The following day the road-worn and rumpled pair made their way into the back of the coach. Lady Abigail was happy to see that Gilchrist had produced a proper vehicle for long distance travel with a sturdy roof and much plusher cushion to the seats.
It wasn’t until they got into the carriage that Lady Abigail realized for the first time that Lord Gilchrist was not using his usually walking cane.
“Forgive me for asking, but has your leg healed? I just noticed you are walking without assistance.”
“Oh,” Lord Gilchrist said unconsciously rubbing his left thigh as if he too had just realized for himself that he was doing well without the help.
“I actually didn’t bring it because it would have been hard to keep at such a speed on horseback. Honestly, though, until just now I had forgotten all about the pain.”
“How interesting. You walk as if you never needed it,” Lady Abigail continued.
She was happy that at least for the remainder of this carriage ride up north she would now have a companion worth conversing with.
“Perhaps it was just all up in my head,” Gilchrist said with a chuckle to himself. “I suppose much goes on up there that I am not entirely aware of,” he added and then instantly regretted giving up such information so freely.
Lord Gilchrist always seemed to find himself sharing with Lady Abigail more then he wanted or had ever done with another. There was something about her, most likely the way he felt about her, that made him willing to share all of what he had with her.
“You know Christian told me a story once of a man on his ship. He had been holding on to some rigging during a storm. A giant wave had crashed the vessel, and in the process, he was whipped from his spot while his arm was still tangled in the rigging. The force of the wave…well,” Lady Abigail seemed to blush knowing that what she was about to say was not exactly proper to come out of a Lady’s mouth.
“Well, it removed his arm completely. The point of the story is,” she added hastily when Gilchrist sported that smile ready to tease her for her unladylike story, “that the sailor claimed he could still feel his arm. Even though he knew full well it wasn’t there; he said it still held a constant grip to the rigging in his mind.”
“So you think my mind was holding on to the pain until something came along that forced me to forget it,” he said to follow his own line of thought.
Gilchrist thought this over for a minute. It certainly was true that his mind was holding on to a great deal of other pain that he would have otherwise rather let go off. It brought logical sense to his words.
“Then I suppose I should thank you,” he said after a bet.
“Whatever for?” Lady Abigail said with her eyes open wide in confusion.
“Had you not been taken by Heshing I might have always needed the cane. You have saved me a great deal of pain for the rest of my life.”
“I am quite sure you did the same for me,” Lady Abigail responded.
They rode the way to Wintercrest arriving on the estate well into the night. It was a relief to Lady Abigail when her sleepy eyes beheld the long gravel road with towering trees on either side that led to her home.
She wasn’t sure if there would be any reception for them as they were not expected and came in the dead of the night. There was, however, a footman who must have been alerted to their approach as well as the head housekeeper waiting once they pulled up to the main door.
“Lady Abigail,” Mrs. Smith, the housekeeper said with a curtsy. “Forgive the disorganization; we didn’t know you were expected.”
“Nonsense,” Lady Abigail waved the lady off. “I didn’t know either until just yesterday. Please let me introduce Lord Colton Frasier the Earl of Gilchrist. He was kind enough to see me safely home.”
“And it’s just the two of you,” Mrs. Smith asked looking around for perhaps a maid that might have accompanied her.
“Yes,” Lady Abigail said not wanting to answer the unasked question of why she was alone on a several day travel exclusively with a man. “Would you please see that Lord Gilchrist is made comfortable for the night?”
“Yes, of course, my lady,” Mrs. Smith said coming back to her senses.
Lady Abigail knew the woman to be kind and not the prying type. She was an immense step up from their last housekeeper, Mrs. Peterson, who had been altogether too prudish and strict. However, with two of the servants already aware that she had arrived unaccompanied with a man, it would not take long for the rest of the household to whisper over the cause.
It really didn't make much difference anyway. Heshing had seemed to make a point of taking Lady Abigail away from her London home in the most public way. It was an inevitability that the whole ton had already spread the news of their disappearance.
Even if Heshing had the gall to return to town without her and spoke nothing on the matter, she would still be damaged goods. The chances of Heshing keeping his mouth shut and not spreading his own telling of their adventure was a minuscule chance.
The following morning she was woken by three bouncing bodies jostling her bed. It took Lady Abigail only a second to realize that Jackie had helped the twins escape the nursery to come find their aunt upon news of her late night arrival.
“Auntie Abigail!” The twins seemed to shout over and over again. “Where is Mummy? Did she and Daddy come home with you too? Nursie only told us you were home,” they barged Lady Abigail with question after question.
Finally, Lady Abigail managed to sit up in her bed and wake up properly while the twins bounce in place dying for answers.
“Your Mother wasn’t feeling well and will be coming home not far behind me.”
“Not that I’m not happy to see you, but then why are you here without them,” Jackie asked as she sat much calmer at the edge of Lady Abigail’s bed.
“Oh,” Lady Abigail said with a huff of air. “It is a very long story. I must tell it to your grandmother first. I promise to visit you all in the nursery later, though,” Lady Abigail responded.
Jackie got the two small twins to reluctantly leave their aunt’s side as the lady maid came in to help her ready for the day. It was so lovely for Lady Abigail to be home again, she was rather preferring the idea of never returning to town.
Lady Abigail found her mother seated alone in the breakfast room. She couldn’t help but feel guilty for leaving her mother alone for these last few months.
Her mother walked over and embraced her silently. She didn’t have to know what happened to see that something devastating had brought her daughter back home. In an instant Lady Abigail began to shed tears she had not known she was holding back.
They held each other silently in the breakfast room while Lady Abigail released all her fear, sorrow, and anxiety of the previous few days in her mother’s arms.
Finally, the two came to sit, and in the peace of the early morning light that streamed through the window, Lady Abigail told her mother all that had happened since leaving Wintercrest. By the end, both ladies were yet again dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs.
“I am so sorry mother, I have ruined us all,” Lady Abigail said meaning her nieces along with herself.
“Of course not my dear. Elisabeth is much too young for this to matter on her standing. Jackie,” the dowager duchess hesitated knowing that this would affect her oldest grandchild.
“Is tainted by being my relation,” Lady Abigail finished. “I feel so awful about it.”
“We will find a way to make it right, not just for Jackie, but for you also.”
“I’m afraid the only way to do that would have been to marry the man. I couldn’t bring myself to do so when my rescuer came to my aid.”
“And I am glad he did. I would not wish you to marry such a man. The minute I see Lord Gilchrist I will kiss him on the cheek for all his good he has done for you.”
She paused for a minute, and Lady Abigail smiled to herself. She had described Gilchrist’s scars to her mother, but she wondered if she would really go as far as kiss him on the cheek when she did first set eyes on him.
“If we simply procure a suitable husband for you, and quickly, it will fix all of this mess that the horrible Lord Heshing caused,” the dowager duchess said as she reached back to the recesses of her mind for just a candidate.
Before Lady Abigail could respond to her mother’s wish list, the doors to the breakfast room opened, and both ladies turned to see Gilchrist enter.
“Forgive me, Your Grace,” he said with a bow to Lady Abigail’s mother. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. “I was instructed here for breakfast, but I can come back later.”
He was prepared for a ghastly look of fear or at the very least for the lady to be taken aback. It must be admired that the dowager duchess did open her mouth in shock for an instant.
She needed no introduction, however, to know that this man before her was Lord Colton Frasier hero of her daughter's virtue and Earl of Gilchrist. She promptly stood and walking over to the confused gentlemen landed a kiss right on the side of his right cheek.