Epilogue
Fiona and Grace were not up when Charlotte and the others returned from seeing Gordon and Constance off.
Charlotte didn’t think a thing of it. It was well past dawn by the time she and Phillip turned in. She was weighed down by both fatigue and sadness. She’d spent her life looking out after Constance…and now her youngest sister was gone.
Phillip assured her that all would be well. She prayed he was right.
Several hours later a knock on the door woke her. Miranda, her voice frantic, said from the other side, “Charlotte, I believe Fiona is missing. And Grace and that big dog, too.”
“Missing?” Charlotte repeated. She reached for a dressing gown, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Phillip was already rising, as concerned as she was.
They opened the door. An anxious Miranda waited.
“What makes you believe she is missing?” Charlotte asked, tying the sash of her dressing gown around her waist.
“Because she isn’t here,” Miranda said. “Francesca sent a maid up to see if Fiona and Grace needed anything. The maid returned to say their beds haven’t been slept in.”
“And that huge dog is gone?” Phillip asked.
“Yes,” Miranda answered with a touch of impatience.
At that moment Francesca came up the stairs to join them. She held a note in her hand. “Justin found this in the Morning Room where we were last night.” She handed the letter to Charlotte.
Please do not be alarmed. I cannot stay with you. I have no desire to marry and too much pride to be a burden. Know that I am safe. I have my friend Grace and Tad. Thank you for all your generosity.
Sincerely,
Fiona Lachlan
“Is she mad?” Phillip said. “A young woman alone can’t survive in London. She has no idea what sort of scoundrels are out there.”
“What possessed her of such a notion anyway?” Charlotte wondered.
“We did,” Miranda answered. “Last night I heard her whispering to her friend that if we could do what we did as children, they could survive in London. I thought she was expressing worry over entering society and your new goal of finding her a husband. I had no idea she meant to go off on her own.”
Charlotte could feel a headache forming. “We must find her. We were fortunate matters worked out for us the way they did. If I’d known then what I know now, we would never have left the Ohio Valley.” She held up the letter. “I don’t know what has possessed her to reject marriage.”
“Perhaps she has something else in mind for her life,” Francesca suggested.
“There isn’t another option for a woman,” Phillip answered. As the three women glared at him, he defended himself. “I’m being honest. A woman alone has very few choices in life.”
“We must find her,” Charlotte said. “She doesn’t understand how dangerous London can be. Does she have any money?”
The others shook their heads. They didn’t know. “She didn’t take the rubies,” Francesca said. “They were left with the note.” She opened her hand to show she had them.
Surprised, Charlotte asked, “Not even one of them?”
“No,” Francesca said.
A terrible sense of foreboding settled over Charlotte.
“Perhaps she means to return to her clan,” Phillip said.
“I hope so,” Charlotte said. “London is too dangerous for women alone. Not even we were foolish enough to attempt to survive it without some funds.”
The others nodded agreement.
“I’ll start a search,” Phillip said, and left to join his brother and Alex.
But it came to naught. No one had seen two lovely women, one a redhead, the other with hair the color of a raven’s wing, leave the house with a dog roughly the size of a deer.
It was as if the city had swallowed them whole…