Geoffrey nodded back. “Do you have a room for us, and another for my two servants?”
“Aye,” said the man.
Geoffrey wanted to ask if the room was clean, but seeing how Caroline was tired and the December weather frigid, they should settle in while they could.
“Can we get a meal, too?” he asked, wondering how far hospitality would extend in the stark little place.
The man looked past to the darkness outside as if determining the time, and then he sniffed and swung his head toward an open doorway behind him, which led to the back of the house.
“Mattie!” he yelled.
“Aye,” called back a female voice.
“You got any stew left and bread?”
“Aye,” she answered.
The barman faced them again.
“Aye, we can feed you.”
“Only if we want stew,” Geoffrey quipped.
The man didn’t smile. Apparently, there was not much of a sense of humor in this dour little inn.
“Which we do,” Caroline asserted, beginning to pull off her gloves.
“It’s quite good,” Geoffrey’s father said.
His father!
Geoffrey gaped at the man who rose from the table in the corner, joined by Lord Chimes.
“Father!” Caroline exclaimed.
“No trouble in here,” the barman warned, standing straight.
“No trouble,” James Diamond agreed affably. “Merely a family reunion.”
“Two reunions,” Lord Chimes said. “And I don’t know yet about trouble.”
“Nonsense. Come, sit with us,” Geoffrey’s father invited. “Bring these travelers some stew,” he said to the barman.
“And red wine,” Geoffrey added, feeling Caroline trembling beside him. They crossed the small room and, surprisingly, Lord Chimes grasped his daughter’s shoulders and drew her in for a hug.
“Your mother and I were worried,” he told her, loudly enough for them all to hear.
Geoffrey felt like a cad for the first time since they’d fled London. Then before he could do so himself, her father drew out a chair for her.
In the next instant, to his astonishment, he found himself sitting with the two fathers as if it were the most normal thing in the world to be caught trying to elope.
“You made good time,” Geoffrey said. “I imagine you didn’t get any sleep.”
“You are correct,” his father said. “At least, not a full night. We wasted time looking for you at some of the inns along the way.” With that statement, he glared at Lord Chimes.
“It’s true I had hoped we would find you before you reached this god-forsaken place.”
“Hear now!” said the barman who was delivering their bowls of stew and a basket of bread. “That’s uncalled for.”
