by Abigail Agar
Jack sighed. “He might very well have gotten antsy and moved her. Did you not think of that?”
“Honestly, I am just getting by at the moment, Captain Shelton,” Gwyn said softly. “Can we just go? If she is not there, then so be it.”
Reluctantly, Jack nodded his agreement and led the ladies out the door. “It is not too far, but we can take the carriage that you brought to save your shoes,” Jack said as he looked up at the driver of the carriage. He told the man the address as the ladies got into the back.
The carriage ride was tense as no one seemed eager to speak. Jack thought it absurd how hard it was to be around someone that had at one point been the closest person to him. How things changed.
Outside of the house, the carriage lurched to a stop when Jack tapped the roof to let the driver know they had arrived, so the man did not miss the address. Jack opened the carriage door and helped Gwyn and her maid out. The young maid offered Jack a brief smile before she smoothed her dress and stood firmly beside Gwyn.
Jack took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He had no idea if Miss Rayburne would be there. If the woman was at home, he had no idea how either woman would react when actually face to face with the other. He was on guard for all possibilities as the door came open.
Miss Rayburne blinked at Jack as if he had not been the brother that she was expecting. Her eyes widened when she took in that Gwyn was with Jack as well. “Miss Stanton,” Miss Rayburne said quickly. “I did not know that …” She shook her head. “What does one say in this situation?”
Jack said somewhat amused, “I was wondering that myself.”
Gwyn cleared her throat as she eyed the woman’s midsection which was clearly swollen the light of the morning sun. Jack wondered again what Gwyn would do, but the woman merely smiled and said, “I did not know that you were still in London. Forgive me for my awkwardness. I have only just learned that you … well, I guess that is why I am here.”
“You want to know something?” Miss Rayburne asked nervously.
Gwyn nodded. “Yes. I have been told so many things. Men say so much that is meaningless that I thought it better to hear it from a fellow woman.”
“I see,” Miss Rayburne said with a nod of her own. “Would you like to come in?”
Gwyn shook her head. “No, I just need to know. Your child …”
There was silence as Miss Rayburne looked at the three of them. “As I told Captain Shelton, the child is Henry’s.”
Jack looked at Gwyn’s face, and he saw the look in her eyes. She was crushed, but she smoothed her dress and nodded at Miss Rayburne. “I see,” she said softly. “Could I speak to you, privately?”
“I suppose so,” Miss Rayburne said as she offered to let Gwyn inside her home. Jack and the maid waited outside on the stoop out of earshot as the others stepped just inside the home.
Jack watched out of the corner of his eye as the women talked quietly. He saw Miss Rayburne and Gwyn embrace each other and wondered at the resilience of women. The maid eyed the two women and sighed, “I warned her about that Henry.”
“Did you?” Jack asked the maid curiously.
The maid nodded. “Yes, he makes me uncomfortable.” The maid looked at Jack curiously. “I am Adrienne, by the way, Sir.”
“Very good to have a name to call you,” Jack said with a nod. “You are newer.”
Adrienne nodded and agreed, “Yes, I am.”
“Well, I am glad Gwyn—I mean Miss Stanton has a young lady with a good head on her shoulders to help her,” Jack said candidly.
Gwyn interrupted any further conversations as she emerged from the house dabbing the corners of her eyes. “I am ready to go,” she said quietly as she came to stand between Jack and Adrienne.
Jack turned around and noticed that just inside the entrance hall were some bags. “Are you leaving?” Jack asked Miss Rayburne.
The young lady looked around at the bags and beamed happily. “Oh, yes,” she said. “I do not know what happened yesterday, but Henry told me that we were leaving. He has changed his mind about being Duke, and he is going to go start a new life with me in the colonies.”
Jack looked at Miss Rayburne then over at Gwyn. The woman’s face was ashen. Jack put his hand on Gwyn’s shoulder, but Gwyn brushed it off. “She told me about that already,” Gwyn assured Jack. “I wish you the best of luck, Miss Rayburne.”
Miss Rayburne smiled at Gwyn and said, “And I wish the same to you.” The woman closed the door, and Jack followed Gwyn as she made her way stiffly back towards the carriage.
“Are you sure that you are alright?” Jack asked warily.
Gwyn nodded. “I just want to go home.”
“Not until we see Henry off,” Jack said. He yelled up to the driver to take them to the harbour.
Gwyn had already gotten into the carriage, and she glared at Jack as the man got in as well. “What do you think you are doing?”
