He smiled. “I hoped you would say that.”
Together, the headed down the stairs, to find that the band of kidnappers had been corralled into the center of the barn, with the constables insuring that they were all suitably bound. It irked Christian that the mastermind behind all of this had managed to escape, but he supposed they might be able to get one of the minions to talk. Then again, that would be up to the constables. Or Victoria and Benedict, if they felt up to the task.
“Nice of you to join us.” Foster eyed him curiously.
“Is everyone present and accounted for?” Christian ignored him.
Foster nodded. “Seems so. I’ve sent a rider back to London to bring carts, to take all of these men away. And carriages will be sent for the ladies, once we’ve freed them.”
“Do we know where they are being held?” Victoria chimed in.
“We do. Each of the ladies was placed in an outbuilding. Some of my boys are just releasing them now, though we should probably keep them out of here, while these cretins are still about.” Foster booted one of the men in the back. “We don’t want to make the ladies deal with any more trauma.”
“I agree,” Victoria replied.
Christian knew the moment had come, where he would have to face Helena. He glanced down at Victoria. “I need to excuse myself for a moment.”
She nodded in understanding. “I will help the constables here. You go and speak to her. I hope it is not too awful.”
“As do I.” With a sigh, Christian left Victoria’s side, and walked out of the barn into the cold night air. He spotted more of the constables across the courtyard, helping frightened women out of the outbuildings that surrounded the large square. One of them stood out—she walked unaided, her head held high, though she tugged the proffered blanket around herself tightly, to keep out the chill.
Helena…
He made a beeline for her. A few paces away, she noticed him, and her eyes widened in surprise.
“Christian?”
He smiled nervously. “Helena.”
“Did you do this?” She gestured to the activity going on around her, with constables holding up weeping figures, and trying to calm them down. Christian reasoned it was probably hard for these ladies to believe that they had been rescued.
“With some help,” he replied. She looked thinner than she had before she had been taken, with purple crescents beneath her eyes. Her long hair cascaded down past her shoulder, somewhat tangled and disheveled, but she otherwise seemed unchanged.
“Help?” She frowned.
“An investigator by the name of Victoria McCarthy. None of this would have been possible without her. She is the one responsible for your freedom.” He lowered his gaze, trying to muster the courage to say what had to be said. He wished he could have waited for a more opportune moment—one that didn’t require him to break his betrothal, moments after Helena had been liberated. But he had kissed Victoria, and that had created a promise between them. He couldn’t disappoint her with cowardice.
“A female investigator?” Helena sounded shocked. “Well, I should like to meet her, so I may thank her for this. I confess, I didn’t think I would ever have my freedom again.”
“I am pleased you are safe, at last. Your mother will be so very relieved,” he said, still stalling for time.
“Actually, I am glad you are here, as there is something I must say to you.” Helena moved closer and took Christian’s hand in hers. “Being captured, and fearing for my life, I had a great deal of time to think. I realized how very fragile life is. It can be stolen away at any moment. And I realized that… if I were ever to get out of here, I wanted to be the decision maker of my own life.”
He nodded stiffly.
“I love you, Christian, as a sister loves a brother. You have been my constant companion throughout the years of my life, but… that is not enough for two people to wed.” She took a shaky breath. “I have not been entirely honest with you. You see, I have fallen in love with another, and he loves me. He gave me his ring as a sign of his affection. I didn’t think anything could come of it, considering the betrothal between us, but I know, now, that I cannot keep my promise to you, or to my mother and father. I want to be happy. I want to use my freedom as I see fit, to wed whom I please.”
A smile turned up the corners of Christian’s lips. “I want that for you, too.”
“You do?” Her eyebrows raised.
“I do, Helena. I feel the same way.” He chuckled in relief. “Though, if I may be so bold, can I ask whom the fortunate gentleman may be?”
She looked flustered for a moment. “It is Lord Mobberley.”
“Lord Mobberley?!” He hadn’t expected that. Indeed, it seemed so strangely ironic, considering he had been one of their former suspects.
“I know he seems like a fool, but I love him. And he loves me. And I can bear his foolishness, because he is kind, and he is sweet, and he makes me smile unlike anyone else.” She wrung her hands.
Realization struck Christian. “And you say he gave you his ring?”
“He did, though it was taken from me by one of the wretches who held me captive.” A bitter note edged into Helena’s voice.
The ring with the blue gemstone… That was why it hadn’t been present on Lord Mobberley’s hand. Helena was the acquaintance that he had gifted it to. And those foul beings, Benson and Castell, had been the ones to steal it from Helena.
“You will have it back,” Christian promised. “And you will be free to wed Lord Mobberley. I will not stand in your way. Consider our betrothal broken, though not, I hope, our friendship.”
