The Pursuit (28 page)

Blackburn Manor

“Look at that!” Christopher cried as he crowded close to a rock that would more than fill his hands.

Niki and Richard joined him on the creek bank.

“That’s a big one,” Niki agreed. “Try to lift it, Chris.”

Christopher tried first, and then Richard. Both boys were unsuccessful.

“Let me have a go at it,” Niki volunteered, causing her sons to laugh.

“It’s too heavy, Mama.”

“You can’t!”

Niki ignored them. Groaning and carrying on in a way that made the boys laugh hysterically, Niki lifted the rock—which she didn’t find all that heavy—and threw it into the creek.

Screams of delight and gales of laughter rose in the air as they were all splashed with water. Niki grabbed a few more rocks and threw them in for good measure, showing the boys her muscles and laughing at their enjoyment. By the time she was done, she was laughing so hard that she collapsed on the grass. The boys came after her, and in a moment they were lying with their faces close together, mud spatters and all.

“We’re so dirty, Aunt Mary will never let us back in the house.”

“You have mud on your face,” Richard told his mother.

“I’m sure I do. You look like a raccoon.”

They spent a little time crossing their eyes at each other before Niki pushed to her feet. She took the boys farther down the creek bank, and they went on their knees in order to lean close to the water to find schools of little fish. This was how Edward found them.

For the first time the boys did not run to him but called and waved him over to see the fish they’d discovered. Niki had time to push to her feet, wave at him, and move a little ways away, careful to keep her back to him at all times.

“Of all the days not to have a hankie,” she whispered furiously to herself, examining the dirt on her hands and the front of her dress, knowing her face and hair would be just as bad.

“How are you?” She suddenly heard Edward behind her and stiffened.

“I’m fine,” she answered cheerfully, still presenting her back.

“Did I interrupt?” he asked.

“Not at all. The boys are still looking for fish if you care to join them.”

Niki didn’t hear anything else and assumed Edward had gone to the creek side.

“I take it you’re as muddy in the front as you are in the back.”

His voice, even closer than before, startled her into turning around. The minute Edward saw her mud-splattered face, he smiled. Niki did anything but.

“I think it’s only fair to tell you, Edward Steele,” she replied, her voice tight with frustration, “that no man has ever seen me at my worst the way you have.”

Having experience with three sisters, Edward knew he was on thin ice, but he had to say something.

“In that case, I consider myself honored.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Well, you must be a little bit comfortable with me.”

“Or one of us has horrid timing.”

Not able to help himself, Edward grinned at her. Dreadfully embarrassed, Niki didn’t want to smile back but allowed a small one to peek through.

“What were you doing?” Edward asked, his voice kind.

“Just looking at fish.”

“You can tell me if I interrupted.”

“No, not at all. Boys, did you want to show Mr Steele anything?”

“We found fish.”

“Mama threw a rock! It was big.”

With that they were off, talking nonstop in French. Niki was tempted to quiet them, but this time she stood back and let Edward handle it.

“Slow down so I can get this straight,” Edward begged after a moment, also using French. “How big was the rock?”

“Big!”

“Huge!”

The boys took Edward to the place and showed him the rock that could be seen in the middle of the creek bed. Edward looked at it before turning mischievous eyes to Niki.

“Huge,” he said softly, and Niki’s grubby fingers came to her lips in an effort to cover laughter.

She kept quiet and continued to watch the three of them, a new truth dawning on her with every passing second.

Edward glanced her way at one point and found an odd look on her face. When he could find an excuse, he sent the boys ahead so he could talk to her.

“Everything all right?”

“No, it’s not,” she said baldly. “It’s only just occurred to me that they think you’re a tall five-year-old.”

Edward began to laugh.

“It’s quite true!” Niki insisted. “No matter how many times I tell them they must call you Mr Steele, you’re still Edward. They can’t see anything else. I’ve never seen them react this way to anyone.”

“Well, how many men have they met?”

“Not many, now that I think on it.”

“And they call Mr Lawton, Gar, don’t they?”

“That’s true, but they never speak to the Walkers in an informal manner.”

“They don’t look like tall five-year-olds.”

Niki heard the tease in his voice and turned her head so he wouldn’t see her smile, all of which was fine with Edward. He thought her profile adorable, making her look younger than ever, especially with the mud.

Edward said the next thing that came to mind. “I don’t think I ever asked you why you married at such a young age.”

Niki smiled a little and walked after the boys, who were a little farther down the creek bank.

“You would have your answer if you had known my parents. They had a touch of bohemian in them and rarely said no to me about anything. My mother died when I was 12, but my father and I often traveled together. When I met Louis on a trip to Paris and fell in love, Papa was delighted. My parents had met and fallen in love when they were very young, and he assumed that was the way everyone should do it.”

“Is that the way you want the boys to do it?”

Niki looked at him.

“You have a way of asking questions that stops me in my tracks.”

“I didn’t mean for that.”

“No, it’s all right. I just haven’t thought about it. I long for the day when the boys are old enough to fend for themselves and not be vulnerable to capture.” Niki shrugged a little. “In my quest to get them to that point, I’ve never even thought about their marrying.”

