For now.
4
There was a baby in the Planning Parlor.
Elizabeth went on full defense to stay clear, but the little devil’s sparkling angel-blue gaze tracked her every move like the barrels of a pair of pistols.
“Dorian adores you!” exclaimed Chloe in delight.
“Keep it away from me,” warned Elizabeth.
The rest of their siblings poured into the sound-dampened, second-floor room, their feet moving quickly across the black slate floor with its chalk remnants of maps and their plans for all of the other justice-seeking missions currently underway. Early morning sunshine streamed through narrow openings in the tall curtains.
For now, the Wynchester crew ignored the huge walnut-and-burl table with its myriad secret compartments in the center of the other half of the room. Instead, they settled in a large crescent of sofas and armchairs before an unlit fireplace.
“Let’s get started,” said Tommy, a cosmetics case in her lap, and a single bush of side-whiskers protruding from one of her cheeks. “I have to infiltrate a Cheapside tavern in less than two hours.”
“And I must leave for St. James in forty-five minutes,” said Kuni, a dagger in each hand.
The rest of the siblings chimed in with all the places they had to be and the tasks they had to perform before the day was through.
“Wait,” said Chloe. “Lawrence isn’t here yet.”
“We can’t wait for the duke,” Graham told her, with a glance at his pocket watch. “I hereby call this meeting to order.”
The door to the Planning Parlor swung open.
“Lawrence!” Chloe plopped the baby onto Elizabeth’s lap. “Hold my son for me. I’ll be back in a moment.”
She ran to greet her husband before Elizabeth could object.
“Help,” Elizabeth gulped. The chubby infant sagged forward and drooled on her stomach. “Somebody,helpme.”
Her family did not hear her. Their singular focus was intent on Graham.
“I was able to track down the lawyer who drafted the countess’s will,” he began. “Miss Oak was right. Due to the fire, he no longer has a copy of any item.”
“But he corroborated its contents,” added Jacob, with a four-foot snake draped about his shoulders like a winter scarf.
Faircliffe finally stopped nuzzling his wife. “A lawyer’s memory is not the same as a physical document. Agreeing with Miss Oak isn’t something that would hold up in court.”
“Get over here,” said Elizabeth. “Rescue me from your baby.”
“Then we have to go to Dorset,” said Tommy. “And search the castle from top to bottom until we find the original will and testament.”
Marjorie frowned. “If the earl won’t open his door to his aunt, he won’t be an accommodating host to us.”
“There are inns and hostelries,” Adrian pointed out. “We can rent rooms nearby and pay as many calls as it takes to convince Densmore to do the right thing.”
“I can’t go,” Chloe said with regret.
“You can come and collect your hell-spawn.” Elizabeth poked at the baby’s soft belly with her finger.
Dorian burped and chortled toothlessly. A white dribble of glistening milk appeared at the corner of his pink lips.
“Kuni and I can’t go, either,” said Graham. “We’re handling the O’Sullivan affair.”
“Philippa and I barely have time to don and doff disguises between missions,” said Tommy. “If I don’t finish applying my side-whiskers soon—”
