Page 38 of A Lesson in Propriety (Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies #1)
Thirty-Eight
To say that Irma’s rescue attempt was not going smoothly wasn’t an exaggeration since a mere moment after Seth’s flamethrower literally blew up, Sanford snatched hold of Irma, flung her over his shoulder, and sprinted after Sneaky Pete, who was racing full tilt toward a dinghy that was pulled ashore right on the edge of the water.
Rhenick’s gaze darted around the beach and landed on Drusilla, who was struggling with Sneaky Pete’s accomplice, an accomplice who looked remarkably like Fenna Larkin. Before he could take a single step toward her, though, Seraphina came charging to her aid, pulling the woman off Drusilla a second later.
Glancing to his right, he found Annaliese running into the water after Irma, Seth splashing behind her, his face completely black and his hair standing on end—at least the parts that hadn’t been singed right off his head after the flamethrower exploded.
Deciding Drusilla and Seraphina had matters with the woman well in hand, Rhenick ran for the lake, diving under the water before he surfaced and struck out to intercept Sanford and Sneaky Pete, who had managed to get Irma thrown into the dinghy and were trying to drag it into deeper water.
He made it to within feet of them before a shot rent the air, followed by another, and then another, and then a loud voice that sounded as if it were coming out of a large horn wafted over the water.
“Raise your hands in the air, drop your weapons, and wait for one of our Pinkerton agents to escort you back to shore.”
“Agent Pearson!” Drusilla suddenly called out. “What are you doing here?”
“Miss Merriweather! Thank goodness you’re alright, and I’m here trying to do my job, but it appears as if you’ve gotten the jump on me.”
As Drusilla took to grinning, Rhenick put his hands in the air and turned, noticing that the ship Seth had pointed out earlier had pulled alongside the Revenge and that there were already numerous dinghies in the water, all of them filled with what Rhenick assumed were Pinkerton agents.
Before he knew it, he was being escorted by one of those Pinkertons back to the beach, where Miss Sally, the owner of the cove shack, was waiting for everyone, that woman having had the good sense to throw water on Seth’s questionable flamethrower. As soon as everyone began wading out of the water, Sally bellowed that she was off to the refreshment counter, letting everyone know she was open for business, quite as if her little cove hadn’t just witnessed a troubling attack but simply the arrival of potential customers.
After Drusilla called to the Pinkerton agent who’d taken hold of Rhenick’s arm that he was with her, the agent released him and went off to help other Pinkertons go about the business of securing Sanford, Sneaky Pete, and a woman who did turn out to be Fenna Larkin.
Slogging out of the water, Rhenick moved to join Drusilla, who immediately introduced him, as well as Seth and Seraphina, to Agent Pearson.
“I cannot tell you how relieved I am to see you, Agent Pearson,” Drusilla exclaimed after introductions had been completed. “It’s been quite the wild morning to say the least, and given that we lost the use of our boat after it caught on fire, and then seemed to be losing the fight to prevent Sanford from making off with my mother again, your appearance certainly saved the day. With that said, I find I’m now brimming with curiosity to hear how you managed to find us, or what you’re doing here in the first place?”
Agent Pearson, a man who looked to be in his early fifties and had a face that was lined with enough wrinkles to suggest he’d seen more than his fair share of life, smiled. “We’re here because of that lead we received about Sanford being spotted in the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the port where he’d been spotted, he was no longer there. I had no idea where he might have gone until another agent had the good sense to pull out a map and we realized he could sail his yacht up the Mississippi and eventually land in Lake Michigan. Knowing that’s where your family had gone, I decided that Sanford had learned that as well, so here I am, although a bit late to the party.”
He gave a rueful shake of his head. “We arrived at the castle after you’d already left this morning, but Mrs. O’Sullivan got us up to speed on what had happened, and then Mr. Grimsby told us you were heading north on the lake, so that’s the direction we headed.”
Agent Pearson nodded to where Sanford, Sneaky Pete, and Fenna were now sitting, their hands tied behind their backs and looking quite as if they’d rather be anywhere else. “Do you know who those two are with Sanford?”
“Sneaky Pete Smythe and Fenna Larkin,” Drusilla said. “They weren’t directly involved with Sanford until last night—well, not that I know of, but I’m sure we’ll uncover a few of their secrets now that they’re in custody. Those secrets will need to wait to be revealed, though, as I believe I want to start with questioning Sanford first, as he is the man who upended my entire world. In all honesty, though, I’ve begun wondering if that upending might have been a blessing in disguise.”
Five minutes later, and sipping iced tea that Sally had brought him from her snack shack, charging him a hefty fee for it in the process, Rhenick watched as Drusilla, after she’d given Irma a long hug, settled herself on a piece of driftwood that put her within feet of Sanford, unable to help but wonder what she’d meant when she’d said that the upending of her world might have been a blessing in disguise.
There was the possibility that she’d said it because the loss of the Merriweather fortune had allowed her to escape a future being married to a man who sounded like a complete cad. However, she could have also been referring to the opening of her academy as a blessing, since it was clear she thrived on challenges and probably hadn’t been faced with many when she’d been an heiress.
Either of those two possibilities would perfectly explain her statement, except for the fact that Drusilla had glanced his way directly after uttering the word blessing , which left him thinking, or rather hoping, that she looked at becoming acquainted with him as a blessing, which might suggest she was becoming somewhat fond of him, that idea reinforced given that they’d shared a more-than-delightful kiss only the night before.
