Chapter Nineteen #4
Just like that, Maximilian was gone. Again.
But this time for good. Hands on his head in disbelief, Addax found himself looking at Maximilian, whose neck had clearly been broken.
The man’s head was turned all the way around on his shoulders.
He knelt in the dirt beside him, suddenly feeling a horrific sense of loss.
It was true that Maximilian’s discovery had meant that Addax’s future plans were destroyed, but it was also true that Addax had intended to do the right thing, even to his own detriment. He was resigned to it.
And now this.
He simply couldn’t believe it.
Glancing up, he could see that the wagon had been driven by Neif.
The young and skittish horse had apparently gotten away from the man, with devastating results.
Addax found himself looking down at Maximilian once again.
The man’s eyes were open in death, and Addax leaned over him, gently closing them.
“Godspeed, my friend,” he murmured. “I do not know what happened to you, or why, but go now. Go and be free.”
“My God!” Ingram was suddenly there, looking at the catastrophe. “What happened? Is that man dead?”
He was pointing to Maximilian, but Addax didn’t reply. He was looking at Adonis. “Find a blanket or something to cover him up with,” he said. “Quickly.”
Adonis rushed straight into the tavern as a crowd began to gather around the wagon, emerging very shortly with a coverlet he’d ripped off a bed in one of the rental chambers.
He had to push his way back through the crowd to hand it to Addax, who covered up Maximilian just about the time Emmeline appeared.
He heard her cry out.
“Addax!” she gasped. “My God! Are you injured?”
He stood up quickly when he saw her standing next to Ingram. Ingram’s wife and daughter were with her, but Addax went to Emmeline and hurriedly pulled her away from the snarl of people.
“Nay, love,” he said steadily. “I am not injured. But what are you doing here? I told you to stay in the stall.”
Emmeline tried not to appear too guilty. “I know,” she said. “But the horses bolted, and Ingram ran after them. Then his wife and daughter ran after them, so I did, too. They were panicked, and I thought I could help.”
He frowned. “Help with a runaway wagon?” he said doubtfully. “Honestly, Emmy. Did you think I would believe that?”
The guilt overtook her. “I was only trying to help,” she insisted weakly. But then she pointed to the covered body by the wagon. “What happened?”
Addax turned to look at the blanket-covered corpse, the people still standing around it.
The situation, in only the past several minutes, had changed so rapidly, and he was still trying to keep up with it.
He’d just been resigning himself to the fact that Maximilian wasn’t dead, but Fate had a different idea about the situation.
That skittish horse that Addax had commented on had turned out to be the catalyst for his future.
A future he’d worked so very hard for. The plans he’d made, the child Emmeline carried…
All of it would come to fruition now. For good, this time.
The realization was enough to bring tears to his eyes.
“Em,” he said softly. “There’s something I must tell you.”
She looked up at him. “What is it?”
“You are aware that Max’s body was never found.”
She cocked her head sharply in surprise. “What brought that up?”
He turned her around, moving her back the way she’d come. “There is something you should know,” he said. “I’ve found Max.”
She gasped. “You did?” she said. “Oh, Addax… you did?”
“I did.”
“But where?”
“Here.”
“In this town?”
“Aye.”
“How did you find him?”
Addax decided, very quickly, that she didn’t need to know all of it.
Not now. It would only upset her, and he didn’t want to do that, not when she was in a delicate condition.
Perhaps he’d tell her all of it someday, but for now, all she needed to know was that Maximilian’s body had been found and they could get on with their lives.
They could live and laugh and love one another as they’d planned.
Everything as they’d planned.
Briefly, he remembered what Emmeline had said to him once when they realized their feelings for one another and knew they would never be able to act on it. They were painful and poignant words that had stayed with him. But they seemed especially important now.
I shall go to my grave having never known a loving touch or the kiss of a man I love beyond all reason. That is why I envy your parents—at least they knew what love was.
Addax knew too. And so did Emmeline.
Thanks to a pair of runaway horses, nothing could come between them ever again.
Addax told her, with as little detail as possible, about finding Maximilian in the village.
He didn’t tell her that Maximilian had been alive when he found him, however.
That was something that would wait, details she didn’t need to know at this time.
He wasn’t surprised by her relief, and her gratitude, and two weeks later in St. Catherine’s Church in Penrith, they buried Maximilian in the same crypt as his mother and father, at the feet of his grandparents.
And with that, it was finally over.
When Essien finally arrived at Alston Castle a week after the burial, Addax told him the entire story from start to finish.
It was quite shocking. But when Essien realized that his brother’s happiness was now assured, with no more twists of fate or with a woman that was out of his reach—again—Essien’s reaction was surprising.
He wept.