Page 36

Leaning over the sinkhole, he looked his sister in the eyes.

“Yes, I would. For once in your life, Deborah, take responsibility for your own actions. Your foolish temper tantrum nearly cost you your life, and you have not taken one moment to think what grief your behavior has caused those around you. No person here has slept. They have all worked through the night, desperate to find you, and I have yet to hear one word of thanks or acknowledgment for their sacrifices.”

“They’re servants. It’s their job.”

Grimacing, he shook his head. “Servants are people, Deborah. Hardworking employees who should have received a good night’s rest and not spent it searching the woods for a spoiled young lady who thinks only of herself.”

His sister started to cry. “Papa would not have spoken to me thus!”

“No, he spoiled you, and so have I, but no longer. If you wish for help, you must ask for it nicely. But first you must thank every person here for their efforts in finding you.”

Wiping her eyes with her dirty hands, Deb spread the muck on her face. “All right! Sarah, thank you for looking for me—even though I never would have run away if it hadn’t been for you turning Margaret’s head.”

“Deb,” Christopher warned her.

She rubbed her running nose. “Thank you, Mr. Phipps, Guy, and the other grooms whose names I do not know. I can imagine if your night was half as awful as mine, it was wretched. And I am sorry for it.”

“Now will you answer Sarah’s question?” Christopher said. Her apologies left much to be desired, but they were a start. “Can we lower down a rope, or do you need someone to lift you?”

Deb pushed off her hands and tried to get to her feet, only to fall back into the muck at the bottom of the sinkhole. She whimpered. “I think someone will need to help me out.”

“Phipps, if you would get out your rope and tie it to the pommel of your horse,” Christopher said. “Deb, scoot back as far as you can to that side. I’m coming down.”

Guy put a hand on his arm. “You’re our employer, sir. One of us lads can go down the hole.”

“Thank you, Guy. But I would never ask an employee to do something I was not willing to do myself.”

Sitting down on the edge of the hole, Christopher turned and put his elbows down to bear his weight.

He lowered his legs, keeping his hands and forearms on the ground, grasping the grass for some sort of hold.

His feet still dangled, so he eased his arms over the side until he only held on with his fingers.

Kicking the side of the hole with his boot, Christopher let his body drop.

It was only a couple feet, but the impact jarred his exhausted form.

He felt two arms wrap tightly around him.

Deb had managed to get onto her one good foot, and she was hugging him tightly.

A surge of warmth filled his heart. He would love and protect Deb for the rest of his life.

And as her guardian, he would help her become the very best version of herself. He turned around and hugged her back.

“I’m so sorry, Chris.” She sobbed against his chest. “I didn’t think. I was just so embarrassed, and I wanted to get away.”

“And hurt us a little too.”

Deb nodded with another wail.

“You are going to need to learn to control your temper and keep harsh words to yourself. Margaret is not your whipping post, and I have allowed her to be for too long. You’re right; she isn’t your mother.

And I am not your father, Deb, but I am your guardian.

Sometimes I will need to correct you. Not because I don’t love you but because I do.

We will all need to do better, and I know that we can, together. ”

Rubbing her face against his shirt with the perfectly straight row of buttons, Deb whimpered. “Sarah won’t forgive me, and now I’ve gone and ruined my good name.”

He tipped her chin up with one gentle finger.

“Sarah has been out all night looking for you. That doesn’t sound like the sort of person who won’t forgive you.

Will your escapade cause gossip and possibly a few snubs from local society?

Yes, yes, it will. But this time, we will not run away from the consequences, like I did when I took you out of school.

The headmistress wanted to discipline you, and instead I removed you from the situation.

The fault was mine, and you didn’t learn your lesson. But you will this time. We both will.”

Deb’s eyes and nose were running freely, as well as being very dirty. She appeared very young and very sorry. “Will I never find a good match now?”

“Deb, you are only sixteen years old. Still a child. By the time you debut, all of this will have been forgotten. In the meantime, I would love nothing more than for you to be a part of my and Sarah’s family. And we are in no rush to lose you to a handsome young duke with more estates than names.”

His sister let out a watery chuckle. “I should like to marry a duke.”

“Sarah and I will do our best, but let us enjoy you for several more years first.”

Deb squeezed him again, this time tighter than before. He put his arm beneath her shoulders and lifted her to where Mr. Phipps had lowered the rope. Wrapping the cord underneath her arms but high on her chest, he tied a sailor’s knot. “Pull her up gently.”

He lifted his sister as the horse pulled the rope tight.

Guy and another groom met Deb at the top of the pit and carefully lifted her out.

She immediately thanked them, and Christopher felt proud of her.

After untying Deb, the grooms threw the rope back down.

Christopher did not tie it around himself but rather around the skeleton.

Countess or commoner, this woman deserved a proper burial.

The bones were light and held together with the remnants of a tattered dress, its original color no longer recognizable from the elements.

The men lifted the skeleton up in a trice.

Christopher felt relieved when the rope was lowered a third time, and he carefully tied it around his upper chest. “And up.”

Rather than being hog-tied and dragged up the side of the sinkhole, Christopher put his boots on the side of the boggy dirt and climbed his way out of the pit as the men pulled.

The first person he saw was his wife, tears streaming freely down her face as she knelt not by Deb but by the skeleton.

Smelly and dirty, Christopher untied himself to kneel and put an arm around her.

There was something in her hand. She turned it over, and Christopher saw a grimy green necklace.

In its current state, it was impossible to guess the trinket’s value.

Sarah wiped off the green slime on the top to reveal an engraving. “My mother always wore it around her neck. It’s a locket with the Denham family crest. My father gave it to her on their first anniversary. I remember her wearing it that dreadful night that she left.”

Christopher gently removed the necklace from the skeleton. He was no physician, but he could see that the late countess’s neck had been broken. “Your mother’s death would have been instantaneous. She would not have felt any pain.”

“What happened to her?”

Sighing, Christopher shook his head. “I doubt we will ever know the entire story, but we do know that your mother never left you and that she always meant to come back to you.”

More tears fell down her cheeks as Sarah nodded. “She did. She loved me.”

Christopher wrapped his arms around his wife and simply held her for several minutes.

He could have cradled her close to him for hours, if Deb hadn’t made a sound of pain.

“Mr. Phipps,” Christopher said, “would you see that my sister is brought back on my horse to Manderfield Hall and a doctor called? Guy, would you take one of the saddle blankets and carefully wrap up these remains and bring them to the vicar? The Countess of Manders deserves a proper burial and funeral. The rest of you, once you’ve taken care of your horses, feel free to go back to sleep, and tomorrow I will give you all an extra week’s wages for tonight’s work.

Lady Sarah and I will follow in a little while. ”

Quietly everyone left to do as he asked. Even his strong-willed Deb.

Christopher, covered in muck, sat on the forest floor and held his wife until she had no more tears to cry.

He caressed her hair and whispered soft words of assurance.

He’d been devastated when he’d learned of his own mother’s and brothers’ passing and that they had been buried without his attendance.

There was nothing he could do for his wife but be there for her through her grief.

Unlike himself, she would not be alone. And, holding her closer to his chest, he knew that thanks to Sarah, he would never be alone again either.