“And that’s when you started making plans to abduct my children?” Walter asked.
“Taking the children was a spur-of-the-moment decision, brought about after Vernon sent Hank to Newport.” Daniel shuddered. “I owe Vernon ten thousand I lost in a single poker game. Regrettably, my parents have completely cut me off, my father deciding he’s not going to bail me out of any debts I incur at the tables. I thought I might find success securing an heiress this summer, but Mrs. Parker refused to sponsor me, and Miss Brinley recently told me she doesn’t have any lady in mind for me. I’m in dire straits—specifically, in danger of having my limbs broken—because I can’t repay Vernon.”
Walter cocked a brow. “The direness of your situation must have increased substantially once Hank showed up in Newport.”
“Too right it did. Hank arrived here practically at the break of dawn today. Caught me after I stopped to have coffee at a bakery off Bellevue. He’d apparently been on his way to my cottage, intending to surprise me while I was still asleep, but stopped to get some coffee as well and discovered me sitting there. I soon found myself at pistol point in his carriage and then driven out to the cliffs.”
Daniel shuddered again. “I decided Hank might have been given orders to get rid of me instead of merely breaking my legs. But just when he seemed intent on hurling me off a cliff, I spotted the pony cart heading our way, pulled by that cantankerouspony Miss Tilden gave your children. I knew the only way I was going to survive was if we took your children and demanded a ransom. Once I told Hank how much money we could get for their safe return, he didn’t hesitate to snatch them. I knew Low Tide was vacant, so that’s where we went.
“As I made my way back to town to figure out the details of a plan, I ran into a brigade of society members heading off to speak to Miss Brinley, even though it was too early for social calls.” He shrugged. “I steered Hank’s carriage to the end of that line, which provided me with a perfect alibi if I found myself in need of one of those.”
Walter drew in a breath. “So allow me to see if I’m understanding this correctly—you decided to put the lives of my children at risk in order to spare yours?”
“Your children were never in danger. I knew you’d pay. I planned to give Hank the money, minus a little bit to tide me over, and then we’d set the children free.” Daniel caught Walter’s eye. “If you think about it, no harm’s been done, and Hank’s locked away in the closet upstairs. We could say he planned and executed the entire thing, and you could let me go. I am, after all, a member of the New York Four Hundred, and your mother knows my mother. Think of the shame my mother will face if my poor decision comes to light.”
“You should have thought about that before you placed your pistol against my son’s head, or before having a hand in terrifying my twins, who are, if you don’t know, only five years old. For that, you’re going to jail—possibly for a very long time.”
Thirty-Nine
“Children, we have to stay out of sight,” Gwendolyn said, holding fast to Priscilla’s and Samuel’s hands as Oscar hurried beside her. “There’s no telling if there were more than two men involved in your kidnapping.”
“There weren’t,” Oscar said. “It was just the two of them.”
“Will Papa be safe?” Priscilla asked, her voice trembling as they stumbled their way through high grass bordering a pond.
Gwendolyn slowed to a stop. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, darling. Your father knows how to handle himself in situations.”
“He’s a businessman,” Oscar countered. “I don’t think he finds himself handling kidnappers often, if at all.”
“True, but Gideon Abbott is with him. From what I’ve observed, he knows his way around troubling circumstances. And when you add in the fact your father was infuriated with the men who took you, I imagine he and Gideon will soon have those men secured.”
“Hank will be easy to catch,” Oscar said. “There’s no way he can get out of the closet. We shoved a dresser in front of it before we left.”
“It was heavy,” Samuel added. “Me and Priss had to sit on the floor and push it with our legs.”
“How very clever of all of you,” Gwendolyn said, right before she heard a carriage rumbling their way. She glanced to Oscar. “Stay with the twins. I’m going to see who that is.”
It came as no surprise, when she reached the edge of the road and looked over her shoulder, to see Oscar and the twins following her, although they were sticking to the shadows. Trying to keep to the shadows as well, Gwendolyn watched as the carriage careened into view.
“It’s Grandmother Ethel,” Oscar said, stealing up beside her and making her jump.
“You’re supposed to be watching the twins.”
“We’re right here,” Samuel said.
“Of course you are,” Gwendolyn muttered as the carriage drew closer. “Are you certain that’s your grandmother?”
“I know what her carriage looks like.”
Praying Oscar was right, Gwendolyn drew in a breath and stepped into the road, waving her hands at the fast-approaching carriage, which had the driver, once he spotted her in the lantern light, reining the horses to a rapid stop.
A second later, the carriage door burst open and Ethel and Matilda leapt to the ground, rushed past Gwendolyn, their arms already open, and scooped Samuel and Priscilla close, hugging them tightly.
Ethel finally lifted her head to look Gwendolyn’s direction, tears trailing down her cheeks. “You rescued them,” she whispered.
“In all fairness to the children,” Gwendolyn said, as Oscar stepped to Ethel’s side and gave her a hug, “they rescued themselves. But what are you doing here?”
“We’re grandmothers,” Matilda said, peering over Priscilla’s head. “You couldn’t have expected us to remain at Sea Haven—not when it’s almost one and no one returned to the cottage.” She caught Gwendolyn’s eye. “We’re armed.”
