Smoke drifted thick through the air, black and roiling, burning Arthur’s nose as he looked around at the collection of buildings that had once been whole but were now little more than rubble. Though from the looks of it, Washington City had not been much to begin with. This was the capital, the heart of a nation? He shook his head and nudged his mount to the right. “You are certain Baltimore is safe?”
His friend and former superior smiled and pulled his horse to a halt. “As safe as any town could be to you when burgeoning with panicked Americans. You really think Fairchild’s daughter may be there?”
Arthur shot a glance to Gates. Though he trusted General Ross with his very life and had fought directly under him in the past, it had not been his decision to share their reason for seeking information on Baltimore, and he was still unsure as to why Gates had done so. But the man looked as unflappable as ever, so Arthur shrugged. “If she is in this country, it is the most likely place to find her.”
Ross nodded and scanned a row of smoldering buildings. “Cochrane and Cockburn and I have yet to discuss our next point of attack, but Baltimore is the likely target. We have received word that the Potomac is grossly unprotected, and their own newspapers are reporting the sad state of their defenses. But you will have several days to get in and out before we would march in that direction. We—”
An enormous boom cut him off, and Ross muttered a curse as he spurred his horse in its direction. Arthur signaled Gates and Scrubs to keep up as he followed the general outside city limits, heading toward the fort at what they had recently learned was Greenleaf Point. All along the way they heard exhausted soldiers asking in a panic if the fighting had resumed, but Ross made them no reply.
“General!” A colonel galloped their way, his face smudged with soot and one cuff singed.
Ross pulled up. “What is it, Calcott?”
“The gunpowder you instructed us to destroy…the well must not have had enough water to cover the barrels we tossed down it…someone threw in a cigar stub…” He paused to take a breath. “A score are dead or wounded, sir.”
As if howling in protest of the tragedy, the wind screamed over them. Thunder roared and a crack of light split the air, momentarily blinding Arthur. The lightning hit a tree nearby that creaked and groaned and crashed its way to the ground across the road.
Their horses reared, whinnied, and tried to turn and flee. Arthur glanced at Scrubs, who surveyed the coming fury with what looked like a satisfied smile, and Gates, who eyed the churning clouds with far more sobriety.
“I think,” Gates said, loudly to be heard over the wind, “that we are not going anywhere today. We had better find shelter.”
With huge drops of rain pelting his shoulders, Arthur had no recourse but to agree.
Music nearly drowned out the din from the storm, but occasionally a deluge of rain would overpower the fiddle and whistle, or a rumble of thunder would shake the whole house. In those moments Thad had glanced out the window at the tree limbs littering the street and the debris gusting by and whispered a prayer for safety and protection for their homes. Then he had spun Gwyneth into his arms again for another dance.
His wife. He had been smiling so much this afternoon that he would likely strain a cheek muscle, but it couldn’t be helped. The woman who owned his heart had agreed to marry him and pledged herself to him before as much of Baltimore as could squeeze into his house, and she was even now watching him from across the room with joyful eyes.
When he had married Peggy, it had been a quiet, somber affair. Just his family and one of her friends, a private ceremony, a small supper. This was more like her wedding to Arnaud had been. What a wedding ought to be. Pure, unbridled hope with no ghosts haunting it.
Arnaud stepped up beside him now, slapping a hand to his back. “Did General Smith grant you time off for a honeymoon?”
From his other side, Smith snorted. “If only we could afford such leisure. He may stay at home with his beautiful bride as long as this storm rages, but once it is gone, we have much work to do.”
“I know.” Still Thad grinned. His next days and weeks might be filled with drilling, digging, and fortifying, but he would come home each evening to Gwyneth. Able to take her in his arms whenever he pleased. To hold her and be held.
