Page 11 of 1797 Club 2nd Epilogue Collection (The 1797 Club #11)

I f there was one thing Ewan knew about Charlotte, it was that she could take care of herself. He had once thought he had to protect her, had almost destroyed their future in an attempt to do just that. But a decade together had given him more and more glimpses into her strength and steel.

But right now, staring at some message from beyond the grave, her expression was collapsed and vulnerable and all he wanted to do was sweep her away and forget this had happened.

He didn’t, of course, he simply reached back, closed the door and stepped toward her. “Do you wish to open it?” he signed.

She jerked her gaze back to the scroll, as if she hadn’t thought of it. He watched her throat work as she swallowed, watched her eyes move to the fire across the room as if she were considering the benefits of pretending she’d never found this thing.

But in the end, she untied the worn ribbon, set it aside and unfurled the rolled paper.

She drew a shaky breath and read it out loud, “I hope you found this, my girl. I left it for you, because I think you will appreciate it more. Though perhaps you will share it with your brother if you feel he’s softened enough to me to receive it.

I’ve left a treasure here for you, love.

And it’s up to you to find it following my clues.

Like the old days. If you wish to play with your dearly departed Papa, look where your Mama was her prettiest.”

She continued to stare at the words on the note, her gaze becoming shiny with tears.

Ewan moved forward then and gently placed a hand on hers.

She jolted as if she had forgotten he was there and looked up at him.

He touched her cheek, smoothing his thumb through a track of a tear that had slid along her skin.

Then he signed, “What does it mean?”

She handed him the note and paced away to the window, staring out at the setting sun that streaked pink and orange across the sky. He patiently waited for her to be ready to speak and finally she did.

“When I was very young, when things were still…reasonable in our family, he used to play these scavenger hunts with me. It was our private game, he never did it with Baldwin. I loved it.”

When she looked at him, Ewan signed, “Do you think that’s what this is? Another of his scavenger hunts?”

She nodded. “That must be what he meant by the line, Like the old days . What he could want me to find, I don’t know.”

Ewan set the note from her father on the desk and went to her, enfolding her in his arms. He felt her loosen, lean on him for support as he kissed the top of her head gently and breathed in the wonderful scent of her.

Then he stepped back and signed, “I don’t care what he wants to you find, I care if you want to find it. ”

She smiled faintly. “Of course you do.” She bent her head. “Why don’t we prepare for supper. I'll think about my answer.”

He nodded and offered his arm. She took it but as they passed the desk, she hesitated, then took her father’s note, folding it up, tucking it into his jacket pocket.

As they exited the office, shutting the door behind themselves, Ewan drew her a little closer.

He would do anything to protect this woman.

And he would do anything to give her what she wanted.

He only hoped he could do both.

C harlotte pushed aside her half-eaten dessert, just as she’d pushed aside every other half-eaten item from their supper.

She could feel Ewan watching her, marking how she didn’t enjoy herself with gusto as she usually did when it came to meals at her old family estate with the wonderful cook who had served them for so long.

She smiled at him, though she knew it must look sad. It certainly felt that way.

“I can read your mind, you know.”

“I’m not trying to hide it from you,” he signed as he leaned back in his own chair. “I’m worried. I suppose it is my prerogative.”

She nodded. “It is. I’m just not certain what to do.”

“If this hurts you so much, Charlotte, perhaps we should just set it aside. Try to focus on other things.” He lifted his eyebrows. “I would do everything in my power to distract you.”

She laughed despite herself. “I’m sure you would. And it would work for a few moments…”

His brows lifted even further.

She shook her head. “Very well, a few hours here and there. But I fear this would haunt me. I would not be able to let it go. I think…” She hesitated.

“I think I’d like to find whatever it was he hid for me.

Just to close the chapter. To keep it from popping into my mind and making me worry if the secret is something that could harm us. ”

It wasn’t a fear that was out of bounds.

Years earlier, Baldwin had unearthed dozens of hidden debts that had nearly crushed him.

Nearly made him walk away from Helena when they were just in the first blush of love.

If there were other ugly things to be found, it was better to uncover them now before they could fester even more than they might have been doing for the past decade and a half since her father’s death.

Ewan nodded. “Very well. Then we will do this search.”

He withdrew the note from his pocket and she scooted her chair closer. Her father’s handwriting still jolted her, just as it had when she first found the missive a few hours before. It was like he was close by when she looked at it. She didn’t know how to feel about that.

“What does he mean by look where your Mama was her prettiest ?” Ewan signed.

She pursed her lips. “When I was small, I used to come watch my mother get ready for parties in her dressing room. My father would come in sometimes and smile and say she was so pretty there. Perhaps he meant that. Or the ballroom where she would hold court? It must be somewhere here on the grounds, I should hope or else this will be a chase to nothing.” She sighed.

“Not that I’d put that out of the realm of possibility. ”

Ewan covered her hand and squeezed lightly. “Then we start in her dressing room.”

She twisted her lips. “It isn’t my mother’s anymore though, is it? It’s Helena’s room now. I would feel odd searching through her things like that.”

“Helena adores you and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind,” Ewan signed.

Charlotte thought of her lovely sister-in-law, who was always trying to soothe the old family harms. Ewan was right, of course. Had she been here, she would have been the first to throw open her room for the search.

“Well, I have every intention of telling my brother about this after the baby is born. So I won’t keep my search a secret,” she said as she stood up. “Come, my love. Let’s dance to my father’s fiddle together.”

