Page 40

He was loading his rifle. “Please, Lizzy. I don’t know what we’re dealing with here. I can’t protect you and the girls too.”

“You may need me”—she whispered in an urgent voice—“to help with the little girls, or-or go get more help.”

He considered.“All right. But stay way behind me until I tell you, and don’t do anything foolish. Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Richard is around here somewhere. We need to find him, so we don’t shoot each other by mistake.”

Elizabeth shuddered. A sudden movement caught her eye. Richard had just silently vaulted over the porch railing and was running toward them, crouched low.There was a pistol in his hand.

“What’s going on?”Darcy whispered.

“The bastard’s in there all right. I’ve been having one of the deputies check on her, ’cause I was afraid something like this might happen. Wickham beat him here today. Mercer’s gone for more help.”

Richard spat on the ground and looked at Darcy with a serious expression.

“He’s got a pistol tucked in the back of his belt.

I don’t know if it’s loaded or not. He’s drunk too—which may be to our advantage, or it may make him do something stupid.

Georgiana is doing a good job of keeping him calm—I guess she’s had a lot of practice doin’ that.

” His face darkened momentarily, but then the cold, hard calm returned.

“She’s refusing to go with him, and the little ones is screamin’ and cryin’, and I’m afraid that might set him off. ”

Tears were running unchecked down Elizabeth’s face, but she kept repeating her mantra and her prayer: I’ve got to think! I’ve got to listen! I’ve got to think! Please, God, help us!

“They’re in the front room and he’s got his back to the door.I think I can sneak up on him. Darcy, you cover me by the steps there. I’ll signal before I go in and you follow me.

“Mrs. Darcy”—he turned to look at her as if seeing her for the first time—“good lord, woman, what are you doing here?” He shook his head.

“I can’t leave them,” she said simply.

His kind smile calmed her a little. “No, I s’pose not.

” He turned and surveyed the front of the house.

“You hide behind that hydrangea bush for now. I expect Miss Darcy’s gonna need some help with the babies once I get him in custody.

If you see the deputy pull up, you head him off and tell him what’s going on. ”

He turned, quick as lightning, and silently, he crept back up to the front door. He stood beside it, listening, and Elizabeth took her place behind the hydrangea at the corner of the steps. She could hear Wickham’s voice, louder and angrier than before.

“You’re my wife, and these are my children, and you’re all coming with me!”

“I am not your wife.” Georgiana’s voice was raised too, but she was still in control of it. “My daughters and I are staying here!”

“Why didn’t you tell me about that nice little trust fund of yours before?

Oh, yes, I know it all. Some old coot who works at the bank told me the whole story over a game of cards last week.

Did you think you could slink out in the middle of the night and come crawling back to your mansion on the hill to spend all your money, and me not find out about it? ”

“You must not have missed us too much.It took you almost two years to darken my door.”Her voice rose again.

“What happened, George? Did you run out of money? Did Mary Wickham find out what you did to her and throw you out? Are the police after you again? Or maybe it’s the mob that’s come for you this time? ”

“How dare you hide that money from me! I’m your husband! I need that money.” He paced back and forth and stopped with his back to the door. Georgiana was hidden from view.

“But I don’t need you. Maybe I don’t even need you to get your money.

” He reached down and grabbed Ruth, hoisting her up into his arms. “You want to come with Daddy, little lady? I bet Darcy would pay through the nose to get you back. You can be Daddy’s little insurance policy.

” Ruth let out a terrified scream and reached her arms toward her mother.

Maggie hid her face in her mother’s skirts, crying uncontrollably. Georgiana finally lost her composure.

“No!Please!Give her to me, please! Please, George! I’ll give you anything you want.”

“Yes, I know you will—you sneaky, conniving little bitch!” Wickham shifted Ruth to one arm, and as he said the last, ugly word, he punctuated it by back-handing Georgiana across the face. Elizabeth heard the sickening thud, which almost made her vomit, and then everything happened all of a sudden.

Fitzwilliam nodded and silently opened the screen door.

He put his pistol to Wickham’s head and cocked the trigger with a click.

His other hand lifted Wickham’s gun from the back of the man’s trousers and handed it back to Darcy who had followed him in.

William checked it, stuck it in his own belt, and resumed his aim on Wickham.

“Now,” Fitzwilliam said evenly. “How about you give the baby back to her mama, real nice and slow?”

