by Wendy Bayne
Michael nodded, saying, “To be sure, doctor, his horse is near dead, but the grooms are caring for it now.”
Edward started to come around and Father moved to hand him a glass of brandy, but the doctor stayed his hand. “No, Colin, he needs something to eat first then the brandy.” Food was called for and in short order Mr Allan arrived with a plate of sandwiches and a fresh decanter."
Edward reached for the brandy in my father’s hand, took a gulp only to choke and splutter. “My brother. I need my brother, where is he?”
Father looked down at him disdainfully as Edward took a huge bite out of the sandwich in his hand. “He’s not here at present. Actually, I have no idea where he is.”
Edward laid down the sandwich then leaned forward, his head in his hands and groaned. “No, the one time I’ve ever needed him and he’s not here.”
Just then there was a commotion in the hallway and Edward’s father came storming into the room. “What the hell is going on here! Edward, what have you done now! You come to my club ranting that you need Miles and then without waiting there for me you race to my home accost Brentwood apparently screaming for Miles. What on earth is going on?!”
Edward started laughing uncontrollably. “You have no idea, old man, how angry Lord Burley is. He’s ready to eradicate our entire family.”
The Earl looked down at his son with disgust. “That should make you very happy. Are you looking for you brother to give him up to Burley? Why am I not surprised that you’d turn against your own family to save your hide? You disgust me.”
Edward sat back and gulped down the brandy. “Well, Father, be that as it may. Both you and Mother instilled in me the idea that family is everything and without it you are a lesser man. But where you differed, Mother was full of vitriol while you spoke about honour and love. I learned that the hard way in Paris.” He was crying now in great sobs. “I know you think it was me that hurt Miles, but I was never in the cell with him, it was Julian. I was disgusted when I found out what he had done and if he hadn’t been shot at the Embassy ball, I would have done it myself that night. Who do you think gave Miles the gun! Believe me, Father, no one can loath me more than I do myself right now.”
The Earl stood there, fish mouthing. Edward pointed and laughed at him. “I made that exact same face the day you told me that you were proud of me finishing university—even though I didn’t do as well as Miles—and I said—”
The Earl blanched. “You said ‘I love you, Father’. I’m sorry I didn’t know what to say to you then until after you had turned away and left…yet you have continued to hate me and your brother.”
Edward shrugged his shoulders. “Mother was an effective and merciless teacher, it’s hard to see through that kind of hate. But I realised that day that no matter how badly I treated you that you would always be kind to me and that you would never treat Miles better than me…even though Mother said you did. I hated that you spent more time with him but now I know it was Mother who kept me from you, she was poison. In fact, she ruined most of my life, she hated you so much there was no room in her heart for love, not even for me.” He looked at the sandwich in his hand then threw it back onto the plate. “I must find Miles…but thank you for your hospitality, Turner.”
Gabriel had come into the room and remained standing in front of the door at my father’s signal. “You’re not going anywhere until we know exactly what is going on.” Edward fell back against the settee and Mother came forward to sit beside him, she picked up the plate and held it out to him. “First, I think you need to finish these, now eat.” He tried to smile at her as he reached out to take back the sandwich he had been eating and wolfed it down.
Father was rubbing his forehead and then motioned for us all to take a seat. “There is little that can be done tonight so I think it best that you tell us what is going on.”
Edward looked at his father like he was begging for understanding. “When I took Julian home, news of his death had outpaced me. Burley already knew and was under the impression that Miles had killed Julian, he was furious. He wouldn’t listen to me that Miles had nothing to do with it or about how depraved Julian had become. He’s mad with grief and hate, he ranted about how much he hated you and that I should have been his son. I had no idea that my mother was even in love with him or that she was his mistress so now I’m not even sure if I am your son.”
The Earl reached out to him. “You’re my son in every way and Lionel Burley is a liar. Your mother told me that she and Burley were lovers. She had sought to lash out and hurt me, to make me think that you weren’t my son but when she realised that would hurt you too, she told me that she had only taken him as a lover after she was sure she was pregnant with you. In her own way, she did love you, Edward.”
