Her mother opened her arms. “Amanda! My clever girl, I knew you would find me.”
Amanda allowed herself one long embrace with her mother. Then she and Gabriel got to work leading her mother to freedom before they all three became prisoners.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“This dress is utterly ruined. Most everything else is lost back there.”
Amanda waited while her mother took stock of her situation. They were back at the inn, after a walk through the dark to the waiting carriage.
Leaving the house had taken too long, due to Mama insisting on bringing a valise and checking to make sure her most expensive clothes were inside. Then the field had proved very damp and muddy for Mama’s fine shoes. While on the road, far from Yarnell’s house, Mama had felt safe enough to start a litany of complaints about her lack of comfort and other deprivations.
Now Gabriel had left them alone in Amanda’s chamber, to become reacquainted.
“It is too bad you had to leave so much, but at least you are not facing a noose,” Amanda said. She had changed her own garments so she no longer wore those pantaloons, and her own dress paled compared to her mother’s since she had not brought any of the new garments Gabriel had given her. It annoyed her that her mother was bemoaning the loss of her possessions.
Sitting on the bed, her mother patted the spot beside her. “Sit with me. I want to look at you, and really see the changes in you, Amanda. I recognized you instantly when I looked out that window, but of course you are a woman now, not a girl. A lovely woman. No wonder that handsome man agreed to help you.”
Amanda and her mother scrutinized each other’s faces.
Mama had the same face as the one of her memories, of course. Older, however, and drawn in ways that perhaps reflected the worry of the last few weeks. Humor still lit her eyes and her lips looked just as starkly red. She saw herself in her mother’s face now too, which as a girl she never had.
“I am so proud of you and how well you have risen to the occasion through all of this. Your father would be proud too, that you remembered so much of what he taught you all those years ago.”
“The problem, Mama, is that I am not proud. I did it for you, but I did not like doing it. It came at great cost, more than you will ever know, so I can’t find too much sympathy if you lost a few dresses.”
“I understand, darling. I do. I tried to find another way. I tried to escape myself first. Do not take my mumbling about my wardrobe as evidence of lack of gratitude. I may not know all the costs to you, but I can imagine some of them, knowing you as well as I do.”
She embraced Amanda with one arm. Amanda rested her head on her mother’s shoulders the way she had many years ago. And in that embrace some of the distance created by the years apart fell away.
Her mother patted her head. “That man. Is he one of us?”
“Do you mean a thief? No. Quite the opposite.”
“Please do not say you hired a runner to help you. They cannot be trusted.”
“Not a runner, or anyone hired. A friend.”
Her mother angled her head to look in her eyes. “Is he a lover?”
Amanda felt her face getting hot. This was her mother, after all.
Her mother laughed. “You have done very well for yourself in one way, daughter. I expect you were doing equally well in others. Hence the cost. Forgive me for interfering, especially if my special requests destroyed any plans you had. If you hate me now, it is only what I deserve.”
Before Amanda could think how to respond, a knock sounded at the door. Amanda jumped up to open it and found Gabriel there. “I have sent a late supper up. It should be here soon,” he said.
“Won’t you come in, sir?” her mother called.
He looked at Amanda, who nodded and held the door wide. He entered.
Her mother raised her chin and faced them both squarely. “I am sure you have questions for me. You would be rare souls if you did not, and fairly stupid ones as well. Perhaps we should take care of all of that now.”
* * *
“It was a brilliant plan, but perhaps too ambitious.” Mrs. Waverly began her tale while she and Amanda partook of the meal that had arrived. “I heard about Mr. Yarnell by chance. I was chatting with a man at an outdoor fete in Plymouth, trying to decide how best to obtain his gold pocket watch, when Yarnell walked by. The man with whom I spoke pointed to him and called him an eccentric fool. Well, of course I was intrigued.”
“Of course,” Amanda said.
Gabriel lifted an eyebrow, but said nothing.
