Archibald laughed, a dry sound devoid of any real humor. ‘You sound like a man in love.’
‘I am,’ Drake admitted, ‘and I need your help.’
‘My help?’
‘Yes.’ Drake sighed while leaning back in his chair. ‘Strange how it works, isn’t it? The more we try to control our own lives, the more we realise it’s the love and understanding of those closest to us that truly sets us free. It’s as if life’s not about the things we can control, but about those that we can’t.’
Archibald nodded. ‘I’d agree with that, but to be honest, Drake, I’m not in a position to help anyone.’
Feeling a sense of kinship with Archibald that he’d never expected, Drake said, ‘Well, maybe an elephant can save you, too.’
Archibald cracked a smile. ‘I don’t think so.’
Drake leaned forward in his chair. ‘I think it’s time we put aside the past. We’re family, and should be able to work together, help each other.’
Archibald gave his head a disbelieving shake. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’
‘I’ve never been more serious. I want to marry the woman I love, but I can’t, not without your help.’
‘What do you need me to do?’
‘You can start by telling me how you managed to squander away a fortune.’
With a heavy sigh and drooping shoulders, Archibald said, ‘What the hell. It’s gone. It’s all gone. The money. Investments. Property. Gone. All that’s left is Coastal Shipping, and that would be gone too if you hadn’t come home when you had.’
‘Where did it go?’ Drake asked. ‘The money?’
Archibald shrugged, then began to spill his guts like a lonely man who had one too many swigs from a bottle during rough seas when there wasn’t a lot to do but hunker down and wait for the storm to pass.
Drake listened as Archibald told him about two surveyors who claimed to have found gold on Rayburn property. They’d shown him flakes and nuggets, said it could be the richest vein in England, and how for four years he’d poured money into finding it hand over fist, only to come up empty-handed. The coffers were empty now and there was no hope of recovery. Ultimately, without the shipping company, he wouldn’t be able to feed his family, nor pay the last few men still on their payroll.
‘Four years ago,’ Drake said, ‘means that Uncle Donald knew about it.’
Archibald nodded. ‘He agreed to the venture, at first. After the first two shafts came up empty, he said that gold fever was like the sea. It could get a hold of a man and not let him go, unless he was strong enough to break the bond.’ With a shrug, Archibald said, ‘I guess we both inherited something from the Taylor side of the family.’
‘I guess we did,’ Drake replied.
‘Well, there it is,’ Archibald said. ‘Proof that I have nothing to offer you. I wish I did, but in all honesty, I have no way to help you.’
‘Yes, you do,’ Drake replied. ‘I need a partner. An honest, hard-working partner, so that when I ask Meridith to marry me, she’ll know that it’s her that I want. Only her.’
Meridith sat upon a large rock, watching as six-year-old Nita and eight-year-old Meg ran back and forth through the ankle-deep stream of trickling water that ran behind the barn at Diana and Walter’s country estate, Holdenstall. Her sister wouldn’t leaveLondon, wouldn’t leave her, so Meridith had come with her. To her way of thinking, one person being miserable because of love was more than enough.
Peter had worried that leaving town might damage Meridith’s reputation more. That had been when Alena had stepped in and questioned him. He’d told her about the message that Karl Harding had sent to him. Meridith hadn’t seen what Karl had written, didn’t want to, but as soon as Alena read whatever was penned in that note, she told Peter that going to the country was a very good idea. She also told him that the Hardings weren’t the only people with family ties to royalty and that she’d put a stop to any rumors that Karl may have started.
Meridith wasn’t sure what that all entailed, but both she and Diana were convinced that Karl would be sorry that he’d attempted to create a scandal when there truly wasn’t one.
They had left the following morning. The day after Drake had returned from Bristol. The day after they’d kissed.
The day after her heart had been broken into so many pieces that there were times when it still hurt to breathe.
However, she found it within herself to feel joy for other people.
Walter was ecstatic about having his wife and daughters home, and in the days since they’d arrived, now a total of six, Meridith witnessed for herself that Diana and Walter were still very much in love with each other. What she’d assumed to be true about their relationship hadn’t been.
That had happened with other things, too. Things that she’d assumed hadn’t turned out to be exactly as she’d seen them.
One example was the horses. Walter raised and trained beautiful thoroughbreds, many of which raced at Ascot, as well as other places, and were considered champions.