Edward had tears trailing down his face. “And how—how do you know I am not a cuckoo, Father, how do you know that I am not Burley’s son?”
The Earl grabbed hold of his hand. “Because you are here, because you have been looking for Miles, because I know in here.” He laid his palm against his chest. “From the moment you were born I knew you were mine. Besides you have my eyes and the Johnson nose…no one has a nose like ours.”
Edward drew back his hand, half sobbing half chuckling. “Why did she do this to us?”
The Earl sat back and sighed. “Because I loved you, but not her.” Edward’s head snapped up. “Edward, all my children are dearer to me than anything in this world. Even though you and Miles have made me exceptionally angry and occasionally disappointed, I have always loved you both, as I do all my children.” He looked around I supposed for a drink. Gabriel was in the process of pouring one and brought the decanter over to the table, pouring brandy into everyone’s glass. The Earl drank off half of it then continued. “Burley knows that, son, so he’s trying to turn you against me. Just as he’s always tried to make things as difficult as possible for Miles at every turn. But he’s failed this time. Mr and Mrs Spencer have presented my petition to his Majesty and they are confident that Miles will be confirmed as my heir.” I searched Edward’s face for anger or hurt but all I saw was relief. The Earl smiled at him and raised his glass to him. “You’ll finally be free of a burden I know you’ve never wanted, Edward, and free to pursue your own passions.” He paused then looked directly at Edward with a smile, oozing pride, “You’re quite good, you know.”
Edward looked up at his father cradling the glass in his hand that Gabriel had placed there. “Who told you that I paint, Miles? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was, he caught me painting by the lake last summer.”
The Earl shook his head. “No, it wasn’t Miles. I know that you don’t go to my sister’s in Scotland to hunt or fish. She’s very proud of you, you know, just as I am. Millicent says that you have a real talent and she would know since she’s exceptionally gifted herself. Do you know that she sells her paintings under an assumed name?” Edward looked up as his father nodded. “Not that you will ever need money. Edward, with being my younger son there would be no stigma attached to you being an artist, you may be considered a touch eccentric but nothing worse.” Then he laughed, and Edward looked at him puzzled. “I just want you to be happy! Millicent has told me how miserable you’ve been at the idea of inheriting and I know you have no talent for estate management.” He stopped then looked about at the rest of us then saying to Edward who was still looking at his father with astonishment, “Now what is Burley up to, can you tell us anything?”
Gabriel suddenly leaned over Edward’s shoulder. “And if you are or have been lying or do anything to hurt this man, your brother or these people may not hurt you, but I will skin you alive.” Edward had turned to look at him and Gabriel’s grin made me shudder. Edward went ghastly pale then Gabriel clapped him on the shoulder. “I think we understand each other.” No one but the Earl and my mother looked at Edward with any compassion.
I thought back to the garden party and the attack on the Earl. “Did you try to kill your father in Paris at the g
arden party?”
Edward glared at me, but his expression quickly softened. “No, but I saw who did. It was Ramsey Clarke, he and his parents are apparently distant but poor relations of Burleys.”
Then Edward coughed and squared his shoulders. “Burley has serious financial problems, he has for as long as I’ve known him, but he’s always managed to stave off his creditors and debtors’ prison. At one time, he had counted on marrying my mother for her fortune to help him clear his debt but when she married my father, he started investing in risky gambits that I heard included smuggling, but I’ve only found this out since reconnecting with Julian. Burley had been heavily in debt to several people that would think nothing of killing him then he married Lady Burley, even though he loathed her. He ran through her considerable fortune in no time while the poor woman bore him four sons and two daughters in rapid succession. You know that she drowned when Alexander was only two years old and that it was whispered that she killed herself. I had initially become a friend of the family through my mother, but I didn’t really know Randall, he was more Miles’ contemporary, but Julian and I had been good friends at school for the most part.”