Wickham eased Ruth down to the floor. The moment her feet touched the ground, she was running. Her mother scooped her up and held her tight, stroking her hair and comforting her.Georgiana reached down and put a protective hand around Maggie’s shaking shoulders.

“I wouldn’t have hurt her,” Wickham said with slurred speech. “She’s my daughter after all.”

“She’s not your daughter. A man like you don’t deserve a sweet child like that,” Richard said in a cold, grim voice.

He fished a pair of handcuffs off his belt and slapped them on Wickham’s wrists.

“Now, I’m gonna let the nice deputy that’s coming out here take you back to the cell at the sheriff’s office.

Then we’re calling the Bowling Green police.

I do believe there’s a warrant for your arrest in about three different states on various charges.

” He leaned in toward Wickham’s ear and said in a low, menacing voice, “And I don’t want to see you no more, Wickham.

You understand me? ’Cause if you come around these parts and scare this good woman and make her babies cry ever again, I will personally hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands. ”

Elizabeth heard the entire interchange from her hiding place. She stepped out and walked to the door just in time to hear the sheriff say, “You can stand down, Darcy.” Then, with a hint of unease, he repeated, “Darcy? I said stand down.”

She looked at William, his gun still trained on Wickham’s head, and her fear rushed back with a vengeance. William didn’t move—his eyes held a wild, crazed look she had never seen before. It terrified her. She tried to speak, but her voice was caught in her throat.

William’s tone was quiet and deadly. “I should kill him.”

Richard spoke with a forced calm, although his voice was filled with worry. “You listen to me real careful now, William Darcy. You don’t want to do this in front of the little girls, or in front of your sister. You don’t.”

There was still no movement.

“William, stand down. Look at the babies. Look at Maggie.She’s watching you. She needs you here, not rotting inside the pen at Eddyville. Don’t do this.” Richard’s voice was low and insistent.

William’s eyes flitted to his niece.She was looking at him with those dark brown eyes, so like his own.He shook his head a little and blinked, and then he lowered his rifle.

A deputy rushed past Elizabeth from behind.

“Mercer!” Richard barked. “Get Darcy’s rifle and the pistol and put them outside in my truck. Then you and Hendricks get this criminal down to the jail.”

When they were gone, Elizabeth hurried inside, putting her arms around Georgiana and the girls and clutching them to her.

She took Ruth from her mother’s arms and coaxed Maggie to come sit down with her on the couch.

Georgiana’s cheekbone was already starting to bruise and swell.

Elizabeth was thinking that she needed to put some ice on it, when she noticed Georgiana hadn’t moved.

Her sister-in-law stood, transfixed for a moment, staring at Richard Fitzwilliam.

Suddenly, Georgiana rushed toward him. His arms opened and enfolded her, as she sobbed “Richard” over and over again.

He held her as her knees gave way and stroked her hair, speaking words of reassurance.

“It’s over now. He’s gone. He won’t hurt you anymore.

You’re safe. You were so brave. My darling, my precious girl. ”

Georgiana lifted her head from his shoulder and without another word, she planted a kiss on him that left no doubt in anyone’s mind about her feelings for the good sheriff.

Darcy fell back against the doorframe, his mouth actually hanging open in shock. Elizabeth couldn’t stop staring at them.

“They hug like that all the time.”

Elizabeth looked down at Maggie, who was standing beside her. Her cheeks were tear-stained, but her voice was back to normal, and as precocious as ever.

“They think I don’t know about it, but I can see them out my window. They stand beside Sheriff’s truck and say goodnight about seventy-hundred times and hug about seventy-hundred more. Sometimes I just give up waiting for her and go back to bed.”

Elizabeth looked back up at William, who was listening to Maggie’s revelation in total disbelief.

Elizabeth began to giggle. The sound grew louder until it was near hysterical proportions.

Maggie, not quite sure what was so funny, started to laugh too.

William looked at them all without speaking, and then turned and slowly headed out the door.

I better make sure he doesn’t turn his rifle on Richard.

She asked Maggie to hold Ruth and followed him out to the porch.

He was heading off toward the house, not toward his gun, so Elizabeth went back in and got Georgiana some ice.

She told Maggie to stay and help her mother, squeezed Richard’s arm affectionately, and made her own way toward the big house at Pemberley.