“I have special work for you two.” Smith turned to face them, his countenance empty of anything but casual well wishing. “You must drill with everyone else, of course, but rather than dig, I need you to organize support from the local businessmen. We need, above all, capital. The state has little to give us, so go to the bankers, the merchants, and anyone else with sterling to spare. With Washington in ruins, I expect an outcry that will bring volunteers here in droves. We need farmers and bakers willing to feed them. Townsfolk to house them. Our every effort, our every focus must be on readying this city for the British arrival.”
Thad felt a soft touch on his back, and Gwyneth slipped under his arm, resting against his side. “We can all help with that, sir. Encouraging the people to share what they have with those who will be flooding the city. Thad’s mother was saying how we would do our part while the men are drilling by organizing food and shelter. And, of course, Rosie intends to have our kitchen working at its capacity.”
“How fortunate she taught you to cook.” Thad grinned at his bride and gave her a squeeze. She looked beautiful in her best dress, with her hair so carefully arranged, but he had to be honest. ’Twas that light of beneficence in her eyes, the determination to help others, that made her radiant.
And the way she looked up at him with that expectant warmth didn’t hurt either.
“Your assistance will be much appreciated, Mrs. Lane. If all greet our efforts with such enthusiasm, then Baltimore will soon be a bastion of safety.” The general smiled as he bowed slightly at the waist. “Allow me to say that Thaddeus has found himself a jewel of a wife, with a spirit as lovely as her countenance.”
“Thank you, General.” Her cheeks flushed a perfect pink at the compliment.
Arnaud caught Thad’s gaze and winked, nodding at the window. “It looks as though we are in a lull. I had best get Jack home before the next round hits.”
Thad made no argument, especially when the majority of his friends and neighbors followed suit. Within fifteen minutes the house was empty of all but those who had offered to help clean up. He knew Mother and Philly would be stealing Gwyneth away any moment to help her take the pins from her hair and change out of her dress, and his pulse thudded. But he would steal her himself for a moment first. While the others were saying their farewells to the mayor and his wife, Thad tugged her into his study and shut the door behind them.
She laughed as he swept her into his arms. “Why, Mr. Lane. There are still neighbors who needed a goodbye.”
“They will understand, Mrs. Lane.” He kissed her soundly, as he had been wanting to do all afternoon, until a gust of wind tore by with such force that it sounded as though the window might be pushed from its frame.
Gwyneth held tight to him, her face toward the shuddering glass. “Are your summers always so stormy?”
“Some years are worse than others. It seems that the higher the heat, the more we see. And, of course, hurricanes strike us occasionally, though not as often as in the southern states. Perhaps this is the edge of one.” He stroked a hand down her back and then up again to where her hair so often tumbled down, though today none had dared escape Mother and Philly’s careful arrangement. “Not exactly the sunshine you likely envisioned for your wedding day, hmm?”
“Stop it.” She pulled his head down to place the caress of a kiss upon his lips. “I would have it no other way. I married you, which is all that matters. In God’s time, according to His plan. And if He feels we need a storm to sweep us into our life together, then so be it.”
That was his Miranda, straight from The Tempest. Though when a bolt of lightning hit somewhere nearby, the crack deafening, she jumped and all but melted into him. Apparently even Miranda had a limit to what she appreciated in a storm. “You were saying?”
Chuckling, she tilted her head back to look at him. “So it is a bit fiercer than to what I am accustomed. I still cannot regret it, especially since with all the havoc it is wreaking on the trees, it will slow the army’s progress if they intend to march this direction.”
“How very true.”
“And if I am a trifle unsettled by it, I have no doubt I will still sleep better tonight than I have in years. In your arms.” A blush stained her cheeks, but she held his gaze, absolute trust and love and expectation in her Caribbean eyes.
He could hardly resist trying to tease out an even brighter blush. “You think I intend to let you sleep, do you?”
Indeed the pink deepened, but she grinned. “I daresay you shall have to at some point, my love. You were out all night and have a full day of work ahead of you tomorrow.”
