurled, and within moments the ship began to move, gliding through the water like a giant. His eyes remained on his wife’s face until the ship
turned and headed out to sea.
Then Garrett sank to his knees and buried his face in his hands.
Chapter Twenty-Eight – A Mother's Words
Standing at the railing, Claudia felt the muscles in her hands ache as her fingers gripped the wood with excruciating tension. And yet, it was her heart that bled as her eyes held on to the lone figure on the docks, staring back at her. With each wave, the ship was carried farther and farther away, and Garrett’s face was soon lost to her. Tears streamed down her cheeks at the thought of losing him again, and when she saw him sink to his knees in despair, Claudia felt an overwhelming need to fling herself into the waters below and swim back to his side.
Still, there was a spark of joy in her heart for never had anyone loved her so fiercely.
All her life, Claudia had gone from day to day, wishing for and dreaming of something that might break through the boring repetition of her daily activities. Never had she felt quite at home or satisfied with her lot in life. Always had she longed for more.
Two nights ago, when she and Garrett had been completely honest with each other and revealed the secrets they had kept, something had changed. The usual restlessness and dissatisfaction were suddenly gone, replaced by a contentedness that was only overshadowed by the loss of their son. Her heart was finally at ease as it suddenly knew precisely what it wanted.
What it needed.
None of her English suitors could hold a candle to her Scottish husband.
Indeed, what might have seemed like thoughtless behaviour on her part had truly been a streak of wisdom, and Claudia sighed in relief that she had possessed the courage−the recklessness as her brother would say−to marry a complete stranger.
For it was that stranger who now made her whole, complete.
With Garrett by her side, every day was an adventure, and right then and there, the greatest adventure her heart longed for was to go home with her son and her husband by her side. All of a sudden, the thought of living peacefully with her little family was enough to make her heart soar into the heavens and set her blood on fire. Perhaps all she had needed, all she had been waiting for had been the one man who could make her feel alive with a single look of his green eyes.
Now that she had found him, Claudia could not imagine a day without him by her side.
Heaving a deep sigh, she hung her head. What would happen now that life had torn them apart again?
He will come for you, a voice whispered in the back of her head. Like he came for you before.
“Yes,” Claudia whispered. “He will come. He will find a way. He always does.”
“If I were you,” Mr. Adams snarled from behind her, “I’d forget about him.”
Flinching at the sound of the man’s voice, Claudia spun around, her eyes narrowed as she glared at him. “You don’t know him. You don’t know me. How dare you interfere in my life?”
With his lips pressed into a thin line, Mr. Adams stepped toward her. Gone was the gentle smile she had seen on his face before. Gone were the care and concern. In their stead, Claudia saw hatred and betrayal. “I thought you were different,” he snarled into her face. “I thought you deserved a second chance, and so I did what I could to ensure that you wouldn’t be separated from your son forever.” He scoffed, “It’s more than your family ever did for you.”
Refusing to be intimidated, Claudia held his stare. “If you truly cared, you would have allowed me and my son to go with my husband. Why would you blame me for having a child with a man who loves me? If you truly cared, should you not be overjoyed to hear that Aiden will grow up in a loving family? Should you not be relieved to learn that he will not be looked down upon? That he will not suffer as you did?”
Something flickered in the depth of Mr. Adams’ eyes, and for a short moment, Claudia thought to see doubt and regret. However, before they could urge him to realise his mistakes, anger returned in full force. “You betrayed me,” he snarled. “I risked everything to free you of your brother, and now you act as though I am the one in the wrong. I’m the one who was wronged.”
Claudia gritted her teeth as she felt her blood boil with an anger matching his. Still, reason counselled her to proceed with caution. After all, she was trapped on a ship with this man, heading for the colonies. “Yes, you were wronged,” she said, holding his gaze, “but now you’re the one wronging another. You’re robbing an innocent man of his child. A man who would never abandon his son. A man who would travel to the ends of the earth to see him safe. My husband is not like your father. He is a good man and a good father because he puts his son’s well-being above his own.”
For a long moment, Mr. Adams stared down at her, his eyes hard, and yet, unmoving as though he had turned into a statue, frozen in time. Then he blinked, and his throat worked, swallowing hard. “Perhaps,” he finally admitted, his voice holding less strength than before. “But what of you? You gave up your son without a second thought.”