“We cannot just let Henry get away with this,” Jack said defiantly. “He planned to just run off after making everyone’s lives miserable? He has almost ruined two families, Gwyn. Surely that has to be answered for.”
Gwyn sighed. “As if you are some saint to bring down holy justice upon Henry. Your journal still stands against you, Jack, no matter what Henry did or did not do.”
Jack stared at Gwyn and tried to contemplate how she could still hold any of that nonsense against him. He pushed those thoughts aside and went back to the matter at hand. “Henry is going to run off, probably with a large chunk of my family’s money to start over with his mistress. A woman that he let be tied to me and my reputation. This is not about you and me, Gwyn, this is about my family.”
Gwyn sat sullenly and did not speak the rest of the way. When they got to the harbour, and Jack helped her down, she asked him softly, “Is there any way I can convince you just to let him go?”
“No,” Jack said simply. He helped the maid down, then turned and stalked down toward the harbour master’s office. The ladies waited outside until Jack reappeared out of the office. Jack nodded towards one of the piers. “He is down there going over a ship manifest.”
Reluctantly, the two ladies followed Jack rather than be left alone with the eyes of the sailors following them everywhere they went. Jack kept an eye on the two ladies as he swept his gaze around to find Henry. When he finally did find him, Henry’s head was bent over a piece of paper.
“Henry,” Jack called.
It took a moment before Henry’s gaze lifted, and when it did, Jack saw the surprise go over the man’s face to see not only him but also Gwyn walking towards him. Henry frowned and turned towards them as he handed the paper back to a man who appeared to be a ship’s captain.
Henry walked over to them as his frown deepened. “What are you doing here and with her?”
“I can go where I please,” Gwyn said before Jack could speak.
Jack eyed Gwyn with amusement before he said, “As she said, it is hard to make Gwyn listen and stay where she does not wish to be.” Jack looked around at Gwyn who eyed him back steadily before he continued, “We have been to see Miss Rayburne.”
Henry’s face took on wariness. “Funny you should mention that; I was just getting her tickets to the colonies squared away. I was supposed to have already done it, but with all this nonsense and drama it just never got done.” Henry tapped some papers into his shirt pocket that were just sticking up enough to be seen.
“Why are there two of them?” Gwyn asked curiously.
Jack too noted the two tickets and waited to see Henry’s response. Henry shrugged, “I am leaving. Are you happy?”
“No,” Gwyn said quietly. “No, I am not happy, Henry.”
Henry sneered. “Well, who cares if you are upset? I certainly do not. Does anyone seem to care that I am upset? No. Mother even takes your side over mine. I am her son.”
“Mother does not appreciate ladies being treated disgracefully,” Jack reminded Henry.
Henry nodded. �
��Yes, she certainly did not like that journal of yours,” Henry said spitefully to his brother. “You should have stayed at war. You could have had the decency to die in that war, but instead, you had to return home. Gwyn could have just shut up and married me, but now everything is ruined. Everything I had planned is gone.”
Jack shook his head. “You have the titles and everything at your fingertips. How is everything ruined?”
“You think the minute this gets out that Mother and Father will not strip me of my inheritance?” Henry scoffed. “They will turn around and give it all back to you.”
Jack sighed. “I never had the titles, Henry. They were never mine. I never wanted them.”
“It does not matter what you want,” Henry yelled loudly enough to scare some seagulls off the rigging of a nearby boat. He lowered his voice to a growl as people looked over at them. “As soon as you returned from the war, a decorated hero complete with a scar, they began planning to take my titles and give them to you, their perfect good son.”
Jack stared at Henry. “That is not my fault,” Jack said. He noted that Adrienne inched a bit behind him as Henry grew angrier.
“I thought you did not care for titles,” Gwyn said just to Jack’s left. She had come to stand alongside him to face Henry.
Henry laughed. “I never did, but it is one thing not to care for something and yet know it is there. It is quite another to have it taken from you. I was furious.”
“So, now that you are afraid your sins will be visited back upon you, you are leaving?” Jack asked. “Do you honestly think that getting on a ship wipes the slate clean for you?”
Henry sneered. “Of course not; it would have been better if I had just been able to kill you outright, but I could not bring myself to do that. I thought it better just to ruin your reputation, but even that was not enough.”
“Come home, and explain things,” Jack said reasonably. “I will even stand by your side if you choose to take responsibility this time.”
Henry shook his head adamantly. “After all I have done? You are truly the good brother, but I cannot do that. I cannot face Mother and Father. I just want to leave and put all of this behind me.”