Was it only this morning he had ridden home with Arnaud after verifying the defeat at Bladensburg, the destruction of Washington? Only this morning he had asked her to be his for all time? He touched the pearls resting just beneath her collarbone. “I cannot know what the future holds, sweet, but know this. Whether we have five days or fifty years as man and wife, I promise you will never, for even a moment, regret marrying me. You are the most amazing blessing the Lord has ever sent me, and I will cherish you always.”
She caught his hand and gripped it. And though moisture gleamed in her eyes, the turn of her lips was brave. “And I you. May it be fifty years and beyond, Thad. Only a lifetime would be enough.”
He could promise her devotion for the rest of his life, but he could only pray that would outlast the war.
Gwyneth stretched, blinked open her eyes to the soft light of early morning, and decided that if there were a more pleasant way to awake than to a kiss from one’s beloved, she had certainly never discovered it. She smiled at Thad, who sat beside her, already dressed.
And beautifully so. She reached out to smooth a hand over the braid of his blue jacket. “My, look at you. I had no idea I so appreciated a man in uniform.” Yesterday they had been out from dawn to dusk, clearing away storm damage. This morning, though, he must drill with all the other men of Baltimore, and apparently they all insisted on looking the part.
Chuckling, he took her hand and kissed it. “Loath as I was to wake you, I did not want to leave without telling you goodbye. Do you still want to meet me after my drills to canvas businesses for donations?”
“Of course. Ten o’clock?”
“At the bank on Lexington Street, yes.” He brushed away a curl that had escaped her braid, leaned down, and kissed her again.
Yes, this was the way a day ought to begin. She wrapped her arms around him and held fast, even though she knew he must be away in a matter of minutes. They might as well make those minutes count.
When he pulled away, it was with a groan. “Blast this war for taking me from you for even a few hours. When it is all over, sweet, we are taking a trip. One where we can laze the day away in each other’s arms if we so please, and go out only when we feel the desire.”
A happy thought, but not their reality yet. She smiled and kissed him once more. “I shall hold you to that. And now I will shoo you out the door before you are late for reveille.”
He stroked his thumb over her cheek and then stood. “Can I get you anything before I leave? A cup of tea?”
“You haven’t the time for that.” She smiled and scooted up to a sitting position, fluffing her pillow behind her. “Though if you would hand me my Bible, I would appreciate it.”
He looked around his—their—chamber, which had yet to be put to rights after they transferred all her belongings into it. “And that would be…?”
“Still in my trunk, I think. I had no time to read yesterday. No doubt on the bottom, so I can get it. You should—”
“No bother, sweet. You stay right where you are.” One stride brought him to her trunk, the soft morning light catching on the lid as he raised it. He dug through, tossing her dressing gown at her and earning a laugh when it landed on her head. She pulled her arms through the light fabric as he continued to sift through her things. “There we are.” Yet he frowned.
Gwyneth lifted her brows when he merely set the tome upon the floor and bent down to examine the outside of her trunk, one hand still within it. “What is it?”
Rather than answer her, he tipped the thing backward a few inches and ran his hand along the underside. Dropping it back to the floor, he turned to her. “Do you realize this has a false bottom? There must be a compartment under the main one, though there are certainly no drawers.”
“A hidden compartment? But…” Her eyes went wide as Mrs. Wesley’s words drifted back to her. Our trunks have a hidden drawer for to keep it. You’ve no worries, love. “Oh, I am a dunce! Mrs. Wesley mentioned that their trunks had such a thing, but I never even thought to look for one in mine. Perhaps that is where Papa put a letter to me.”
And had the Wesleys not left before she thought to even wonder about a letter, they surely could have reminded her of that.
Thad glanced at the trunk again and then at the clock. “I would help you with it, but—”
“I know.” She tossed aside the bedclothes and hopped out, too excited now for lounging. “You must hurry, Thad. I will see if I can get it, and if not, you can help me after evening drills. It has waited this long.”
“I suppose so.” He drew her close, kissed her once more, and then headed for the door. “Ten o’clock at the bank.” Pausing with a crooked grin, he made the sign for I love you.
