“I want to go home,” she whispered.
“I know. If you’d like to, I can take you from London soon, and we can go to my home, which will now be yours too. It’s in the country, and there is going to be a fair in the local village. Would you like that?
He saw something flicker in her eyes, and then she nodded.
Toby didn’t know what was going on in Bidham yet, but he would keep her safe and always at his side when they got there. The fair will be full of people and fun things for her to enjoy, and he suddenly wanted her to experience what he and Mathew had as children.
She climbed to her feet suddenly, and Toby thought she may leave him and return to her room. Instead, she went to the bookshelf. Taking a book down, she returned to him and held it out.
“You want me to read that to you?”
“Yes, please.”
“How about we go to your bedroom? You can get in bed, and I’ll read it?” It was well past time she should be sleeping; even he knew that.
She nodded.
They rose silently and walked into the bedroom. He helped her into bed and pulled up the covers. His hesitation was only brief, but he remembered his mother kissing him when she came to see him in bed sometimes, so Toby leaned in and pressed his lips to her forehead. He then lit the lamp on the small table beside her bed.
“Here.” Florence patted the space beside her and he wondered why now, tonight, she was letting him get closer, but he didn’t ask.
More emotion clogged his throat as he settled on the bed and readwith a little girl who carried his blood. She lay on her pillow looking at the book, and something powerful gripped him. Right then, he knew he would fight any battle he needed for this child. Not his child, but his blood. She was now his and he hers, and he would keep her safe.
Chapter Sixteen
“Ifail tosee why I have to come with you just because Helen cannot,” Edward said from beside Liberty as they walked toward the park.
“Apparently Father thinks you’re an excellent companion, and due to the stiffness in my leg, and inability to see without my glasses, I need someone to keep me from walking under a carriage,” Liberty said.
Edward snorted. “You only need them for close up things, and you have barely limped in months.”
Liberty loved her brother because he never allowed her to feel sorry for herself, even when she’d had reason to.
“If you are a good boy, I promise to purchase you whatever food you want when our errands are complete.
“Where is Helen?” Edward asked, his long strides keeping up with Liberty’s. He was already taller than she which was annoying.
“Visiting her brother.” What she was actually doing was following Liberty’s orders, to talk to Dudley, and tell him everything they’d seen and heard. Dudley still visited Bidham regularly and chances were, he’d know something. He may also get Sydney to talk about what he was delivering in London, and why.
“Edward, have you noticed anything odd about Bidham?”
Liberty had thought about discussing this with her parents, but chances were, they wouldn’t notice if something wasn’t right, anyway.She loved them, but they were a duke and duchess, and often oblivious to the goings on around them.
“Other than the usual, do you mean?” her brother said. “Like when Miss Jack does that skipping, hop step when she walks? Or Mr. Bernhard uses his rooster to guide him down the street, seeing as he’s blind?”
“Yes, yes, there are oddities there, I know that. I mean, anything other than the usual odd,” Liberty added.
“Now you mention it. Jason Todd told me his older brother was suddenly going to London a great deal, when he never went there because he said it was a stinky, filthy place. I found that odd.”
“I’m sure he had a reason,” was all Liberty said tucking that information away to think about later. “Now, while we are here, it is father’s birthday when we go back to Bidham for the fair. We need to select him a gift,” Liberty said.
“I hate selecting gifts,” Edward said.
“But you enjoy receiving them, so put your back into it.”
He muttered something she couldn’t understand.
“I wish we’d brought an umbrella,” Liberty said, looking skyward.
