Chapter 25
It was close to dawn when Sunny finally nodded off to sleep after a mostly restless night; he was soon awakened by the sound of creaking floorboards.
“Cousin Adam?” Prudie’s small voice came out of the darkness. “Are you sleeping?”
“I was.” He knew now to speak to the child in the gentlest of tones. He dragged his leaden body up into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes until his sight adjusted in the darkness. Prudie was a small shadow at the foot of his bed. “What is it, sweeting?”
“Can I sleep with you?”
“What’s wrong with your bed?”
“Izzy always lets me sleep with her when I’m feeling afraid.”
He held out his arms, and she climbed onto the bed and folded her diminutive form into his embrace. He held her tightly, his heart feeling too big for his chest. She smelled of the soap Isabel used for the children and of sleep and sweet innocence. “What is making you fearful?”
She snuggled closer into his chest. “When is Izzy coming back?”
“I do not know.” The question pierced his heart. How long could he continue to lie to the children?
“She never left us before.”
“I’m certain she has a good reason.”
That seemed to satisfy the child. “She’ll come back soon. I know she will.” His lungs constricted at the profound innocence of children. Patience and Prudie had placed all of their trust in him. It would never occur to them that he was responsible for depriving them of the person they loved the most in the world.
Prudie climbed off his lap and burrowed under his covers. He reclined next to her and wasn’t surprised when she snuggled up against him. He tucked the bedclothes around the child and listened to her shallow inhales deepen into long breaths. Isabel, who had often slept with the children, would be missing the sweet heaven of moments like this.
Yet anger chased away any sympathy he might feel for Isabel and her anguish at being separated from the children. She’d sought to do the same to him without giving a thought to how that might affect him.
Besides, he knew the nanny well enough to comprehend that she’d plant herself at Curtis’s vicarage once Sunny’s godly cousin took custody of the children. Gilpin had informed him that Winchester and Denbury were recommending that Curtis become the children’s guardian. Finch’s separation from Patience and Prudence would be for a few weeks at most. His would last a lifetime.
Yet the truth was that Patience and Prudie needed Isabel more than they needed Sunny. He was just someone who had passed into their lives and could soon pass out of it again if things went badly at the hearing. The thought of losing the girls, of being left alone again, made him feel as though someone had taken an ax to his midsection.
He hated Isabel for bringing this disaster upon him and his house. But the children needed her and, for once in his life, he would put someone else’s needs ahead of his own.
It was time to locate Isabel and bring her home.
“What do you mean you can’t find her?” Sunny stared down the Bow Street Runner he’d hired to locate Isabel.
He’d engaged the man a fortnight ago and found him waiting when he’d arrived home from a hack in the park to ride off his nerves. Eager to hear the runner’s report, Sunny stepped into the nearest door, which led to the cavernous Blue Parlor with its clusters of blue velvet patterned chairs and sofas adorned with scarlet pillows.
The runner, a burly man of medium height whose eyes rounded as he took in the priceless masterpieces stacked one atop the other up the wallpapered walls, clasped his hands behind his back. “Miss Finch appears to have disappeared without a trace.”
“Surely there is somewhere else you can look.”
“There is precious little to lead us to her. No one in London seems to be acquainted with the woman, except for a Mrs. Harvey Drummond of Duke Street.”
“Yes, Miss Finch was once employed by the Drummonds.” Or so she’d claimed.
“She also visited there regularly once she accompanied your wards to London.”
“She went to the Drummonds? Why?” Perhaps she’d visited the Drummond children on their holidays from school. Isabel had certainly become attached to Patience and Prudence. Maybe she had the same affection for the Drummond boys.
“She visited Mrs. Drummond.”
“Did she? Perhaps it was a courtesy visit to her former employer.”
“My understanding is that Miss Finch visited Mrs. Drummond regularly on her Sunday afternoons off. They seem to have a long-standing friendship.”
“Perhaps they are sheltering her.”
“That does not appear to be the case. The Drummond servants have not seen Miss Finch of late.”
A thought came to him. “Did you check Plymouth? You’ll recall I informed you that her family hails from there. Surely someone in Plymouth knows what became of her.”