His father leaned forward. “What do you mean for the most part?”
Edward turned a brilliant shade of red and sighed. “He had perverted sexual appetites.” Wringing his hands and chewing on his lower lip, he continued, "We parted company for some time after he almost killed a whore. But then Randall died, and I felt that I should write him to express my condolences, so we became reacquainted.
“I had no idea that Miles had been instrumental in Randal’s death but neither Julian nor his father said a word about it until Lord Burley heard that Miles was in Paris. I’m so ashamed now that I listened to them. He told me that you were working with Miles to have me declared a bastard and he led me to believe that I was his son and not yours. He told me you planned to leave me destitute out of revenge but that he would care for me if I helped him.” Edward wrung his hands looking at his father. “I’m sorry, Father, but you were spending so much time with Miles and when not with him you were with Lady Jane and her children. I was stuck on the estate trying to understand what Wembley wanted to teach me about the estate accounts and I didn’t care. Lord Burley’s words poisoned me just as Mother’s had.”
The Earl reached out taking his hands in his. “Edward, all you had to do was talk to me. I’m sorry that you felt like you couldn’t.”
Edward pulled back and waved him off. “It makes no difference now.”
He sniffed and then turned his head to look at me. “Anyway, Miss Turner, I believe you actually wanted to know if I had any idea what Ramsey had planned? I didn’t at the time. It wasn’t until I brought Julian’s body home that I found Ramsey and his parents staying with Lord Burley. I was informed then that the attempted assassination of my father had been in my best interests so that I might inherit quickly. It was at that point that I knew Lord Burley had been using me to get his hand on the Johnson fortune through me. I was even foolish enough to change my banker to his. But that first night back from Paris he talked about an eye for an eye at dinner, he was looking for revenge. I felt like I had reached the end of my usefulness to Burley and I feared for my family, so I left after everyone had retired. I went home but Lady Jane and the children were gone, and no one knew where they were. I know that Tyler knew there they were, but he refused to tell me, so I went to Miles’ country home, then finally here to London. He means to kill or ruin us all.” Edward truly broke down into heaving sobs. My mother moved closer to him and wrapped her arm around him, drawing his head onto her shoulder.
Father jerked forward reaching out, but Mother shot him a glare, challenging him to make a scene. He knew better than to cross my mother especially when she was being maternal. Normally she was a woman of decided opinions but her maternal instinct was ten times fiercer when she was with child.
The Earl smiled at her then got up and paced the room. Father, Dr Jefferson and Gabriel moved to the other end of the room to talk in whispers. I poked up the fire while watching my mother. Charity who had been hovering behind the door came in and bent down to whisper in my ear, “Do you believe him?”
I pursed my lips glancing back at my mother and Edward. Mother was looking at me and shook her head, she didn’t believe him entirely, so I decided to be truthful. “It is a good story and has a ring of truth to it. But you asked, do I believe him entirely?” I shook my head. “No. There is something he’s not telling us.” The Earl had paced around the room then joined the other gentlemen, he listened to what they had to say when they reached an agreement they came back to their seats.
It was my father that spoke despite that the Earl looked like he wanted to. “Mr Johnson.”
Edward’s head snapped up. “That’s Lord T, oh, I suppose it might not be anymore.”
Father’s face was composed but his eyes were hard as he leaned forward in his seat. “Precisely. You have given us an idea of what to expect from Lord Burley, but we had already reached that conclusion ourselves. Do you have any other information as to his plans?”
Edward flinched then glared at my father, “You don’t believe me, do you?!”
Father sat back, crossed his legs at the ankle, assuming a very relaxed posture. “On the contrary, everything you have told us is probably true. It’s what you haven’t told us that concerns me the most.”
Edward sat up straight, shrugging off my mother’s attentions. “What?! Do you think I’d still betray my family after all that I’ve told you?” Edward looked at his father who bowed his head rather than make eye contact. Edward was madly chewing his lower lip, looking at all of us in disbelief. Either he was a very good actor, or he was telling the truth.
