Gwendolyn suppressed a shudder when Matilda whipped apistol from her pocket, although the gingerly way she held it spoke volumes. “Have you ever shot a pistol before?”
“Of course not, but Ethel and I decided all one needs to do is cock back the trigger, then shoot.”
“How about you let me hold that while you and Ethel get the children settled in the carriage?”
“Oh, thank you, dear,” Matilda said, not hesitating to pass over the pistol. “I was afraid it might go off in my pocket.”
“To which I have nothing to say except thank goodness it didn’t.”
After tucking the pistol into her pocket—after making sure Matilda hadn’t accidentally cocked it, because the night certainly didn’t need an accidental shooting—Gwendolyn helped get the twins and Oscar situated between Ethel and Matilda, stilling when the sound of more carriage wheels trundling down the road met their ears.
Before Gwendolyn could move to investigate, Ethel was thrusting another pistol into her hands. “Not certain that monster’s loaded, but it might startle someone if you point itandMatilda’s pistol at whoever’s approaching.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Gwendolyn stepped back from the carriage, slammed the door shut, and nodded to Ethel’s driver. “Get them back to Sea Haven.”
The driver didn’t hesitate to snap the reins over the horses’ backs, leaving Gwendolyn standing in a cloud of dust as the approaching carriage began to slow.
Cocking the pistol, she stepped to the side of the road and took aim, but lowered it when she realized Frank Lambert was driving the carriage, Catriona riding a horse beside him.
“Where are the children?” Frank demanded, pulling the carriage to a stop the second he caught sight of her. Catriona did the same with the horse.
“They’re fine,” she returned with a jerk of her head up the road. “They’re in that carriage.”
“Walter and Gideon?” Catriona asked next.
“I left them at Low Tide after the children came out of the house.”
“They may need help” was all Frank said before he slapped the horses with the reins and was off, leaving Gwendolyn and Catriona behind.
“Should we follow him?” Catriona asked.
“No. I think our concern should be the children.”
Accepting the hand her cousin held out to her, Gwendolyn swung up behind Catriona and they were off, catching up to Ethel’s carriage and staying directly behind it until it pulled up to Sea Haven.
“The grandmothers promised us a special treat for getting snatched,” Samuel informed her after jumping out of the carriage, Priscilla right behind him.
“Did they now?” Gwendolyn asked as Priscilla grabbed hold of her hand.
“I don’t think you should take the grandmothers to task about indulging us this time,” Oscar said quietly, stealing up beside her. “They’ve suffered quite the fright, and you know it’s their habit to offer treats.”
“A reasonable suggestion, and I wasn’t going to lecture them, not really,” Gwendolyn said, earning a rolling of the eyes from Ethel, who’d climbed out of the carriage and moved to stand beside her.
“Of course you were, dear,” Ethel said.
“She’s very proficient with lecturing,” Matilda added as she joined Ethel.
Gwendolyn’s lips curved. “I truly wasn’t going to lecture you, merely make a recommendation regarding how you might indulge the children this time.”
“Avoid additional ponies?” Ethel asked.
“Well, that too, but I was going to suggest you indulge them with the treat of taking them somewhere special, somewhereof their choosing. That way you’ll be giving them memories, not simply a new toy that will be appreciated in the moment but forgotten by week’s end.” Gwendolyn leaned closer and lowered her voice. “You can distract them with suggestions of where they might like to go while we wait for Walter to return.”
After they settled into the drawing room—Mrs. Boyle fussing over the children as she served them chicken, potatoes, and a variety of other dishes, clucking that the poor dears were obviously starving since their kidnappers hadn’t had the decency to feed them much—Gwendolyn kept an eye on the clock, each tick of it seeming to last a lifetime.
Finally, after an hour had passed, she heard voices in the hallway, and then Walter strode into the room, kneeling as his children flew toward him, all three of them grabbing hold of their father as he kissed each one on the head and pulled them close, seemingly not bothered in the least that his cheeks were streaked with tears.
The sight of those tears struck Gwendolyn straight through the heart, and she realized there and then that, if nothing else had come of her time in Newport, she’d had a part in giving the children exactly what they’d always needed—a father who put their needs before anything else, and a father who probably wouldn’t let his children out of his sight for a very long time to come.
