Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
A fter Mabel fell asleep the next day, Adelaide was counting her savings when she received two different notes.
Which was a big deal for someone who hardly ever received any correspondence.
The first was from Mr. Dale in Tunbridge Wells. He owned the inn where she had grown up, where her mother had worked, and where Adelaide had practically been raised alongside Mr. Dale’s daughter.
It had always been assumed that Elizabeth, Mr. Dale’s daughter, might one day run the inn, but she had married a rector and so had gained different responsibilities.
Adelaide had stayed in touch with Elizabeth even after she and her mother had moved to London, and Elizabeth hinted that her father was interested in retiring soon.
Initially, Adelaide had been hoping that she could return to Tunbridge Wells, apprentice for a time, and then eventually buy the inn. However, Mr. Dale’s health was declining, and he was looking for someone to purchase the inn so he could stop working and hopefully improve.
Adelaide had been diligently saving ever since, not only needing her savings to grow but also waiting until Mabel was old enough to travel more easily. Adelaide didn’t want to think about squishing her newborn baby into one of the stagecoaches. She knew Michael wouldn’t hesitate to provide her with a private carriage, but she couldn’t find it within herself to ask him when it would mean taking his daughter so much farther away from him.
Mr. Dale wrote now, telling her he was willing to lower the price for her, but she would still require at least several more months of work before she would have enough.
Then there was a second note.
This one was from Michael. He had asked around, and he had an idea where the counterfeit paper money might be manufactured – a small shop not far from the house they had seen the third man enter.
Michael suggested it was a secluded warehouse and planned to visit it the next day.
Adelaide approved that he would go in the light of day rather than at night when it would be difficult to see anything.
She would also be there, whether Michael liked it or not.
And so, the next afternoon, she found herself loitering outside of his brother’s townhouse, wondering whether anyone was going to question her about her intentions standing outside so long.
“Adelaide!” Michael exclaimed when he finally emerged from the house. She was annoyed that she had waited so long, even though it wasn’t Michael’s fault, for she hadn’t warned him that she would meet him. “I never heard from you, so I assumed you weren’t coming.”
“Well, here I am,” she said, somewhat apprehensively, but then that wide smile broke out over his face.
“I am happy to see you,” he said. “I was going to hire a hack to be less conspicuous as my carriage would not be a usual sight in the neighborhood we are visiting.”
“Clever,” she said as they walked together to the corner of the square to find a hack to transport them. Once they were seated inside, in far less luxurious but much more familiar quarters than his usual carriage, they faced one another, Adelaide ready to ask him where they would visit.
But she became lost in his blue-gray eyes before she could get a word out. She would like to say it was due to the memories of their past together, but if that was the case, then wouldn’t she also remember the bad memories that accompanied them?
Instead, she couldn’t help but consider the Michael here with her now. The Michael who was putting everything aside to help her. The Michael who was assisting her, even with the knowledge that once she was free from Jack, she would be even more prepared to take their daughter and leave him.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, trying to will away the tears welling in her eyes.
“Well,” he said, misunderstanding her, “if we can determine that this is the counterfeiter’s shop, then we can gain enough evidence to put together a case to threaten Jack to release you from his life and this scheme of his. Is that not our aim?”
“It is,” she said, inching closer. “But why are you helping me? I have given you no reason to feel anything for me but resentment. I used you and your brother to provide for me while I was expecting Mabel, and then I left you once she arrived. Now, I have asked for your help, but what are you receiving in return? Nothing except my resolve to walk away again. It is unfair to you.”
His features fell as his long lashes brushed against the hard planes of his face, so at odds yet complementing each other beautifully.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
She stilled at the agony in his tone.
“I would do anything for you, Adelaide,” he said, his eyes flicking up to reach hers. “I love you.”
Her breath caught in her throat, and she nearly couldn’t breathe for a moment. He loved her? What in the?—
“Do not say anything back,” he said, the words rushing out. “Positive or otherwise. I know you don’t feel the same way about me. You made that abundantly clear when you lived with me. You could hardly stand the sight of me.”
“It wasn’t you,” she swiftly said. “I was in a bad way when I was pregnant. I hated everyone.”
“I know,” he said understandingly. “Even though I knew that, I was so incredibly desperate to make you happy again, and I am so sorry I could not do so. Even still, I knew the person you were and could understand your sacrifices. When you left, I realized I was not your man. You are too good of a woman for me, and you have dreams beyond me. You have made that very clear. I would never have said anything had you not asked. But that is the answer to your question.”