“Now?” Ewan signed, even as he stood with her.

She shrugged. “The sooner we do this, the sooner it will be over and I can go back to enjoying time alone with my wonderful husband.”

She caught his hand and drew him from the room, walking through the winding halls at what she knew was a breakneck clip. He made no attempt to stop her, but held her hand gently, as if to remind her of his presence in this strange and painful moment.

They climbed the stairs together and passed her old chamber, which had long ago been redone into a room for them both.

Her brother’s master bedroom was at the end of the hallway and she hesitated before the big door.

This was a violation, no matter how she told herself she would undo it.

And yet she couldn’t stop herself from turning the handle to the door and stepping inside.

The room was dark and cold and she bit back a curse. “Of course, the room isn’t viewable. I wasn’t even thinking.”

Ewan turned her toward him and leaned down to kiss her temple before he signed, “I’ll get a candle from our chamber.”

She watched him go, love for him swelling in her chest. That and increasing anxiety that seemed to be taking over.

She stepped into the antechamber and looked around.

Her eyes were adjusting to the dark and she could see that the furniture was covered in sheets to protect it from dust. She looked first toward one door and then the one on the other side.

She hadn’t been in these rooms for so many years that she couldn’t recall which was the duke’s chamber and which the duchess.

Ewan returned, a lit candle in each hand. He turned one over and motioned for her to lead. She picked one door and moved through. She had chosen correctly. She recognized the wallpaper as that from her mother’s room.

“If he hid the note where she made herself more beautiful,” she murmured. “That would imply her dressing table.”

She crossed to it and pulled the sheet back, but to her surprise, it wasn’t her mother’s old table there, but a new one. Very pretty and modern. She pursed her lips. “It seems Helena has replaced the item. I wonder if we’ve reached the end of our road.”

Ewan shook his head and signed, “We could ask Walker. He would know where the old furniture has gone.”

“I almost hesitate to do so,” she sighed as she flipped the sheet back over to protect the piece. “To drag the servants into this foolishness seems an exercise in humiliation as well as futility."

He touched her face before he signed. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. And your brother’s staff adores you. If you want this, Charlotte, then do it.”

She stared up at him, this man who had overcome so much to be who he was now. She ducked her head at how cowardly she was being. “Of course. You’re right. Come, we’ll find him.”

He followed her from the room and shut the door behind them quietly. They were only a few steps up the hall when the man they were looking for himself stepped from one of the chambers.

“Ah, Walker,” Charlotte said, her tone falsely bright. “Just the man I was looking for. I…I don’t even know how to explain what I need.”

The butler tilted his head in confusion. “Anything you require, Your Grace.”

Ewan handed her his candle, which she blew out as she watched him withdraw the silver notebook she had bought for him a lifetime of Christmases ago.

He scribbled a message, as was his way when he was with someone who didn’t use their sign language.

When he handed it over, Walker read it and his eyes widened a fraction.

“Well, Your Grace, the old items were moved to the attic in the east tower about a year ago. I have the key if you would like to examine them.”

Charlotte sent a look of gratitude toward her husband. “I would. I know it’s an odd request.”

“Not at all, Your Grace,” Walker said as he drew a ring of keys from a hook at his waist and turned through them until he found one very old one. “Here you are. I see you have candles, would you like any assistance?”

“No,” Charlotte said. “Thank you. If that changes, we will call for you.”

“Very good,” he said with a slight inclination of his head and then departed their company .

She and Ewan exchanged a silent look and then headed toward the east tower together. As they climbed the stairs, Charlotte laughed. “I almost feel like a medieval maiden being led to her demise.”

“I would save you,” Ewan signed.

She stopped at the top of the stairs and touched his face. “My knight in shining armor."

She unlocked the door and they entered the room together.

She lit his candle off of her still-burning one and a soft glow filled the storage space.

She sighed. Hundreds of years of history had made the attic disorganized.

But they picked through the piles, looking for the small table where her mother had spent so many hours dressing and gossiping and, Charlotte had realized as she grew older and wiser, worrying and weeping over the fall of her husband.

She stepped around an old dress form and gasped. “There it is!” she called out, bringing Ewan from across the space to her. They looked at it together. “It’s made from walnut, from our very own trees here on the estate,” she explained. “My father had it made for her before I was born.”

Ewan wrapped an arm around her and squeezed and then she took his candle so he could examine the table.

“I don’t know how he could have left me a clue here,” she began as Ewan opened the drawers and fiddled with the knobs on the table. “It’s just a…”

She trailed off as Ewan moved to the backside of the piece and ran his hands down the wood.

He glanced up at her and she heard a little pop.

When she moved to his side, she could see that a corner of the back of the desk had come loose and within it was another note, rolled and tied like the last one.

She smiled, a flush of triumph moving through her. “There you have it.”

Ewan handed it over and she opened it, lifting her candle so the glow allowed her to read. “C lever girl, as always, Charlotte. Always with a head in your books in that library you love so much. I wonder what you might find there, under a name so like your own. ”

She exchanged a glance with Ewan. “Too easy. I adored Chaucer as a girl. He must have hidden the next one in one of the volumes there. Are you up for more?”

He nodded. “Always.”

She drew a shaky breath. “Then let’s go on. To whatever end.”

She just hoped, as she took her husband’s arm, that it would not be a bitter one.