The Pursuit (15 page)

This one stumped them, and looking at their adorable faces, fair hair falling on their brows, Niki had all she could do not to laugh.

“Shall we go and find him?” their mother suggested, her eyes soft with tenderness toward them.

The little boys agreed, and since it was growing a bit late, they found Gar and Juliana in their room.

“May we disturb you?” Niki asked even as the boys climbed on their bed, clearly having been there before.

“Of course,” Juliana replied as she stopped brushing her hair and Gar set his book aside.

“The boys have something to tell you.”

In another mix of French and English, the boys reminded Gar that they had fought and were sorry. Gar held them close, and told them all was well. They kissed him soundly and returned to their mother.

“Go to your room now, and ready yourselves for bed,” she ordered. “I’ll be right along.”

Niki watched them head out and then turned back to her friends.

“Where did the French come from?”

“That’s my fault,” Juliana admitted. “I thought I would teach them a little, completely forgetting the years they’d been around it, and with a few lessons, it came pouring out of them. Now every sentence is a mixture of both languages. It’s so amusing, I can’t stand to correct them.”

Niki laughed. “I can’t believe how big they are. Have you ever seen anything so precious?”

“Never,” Gar agreed.

“I’m going to sleep in with them tonight. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Be ready to talk,” Gar ordered, and Niki said that she would be.

Once Niki had gone to her own room to change into her nightgown and robe, she slipped down the hall and found the twins making little progress with their bedclothes. They were looking at a picture book and not moving very fast. Niki didn’t lecture them but worked on small buttons and shoes, content just to be near them.

When the boys were finally ready, Niki climbed into the middle of the bed they shared, and smiled as the two of them moved to either side of her.

“Are you going away again?”

“No,” Niki said, begging God to let it be so. “We’re going to be together now.”

“Here at Kendal?”

“Yes. Won’t that be fun?”

Without warning the boys agreed, both speaking at once and in the hysterical mix of a dual language.

“Can you do something for me?” Niki cut in gently after letting them ramble for a time. “I would like you to speak only French until you go to sleep.”

Thinking this a great game, Christopher and Richard giggled and concentrated, saying things just to try them out.

Niki corrected them a number of times and worked on their pronunciations until all three were spent. The small group fell asleep as they were, snuggled close without moving.

Several hours later, Juliana found she couldn’t sleep. Taking the lantern, she went to check on Niki and the boys. Holding the light high, she studied the three fair heads, looking even younger in sleep. They belonged together as they were right now.

Her heart ached for their dilemma. The thought of losing the boys was almost more than she could bear, but Niki’s separating from them again was worse.

Wondering if she would sleep at all, Juliana went back to her bed. She had things to say, and in the morning she would say them. She finally fell asleep with a plan, completely unaware that Gar would beat her to it.

“You can’t do this any longer,” Gar came right out and said at the breakfast table just hours after his wife had been in the boys’ room. “You’re thin and pale, Niki, and you can’t go on this way.”

“I won’t be doing it any longer,” she said quietly, still in her robe and sipping tea from a perfect China cup. “I decided on this trip: I won’t be separated from the boys again. It was too much this time.”

“What happened, Niki?” Juliana wanted to know. “Where were you?”

“Denley became ill. I’ve never seen him like that.”

“How ill?”

“Very. He slept all the time and had a high fever. One doctor even spoke of bleeding him.”

“Where was all this?”

“We were on a ship out of Africa. It was to make a swift stop in Lisbon and go on, but Denley was too ill to continue. We disembarked and stayed at an inn.”

“And you handled all of this on your own?” Juliana sounded as horrified as she felt.

“As a matter of fact, I didn’t. There was a gentleman who stepped in.”

The Lawtons stared at her.

“Who was it?”

“His name is Edward Steele.”

“Was he one of Pomeroy’s men?”

“No, nothing like that. He and Denley ended up in the same cabin together on board ship. Denley was so ill that he asked Edward to look after me. Edward agreed and would not be parted from us until Denley was back on his feet. It took several days, but it felt like weeks.”

“Well, there’s no harm done in that,” Gar spoke with relief. “We’re just thankful you had someone.”

“He figured it out,” Niki added and waited. As she expected, her hosts were stunned.

“Is that why you arrived here last night looking like a servant?”

Gar had not been aware of this, and Niki sat quietly as Juliana explained. “You can’t believe how different she looked. I would have passed her on the street and never known her.”

Gar looked back to Niki. “All right, Nicola, all of it. I want the whole story—every word.”

Niki began. It was early, and the boys would not be awake for some time, so the three were not interrupted. The Lawtons had occasional questions, but for the most part they sat in silence and listened to Niki’s unbelievable tale.

“You were actually held up?”

