Chapter 15 #3
Rand couldn’t help but smile; Mayhew truly was honest to the bone—in selecting him as his henchman, Winthrop had been blind. Rand turned toward where he’d left Felicia. “If you insist on making amends…”
Mayhew straightened and turned to walk beside him. “I do.”
“Then having seen your sketches, I suggest you send a few of your perspectives of the Hall to Miss Throgmorton and Mrs. Makepeace as peace offerings, and we’ll consider the matter settled and done.”
Mayhew nodded eagerly. “I’ll do that.”
“And now”—Rand looked ahead to where the crowds were still thick around the Throgmorton exhibit—“you had better come with me, because at the end of this exceedingly eventful day, I suspect we’ll have a significant amount of explaining to do.”
Their eventful day had not yet ended. Rand and Mayhew rejoined Felicia, Mary, and Ryder beside the empty Throgmorton exhibit in time to watch Prince Albert, under William John’s tutelage, drive the steam carriage down the center of the hall, back to its place in the lineup of inventions.
For the attentive and excited crowd, this would plainly be the highlight of their day.
For those associated with the Throgmorton steam carriage, it was a crowning achievement.
Nothing, simply nothing, could be better—could surpass the moment when William John showed Albert how to set the brake and turn off the engine, and with that done, the Prince looked up, beaming with undisguised delight.
The organizers gathered around, thrilled at the unexpected episode and delighted to support the Prince’s approbation.
Her face wreathed in a smile of incandescent joy, Felicia watched William John deal with all the questions and congratulations with newfound confidence and authority.
More than any other there, she could appreciate the vindication he had to be feeling, then he briefly looked her way, and his eyes shone with just that emotion, and, simultaneously, he and she nodded to each other, then William John returned to answering the questions and inquiries that were now coming thick and fast.
Felicia turned her attention to the crowd, observing the intrigued interest that now filled so many faces. When Rand shifted to better protect her from the surge of bodies, she gripped his arm and murmured, “I hope my father—and my mother, too—are looking down and seeing this.”
Rand dipped his head, and she felt his lips lightly brush her temple. “The triumph of the Throgmortons?” he murmured.
She laughed. “Yes. Exactly that.”
And that triumph reached far further, far deeper than the steam carriage.
She was, finally, at one with her father and her brother.
She’d reconnected with them in a way she had never thought she would.
Now, she could accept them as they were—as inventors—because she’d finally found and embraced the inventor in herself.
That was the ultimate triumph here, the change that would give them—her, Rand, and William John—a solid base on which to build their futures. Their inevitably intertwined futures.
Rand had been the catalyst that had brought about the change that had allowed them to get to this moment and secure their triumph; he now was and would forever be an integral part of their whole.
Glancing at Rand, Felicia saw Mayhew standing on Rand’s other side. After having seen Mayhew help Rand to free the valves, she no longer understood Mayhew’s role.
Apparently sensing the questions on her tongue, Rand squeezed her hand where it lay on his sleeve and murmured, “We’ll explain later, but Mayhew’s on our side.”
Across Rand, she met Mayhew’s eyes. “You helped us.”
He smiled rather shyly and bobbed a bow. “I can’t say I wasn’t a trifle flustered at one point, but I’m glad I was able to assist.”
Clearly, there was a story behind Mayhew’s actions, but as Albert reluctantly returned to his duties and moved on to view the next exhibit, and a horde of newspapermen, other inventors, and investors converged on William John, Felicia accepted that Rand was right; he had no time for explanations now.
Rand pressed her hand and unlinked their arms. “I need to help William John.”
Felicia murmured encouragingly; her brother was starting to look a trifle overwhelmed.
She watched Rand push his way to William John’s side.
Almost immediately, William John’s smile—a smile Felicia knew meant he was reliving his recent drive with the Prince no matter that he was answering people’s questions—returned.
Luckily, the newspapermen and the investors quickly recognized Rand as the more useful source and directed their queries to him, leaving William John to the other inventors, who were every bit as vague as he.
Ryder and Mary came to join Felicia; they had been speaking with Shields and the other guards, who had once again instituted a protective cordon about the steam carriage.
Felicia saw Ryder’s outwardly easygoing yet inwardly suspicious gaze rest on Mayhew, who, now Rand had gone, was standing beside her.
Rand may not have time to explain, but there was no reason Mayhew couldn’t oblige.