“And it doesn’t have to be thought about today. I just asked what came to mind.”

“Even with just a few moments of thought,” Niki went on immediately, “I would say no. I want them to take more time. For the most part, Louis and I were happy, but not all was perfect. Had he lived, we would have had many things to work on.”

“As do all marriages.”

“True, but I think our problems would have turned serious. I’m not sure Louis would have ever believed in Jesus Christ. He didn’t like to be told what to do, and one must be willing to put oneself under authority, or so the Scriptures have led me to believe.”

“Has that been hard for you?”

Niki sighed.

“At times. Trust does not come easily for me.”

Edward wasn’t quite sure how to reply to this, but it didn’t matter: His mind was on something else she’d said.

“Did you say that your husband did not like to be told what to do?”

“Yes. He wasn’t harsh with me, but if his mother demanded something of him, he would push his heel into the dirt.”

“She taught him well, didn’t she?”

Again Niki looked at him, her brows raised in surprised admiration.

“You’ve certainty taken little time to understand my mother-in-law. At times word has come to me that my keeping the boys has enraged her. She’s very accustomed to having her way. No one, and I do mean
no one,
tells Patrice Bettencourt what she can and cannot do.”

“She sounds like a formidable adversary.”

Niki took a deep breath and admitted quietly, “In truth, she frightens me.”

“You’re safe here.”

“Not if she finds me.”

“Even then.” Edward gently pushed the point, but Niki didn’t seem to hear him. They had reached the boys, and Niki saw that their clothing was only getting worse. She had chosen older pants and shirts for each of them, and her own dress was ancient, but enough was enough.

“Chris, Rich, I think we’ll return to the house.”

“Must we?” Christopher complained.

“Yes. It’s time to clean up a bit.”

The boys did not move.

“Come along now,” Niki urged them, and with ill-concealed displeasure they rose to their feet and accompanied her.

Watching them, Edward thought an element of thankfulness was missing for their having an outing at all, but for two reasons he didn’t voice his misgivings: They were not his children, and if the slight droop in Niki’s shoulders was any indication, she already had enough on her plate.

Ludlow

“Lizzy, I’m going to have a baby.”

The words Cassandra had whispered to her sister lingered long after she’d left for Pembroke. Lizzy had not been expecting to hear such news, but she was completely thrilled for her sister. And considering how much she wanted a child of her own, surprisingly unenvying.

Lizzy’s yearning for a baby was still strong, but it didn’t diminish her joy at the prospect of becoming an aunt. Lizzy smiled as she visualized Cassandra growing round in the middle. For a moment, Sarah Weston came to mind. Cassandra and Tate’s baby would be just as adorable, and Lizzy knew she would fall instantly in love.

A moment later, Lizzy sat up straight in her chair. She had to tell Morland! But where had he said he was going?

“Here you are,” Morland said with satisfaction as he strolled calmly into the room Lizzy occupied. “I couldn’t find you.”

Morland had barely entered the room before Lizzy rushed across the room to hug him.

“I have news!” Lizzy told her husband, still holding onto him.

Morland looked down at his wife’s face, his heart filling over the joy he read there.

“Lizzy, are you pregnant?” he asked hopefully.

“No, but it’s the next best thing. We’re going to be Uncle Morland and Aunt Lizzy.”

“Charlotte and Barrington?”

“No, Cassie and Tate. Can you believe it?”

“Cassie?” Morland asked in surprise, shaking his head a little. Cassandra was the youngest in the family, the one they had always tried to baby. For a moment, Morland couldn’t imagine her with a baby of her own.

“You don’t look excited,” Lizzy mentioned, trying to read his expression.

“I am,” he assured her, “but it takes a little getting used to. Our Cassie, a mother. I can’t take it in just yet.”

Lizzy smiled at him.

“You’re looking very pleased,” Morland said when he caught her eye.

“I’m just so excited for them. It’s going to be wonderful.”

“Are you struggling that it’s Cassie and not you?”

“No, I’m all right. I think God has children in mind for us, but not just yet.”

Morland bent so he could kiss her nose. Lizzy wrapped her arms around him, and they held each other close. They had been married nearly eight months, and they had been some of the happiest months of Lizzy’s life. She knew she would be plagued again about motherhood and God’s timing versus her own, but for the moment, she was choosing to rest.

Aunt Lizzy,
she said to herself, hugging Morland just a little bit tighter and thinking the name had a lovely ring.

The Manse

“What are you looking for?” Pastor Hurst asked his wife on Sunday afternoon when he found her in their bedroom, paging through her Bible. Lunch was over, the baby was asleep, and the older children had been asked to engage in quiet activities for the next few hours.

“That verse you referred to at the end of the sermon. Robert was beginning to fuss, and I missed the reference.”

“Get me started,” her husband prompted.

“It was something about ‘faces harder than a rock.’”

“Jeremiah 5.”

Judith turned to that chapter and began to read out loud.

“‘Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it. And though they say, the Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely. O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.’”