“Never.” She squeezed his hand tighter. “Although, I didn’t expect you to be so calm about this.”
“Truthfully, I have also found someone whom I care for. And I have also decided that I should like to live my life on my own terms, in order to be happy.”
She gaped at him. “And who is the fortunate woman?”
“The very one who has saved you all,” he replied.
“Why, then I really must meet her, for I didn’t think it possible that anyone would be able to capture that heart of yours!” Helena grinned. “She must be remarkable.”
He nodded, his heart swelling with joy. “Oh, she is.”
She is quite the most remarkable woman I have ever met…
A few hours later, the farmhouse and its courtyard were swarming with people. Carts had arrived to carry away the miscreants who had helped Victoria’s father run these operations, and carriages had also come to take the young ladies back to their families. There would be visits, over the coming days, to make sure the ladies suffered no lasting effects. And there would be interviews with the minions, to try and discover more of what had gone on here.
“Nobody is to interview these men, aside from Benedict and I,” Victoria instructed sternly, as the last of them were loaded onto the carts, ready to be taken into custody.
Foster shrugged. “Saves me and my boys a job.”
“I mean it. This is my case, and nobody will interview them other than my associate and me.” Victoria needed to hear him agree. She didn’t know how much these men knew about her father, but from what she had managed to garner, they didn’t know his true name. Still, she could not risk him being exposed. And that meant doing everything herself.
“Like I said, it makes no difference to me. You interview them. You put in all that effort. It saves the rest of us from having to do it,” Foster replied, before clambering up into the saddle of his horse, to escort the carts back to London. The freed captives had already gone on ahead, much to Victoria’s relief. Soon enough, they would be back in the warm embrace of their families, where they could, hopefully, leave this nightmare behind them.
Steadily, the masses began to disperse, until only Christian, Benedict, and Victoria remained. Simon had gone with one of the constables, and Helena was on her way back to London in a carriage, with a lingering promise that she would come to call upon Victoria, once she
had a chance to recuperate.
“Well, I’d say that was a job well done.” Benedict pretended to dust off his hands, as he stood with Victoria and Christian in the center of the now-empty courtyard.
“You are not cross?” Victoria said, with a hint of a smirk.
“Your risk paid off. Had it not, I would be furious with you.” He put his arm around his surrogate daughter and hugged her to him. Without hesitation, she put her arms around him, in return, and gave him a hard squeeze. After all, right now, he was the only father she had in this world. No one could ever know that her real father had been part of this.
I will take that secret to my grave, Papa. She wanted everyone to remember him as a dutiful, righteous man, who had always been on the correct side of the law—a hero, who had died in the line of employment that he had loved so much. She did not ever want that memory to be marred, not even in her own head.
“Shall we?” Christian said, gesturing to the last two horses that stood patiently by.
Victoria nodded. “Let’s go home.”
“Actually, there is one thing I wanted to ask first.” Christian looked to Benedict. “And, I suppose you are the most qualified person here.”
“Me?” Benedict frowned.
“Yes.” Christian jittered anxiously. “I was hoping I could ask for your permission to have Victoria’s hand in marriage. You may not be her father, but you have been a father to her, since he passed. So, it seems right that I should ask you.”
Benedict gave a belly laugh. “Victoria is the only one who can answer that. I have no jurisdiction over whom she may wed. That is entirely up to her.” He glanced at Victoria. “Although, I should say he seems to be a decent gentleman. You should probably say yes, since you’ll have a hard time charming anyone else.”
Victoria grinned. “Rude.”
“Victoria?” Christian waited in hope.
“Of course you may have my hand in marriage,” she replied, without delay. “It would make me the happiest woman in all the world And, Ben is right—I would have a hard time charming anyone else.”
He swept her up in his arms and spun her round, before setting her back down on the ground. She smiled with utter elation as he leaned in and kissed her on the lips, his hands holding her waist as she pressed her palms to his chest and kissed him back with equal fervor. It may well have been her new favorite thing, to kiss him and be kissed.
Benedict cleared his throat. “Now, that I don’t need to see.” Laughing, he pulled himself up onto his horse and sat there expectantly. “Are we going back to London or not? Or do you plan to have your wedding in this dreary courtyard?”
“You have no sense of romance, Ben.” Victoria tutted playfully.
“Neither did you, until he came along. I’m starting to wish he never had.” Benedict grinned, to show he did not mean it. “If I see any of that kissing nonsense in my office, I may have to kick you out.”
Victoria chuckled. “I promise, never in your office.” She turned to Christian. “Come on then, husband-to-be—let us return to London.”