“Yes. They didn’t take anything, thanks to that sword we worked into my coat.”

“So that was before your servant act?”

“Yes, I didn’t become a servant until the very end.”

“And did you actually work as a servant to this man?”

To their surprise, she smiled and laughed a little.

“He was without mercy,” she told them, still chuckling. “He wanted his tea hot and his boots shined.”

“And all this time he knew you were a woman?”

“Yes. He has three sisters, and I get the impression that he teases them nonstop.”

The Lawtons were utterly silent. This had not been a part of the plan, and Niki’s looking back on it with laughter threw them off completely.

“I almost forgot,” Juliana suddenly said, going to the sideboard and coming toward Niki with a stack of letters. “Some mail caught up with you.”

Niki looked through the letters and even read one of them. She looked thoughtful, and Gar would have questioned her, but the boys came tumbling in.

“Good morning, my darlings,” Niki greeted them, bringing them close for warm hugs and kisses.

Declaring themselves to be starving, they sat at the table and waited patiently for food to arrive. It didn’t take long.

While they ate, Niki talked with them. She learned more about the things they had done in the weeks she’d been away. She had only been gone six weeks this time, but it seemed much longer. The boys were taller, and she thought their vocabulary had improved.

An ache filled her over missing these developments, causing her to be more determined than ever to miss nothing more. She didn’t know what the days would bring in the near or far future, but whatever it was, the three of them would go through it together.

Her excitement at seeing the boys notwithstanding, trooping through the woods with them for more than three hours exhausted Niki. Her feet hurt from the shoes she wore, and she’d scratched the back of her hand on a branch. When Gar, who had led this little expedition, said he was going on to the creek to fish for a time, Niki waved the white flag.

“I’m headed back to the house. I’ll see you when you return.”

Not willing to miss an opportunity to fish, even for their mother, the boys blew kisses to her and merrily chased after Gar. Niki would have liked someone to carry her back but forced herself to keep moving, even going so far as to search for Denley when she returned.

She found him sitting quietly in the side yard, a book open on his lap.

“How are you?” Niki asked, waving him down when he started to stand. She took a chair nearby. “Please tell me you’re getting lots of rest,” she begged.

“I am, thank you. Are you well?”

“Yes, just concerned about you.”

“I’m fine. I’ll take today and tomorrow off, and then I’ll be ready whenever you are.”

“You’re a gem, Denley. Have I told you?”

He smiled a little and inclined his head modestly. Niki left him to his book, circling around the house and going in the front door. She had no more stepped inside then Juliana snagged her.

A hand to her arm, Juliana said, “We’ll just head into this small, sunlit parlor right here and have a little talk.”

“All right,” Niki agreed with a laugh, wondering at her hostess’ singsong voice.

“Sit down,” Juliana commanded after she’d shut them inside.

Niki did so and noticed that her friend took a chair that put them very close together. Juliana leaned toward her in a conspiratorial manner.

“All right, it’s just the two of us now. Tell me about this man.”

Juliana felt an alarm when Niki didn’t laugh, make light of it, or try to change the subject.

“What do you want to know?”

“Tell me his name again.”

“Edward Steele.”

“And where is he from?”

“You mean specifically where in England? I don’t know. I was willing to say so little that I never felt I could ask.”

“But he did stay here in England? He disembarked from the ship and remained here?”

“Yes, he’s English.”

“How old is he?”

“I would guess mid to late twenties.”

“Good-looking?”

“Very.”

“Dark or light?”

“Medium brown hair, and very tan.”

“Why had he been in Africa?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did he help you?”

“I think because he told Denley he would.”

This gave Juliana pause. It was almost impossible to get a clear picture when Niki knew so little, but this man could not be ignored. Niki’s entire face changed when she spoke of him. She simply must know more.

“What if he’s married?” Juliana questioned, asking the next thing that came to mind.

“Well, he did nothing improper, so he has nothing to be ashamed of.”

“But that doesn’t help you.”

Niki smiled at her in understanding.

“I know little beyond his name, Jules, and I certainly told him next to nothing about myself. I highly doubt I will ever see him again.”

“But you’d like to, wouldn’t you?”

“I wouldn’t mind, but not every man wants a ready-made family, and of course he knows nothing of the boys.”

Juliana sat back, clearly working out a plan. Niki laughed at her.

“This is not funny!” Juliana declared. “You meet a man who makes you laugh and smile for the first time since Louis died, and we have no way to find him or even know if he’s available. It’s just too wretched!”

Niki only shook her head. “Wretched or not, it’s a subject we have to drop for the moment.”

“Why?”

“Christmas is a week from tomorrow. What do we have planned?”

“Were you able to shop?”

“A little. How about you?”