Jack narrowed his eyes, but Gwyn put her hand on his arm. She spoke softly, “Let him go.” Henry and Jack both looked at her in disbelief. She continued, “Speaking for Miss Rayburne, let him go. She deserves a chance at a proper life.” Gwyn looked at Henry. “She loves you, Henry. I think that you love her too. After all, if you did not, then why go through all this trouble?”
There was a long pause before Henry said, “She is the only one who ever just saw me,” Henry said. “She never cared if I was a Duke or a stable boy, she just saw Henry.”
Gwyn gave the man a sad smile. “That is why he could not stand the idea of you marrying her, Jack. He loves her.”
Henry looked down at his feet. “I am sorry, Jack. I was so angry and resentful that I took the very thing from you that I valued. I took your chance for love, and I regret that, I really do.”
“He can leave as long as he promises not to return and start trouble,” Gwyn said to Jack. She looked over at Henry who readily nodded his acceptance.
Jack said, “If you regret so much what you did to me and my reputation, tell Gwyn the truth.” Jack looked at his brother steadily.
Gwyn gave Henry a curious look. Henry sighed. “That night all those years ago, Gwyn, you never saw Jack. What you saw was one of our maids and me at the time. I do not know why I never told anyone; I guess I just figured it did not matter. One day you two would talk and realize that you were fools and that would be that.”
“Only we did not,” Gwyn said regretfully. “You put that in the journal?” Henry nodded. Gwyn turned to Jack. “This is my fault.”
Jack shook his head. “No, I should have pushed and asked. I just—”
“I think if anyone should be held liable here, it is me,” Henry said. “Are you serious about letting me go?”
Jack looked over at his brother. “If Gwyn is willing to forgive the things you have done, then I will as well. Do not mistake that for weakness, Brother. I do not take lightly being betrayed.”
“I know,” Henry said. “I just want to leave.”
Jack nodded slowly. “Then leave. You should, however, at least write to Mother and Father explaining things. They might think I drowned you in the ocean after all.”
Gwyn gasped, but Henry laughed. “Right, they have been a bit hard on you. I guess you got a good dose of what it was like to be the bad son.”
“Yes, and it has given me an appreciation of what you had to deal with growing up,” Jack said quietly. “I wish you a safe journey but really hope not to see you again anytime soon.”
Henry hesitantly reached out and grasped Jack’s hand. “I promise that you will not.”
***
“Do you think it foolish to let Henry go like that?” Gwyn asked as they stood on the bridge over their creek.
Jack nodded. “Probably,” he said thoughtfully. “Henry never was one to keep his word much.”
“Well, let us hope that he keeps this one promise,” Gwyn said softly as she tapped the wooden railing. “Have you told your parents everything yet?”
Jack shook his head. “No, I figured I would give Henry time enough to get out to sea.”
Gwyn laughed at the look on Jack’s face. “Are you expecting them to have cannons?”
“My father could turn around the whole of the navy with one loud booming shout,” Jack said with certainty. “Besides, it would be best if they were out of communications range so my father could not have Henry and the girl escorted back.”
Gwyn frowned. “He can find out where they went on the manifest, can he not?”
“Henry is a bit trickier than that,” Jack said ruefully. “I am sure that he did not use his own name. I just hope the girl is alright travelling in her condition.”
With a shrug, Gwyn said, “Women are not as delicate as you seem to think, Captain Shelton.”
Jack smiled. “I am beginning to understand that.”
***
Jack faced his mother and father with all the resignation of a man going to the gallows. He had finally decided to tell them of Henry’s flight to the colonies, but with every second he thought perhaps it would be better if he had joined Henry in the colonies. The Duke stared Jack down as he pursed out his lips.
Lady Shelton eyed her husband and son. Finally, the woman seemed to have had enough. “So, Henry has fled to the colonies with Miss Rayburne?”
“Yes,” Jack confirmed. At least they had been listening to him. His mother and father exchanged a look. Jack said, “Look, I know that I am not your favourite son right now, but Henry just made some mistakes. I do not think that you should persecute him for it.”
Jack’s father raised an eyebrow at his son and asked, “Why should we not do that? Did he not cause this family great distress and almost get you disinherited? If what you are saying is true, then he should speak to it.”
“And what of Miss Rayburne?” Jack asked to appeal to his mother’s sensibilities. “The young woman will travel miles at sea, only to be told she must endure more. The motions of the sea can be disastrous for a woman in her condition.”
Lady Shelton frowned. The Duke sighed, “I should stop you before you go any further. Your brother actually beat you to the pitch.”
Jack frowned, “I am sorry, what did you say?”