Gritting her teeth against the tears that immediately shot into her eyes, Claudia glared at the man in front of her. “How dare you?” she hissed, her hands balling into fists as she took a step toward him. “You have no idea how it broke my heart to give him away, but I did what I did in order to protect him.” Tears now flowed freely down her cheeks, but Claudia did not bother to wipe them away. “Not every decision in life is easy. Some are hard, and some are crippling, leaving you a bare shadow of yourself. And yet, you make these decisions because you love another more than life itself. Have you ever thought of anyone but yourself? All you’ve done you’ve done out of anger, out of revenge for what you’d been made to suffer, and yet, you pretended you had a righteous cause, seeking to protect others. Well, you’ve done nothing but inflict more harm. You’re not the knight in shining armour. You’re the villain.”
In her anger, Claudia had barely noticed the way Mr. Adams’ face had paled, his resolve shaken now that he was confronted by how she saw him. A muscle in his jaw twitched, and Claudia could see that he was at a loss for words. Pain came to his eyes as well as a spark of bitter humiliation.
Unfortunately, it was that humiliation that kept him from realising how misguided his deeds had been. If he were to admit his wrongdoings to himself, then he would lose the one thing he had left, his own high opinion of himself.
And he was not willing to do that. “Your brother poisoned you against me,” he hissed, once more drawing on his anger to force all doubts and regrets aside.
Claudia scoffed, “Was it not you who poisoned him?” she retorted with equal fervour, unable to hold her anger at bay. “No matter what you say, nothing will change what is true. Now,” lifting her brows, she glanced past his shoulder, “I want to see my son. Where did your sister take him?”
With a grim face, Mr. Adams looked back at her. “Very well, you shall see him, but,” he lifted a finger in warning, “as you are unfit to make decisions for him at present, I will decide the course of his life. Am I understood?”
Gritting her teeth until her jaw hurt, Claudia glared at him, wishing she could spit in his face and tell him precisely who was unfit to make decisions. “Yes,” she forced out. “Where is he?”
Stepping back, Mr. Adams offered her his right arm while his other gestured below deck. “I’ll take you to see him.”
Reluctantly, Claudia agreed, wishing with every fibre of her being that she could simply push him overboard. Why ever not? She wondered briefly before reason returned, counselling her that she had to think of her son first. There was no way of knowing what the man’s sister was capable of. Back in London, she had seemed like an innocent, young woman, truly distraught over what had happened. But had that been true? Was she a reluctant accomplice in all of this? Or was Sophie as devious as her brother?
As they strode across the deck, Claudia glanced around herself, seeing sailors up in the rigging and the captain standing on the quarterdeck.
“Do not do anything foolish!” Mr. Adams hissed as he leaned down to her. “I swear I will see to it
that you’ll never see your son again if you cause any trouble. Is that clear? All kinds of awful things can befall people on such a long voyage. I would hate for you or him to be counted among those unfortunate souls.”
Swallowing her anger, Claudia nodded as she kept her eyes on the horizon, unwilling to let Mr. Adams see the fear that rolled over her in waves. “I would never do anything to endanger my child.”
“Good.”
Stepping below deck, Claudia squinted her eyes at the dim light that momentarily hindered her sight. Then she moved forward and followed Mr. Adams down a narrow gangway, doors lining both sides. “How many passengers are on board?” she asked, knowing that if she were to have any chance of protecting her child, she would need to know everything there was to know about her surroundings.
“Only the four of us,” Mr. Adams replied, then stopped and turned to look at her. “No one will help you. I’ve already warned the captain that my wife has suffered a traumatic experience and might be a bit frantic, mumbling insane accusations.”
“Your wife?” Noting the amused curl of his lips, Claudia shivered at the thought that he might be the one out of his mind. She could only hope that he would not completely lose his hold on reality while she and her son were still in his care−if one could call it that.
“Yes,” he replied, his gaze hard on hers. “My wife.” Then he turned and marched down the gangway. “This way.”
Hurrying after him, Claudia suddenly stopped when soft wails reached her ears. Her heart immediately lurched into her throat, and she felt her knees go weak. Then she shot forward, her ears attuned to the quiet whimpers of her son. Pushing Mr. Adams out of the way, she walked on one step, then two, turning her head from side to side, trying to determine where the sound was coming from. Then she approached a door on her right and without further thought opened it and stepped inside.
Sophie’s head snapped up as she spun toward the door, her eyes widening slightly before recognition flared in them. “Oh, it’s you.”