Honor Reclaimed (All About Honor) (36 page)

“Do we awaken John to tell him what
has transpired?”
 
Galen questioned
Thomas.

“I think not.
 
It will keep until morning.
 
I do not believe we could awaken him
anyhow.
 
He will be in no condition
to take this all in when he awakens as it is.
 
Let him sleep it off as much as possible.” Thomas answered.

Morning arrived, but John slept
on.
 
It was well into the afternoon
before he stirred.
 
He moaned in
pain and held his head before he even opened his eyes.
 
Suddenly he shot up in bed, but Thomas
had anticipated his needs and had a basin ready to receive the contents of
John’s stomach.
 
Once John had
completely emptied his stomach he attempted a weak smile of thanks.
 
He was not sure how Drew had done this
night after night for so many years.

“I think I will be alright in a few
minutes.
 
What time is it?”
 
He was still trying to get oriented.

“It is mid-afternoon.
 
If you are up to it, we need to finish
some business so we can get out of here as soon as possible.”
 
Galen encouraged.

“I am sorry, I did not mean to sleep
this late.
 
I know you are anxious
to return home.
 
I guess I would do
just about anything to keep from having to face your sister with the truth and
break not only her heart but her spirit as well.”
 
John hung his head and ran his fingers through his hair in
his typical fashion.

“John, we have news that may make
that encounter a bit less fearful.”
 
Galen looked to Thomas, unsure how to begin.

“John, we had a very interesting
midnight visitor last night while you slept.
 
Sir David’s wife appeared at our door in a rather battered
state.
 
She had challenged Sir
David when he told her what he had done and he did not take kindly to her
censure.
 
It appears that Sir David
lied to us.
 
Sarah is alive John.”
 
Thomas did not know how to break the
news to his cousin without sending his world in a tailspin again.

“Alive?
 
You said you saw the tiny grave.
 
You are sure she is alive?”
 
John was trying to get his balance again.

“As sure as we can be until we can actually
set eyes on her.
 
She was taken to
replace the daughter of Jacob’s widow who had died a few months before.
 
It was their daughter’s little grave I
was shown.
 
Sir David’s wife
assures me she is being well cared for and that Jacob’s wife has truly taken
her to heart as her daughter.
 
There is one problem though.
 
We do not know where they are.
 
Sir William gave her the last of their ready cash and secreted her
away.
 
The secret died with
him.”
 
Galen broke the news as
gently as he could.

“We will just have to find
them.
 
How did they leave?
 
Who escorted them?
 
What manor of transportation did they
use?
 
There have to be clues that
will lead us to them.”

John could not wait to get home and
tell Eirian what he had discovered.
 
Their baby was alive and she was well cared for.
 
Now all they had to do was locate her.

They spent the remainder of that day
and the next discreetly asking questions around the village.
 
No one seemed to know what happened to
Sir William’s daughter in-law or to the coachman who drove the wagon she left
in.
 
Sir William had chosen
well.
 
The man had no family in the
area and no close friends in whom he confided.
 
They would just have to spread out to search for clues.
  
Three people and a wagon could
not have just disappeared into thin air.

The men were forced to give up their
search in Usk, and return home to inform Eirian of what they had discovered.

The ladies were gathered in the
parlor when they heard the voices of their husbands in the entry hall.
 
Gwen and Aislinn jumped to their feet
holding their breath as the men entered the room.
 
Eirian was frozen in place afraid to move for fear of what
she would find out about her baby girl.
 

John went straight to his wife
kneeling in front of her, taking her trembling hands in his.
 
“She is gone isn’t she?” Eirian managed
to squeak out through a throat clogged with tears.

“We do not know where she is, but we
do know that she is alive.” Before he could finish Eirian collapsed in his arms
releasing the tears that she had been straining to hold back.

Finally regaining control of
herself, she was at
last
able to ask for details,
“Please, tell me everything.
 
Where
is she, who has her, why was she taken and how are we going to get her back?”

“I was right, Sir William was behind
her abduction.
 
You remember that
we heard that his son Jacob had been found with his throat slashed about six
years ago?
 
His wife was pregnant
with their first child at the time and gave birth to a little girl shortly
thereafter. The little girl, Carys, was all she had in the world.
 
Carys died about three months ago.
 
Of course her mother was devastated and
inconsolable.
 
Sir William had
always blamed us for Jacob death.
 
He decided to seek revenge by replacing his granddaughter with our
child, knowing he could find no more effective punishment for our family.”
 

Eirian was trying hard to understand
everything John was saying to her even though it was so shocking. “Were you
able to get him to tell you where they are?”

“No baby.
 
Sir William died two days before we got there.
 
We spoke with his son who tried to
convince us that Sarah was dead.
 
They even showed Thomas a small grave, which, as it turns out, was
Carys’.
 
We believed she was dead
and were ready to return home when Sir David’s wife met with us secretly.
 
She told us everything she knew about
the abduction.
 
Jacob’s wife has
had an emotional collapse.
 
