Chapter Twenty-Five #2
“We can trap him nicely here, I think. We will discuss the details back at the house. Let’s find out what Kenrick has gleaned. If we are right, Bidenden will still be in the vicinity unless he’s decided to give up and flee.”
Deo was a little reluctant to leave the precious items there, having found them, but the duke’s argument made sense, so he spent another ten minutes ensuring his invasive tactics were camouflaged, and they made their way back to the house, where they met Kenrick returning from his errand.
The duke dispatched a footman to stand guard over the mound, while the rest of them assembled back in his study to hear Kenrick’s news.
“He’s staying at The Red Lion. He’s claiming he was too upset by the way things had fallen out with the Effords to travel today.
” Kenrick threw Emily a look. “He is playing the rejected suitor to the hilt. If I didn’t know better, I would have been inclined to believe he is truly heartbroken.
I made much of Smiggens’s apparent guilt and my shock over it, saying that you, Rob, were deliberating what to do and how to force him to reveal the location of the remaining missing items. I said Smiggens was still claiming innocence.
I made it sound like we didn’t believe him. ”
“Right,” said Robert. “Well, we know what to do now. I shall send a note to the local magistrate, Sir Gerald Kingsley, immediately. I’ve set a footman to keep watch on the mound for the next few hours.
And someone had better let Smiggens know and put the poor man out of his misery.
I shall apologize to him personally tomorrow when all this is settled, and make it widely known that we never suspected him.
I don’t want his reputation tarnished in the local area for this. ”
“I’ll tell him,” said Annis. She wiped her cheeks. “I’m sorry, but he has always been like a father to me. The notion that he might be guilty of something so heinous—I couldn’t bear it.” Emrys squeezed her shoulders. “We’ll tell him together, love. Come on.”
*
Deo and the duke sat down to plan an ambush for Bidenden, and Emily went to check on her parents. It was imperative they not let her mother find out they suspected Bidenden of treachery; she couldn’t be trusted not to gossip.
Emily was still reeling from her father coming to her defense.
He had never done such a thing in her life.
She wanted to find a chance to tell him how truly grateful she was.
As it transpired, Mama was asleep and Papa was perusing the paper in the sitting room of their suite, a pot of ale by his elbow.
Closing the bedroom door quietly on her sleeping mother, Emily went to him and dropped to her knees by his chair.
“Papa, thank you!”
He lowered the paper and looked at her over the top. “What for, my dear?” he asked, putting the paper aside.
She opened her mouth and closed it when her throat locked up. Blinking back tears, she said, “For speaking up for me.”
He looked uncomfortable. “No need for tears, Emily. It was obvious where your preference lay, and even a blind man could see the earl loves you.”
“Oh, Papa!” Emily cast herself on his chest again and sobbed.
He patted her awkwardly. “Your mother gets notions fixed in her head, and she seemed very set on you marrying Bidenden, but it made no sense when you were already hitched to Pendrell. It would have caused a huge scandal if you had married Bidenden instead. I was also concerned when I learned that Malmsbury had cast Bidenden off.”
“Has he?” she asked, sitting up and wiping her eyes. “What for?”
“I’m not sure, but the story was circulating in the clubs.
Must be pretty serious for a father to cut off his heir.
Of course, your mama knows nothing of that.
I couldn’t tell her, and it was worrying me no end.
Couldn’t have my girl hitched to a fellow with that kind of reputation.
But all’s well that ends well, my dear,” he said, echoing his wife’s sentiment from earlier.
“You ran off with Pendrell instead. Not sure how you accomplished that or even how you made his acquaintance.”
So, Emily repeated her story to him, adding, “I fainted in his arms, Papa, when I arrived at the house. I was so shocked. I thought the advertiser was a woman, and after hardly any food for a week—”
“What?” he interrupted. “What are you talking about?”
“Mama was trying to starve me into accepting Bidenden’s suit. I thought you knew?”
Her father stared at her, horrified. “No, I did not. Why didn’t you come to me?”
“If you recall, you weren’t there.” She looked down at her clenched hands, acutely uncomfortable. “In any case, you have never been prepared to stand up to Mama for me before. I—I just assumed you knew.” She shrugged. “I know you were disappointed I wasn’t born a boy.”
“Oh, God in heaven, Emily, I am so sorry!” His voice cracked, and she looked up to see his face twisted in grief, tears tracking down his cheeks.
“Your mother had so many miscarriages. At least one we knew for certain was a boy. Your birth was difficult, Em. After it, well, your mother never conceived again.”
He wiped his face, as she stared at him in shock.
Seeing her expression, he took her hand. “I think we were both guilty of resenting you a little for surviving when he didn’t.”
She withdrew her hand and went to stand before the fire, trying to digest what he had told her. “I see. Well, that explains why neither of you loved me,” she said matter-of-factly. Her heart was breaking, but she felt numb.
“No!” He rose from his chair and went to her. “That isn’t true. Of course I love you. I don’t think either of us ever quite got over the grief. Your mother felt as if she had failed me and she took it out on you.” He stopped at a loss. “I’m so sorry, Emily. This is hard to forgive, I can see that.”
“Yes, it is,” she swallowed the lump in her throat. “But at least things make sense now.”
He scrubbed his face and thinning hair. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I’m sorry I let your mother get away with—” He stopped and cleared his throat. “Did she make a habit of punishing you like that?”
“Withholding food?”
“Yes.”
“She would do it quite often, and threaten the servants with dismissal if they disobeyed her and brought me food. That is why I thought you must have agreed with her. It was usually just a meal here or there. But this last time was the most sustained period. Previously, I usually gave in after a day or two. This time I wouldn’t, although I was close to doing so when I got Deo’s letter. ”
“Your mother’s behavior is abominable. I will be having a word with her about that.”
She sighed. “Thank you, Papa, but I think it is a little too late.”
“I know,” he said hollowly.
She wiped her face, and he tentatively held out a hand to her. She hesitated a moment and then went to him and let him hug her. She couldn’t remember him ever hugging her in her whole life. It hurt, but it was a kind of strange comfort too. Can I forgive them?
“You were the tiniest thing when you were born, you know,” he said over her head. “But you were a fighter.” He cleared his throat again and sniffed. “I hope you never have to suffer the pain of losing a child, Emily. It is the most horrendous thing in the world. It’s no excuse, but—”
“I understand now, Papa,” she interrupted him, lifting her head to look at him. “It helps to know. I wish you’d told me; I wish someone had told me. It might have helped.”
He nodded and, cupping her face, kissed her forehead.
“You’re a good girl, Emily. I’m proud of you.”
She nodded, tears edging down her cheeks again as a burst of warmth broke through the pain in her chest. “Thank you, Papa.”