“You can’t afford me,” said Stephen. “I have tinkerings to tinkle.”
“And you’d earn fifty percent of all capital gains due to your investment advice, starting from the moment you stepped onto this property four months ago.”
“I’ll accept a fair commission, though I shan’t take a position on your staff.”
Densmore nodded dejectedly. “Who in their right mind would?”
Stephen let out a sigh. “But I will help you find and train appropriate staff so that your other holdings are never in jeopardy. At least, unless you gamble them away.”
“I’m through wagering,” Densmore promised. “And drinking. New leaf, I promise.”
Stephen slanted him a skeptical look.
“I mean it,” his cousin insisted. “I’ll prove it.” He pulled a folded piece of parchment from his inner breast pocket and slapped it into Stephen’s palm. “Here. Give this to its rightful owner.”
Stephen unfolded the paper and grinned. “The deed to the castle?”
“Mother always said this pile was to become her and Aunt Oak’s orphanage. I know my sudden flight was corkbrained, but I ran away to keep Reddington from getting his hands on the deed before we could find Mother’s will.”
“You’re not all bad,” Stephen said grudgingly, and slung his arm around his cousin. “Come, allow me to introduce you to the Wynchesters.”
One by one, he explained who each was, and how he or she had contributed to the vanquishing of a villain.
Densmore bowed to each in turn. “It sounds like this is very muchmyhonor.”
Stephen squeezed Elizabeth’s uninjured hand. Not to comfort her this time, but to comfort himself. While the rest of the Wynchesters were relating excited stories about how this person or that person had been brave and brilliant and had triumphed, Stephen was facing what all this exuberance really meant:
The mission was over. His cousin no longer needed him. The Wynchesters no longer needed him. Elizabeth no longer needed him. He could pick up and go home now, just like the picnickers and the soldiers.
It had been fun while it lasted, but he and his machines were now superfluous. His part was through. Thank you and goodbye.
He wasn’t ready. He might never be ready. But the time had come.
“There’s our carriage,” said Graham as the not-a-hackney returned into view.
“That was a fast errand,” said Densmore. “Did you send it just to drive down the street and back?”
“Close. Come on.” Graham waved them over to greet the carriage.
The driver leapt out, but Graham was already at the door. With a grin, he handed down a wonderstruck Miss Oak.
“What on earth happened here?” she asked as she glanced around the stained and trampled lawn.
“Exactly what I said,” muttered Densmore.
She rapped him on the shoulder with her fan. “Nephew! No doubt you were at the root of all this trouble.”
“One of the roots,” said Jacob. “Reddington was the main thorn.”
“But I ripped him from the ground and threw him away,” said Elizabeth. “And now he’s honor bound, before dozens of impartial witnesses and one hundred of his own men, to leave Castle Harbrook in peace forevermore.”
Miss Oak brightened in relief and joy. “Truly?”
Elizabeth grinned at her. “The castle is yours.”
Stephen handed her the deed.
Miss Oak hugged them all.