“About that, Your Grace, are you certain this Miss Finch hails from Plymouth?”
“Yes, she told me so herself.” When the runner remained silent, Sunny cursed. “Bloody hell. She was untruthful about that.” He wondered what else the blasted female had lied to him about.
The runner nodded. “No one in Plymouth knows of Miss Finch. As a matter of fact, the only people by the name of Finch are a family of cobblers, and they’ve never heard of her.”
Sunny suppressed a curse. Another dead end. Isabel, who possessed the breeding and elegance required of a duchess, had certainly not come from a family of cobblers.
“Would you like me to keep looking, Your Grace?”
“Yes, dammit. And don’t stop until you find her.” Sunny paused to think. “Try Cornwall. She was employed by my uncle Abel and retreated there once before.” Maybe she’d run to his uncle again.
“Very good, sir.”
After the runner departed, Sunny sank into the nearest velvet sofa in one of the salon’s numerous sitting areas. Frustration roiled his insides. Where the devil had Isabel gone? Perhaps she was already at the vicarage with Cousin Curtis, awaiting the girls’ eventual arrival.
“Is Isabel lost?” a small voice asked from behind him.
His scalp tingled when he looked over his shoulder to find Patience watching him with grave eyes. “What are you doing in here, sweeting?”
“Prudie and I are playing hide-and-seek.” Pale faced, she stood very still. Patience never stood still. “Is Isabel lost?” she repeated.
His stomach dropped even farther when Prudie slipped out from behind the curtain on the far side of the room and came toward them, her silver Fairfax eyes huge and round. “Where’s Isabel?”
Patience’s voice trembled. “Did she get lost while she was visiting her aunt?”
“She doesn’t love us anymore.” A heartbroken sob erupted from Prudie’s throat. “That’s why she left. No one ever keeps us.”
Sunny winced. “That isn’t true. Come here, both of you.” He lifted Patience from behind the sofa and sat her next to him while Prudie climbed into his lap. “The truth is Isabel loves the two of you more than anything else in the entire world.”
Tears ran down Prudie’s face. “Then why isn’t she here?”
Patience’s eyes watered. “It’s because we made her angry, isn’t it?”
“No, you are both perfect, and Finch would rather lose an arm than leave either of you.” He tugged them both closer to him. “The truth is that it’s my fault Isabel is gone.”
“Why?” Patience rubbed her nose with the back of her little hand. “What did you do?”
“She did something that made me angry.” He forced the words out. He couldn’t allow the girls to think Isabel had willingly abandoned them. “So I told her to leave.”
Prudie stared up at him with serious eyes. “Why did you do that?”
“I was angry. I made a very bad mistake, but now I am doing everything I can to rectify it.”
“Are you sure you can find her?” Prudie asked.
“I swear to you that I am trying my very hardest, and when I do find her, I intend to convince Finch to come back to you.”
Prudie’s mouth trembled. “But what if you can’t find her? We’ll be all alone.”
Sunny pressed a kiss against the child’s cool forehead. “You’ll never be alone as long as I live. I will always look after you.”
“Forever and ever?” Patience asked.
“Forever and ever. You have my word.”
“I love living with you, Cousin Adam.” Prudie snuggled closer to Sunny. “But I want to live with Izzy, too. Do you think you can make her come back?”
“Of course he can!” Patience brightened. “He’s a duke. He can make anything happen. Can’t you?” she said to him.
“Yes.” A renewed sense of determination coursed through him. “I won’t disappoint you. I will bring Isabel back.” He hugged them both tightly to him. “I promise.”
The following day, Sunny appeared unannounced at the Drummond home on Duke Street. Isabel’s friend lived in a modest but well-appointed abode that spoke of nobility and comfort but also limited wealth. Mr. Drummond was a younger son and unlikely to come into a grand inheritance. The Drummond butler led him to a formal salon to await his audience with the lady of the house.
“Your Grace.” Abigail Drummond bustled in to greet Sunny.
“Good day, Mrs. Drummond. I hope you will forgive my calling unexpectedly.”
“This is a surprise, Your Grace,” she said politely. “To what do I owe this unexpected honor?”
“Where’s Finch?”
A little furrow developed at the bridge of her narrow nose. “I beg your pardon?”