She repeated the gesture. Wished, as he hovered one moment longer, that every instant could be as sweet. Then he straightened out his smile and slipped through the door.
It clicked shut behind him, and Gwyneth turned slowly toward her trunk. Anticipation gnawed at her stomach at the thought that somewhere in the bottom of it could rest words written in her father’s hand. Something to help them make sense of Uncle Gates’s role in this war, of what he had intended Thad to do other than keep her safe.
But she had gone through the trunk time and again. It had sat empty for months, but for a few art supplies, and when she got those out she had never once noticed anything unusual in the bottom. No latches or catches or hinges. How, then, was she to discover the secrets it held, short of breaking the thing open? And she couldn’t do that either, lest such violence injure whatever might wait within.
She would be reasonable and go about this logically. Still, her hands shook as she picked up her Bible from the floor. The familiar leather under her fingers spoke reassurance into her heart. This would be her first step—spending time with the Lord and asking for His guidance. She settled back on the bed and opened the book to where she had left off two days before, in the fifth chapter of Ephesians. Hard as it was to keep her mind focused, she read and reread until the words penetrated.
Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light…See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Her eyes slid closed. Oh, how long she had been in darkness, living with it always a veil over her eyes. Clouding her memory and making a mystery of what ought to be clear. Fear, always fear at her heels. But her Lord and Savior had made a light of her. He reflected His own brilliance off the mirror of her being, and now she need only point herself where He wanted her to shine.
And that last bit—these days were certainly evil. War and hatred, vengeance and greed at every turn. Did the Lord really expect them to redeem the times? What a humbling thought. That the redemption of an entire generation rested on those who were faithful to Him. That without them, there would be no redemption.
“Help me, my Lord and my God,” she whispered into the still morning. “Help me to walk circumspectly, to be wise. To be in this world what You want me to be. And help me, please, to find my father’s wisdom.”
Her first step was to dress, her next to find places in Thad’s wardrobe for all of her belongings. He had made space for her, but there had been no time yesterday to fill them. Now she straightened and arranged, trying to make her things at home without displacing his. That done, she turned to the trunk.
She ran her hands all along the exterior, the interior, the bottom and sides. Nothing. She tried poking and prodding each piece of metal to no avail. She turned it this way and that, tried the key at half and quarter turns, and stood up with a huff, glad that Rosie chose that moment to call her down to breakfast. The elder Lanes had already left for the day to do what they could in the city, so she stewed over her solitary meal, Rosie too busy in the kitchen to join her.
Soon she stood in their room again, staring at the confounding thing. ’Twas not some complicated device, merely a wooden box. Why did it refuse to give up its secrets? Nothing but strips of wood, metal fastenings, and the brocade lining meant to protect her…
“Ah!” She fell to her knees and jabbed a thumbnail under one of the tacks holding the lining in place, then another and another until the bottom section was free. Lifting it out, a smile touched her lips at the circular hole it revealed, just large enough to fit a fingertip in. Which was all she needed to do to tug up on the plank of wood and remove it too.
Almost afraid to look inside lest she find nothing but empty space, Gwyneth paused, closed her eyes, and drew in a long breath. And then she prayed, yet again, that the Lord would help them find the truth they so desperately needed.
When she opened her eyes and looked down, her breath caught. Not empty. And not, as she had feared too, filled with nothing but more coin. To be sure, there was a bag that matched the ones Mrs. Wesley had thrust into her hands that terrible day at the end of June, but her attention was snagged by the unfolded paper resting on the top of other, bound stacks.
Her hand shook as she reached for it, tears blurring her vision at that elegant, quick hand she knew so well. She had to blink and blink again before the ink stopped waving through her tears.