She turned to him. “Mr. Mayhew, perhaps you can explain what’s been happening.
” Boldly, she took his arm and steered the artist away from the worst of the crowd.
Mary and Ryder moved with them, on Felicia’s other side.
Mayhew looked rather nervously at Ryder. “Ah…”
Releasing Mayhew, Felicia waved at Ryder and Mary. “Allow me to present the Marquess and Marchioness of Raventhorne, Lord Cavanaugh’s brother and sister-in-law. You may speak freely before them.”
Ryder rumbled, “We know of your attempts to sabotage the engine, culminating in your attempt to kidnap Miss Throgmorton.” Ryder’s lips curved in a gesture that was not a smile. “We’re all quite keen to learn what, exactly, has been going on.”
Mayhew studied Ryder for a moment and, apparently, decided the invitation to exonerate himself was not one to dismiss.
Briefly, he met Felicia’s eyes, then he drew in a breath and said, “I’m afraid I managed to get myself into quite horrendous debt.
My principal creditor isn’t one to balk at violence. And then my uncle contacted me, and—”
Along with Mary and Ryder, Felicia listened as Mayhew unburdened himself of what she judged was a comprehensive confession; certainly, he missed none of the events of which she was aware, and despite Ryder’s looming presence, Mayhew made no attempt to gloss over his perfidy.
That he’d been shaken to his senses by the incident in the wood and, subsequently, had recoiled from executing his uncle’s plans rang true.
He then explained what had happened earlier that afternoon, in the exhibition hall.
“So Winthrop took your offhand comment to heart and acted?” Mary asked.
Mayhew nodded. “I never imagined he would. I parted from him, then I saw Miss Throgmorton and Lord Cavanaugh and decided I couldn’t just walk away without giving them the explanations I felt they were owed.
” He paused, then lightly shrugged. “His lordship thought it best to check the engine, and I went to see, too.”
“I saw Rand and you slip behind the engine.” Felicia looked at Ryder and Mary. “When I found them—” She succinctly described what had gone on in the fraught minutes leading up to the engine settling and performing as expected.
“So that was why the engine made that strange noise at the start,” Mary said.
Felicia nodded. “The pressures were unable to equalize—not until both valves had been released.”
Ryder thought for a moment, then nodded at Mayhew. “So you helped save the day. That’s exoneration enough for me.”
Mary and Felicia echoed, “And me.”
“And,” Felicia continued, “quite obviously, Rand has decided you’re to be excused your transgressions.”
Mayhew seemed to squirm. “As to that, his lordship and I confronted my uncle, and the upshot was that he—my uncle—will cover my debts as he promised and also pay me a stipend.” Mayhew appeared not entirely comfortable with that result, but added, “My uncle also agreed to retire from this arena of investing—henceforth, he’ll send any of his clients interested in investing in inventions to Lord Cavanaugh. ”
Ryder grinned. “It seems my brother has ensured that Winthrop pays appropriately for his sins.” Ryder regarded Mayhew, then smiled. “I believe we can consider the incident dealt with and put it behind us.”
Being of much the same opinion, Felicia nodded. She looked to where Rand and William John were still surrounded by the curious.
Mary slid her arm in Ryder’s. “We’re going to stroll some more—I want to take a look at that pen device Rand mentioned.”
Felicia nodded. “I’ll stay here in case they need relief.”
With a smile and a nod, Ryder led his wife away.
Mayhew shifted. When Felicia glanced his way, he somewhat diffidently asked, “I wonder if I might take another look at the engine? I only caught the briefest glimpse before, and I was too tense to take proper notice.”
She studied him for a moment and decided they owed him too great a debt not to let bygones go. With a smile, she tipped her head to the steam carriage. “Of course. Come on.”
She led him past the cordon and a still-suspicious Shields—there would have to be more explanations later—and she and Mayhew walked around the steam carriage to the side away from the crowds.
She opened the side flap to the engine compartment so Mayhew could crouch and look inside.
Still explaining to other inventors, William John had the opposite flap as well as the top cover open, allowing light to stream in and illuminate the gleaming pipes and tubes, the heavy gears and cogs, and the silvery steel housing of the pistons.
Felicia looked at the engine and felt proprietorial pride bloom within her—something she’d never thought to feel over any invention.
Smiling at herself, she shifted her gaze to Mayhew and studied his expression as he gazed at the engine. She sensed the moment something took hold, and Mayhew caught his breath.