“What is the danger?” Lucas asked. “How far is this woman willing to go?”
Kit scrubbed a hand over his face. His gut reaction was to focus entirely on the deepest terror. But that would serve no one. He had to be clearer. More rational if he expected his friends to help.
He sighed. “I don’t think she would hurt Phoebe physically,” he admitted. “But Hannah Beckett will protect herself at all costs.”
Diana nodded slowly. “Sarah explained some of it, but you’ve seen it before, yes? When she broke with your father?”
Kit pursed his lips. “It was an utter nightmare. She was willing to hide her child from him, to threaten to give Phoebe away where she’d never be found to get what she wanted.”
“Which was money,” Lucas said as he got up and paced away restlessly.
“Yes. And she sees this as a way to get more,” Kit said. “It’s an opportunity and she is an opportunist.”
Diana leaned forward, and her beautiful face was soft with empathy. “You’re afraid,” she said. “I see that and I understand that. But you must know you aren’t alone in this. We’re all going to protect her.”
“You two had plans to depart tomorrow,” Kit said. “You cannot take this on.”
“Like hell we can’t,” Lucas said sharply. “There may be a physical threat, so Diana and I will do better to stay here and help you face that. In the meantime, I’ll send a message to my old contacts in London to begin an investigation into this woman.”
Kit’s lips parted as he stared in wonder at his friends. “You would use your War Department resources for me?”
“Of course,” Diana said with a wave of her hand that made it feel like this wasn’t the extraordinary act of friendship that it was.
Relief rushed through Kit at the idea that they would make such an offer. “Thank you,” he whispered. Then he leaned back and looked from one to the other. “Tell me something. Are you two still spies?”
Diana grinned and winked at Lucas. He also smiled. “I’m sorry, Kit. That’s a classified matter.”
Kit shook his head. “Let me know what you need from me. I can provide all the information I have. And my father’s journals are in the library. We can find the ones from the years surrounding his affair with Hannah.”
“Good,” Lucas said. “We’ll start there. I’m sure there will be information to mine from those. And I’ll let you know what else we need.”
Diana pushed to her feet and Kit followed. She stepped toward him. “May I offer you some advice?”
He nodded. “Of course. I welcome anything you have to say, considering your experience.”
She glanced over her shoulder at Lucas before she said, “Let Sarah help,” she said softly. “She loves that child. And she cares deeply about you.”
He frowned. He hadn’t talked to Diana and Lucas about his intentions that morning, just that he needed time alone with Sarah.
“Protect each other,” Lucas added.
Kit sighed and then nodded. “I know you’re right. And I know what I have to do.”
“Good,” Diana said before she turned to Lucas. “Now come along, my love. We have some journals to find.”
The two of them linked arms and left the parlor together. Kit followed them out, and turned toward the stairs that led to the family quarters above. When he moved to his sister’s room, he was surprised to find Sarah sitting on the floor in the hallway at the nursery door. Her teary stare was faraway and troubled, and she worried her hands in her lap mindlessly.
He moved toward her, keenly aware of when she snapped out of her reverie and noticed him. Her eyes went wide, but she didn’t get up. So he sat down beside her, placed his back against the wall and let out his breath gently.
“It’s been a long day,” he said.
She nodded and wiped at her tears swiftly. “And it’s not even tea time.”
They were quiet for a moment. Not an uncomfortable silence, or one where he felt separated from her. On the contrary, it was as if they needed no words. That he knew her emotions because they mirrored his own. And that was more reassuring than anything she could have said or done.
All his nervousness from earlier faded, replaced by a calm that allowed him to know exactly what to do and say next.
He turned toward her. “She needs us both.”