My Dearest Gwyn,
I haven’t much time, but I had to leave you with something, some quick note. One just to say that I love you so very much. That your mother and I prayed so long and so hard for a child, and that you were our all, our everything, the perfect answer to that yearning of our hearts. That without her you are my whole world. All that matters. No doubt you are reading this and wondering why it sounds like such a final goodbye. Perhaps, my dear one, because I fear it is so. I fear the evil away from which I am sending you will catch up with me before I can join you. And if it happens that way, so much will be called into question. But please, I beg you, trust me. Trust my loyalty, my heart, and most of all my devotion to our family. Trust that all I have done is for you, and for the future you deserve to have.
Forever your
Papa
Gwyneth swiped at her eyes, but new tears took the place of that which she wiped away. Fumbling for her handkerchief, she shook her head. Dear Papa. He had known her uncle would kill him. And she had stood there that last morning with him wondering if he had gone mad, questioning his decisions and insisting that anything that took her away from him could not be right.
She drew in a shaky breath and looked down at the letter again, her gaze falling now on the postscript at the bottom.
P.S. Please see that the two packets marked T.L. are delivered directly into the hands of Thaddeus Lane or, if he is unreachable, his parents. The one marked G.F. is for you.
She set the single page down and picked up the packet with her initials. Fingering the twine, she stared at that sheet of paper with nothing but G.F. upon it. Gwyneth Fairchild. A name she had scarcely used since coming here, but for in this house. Not for shame of him, but to protect her and his memory from whatever evil pursued them. A name she no longer even carried. Could Papa have anticipated when he scratched out that F that it would someday be an L? That she would be, by the time she read it, Gwyneth Lane?
Sniffling, she pulled loose the bow and removed the twine, setting it and the cover sheet aside. And then she frowned. The first piece of paper was no letter, no document, just a drawing she had done two years ago while he was still in France, right after Mama had fallen ill. She had asked Gwyneth to draw her something whimsical, a scene viewed through a keyhole. But the scene had been cut out and lay there separately, leaving only the drawing of the wood grain and lock intact.
Her brows pulled together. Why would Mama cut it out so? Carefully, yes, but still. Had she been planning some clever way of displaying it? No—she had sent it to Papa, Gwyneth remembered now. That was why she had asked for it. For it to be a reminder to him that if he peeked ahead, he would see a view of something other than the war in Europe, one with children dancing in gardens and Mama sitting there watching.
She flipped it over and saw that Papa had written a date upon the back, along with a second one, two weeks after the first. Odd.
The rest of the stack was equally baffling. Letters to Mama he had written over the years, but none from her to him—wouldn’t those have been the ones he kept? More of Gwyneth’s drawings, most of them intact but a few others with sections cut out and dates upon the back. A copy of his will, which she hadn’t the heart or clarity of mind to read through right then.
Shaking her head, she put that stack down and picked up the two for Thad. She would take them down to his desk in his study. But when she pushed to her feet, the top bundle slid, the twine gave way, and she let out a small scream as she envisioned the entire stack flying free. Grabbing at it, she managed to keep all but the first two sheets in order.
Those two leaves went fluttering, the second one catching a draft from the open window and dancing before her for a moment, light winking at her through another cutout. She caught it up, tempted to frown at yet another sheet with an open design in the center of it. But the writing scratched on this one made her breath catch.
Master mask. Copy to T.L. following letter of Jan. 12
Letter of January…gasping, she bounced to her feet and flew down the stairs, her aim Thad’s study. This, she knew, was where he kept the letter from her father. The one dated the twelfth of January. He had told her that any time she wanted to read it again, she had only to ask and he would unlock…
“Blast.” She tried the drawers of his desk, but all were secured. And the chime of the clock on the mantel made her spin around with wide eyes. How had two hours flown by already? She was late for her rendezvous with him; she certainly hadn’t the time to search for a key. Which he likely carried on his person anyway, knowing him.
Well, then. She would find her husband first and then they could solve this puzzle together. The mask still in hand, she turned on silent slippers and left the study to go down the hall and out the door.
And straight into the arms never meant to hold her, with the mocking smile of her worst enemy right behind.