“You are a great friend of my former governess, are you not?” His manner was sharp and direct, just within the bounds of courtesy. Whatever deceit Isabel was up to, this woman was party to at least some of it. “I understand Miss Finch was not merely an employee in your service, Mrs. Drummond.”
She drew herself up. “It is Lady Abigail,” she informed him, an unsubtle reminder that she, as the daughter of a viscount, possessed rank enough to expect civility from him. Even if he was a duke. “And yes, Coco…Isabel, rather, and I are friends. We are more than friends. I love her dearly.”
“Coco? Dear God.” He huffed a mirthless laugh. “Isabel isn’t even her name? Did she lie about everything?”
“Isabel is her middle name. Coco is the family’s pet name for her.”
“And are you family?”
She hesitated. “I consider Coco to be my family, yes.”
“Where is she?”
“I do not know, and that is the truth.”
“I’d expect you to be terribly worried about…Coco.” He would never have associated that appellation with the she-dragon who first came into his employ, yet the name seemed to perfect for the vibrant caring woman he’d fallen in love with. “And yet, you don’t seem concerned about her whereabouts.”
“That is because she came to see me once you threw her out in the street.”
“I did no such thing. I dismissed her as is my right as her employer.”
“You used her and then cast her out. You jilted her.”
Sunny’s muscles tensed. “Because you are Isabel’s friend, I will allow that insult to pass.” Only a cad and a man utterly without honor would abandon a woman as Lady Abigail suggested. “I cast Isabel out because she betrayed me in the worst possible way.” But he had not come here to discuss that with Isabel’s accomplice. “You say she came to see you?”
“Yes, but she refused to tell me where she was going. She said it was up to her to put things to rights.”
“I gather that means Finch intends to take up residence at the vicarage once my cousin wins custody of the children. But I will fight to keep them,” he said vehemently. “They are my blood.”
A sense of wonder came over Lady Abigail’s face. “You do love them.” She smiled. “The Duke of Sunderford conquered by two seven-year-olds. Who would ever have thought it?”
“They are eight, not seven,” he said impatiently. “They are also missing Finch terribly. Can you think of any place she would have gone? Whatever I think of Finch, and wherever Patience and Prudence ultimately settle, they must be with her. It is incumbent upon us all to act in the best interests of the children.”
For some odd reason, Lady Abigail seemed stricken. “This disaster is all my doing.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Coco didn’t send her grievances to my father. She didn’t want anyone to see the letter. But I feared terribly for her. I wanted to protect her from being hurt again.”
“And you presumed I would be the agent of her unhappiness.”
The lady nodded. “When she mentioned your cousin, the vicar, it seemed like the perfect solution. She had no idea that I’d given the letter to my father.”
“And when was that?”
“I took it with me to the country when we went to be with my mother, who was ill. I gave it to my father then. I was not in contact with Coco during that time and had no idea that you two had…grown close. I only found out about your…improved relations…the day Coco came to me after you’d asked her to leave your household.”
“Good God.” Sunny sank into the nearest chair. “What a terrible mess this is.” Not only had Isabel not betrayed him, but now she was out there alone somewhere, cut off from the children, believing he thought the worst of her.
“I do beg your pardon,” she said. “I am the cause of this terrible misunderstanding.”
Remorse cut through him. “I knew she’d already lost everything once before, and yet I still threw her out and separated her from the children. She must have thought it was happening all over again.” Isabel had told him she’d barely survived the first time she’d lost everything. “What if she cannot withstand another loss?”
“She can. Coco is strong,” Lady Abigail assured him. “But you mustn’t stop looking for her.”
He had a thought. “The informal hearing to discuss the children’s guardianship is in two days’ time. Do you think she will appear then?”
“I doubt that. She said you told her to stay away.”
Sunny exhaled. He’d done far worse than that, threatening Isabel with absolute ruination if she spoke at the hearing. He came to his feet. “Whatever happens, I will not stop looking for Isabel until I find her. The children need her. I need her.”
Lady Abigail regarded him with compassion. “And I believe she needs you. Find Isabel and ask her to tell you the full story of her past. You have much to learn before everything between the two of you can be settled.”