His father grabbed his glass of whisky and drained it. “I don’t know, son, there is so much so much history between you and Miles, you and me. I love you, but I don’t know if I can trust your words.”
Edward suddenly deflated, the colour drained from his face and he flung his head back. He looked up at the ceiling then closed his eyes. “Alright…I’m being followed. I’m supposed to find Miles and lead them to him or they’ll kill me!” He opened his eyes and looked back at his father then in a bitter voice said, “Miles can take care of himself; he’s always been able to do that. Hell, he works for you, Turner! And God, he most assuredly knows better than to trust me. Miles will see them coming before they even get close to him. He’s a crack shot and deadly with a blade of any kind… My paint brush isn’t much of a weapon, I can’t paint them to death, Father.”
I was livid, my head and heart were both pounding. “He’s blind, you fool! He can’t defend himself.”
Edward choked on his drink. “What—no, he can’t be. I saw him in Paris, he was—he was—he only needed those dark glasses after prison and the lantern accident.”
I stood with my hands fisted. “How did you know about the lantern accident?!”
He looked panicked. “I—I don’t know. Julian, yes, Julian told me.”
I screamed at him. “LIAR!” I took two steps towards him, I wanted to beat on him with my fists. Charity grabbed my arm and stopped me.
Father looked from me to Edward. “Well, do you care to address that accusation?”
Edward took out his handkerchief and wiped his brow and upper lip. “I went to see him, don’t know why or what I intended to do. But Miles was like a mad man, the one guard lost control of him and Miles killed him, but it was in self-defence the guard was beating him to death when I arrived with the second guard. I didn’t know what Julian had done to him. Then the guard I came with flung the lantern at him and I ran.”
The Earl glared at him. “You were there, and you did nothing to help him?”
Edward grabbed his hair. “What could I do? He was under an arrest warrant arranged by Lord Burley! They weren’t going to let me take him out of there! Julian would have killed me if I tried.”
Charity stepped forward. “Then what about my ch
ildren? Don’t tell me that you knew nothing about them! You had to know what Julian was going to do with them!”
Edward now looked totally lost. “What children? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Father looked over at Charity. “The boys never saw Edward or heard of him, Mrs de Bearnes.” She slumped and sat down in a chair near the hearth.
I was still standing and seething. “You could have gone to your father! He could have gotten Miles out of prison.”
Edward rolled his head and rubbed his hands down his thighs. “How was I supposed to know that Lord Burley’s charges weren’t legitimate?” He looked at his father pleading in his eyes. “You never told me anything about what happened. All I knew was what Lord Burley and Julian told me. I didn’t even know that you were in Paris until Miles had been released. But then you and I haven’t exactly been on speaking terms, have we.” Suddenly he stood up and became very agitated, rubbing his face with his hands. “Lady Jane, the children, oh my god…he must have them by now!”
The Earl stood up and grabbed him by the shoulder. “What are you talking about?”
Edward was beside himself now pacing the room. “Burley forced me to go with him to our estate. He wouldn’t accept that no one knew where they’d gone. I got away from him there, but you know him, he would have gotten someone to tell him.”
The Earl was pale and scared. “Fisher! It would be Fisher; Lady Jane would never go anywhere without telling Nanny Fisher where she was going! Why didn’t I think of that?”
Edward was distraught now, he pounded his head with his fist “STUPID, STUPID! God, what have I done. I never thought of her. I should have told Tyler to get her away.”
Father looked at Dr Jefferson. “Care to take a trip to the Earl’s estate, Matthew?”
Dr Jefferson sighed. “Well, someone should, it might as well be me. This nanny, does she live in the big house or somewhere else?”
Edward just looked at him dazed as the Earl answered. “She was my wife’s nanny, she came with her when we married as she had no other place to go. She lives in one of the gardener’s cottages on the estate Jane and the children are quite fond of her. Give me a minute and I’ll write you a letter to Tyler, our butler, he can help you.”