She
truly believes that our Sarah is her Carys.
 
She is lavishing the child with love and taking excellent
care of her.
 
We can be grateful
for that, but we do not know where they have gone”.
 
John was trying to break it to Eirian as gently as possible.

“She was not in Usk?
 
Where could she be?
 
Does she have family that she could be
hiding out with?”
 
She knew without
asking that John would have already checked this all out before returning home
without their child, but she was compelled to ask anyhow.

“She had no family of her own which
is why the loss of her husband and her child were so hard on her.
 
It seems that Sir William gave her
money to disappear somewhere we could not find her.
 
No one knows where he sent her.”
 
John was unsure of how to continue.

“We have to find her.
 
John, we have to find her.”
 
Eirian was barely holding on.

“We will baby, I promise.
 
I won’t quit searching for her until we
find her, if it takes the rest of my life.
 
Give me a few days to tie up some business here and I am
going on to London.
 
We believe
that London may have been their destination.
 
It would be easier for them to get lost in the crowds
there.
 
It is a place to start at
any rate.”
 
John was pleased to see
a spark of hope in Eirian’s eyes.

By the end of the week John, Thomas,
and Galen were on their way to London.
 
They stopped at every village along the way trying to pick up any
information that could help them in their search.
 
They found a few people that remembered a couple with a girl
child about Sarah’s age passing through, but no one could be sure to their
identity.
 
Finally they found a
woman who remembered seeing the little girl’s hair when her bonnet blew loose.
 
She described her as having the most
glorious strawberry blond curls.
 
John was ecstatic; he knew they were on the right track.

They also picked up news that was
not as encouraging.
 
In January,
the King and his family had been driven out of London and retreated to his
palace at Hampton Court.
 
It was
rumored that he was now in Oxford gathering his army and that war was
eminent.
 

John had been so caught up in the
trials of his family for the last three months that he did not realize that
things had gotten so out of hand.
 
His country was going to war and he was obligated to give his services
to the king.
 
He had pledge his
oath of fealty to his king at Charles’ coronation, there was no turning back
from that obligation.
 
The question
was when and in what capacity was he obligated to serve.
 
Did he have to put his king before his
family in order to preserve his honor, or was he honor bound to hold his family
together.

He would follow his heart and look
for his child.
 
She needed him and
his wife needed her child.
 

They reached the village of Windsor
and, as was their practice, they visited the inns of the town in hopes of
finding anybody who might have knowledge of a man and woman traveling with a
girl of Sarah’s description.
 
As
they entered the second inn John was surprised to hear someone call out, “John,
John Lewis.
 
Could that really be
you?”

“Henry Wilmot?
 
What brings you to these parts?”
 
John grasped the outstretched hand of
the elegant looking younger man before him.

“John, will you join me in my
private dinning room?
 
Please,
bring your friends to join us.”
 
Henry seemed to be reluctant to carry on a conversation in the common
room of the inn.

With the door closed behind them
John began, “Henry, let me present my cousin Sir Thomas Lewis, and my brother
in-law Sir Galen Lewis.
 
Gentlemen, my old friend, Sir Henry Wilmot.
 
Eirian and I met Henry while we were
visiting France.
 
We shared many an
interesting evening at Madame de
Rambouillet
salon in
Paris, is that not so Henry?”

“Indeed, and how is your lovely
wife?
 
You are a lucky man John,
not only is she a beauty, but she is incredibly bright and well read.
 
I am sure she never bores you as so
many of the court beauties are prone to doing.
 
Five minutes in bed with them and their entertainment value
is spent.”
 
Henry had obviously
been drinking for a while as his tongue was looser than was considered
appropriate when speaking of another man’s wife.
 
“I had always had a soft spot for redheads.
 
They can be so impetuous and fiery in
bed.”

John saw Galen’s hand move to the
hilt of his sword and reached over to stay his hand.
 
Henry had not missed the action either and was quick to
realize his mistake.
 
“My apologies
sir”, he said with a bow, “Of course I was referring to redheads in general and
not to your sister in particular.
 
Madame Lewis is nothing if she is not a lady.
 
Her comportment and decorum are impeccable.
 
I could never be anything but
complementary of her in every way.
 
No offense was intended sir, I assure you.”

Galen acknowledged his apology with
a curt nod.
 
It was not really his
place to take offense.
 
She was
John’s wife and if he was willing to let it pass, he decided to stay out of it.

John was less than happy with Sir
Henry’s comments, but he did not feel like he could alienate such a powerful
man when he might need to call in favors in order to find his daughter.
 
“Henry, what brings you to these
parts?”

“John, surely you are in jest.
 
I would assume we are all headed in the
same direction.”
 
Sir Henry looked
confused.

“Are you going religious on me
suddenly my friend?” John was confused.

“You are serious.
 
You truly do not know then what has
happened.
  
The King has fled
to Oxford and is raising an army against Parliament.
  
Where have you been sir, not to be aware that war is
at hand?”
 
Sir Henry could not
believe that they could be so out of touch with the state of the country.