She stared at him in shocked silence, trying to find words to respond to him, but she was struggling to discover what she felt even within herself.
She was not immune to him and knew that, deep within, she had feelings for him that she did not want to recognize, that she was trying to push away, for to admit them would change everything.
It was so much easier to keep her focus on their mission to take down Jack and the counterfeit ring. She would say it wasn’t fair Michael had told her this, but he was right. She had asked, so she had to be prepared for his answer.
He reached out, stroking her cheek almost reverently. He must have read her expression, for he shook his head before she could prepare any words. “Do not say anything. Please don’t. Instead, why do I not tell you how I found this printer’s shop? I did as I said and went to a few printers who Edward told me could be trusted. I have no idea how he knew such a thing, but that’s Edward. They recognized a watermark found on the paper and directed me to the shop. Apparently, it has been known for less savory work and will not turn away a customer. Over half of my winnings, actually, were counterfeit. I weighed the coins.”
“Is Rawlins the printer? Or how is he a part of the scheme?”
“That, I don’t know. I suppose we might learn more when we see who the printer is.”
She nodded, a lump still sitting in her throat. Michael had told her not to say anything, but it was still difficult not to respond to him, not to give him something, even if she had no words.
The silence was deafening, and Adelaide was relieved when they stopped in front of a warehouse on the edge of St. Giles.
“This is it?” she asked.
“It is,” he said, leading her out of the hack after paying the driver.
“What are we going to do?”
“I was thinking that we could pretend to be patrons,” he said as he led her up the few stairs to the door of the plain brick building with very few windows. “I will see if he will do a job for me, and in the meantime, hopefully, we can explore.”
“Good idea,” she said. “What are we printing?”
When he looked over at her, that cheeky grin had returned, and she nearly lost her wits at those dimples that resurfaced.
“Naughty prints,” he said, laughing at the shocked expression on her face before he knocked on the door.
They waited for a couple of minutes, and no response came despite Michael knocking a couple more times.
He reached down and tried the doorknob, his smile returning when it turned in his hand.
“Shall we go have a peek?” he asked, and Adelaide bit her lower lip, wondering if it was a good idea, but nodded.
She followed him into the room lit only by the daylight filtering in through the dirty windows. The air was thick with the scent of ink and damp paper, the worn wooden floorboards dusted with scraps from past print runs.
“Good afternoon,” Michael called out. “Is anyone here?”
He was met with only silence and exchanged a glance with Adelaide, shrugging before turning his attention to the room.
“This might be the opportunity we needed,” he murmured. “Let’s see what we can find.”
Adelaide moved to one side of the room, Michael to the other by silent agreement as they began to search through the work stacked in neat bundles. There were papers of many sizes, some already containing print, others empty.
She picked up one pamphlet.
“This one is nearly treasonous,” she said, wide-eyed. “Look at what it has to say about King George.”
She held it up to Michael, who grimaced. “I wouldn’t be leaving my place unlocked with seditious pamphlets like that sitting out.”
“Do you think counterfeit would also be sitting out in plain sight?”
“It would be hard to believe, but it is not impossible,” he said. They worked for a few more minutes in silence before he called out. “Adelaide! Over here.”
She hurried over to him, following his pointed finger to a pile of heavy metal objects.
“What are those?”
“They are plates for the press,” he said, reaching down and flipping one over. “What does that look like to you?”
She raised her eyes to his, elation brimming within her.
“It looks like a banknote.”
Their exchange of glee quickly fell as a banging noise sounded from the back room.
“Is that the press?” she whispered as a heavy machine in the next room clanked ominously, as though it had heard her. “Can it start without anyone working it?”
Michael shook his head slowly as he moved the plate down, hiding it, just as a voice resounded.
Adelaide’s heart began to race.
“It’s Jack!” she exclaimed, and Michael motioned her to the door, the plate still held in his hand. Apparently, he intended to take it with him as evidence.
At the footsteps sounding behind them, however, they realized simultaneously that they were not going to make it to the door.
Adelaide was too focused on the impending danger that she wasn’t watching where she was going, and her foot snagged on an uneven footboard beneath her. She went tumbling forward, arms out to catch herself even as she knew she was going to cause more commotion than they could survive, but Michael reached out and caught her in strong arms.
Without saying anything, he half-led, half-dragged her across the room.
There was only one thing to do.
Hide.