At which moment the candle died without further warning and they were plunged into total darkness.
She laughed, a sound of pure glee. And he laughed with her, hugging her tightly to him and rolling with her until he could kiss her properly and silence both her and himself.
“You must not miss them,” she said after a while. “Take me with you.”
“Stay there,” he said as he turned and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll find the tinderbox and give us some light. If you do not hear from me within the next five or ten minutes, send out a search party.”
“I will convene the family committee again,” she said. “They have had some recent experience.”
Was this how their life together would be? he wondered as he felt his way to the tinderbox on the bookcase. Full of light and laughter—and passion? As his mother and father’s marriage had been? Would the lives of their children be as joy filled as his own had been? And was it true, what she had just said?
... you were finally able to forgive your father and yourself. And were free to be yourself again.
Justin, the darkness is gone.
***
It had not been quite as late as Justin had feared. There had been time after they dressed to return briefly to the housefor Estelle to run to her room to tidy up before a mirror and make herself comfortable and change her shoes to stouter ones.
This was not the best of ideas, he thought as she joined him again in the hall and they left the house together. The likelihood of her being seen with him when it was still really just the middle of the night was strong. And it would take only one groom or servant or laborer—or house guest for that matter. Nevertheless, it felt good to know that she wanted to be with him, that she wished to meet Wes. It promised well for the future. He took one of her hands in his.
They went to the stables first, where Captain greeted them with the usual ecstasy and a sleepy groom was able to assure Justin—with a sidelong glance at Estelle—that the horse Wes Mort had brought with him yesterday was still in its stall. Then they walked up the road to the top of the hill, Captain prancing along beside them. Estelle exclaimed in the lessening darkness over the beauty of the cluster of cottages around a village green and the farm buildings and cultivated fields, meadows, and garden plots stretching off into the distance.
No one appeared to be stirring in the village. But when Justin knocked softly upon the door of the blacksmith’s house, Wes himself opened it and Justin stepped inside, while Estelle remained out by the garden gate, with Captain sitting on his haunches beside her.
“They are both still sleeping,” Wes whispered, frowning and none too happy to see his friend.
“Get your boots on and we will go outside, then,” Justin whispered back.
Wes looked even less happy when he saw Estelle. He frowned ferociously even as he patted a panting Captain on the head.
“Wes,” Justin said, keeping his voice low. “This is Lady Estelle Lamarr. My friend.”
Poor Wes looked as though he did not know whether to bow, pull on his forelock, or flee back inside the house. Estelle stepped forward, her right hand extended.
“Mr.Mort,” she said. “I am very pleased to make your acquaintance. Your brother is an absolute delight.”
Wes looked at her hand, visibly hesitated, and then grasped it and pumped it once before releasing it. “Ma’am,” he muttered.
“Let us walk back toward the stables,” Justin said, “before we wake everyone up. Ricky is still sleeping,” he told Estelle.
“I left him where he was until I was ready to go,” his friend explained. “I was about to get him up. I’ll just fetch the horse, Juss, and we’ll be on our way.”
They did not talk again until they were back on the road down the hill.
“You enjoyed Bill Slater’s company last evening?” Justin asked. He had placed himself between his friend and Estelle, but he was holding her hand. “And at the smithy yesterday?”
“The blacksmith?” Wes said. “He’s a pleasant fellow. Easy to talk to. He’s good with Ricky.”
“He is also very eager to retire,” Justin told him. “His only son went off years ago and joined an infantry regiment. His daughter and son-in-law want him to stop working and go live with them and their three young girls, all of whom adore him. But he does not want to hand the smithy over to just anyone.” Justin glanced sideways at his friend. “I remember you telling me once that as a boy you were apprenticed to a blacksmith and thought the job was like a dream come true.”
“A long time ago,” Wes said.
“But you left,” Justin said, “because your father was making life impossible for Ricky.”
“He was brute and devil all rolled into one, that man,” Wes said. “And I say so even though hewasmy father. After I was twelve I was able to stand up to him on my own account, but Ricky couldn’t. I wasn’t able to turn my back without the poor lad getting cuffed around. I used to take him to the smithy with me whenever I could, but it wasn’t always possible. And then... Well. Ricky got his arm broken and I took him away and we stayed away. He’s safe with me—except when he takes it into his head to run away and help a man who is too daft to choose his words more carefully to look for his sister, who was not even lost. You’ve taken ten years off my life with that one, Juss.”
“It was like a dream come true, that apprenticeship of yours,” Justin said. “It could still happen, Wes.”
