Yes. Well, he will bravely wed Prudence within the year.”
This news seemed to make his father happy. “I hope to find your mother before then so that we may attend our daughter’s marriage day.”
“Tell me what happened to you and Mother,” Ben asked, wanting to hear it all.
“I have spent these many years trying to find her.” He told Ben everything he knew about the pocket watch and how he believed it worked. He listened when his father told him about his dreams.
His father was correct, they had to find her. Ben had to find her. This time he would save her. “I agree with Fable. She could walk through those doors at any moment. We should wait here for her. But we should also do something.”
“I’ll try to panhandle for a few dollars so we can take out a smallin search ofad,” Fable told them.
“What is panhandle?” Ben asked her.
“Asking for money from people on the streets.”
Ben felt himself stiffen up. His gaze slipped to his father. Had the proud 1st Duke of Colchester seen her begging on the streets?
“She made quite a bit, Ben,” his father let him know. “She made me presentable to meet your mother with a haircut and a nice shave, kept us fed, and more by doing this panhandle.”
“The key is not to lie to people. If I’m hungry, I ask for something to eat. If I need clothes, I ask them for help in getting me something to wear. It’s about honesty.”
Ben quirked his mouth looking at her. “It also helps that you’re beautiful.”
She blushed and pushed him away slightly with her shoulder.
“I have money, Fable,” he let her know earnestly. “You have no need to panhandle.”
He told them about selling his gold guineas and what he’d gotten for them and smiled when Fable clapped her hands.
“You did well, Ben– Your Grace,” she corrected with a wary glance at his father.
“Ben,” Ben corrected.
“Young woman,” his father said, “why do you struggle to deny what’s between you. You wept for days on end when I separated you from him. You spoke so highly of him, you made me proud to be his father, and when I asked you what you were to him, you told me you were his beloved.Now, oddly, you seem to want to convince me that you are nothing more than his friend? Should I wonder if you misled me?”
“Abso–” she began toprotest. But Ben was quicker.
“She did not mislead you,” he assured his father. “Sheismy beloved.” When she squirmed in her seat, he looked across the table at his father. “She knows how you feel about me marrying below my status.”
“Yes, she and I have discussed it. Though not at length.”
Ben blinked at him and then back to her. “What did you discuss?”
Bernadette delivered their food and Ben didn’t get an answer to his question. Both men smiled at their vegetable omelet with homefries and toast.
“How do they expect a slight being like yourself to consume all of that?” his father chuckled looking at Fable’s plate piled with pancakes and butter. They watched her pour syrup on top and on her bacon.
“You laugh,” Ben said, “but on her first day at the house she ate a braised duck, two roasted chickens, six hard-boiled eggs and three cooked fish.”
“I needed protein,” she reminded him. He still had no idea what protein was. He wasn’t sure his father knew either when he mouthed the word.
“How did you meet each other?”
“I found her in my garden praying for protection from you, I assume.”
“Yes,” his father agreed and cast her a repentant look Ben had never seen his father wear before, “I’m afraid I terrified her.”
“She ran from you for four days and ended up in my garden, where she fainted in my arms.”
