“To keep her from running out after the men, perhaps, but not for healing. Rest is essential but not bed rest. No racketing about the countryside. No chasing after the children. And no dancing, unfortunately—I understand a ball is planned. Sit and hold court,” he ordered, giving Maddy his best authoritarian expression when she prepared to argue. “And I’m afraid you will be eating soft foods for a few days. The cut penetrated your cheek only a short distance but enough. It will hurt like the devil. I recommend brandy. It will aid healing and keep it clean. Willow bark, if you develop a fever.”
He left them with a jaunty salute. Sounds from below echoed through the room when he opened the door.
“It sounds like half the shire is stomping through the hall and shouting,” Maddy observed.
“Rob brought tenants from Willowbrook. An entire caravan came up from the Willow. Half went to comb the woods for Jessop, led by Rob and Colonel Morgan. Glenmoor and Gideon insisted on going as well. Goodfellow organized the other half to guard the hall,” David told her.
“But not you?” she asked peevishly.
“Someone had to care for you,” David spoke through gritted teeth.
There seemed little she could say to that.
He rose and went to the door. “I’m going to check the guards and join the hunt. Rob and Eli’s father is waiting below stairs. Shall I send him up?”
Another nursemaid. “I’m going to perish of nerves and boredom in this chair.”
“I’ll fetch you a book,” David replied, unmoving.
“I could visit the nursery.” Their outing being canceled, the Kendrick children had been unleashed on the Clarion nursery.
“No chasing after children.” Brother and sister repeated the doctor’s words simultaneously and shared a smile.
David sat back down, leaning his elbows on his knees. “You could tell me about Kendrick. And what Jessop wants.”
“You know some of it.”
“I know the story of your miraculous discovery that Gideon Jessop had been transformed into that fine gentleman whose children are running free in my nursery. There’s more. Such as why you went to search for him to begin with.”
She hesitated. The fewer people who knew the truth, the better. But of course, the Morgans already knew it all, and Jessop had rained trouble down on all of Ashmead.
Soon enough the Bensons will want to know, and…She told him. All of it. Including the letter she had hidden in the Clarion strong room for years.
“Good God, Maddy. You helped perpetrate a fraud. What were you thinking?” David echoed Brynn’s outrage.
“I believed Gideon was dead and Phillip deserved protection,” she said. “If Jessop hadn’t come…”
“You would have let the lie go on.”
“Yes,” she whispered. But then they wouldn’t have found Gideon. Wouldn’t have had the joy of meeting his family.
“Did Morgan abet you in this?”
“He shared your outrage. I suspect he would have spoken if I hadn’t.”
“What a mess,” David mused. “The committee won’t…”
“Yes, we talked about that. Gideon insists he doesn’t want the title in any case, but there is his son to consider and any sons Phillip may have. I invited them here, hoping the two of them would be able to come to some sort of arrangement. Now Jessop is out there, threatening no end of trouble.”
“He’s greedy. He can be bought off.” David sounded certain. Maddy wished she was.
She urged him to go, but when he did, she began to shake.I need Brynn.
He didn’t come. But when, moments later, the kindly face of Robert Benson, the beloved innkeeper, appeared in the door, she greeted him with relief. He handed her the books David had selected, sat in the matching wing-backed chair, and smiled.
“Is it painful?” he asked.
“A bit. I’ll manage.”
