“Good God,” Lord Crowther said. “Here he is. He found his way.”
“She is back?” Ricky said. “I’m happy. I come to look with Juss, but now I can go home to Wes and Hildy. Maybe Hildy will make my favorite soup. I’m hungry.”
“Let me take you to Justin first,” Estelle said, stepping up to him and taking his large hand in hers. “Come. I believe he will be at the stables by now.”
He was not. He had walked home, not beside the river as Maria and Estelle and the others had done, but closer to the house. He was up on the terrace now, looking toward the bridge. Captain was looking too, and then bounding down the stone steps and streaking through the formal gardens and across the lawn to jump up on Ricky, both large paws against his shoulders while he licked his face.
“Cappy,” Ricky complained, laughing. “You mustn’t do that. Your paws may be dirty. Juss will be cross with you. Hildy would be cross if she was here.”
But Estelle was not looking at either the dog or the man. She was looking at Lord Brandon, who was still up on the terrace, a wide, sun-filled smile on his face as he took off his hat and dropped it at his feet. He strode down the steps then and down to the bridge, his eyes never leaving Ricky’s face.
“Well, it’s about time,” he said as he drew close. “What kept you so long, Ricky? I thought you would never get here.”
And he caught Ricky up in his arms, heedless, it seemed, of either the dirt or the smell, and laughed.
And oh, the realization hit Estelle low in the stomach like a real physical blow.
Oh, she loved him.
Nineteen
Ricky launched into excited chatter, much of it incoherent, though Justin did understand some of what he said. He had come to Everleigh, it seemed,notbecause Justin had failed to go to him but because Justin had lost his sister and was going to look for her and bring her home and Ricky wanted to help in the search.
He had remembered the name of the house because when Justin had said it, he had also said,Everleigh is mine for everly and everly after, Ricky.And he knew the house was in a big place with a long name, but Juss had told him it was often shortened to sound like a place where hearts (orHerts) belong because it is home. He had found his way by asking stagecoach drivers when they were stopped outside inns. They refused to give him a ride.
“Though I never did ask, Juss,” he said, “because you can’t do that without money and I didn’t take any from Hildy’s jar because she buys stuff with it to make dinner.”
But they would wave off in the direction of hearts belongingbecause it was home and told him that was where it was but it was too far off to be walked.
He did get some rides, usually on farmers’ carts among hay or vegetables or even manure, once for a whole afternoon standing up behind the vehicle of a wild young man whose name he could not remember. But they had moved like the wind, and when Ricky had laughed, the young man had laughed too and they had gone even faster. He sometimes got food, but only when he could do something to earn it. Not otherwise. He would not let that young man buy him a meal even though it was going to be beef and potatoes and gravy and other things. It was wrong to beg unless you were starving and he was never starving, just hungry. He was very, very happy now.
“That lady told me you found your sister, Juss,” he said. “She is nice. I wouldn’t’ve talked to her because she is a stranger, but she said she is Juss’s friend and that’s you. And she said she’d bring me to you.”
“Sheismy friend,” Justin told him, looking at Lady Estelle, who was flushed and bright-eyed and smiling at the two of them. “She is Lady Estelle Lamarr. Ricky, you stink.”
“That’s not a nice word, Juss,” Ricky said. “I don’t stink, though Hildy would tell me time to wash my hands and Wes would tell me time to shave. The sole come almost off my boot, but I used my handkerchief to keep it on. Look!” He raised his foot for Justin to see. And he was off again, recounting some of his adventures and how yesterday a few men had shouted after him. “They even guessed my name, Juss. That was clever, wasn’t it? But they was strangers so I ran and hid and then they went away.”
Word had spread fast in the last few minutes. There was a crowd on the terrace, Justin could see. A few of the guestshad come closer. There was a little huddle of servants under the portico.
“And this, Ricky,” Justin said, “is my sister, Maria. She is home now and quite safe, as you can see.”
And Maria, who had come to stand beside Lady Estelle, smiled with warm sweetness. “Thank you for coming all this way to help search for me, Ricky,” she said. “Maybe Justin would have found me sooner if you had been with him. But he did find me and bring me home.”
“Ah,” Ricky said with a big smile. “You must be very happy.”
“I am,” she said, and transferred her gaze to Justin for a few moments. “It always feels good to be home.”
She was, Justin realized, speaking to him.
“And on the subject of home, Ricky,” Justin said, “Wes and Hildy are worried.”
“No!” Ricky said, and shook his head vigorously. “They’ll know I come to help you, Juss. I’m good at finding things. Remember when I found Mrs.Klebb’s cat when it didn’t come home for two days that time? And remember how I found the button that come off Wes’s shirt when Hildy was ironing it and it rolled and no one else could find it?”
“I remember. But come,” Justin said, setting an arm about his shoulders. “It is time for a bath and a change of clothes, Ricky. I know you hate baths and like to wear your own clothes, but there will be no arguments today, please. You stink. Afterward you will smell like a rose.”
“Like a rose.” Ricky laughed. “Do I want to smell like a rose, Juss?”
“You do if the alternative is this,” Justin said firmly. And he led Ricky off toward the house while his sister and all his guests inexplicably applauded. The servants too.
