So she knew that she could not hold tight to him to keep him from leaving. Fletcher had to decide to stay of his own free will.
So she had let Kendrick talk.
That was his gift, after all.
And hadn’t he been the one to free her from her own fear?
When Fletcher broke and threw his arms around Kendrick, Genevieve could not hold back her own tears. She opened her arms and wrapped them around them both, the human boy who had stuck to her like a shadow and the man who had given her back her hope.
“Thank you,” Genevieve breathed, pressing her head against his shoulder.
Kendrick’s arm wrapped around her tightly. He had heard.
“Cor, you’re like to squish me to death. Let a body breathe,” Fletcher complained. “Blimey, missus, is thatbloodleakin’ out your eyes?”
Genevieve sniffed and dabbed at her cheeks. “Don’t be alarmed. I’m just a little teary.” She brushed Fletcher’s hair out of his face. It was too long and managed to get into the most ridiculous tangles now that the grime was no longer weighing down the thick waves. “Let’s go home, shall we? We’ll have to get you your own room,” she said with a trembling laugh. “Once we have the furniture. Oh, I didn’t think I could be happier tonight.” She shared a glowing look with Kendrick, who smiled.
“Gonna have to hire a cook if I’m to stay with you, missus, or send out to a chophouse. Meals ain’t your strong point,” Fletcher said with a quick grin. “It’s been soup, soup, soup.”
Unable to resist, Genevieve brushed a hand over his hair again. “That’s because you were sick.”
“But nobody at your house eats.”
“That’s true. We will need a cook for you—but we’ll need other people as well.” If Kendrick was indeed right that vampires held on to their sanity and maintained an even equilibrium for far longer when they interacted with humans, it would make sense to set up a household similar to Fernside, with humans for staff to handle the daylight business. “Perhaps a housekeeper, a footman, and a maid for the daytime, though I think we would have willing staff for the evenings…”
Fletcher tilted his head. “What about Sally?”
Genevieve sighed. “I’ve been meaning to go back and explain that I can’t look after the children anymore…”
Fletcher shook his head. “Naw. I mean, for that housekeeping job.”
Genevieve’s gaze shot to Kendrick as the idea blossomed in her mind. “Fletcher. You are brilliant. What would we do without you?”
Just then, a commotion at the front door carried down into the kitchens.
Fletcher’s eyes widened. “Maybe they have news about the bad cove.”
Hand in hand, the three of them hurried towards the din. As they reached the upper hallways, the occupants of the parlor also spilled out into the hall.
The searchers entered Fernside, much grime-covered and annoyed, and recounted the events for all assembled. When they had reached the terrace house in Chelsea, they’d found it abandoned. Further, parts of it had been sabotaged to collapse andhadcollapsed, leading to their bedraggled state. Thankfully, no one had been harmed beyond what vampirism could repair.
Joseph accepted Genevieve’s offered handkerchief and wiped his face. “Laurent must have realized that Elspeth had bypassed his control over her and fled ahead of us.”
Genevieve’s shoulders slumped in discouragement. “So what do we do?”
“We keep looking,” Kendrick said grimly.
Etienne, looking as mad as a wet cat, pulled off his pince-nez as his blond hair dripped down his nose. “How? The rain continues. We will not find a trace of him easily, if at all.”
“He can’t hide forever,” Kendrick growled.
“Why don’t we do what the humans do?” Joseph suggested.
Etienne and Genevieve stared at him blankly, but his meaning dawned on Kendrick. He nodded slowly.
“Offer a reward.”
ChapterTwenty-Nine