Considering everything that had happened since, he’d not had much time to ponder the matter of their kiss in general, but the one thing he did know was this—Drusilla had seemed to enjoy it. That right there suggested she was somewhat fond of him, or maybe, since she might find him a blessing in her life, could be more than somewhat fond of him, although how much more remained to be seen.
“I don’t think there’s any reason for me to be anything but direct,” Drusilla said, pulling Rhenick from his thoughts as she settled her gaze on Sanford. “With that said, I’d like for you, a man I once called Uncle Sanford, to explain to me how you could have, even if you’d been annoyed with my mother, stolen everything from us, going so far as to leave us without a roof over our heads. Well, except for the one Aunt Ottilie thankfully gave me and Annaliese, although I’m not certain you even knew about the castle.”
Sanford’s brow furrowed. “Of course I didn’t know about the castle. Your father, contrary to what everyone believes, didn’t tell me everything. Regardless, you should know that I never meant to leave you without a roof over your head because I assumed Elbert Herrington would step in and save the house on Washington Square. I had no inkling that dreadful man would break off your engagement, but know that after I learned he’d done exactly that, I immediately made plans to leave Scotland, where I’d been letting a house.”
Drusilla frowned. “You would have me believe that you raced across the ocean to save us from a situation you were responsible for?”
“Too right I did, as you’re my family.” He sent a nod Agent Pearson’s way. “I knew the Pinkertons would have been put on the case, as I did make off with a great deal of money, which is why I couldn’t risk docking on the east coast and taking a train to Chicago. Luckily, the Mississippi turned into a viable option, so here I am.”
“But you didn’t exactly swoop in and save us,” Drusilla pointed out. “You swooped in and made off with my mother.”
“I thought it would benefit your mother and me as a future couple if we were able to talk out our differences in private.”
Drusilla began rubbing her temple. “I have no idea what I can even say to that.”
“Then allow me to take over the conversation from here,” Irma said, moving to join Drusilla on her piece of driftwood, where she promptly settled eyes that were flashing on Sanford. “We, if you haven’t figured this out, are never going to be a future couple, and not simply because you’re soon going to find yourself behind bars, although...” She tilted her head. “Given what is clearly a delusional frame of mind on your part, you may find that the courts will sentence you to a very long stay in an insane asylum.”
Sanford frowned. “I assure you, the last place I deserve to be is in an asylum.”
Irma returned the frown. “And to that I say it’s debatable. You’ve taken at least a slight leave of your senses since you seem to believe we’re some star-crossed lovers who are finally being given an opportunity to be together.”
“We’ve been waiting to be together since we were eight years old and vowed we’d marry someday.”
“Children often claim to their best friends they’ll marry someday, but no one ever actually expects those children to honor those types of vows once they get older.”
“Ah, so you do admit we were best friends,” Sanford said.
“We were the only children of a like age to live on the same street.”
“But we remained friends even as we matured, and to remind you, I made a point of attending your debut even though I had to cut short my grand tour.”
Irma sat forward. “I never asked you to do that, Sanford, and, if you’ll recall, I even wrote to you that Father had his eye on Morton Merriweather as a potential suitor for me.”
“And I wrote you back and told you to tell your father that you didn’t need any potential suitors, as you were going to marry me.”
Irma crossed her arms over her chest. “If you’ll recall, you and I often spoke about the fact that my father placed great emphasis on his Knickerbocker status and had married my mother simply because she was a Knickerbocker as well. It then stands to reason that my father would only want me to marry a Knickerbocker, and while your family was very well-connected, you weren’t Knickerbockers. Morton was, though, which is why I thought you were jesting about the two of us marrying because you knew all of that.”
“I suppose I can understand why you’d think I was jesting, but I certainly can’t see why, after Morton died, you wouldn’t agree to marry me, as your father was long dead and could no longer exert any influence on any decisions you might want to make.”
Irma released a sigh. “Did you ever consider that me telling you I couldn’t marry you when you suggested we begin planning a double wedding was actually me making my own decision?”
“But decisions can be changed,” Sanford argued, quite as if he wasn’t going to even contemplate that her decision had been to not marry him. “Why, look at me, even though I decided to render you penniless, I’ve now decided I’m perfectly happy to return every penny to you. Well, as long as you agree to marry me, that is.”
Drusilla leaned closer to Irma. “I’m afraid there’s no point trying to reason with him further, Mother. His delusions when it comes to you are obviously deeply rooted, no matter that you’re certainly due this opportunity to speak your mind to him.”
“I fear you may be right, my dear, which means we shall now simply turn him over to the Pinkertons, where I’m sure they’ll see him delivered to the nearest jail, or perhaps they’ll take him to be seen by a doctor to explore the extent of his delusions. Hopefully, at some point, someone will manage to get Sanford to divulge where he’s stashed our money, but until that day happens, we’ll simply concentrate on opening the academy and pray that venture will see us firmly on the road to financial stability once again.”
Agent Pearson stepped forward. “You won’t need to wait to learn where Sanford stashed your money because the man who reached out to us after he spotted Sanford in the Gulf of Mexico also spotted him an hour later leaving a bank. We Pinkertons, being rather motivated by that lovely fee Drusilla promised us, tracked that bank down and then recovered an account that was under the name of M. Weather, a take on Merriweather, if I’m not mistaken.”
He settled a smile on Irma. “I’m pleased to inform you that you’ll soon be reunited with a good chunk of your fortune, although know that we won’t close the case until we’ve discerned exactly where Sanford stashed the rest of your funds. Given that there’s quite the hefty sum in the bank account we recovered, know that there is absolutely no reason for you to ever have to concern yourself with financial problems again.”