“You will forgive me for making contact when I have never written a word to you before. I am your cousin, Forrest. My mother and wife recently passed of an illness. I have decided that we will be better served living in England. We shall be arriving…” Gabe looked at the date. “Today,” he said. “And if it is possible, could we impose on your generosity and lodge the night with you? I will impose no longer than that and seek our own lodgings with some expediency.”
“We?” Nathan asked.
Gabe searched the note but found no other name.
“My lord.” Gabe looked up as Fairfax entered the room once more. “There is a Mr. Howarth wishing to speak with you.”
Looking back down at the letter, Gabe tried to decipher the signature on the bottom.
“I think it could be him,” Gabe said.
He rose with his brothers and headed down the stairs.
“Where is he, Fairfax?” Gabe asked.
“He had no wish to move from the front entrance, Lord Raine.”
Gabe saw a tall man dressed in black with a young girl in his arms as he reached the top of the stairs.
“Good Lord,” Michael said from behind him. “He looks like us, only thinner.”
“Cousin Forrest?” Gabe said, ignoring the conversation now taking place in hushed voices behind him.
The eyes that turned to looked up at him as he and the others started down were bloodshot. He was pale, his skin looked clammy, and his blue eyes had dark smudges beneath.
“Lord Raine,” he said, attempting to bow while clutching the child. Gabe stopped him by grabbing an arm, as he looked about to topple over.
“I only just received your note, Forrest, or I would have met your ship. You don’t mind if I call you that?”
“Of course not. And I’m sorry, I sent it some time ago.”
He was almost swaying where he stood.
“Are you well, Forrest?”
“Merely fatigue, my lord. I have not slept for some time. Forgive the imposition, b-but I’m afraid I know no one else in England that I could lodge with.” His words were slurred, like he’d overindulged.
The child as yet had not lifted her head from his chest. She was small, no more than two, Gabe guessed.
“What is your daughter’s name?”
She wore a worn blue bonnet, and he saw sunset-colored curls beneath. Her dress was a grubby pale blue.
“Ella.”
Behind them, he heard his brothers organizing rooms, food, and baths with Fairfax.
“Will she allow me to carry her?”
Forrest swayed suddenly, and Gabe didn’t wait; he took the child, settling her against his chest.
“Ella,” Forrest rasped.
“Will be well cared for, cousin. Get him into a bed,” Gabe said as Michael and Nathan grabbed Forrest.
“Shall I call Dr. Morris, my lord?”
“Yes please, Fairfax.”