She pulled herself up onto his horse, and he got up behind her. His arms slid around her so he could pick up the reins, and she leant back against his chest, enjoying the solidity of him. And, in truth, the mere joy of his presence. This was precisely where she wanted to be.
As Christian turned the horse around, and headed toward home, she found herself thinking of the events that had led her to this unexpected bliss. So many moments that, if they had turned out differently, would have prevented this from occurring. She hated that women had suffered, and that fear had been spread across high society, but she could not deny how glad she was that it had allowed her to find Christian.
Maybe, after all the good she had done in London, she had finally been granted a reward. One she had never asked for, nor anticipated, but one she was all too happy to receive, nonetheless.
I love, and I am loved… and that has to be worth the hardship and loss I have endured.
As they trotted along the forest road, her eyes gazed out toward the trees. A rustle nearby attracted her attention. A second later, a rabbit darted out from the undergrowth and scampered across the path. And yet, she wondered what had disturbed it. Was her father watching her, at that very moment, knowing it would be the last time he set eyes on her?
I love you, Papa. I hope you find peace. And I hope, in time, you will forgive me.
Only then would her joy come full circle.
Epilogue
Christian waited anxiously at the altar, glancing back over his shoulder to observe the congregation. Four months had passed since they had left the farmhouse behind them, and the world had been restored to a sense of normalcy. The arrested miscreants had all been sent to trial, after Victoria had interviewed them, and they had all been given satisfactory sentences.
Although, the mystery of who the mastermind was continued to be just that—a mystery, likely never to be solved. Whoever he was, his minions hadn’t given up his name. Perhaps, because they had not known it. Either way, there had been no further kidnappings, and society had started to recover from the chaos that had threatened their way of life.
Just then, the organ began to play, reminding him of why he was here. Everyone stood and turned as a delicate figure in white entered the church. Benedict walked beside her. As her surrogate father, he had taken on the honor of giving Victoria away. And he couldn’t have looked more pleased. In fact, Christian almost thought he saw tears in the gruff man’s eyes.
A whisper of awe made its way through the church as Victoria made her way toward him. She was a vision, angelic and radiant, as she had been the first night he had seen her in finery. She walked elegantly down the center aisle in a gown of white silk and cream lace, which accentuated her shape. Honestly, she took his breath away. But then, she took his breath away every day, even in her plain garments and that cloak that she had not been able to relinquish.
As she drew closer, coming to stand in front of him, he had to resist the urge to lift her veil and kiss her there and then. Benedict would have frowned upon it, and he didn’t want to incite his somewhat father-in-law’s ire.
“You look beautiful,” he whispered.
“I feel like a clown,” she whispered back, chuckling. “I can hardly walk!”
He smiled. “Then I shall carry you.”
“You will do no such thing,” she protested, though the shake of her shoulders told him she was amused.
The reverend began to speak, and the congregation sat, but Christian barely listened to a word that was being said. He couldn’t distract himself from his bride, not even for a moment. It took all the concentration he had, to speak the vows when he was instructed, until the service was complete, and they had been bound together in holy matrimony. Truly, Christian almost missed the part where they were pronounced man and wife, for he was in the midst of grinning like an idiot.
“You may look upon your wife,” the reverend urged, with a knowing smile.
Christian lifted the edges of her veil and grinned with pride and joy. “There you are.”
“Who else did you expect? Helena?” she replied, chuckling. She and Helena had become firm friends since their return from the farmhouse, much to Christian’s chagrin. Each time he entered a room where they were both present, they giggled at his expense, and Helena seemed to delight in regaling Victoria with tales of his childhood, and every misdemeanor he had ever endured.
“Very funny,” he chided.
“I am only teasing.”
He smiled. “I know. I should not have expected you to be entirely serious, even today.”
“Ah, you know me all too well, my love.”
He tilted her chin up gently. “You are my love, Victoria. And I love you, with all my heart.”
“As I love you.”
Together, they walked the length of the aisle to the rapturous applause of the congregation. Stepping through the door of the church, they paused in the cool Autumn air,
letting the breeze nip at their cheeks. It was the perfect Autumn day, with the sky clear but cold, and the sun shining brightly, but without the balmy heat of the Summer. The trees surrounding them were filled with bronzed leaves, turned red and orange and russet in the changing of the season. A few fluttered down, loosened by the wind.
He turned to kiss her, when a rider appeared suddenly.
“Are you Lady Galbury?” the man asked, fixing his gaze on Victoria.
“I… suppose I am.” She flashed a smile at Christian that made his heart soar.
“I have a parcel for you.” He delved into his satchel and handed a box to Victoria, which she took with a bemused expression on her face. A moment later, the rider took off, leaving no explanation as to whom the parcel was from.
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