Page 47

WE ENDED up in a seldom-used parlor in the west wing of the house which had been aired out solely so Charles could use it as his makeshift headquarters, and the moment we were behind closed doors he hugged me again, squeezing me so tightly I thought my ribs might buckle under the force.

“I’m sure you have so many questions,” he said, letting go and beginning to pace as I took a seat on a sofa.

“Felix will bring tea soon. I’m sure you’re tired from your journey, but you need to have all the information before you face Arthur. ”

“Before you begin,” I interjected, undoing the top button of my blouse in order to reach some semblance of relaxation. “What has happened between you and Ida?”

“What do you mean?” Charles asked, but he did not look at me, instead raising his right hand to worry fretfully at his collar. “Nothing has happened.”

“Charles, you may be able to lie to anyone else, but I’ve known you for far too long,” I said. “Besides, well…. Arthur and I caught you in the garden one night.”

“No,” Charles breathed out, less a denial and more a refusal to believe it. “Oh, damn it, Tom, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep that from you. I was planning on telling you before everything went so dreadfully wrong.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” I said, waving my hand. “She certainly wasn’t looking at you like a woman in love.”

Charles sighed, tilting his head back to look at the ornate ceiling.

“Fine. You already know what took place between James and I at the ball. Ida saw me approach you that night and followed us outside, unbeknownst to me. She heard everything I’d said to you.

After you left, she confronted me, and the fight we got into was absolutely terrible.

I could not admit to her the truth for fear that she would make the situation worse, and she was rightfully furious that I had treated you in such a way.

I had given her a ring a few weeks prior as a promise that I would marry her when I had sorted things out, and she gave it back. ”

Another relationship utterly destroyed by the actions of a single jealous man, and I knew Charles well enough to know exactly what he had done in the face of Ida’s anger. “You took it as penance.”

“I did,” Charles said, looking over at me, and he seemed relieved that he had not had to say it out loud. “I had torn you from Arthur. It seemed only right that I had Ida torn from me in return.”

“You have to fix things with her,” I said, leaning forward to look at him more closely. “I have the letter with me. Show it to her and explain yourself.”

“Perhaps,” he said. “But more has happened than I wrote in that letter. That night, I thought that removing you from the situation would ensure that both you and Arthur were safe. That was at the forefront of my mind and the reason for my actions. I knew James was being serious, and I knew that he was on the brink of telling his mother what you and Arthur had been getting up to. If he told Joanna, then there would be no stopping the avalanche. I got you out of the estate, and I set about seeing if I could retrieve the letters he’d stolen.

I paid the first of the blackmail demands out of my yearly salary and worked towards righting what had happened. ”

“You paid him?” I asked, sounding surprised. “How much did he ask for?”

“The number of pounds I receive a year is public knowledge, and James is not so stupid as to leave me dirt broke,” he said.

“He took enough to keep himself satisfied but to not have me come off as any worse for wear. I grew suspicious, though, as time went on, particularly the Christmas after you left. Lady Wright came to visit, quite out of the blue, and as Ida and Rudolph were not here, it was just myself and Arthur to entertain her. She was in quite bright spirits despite historically being a woman who rather loathes seeing our estate as she believes her side of the family should have received it, and the reason for her visit became clear soon enough. She expected Arthur to marry Hattie.”

“Hattie?” I echoed, eyes going wide. “Your cousin? I thought she was marrying some marquess or other.”

“I thought so as well, but it turns out that the Wrights have nearly no money and the marquess was disturbed by this discovery. It seems he was willing to overlook a lot for the sake of love, but not the burden of looking after his betrothed’s mother and brother for the remainder of his life.”

“And marrying Arthur would solve the issue,” I breathed out, collapsing back against my seat in disbelief. “What did he say?”

“He said no, of course,” Charles said, stopping his pacing and turning to look at me fully.

“So she said she would get James involved and gave me quite the meaningful look. I knew then that she had been in on the blackmail as well. I doubt she knew the specifics, as even Lady Wright is too proud to marry her daughter off to a man like Arthur, but she knew that it was happening. Honestly, I was stunned. I desperately wanted to reach out to you at that point, because on my own I’m quite useless, but help came in a very unexpected way. ”

I pondered this for a moment before hitting upon the most likely answer. “The war.”

“Yes,” Charles said. “James was called off to deal with the Russians and with his departure, the immediate press of blackmail was relieved. I made it my mission to retrieve the letters and to ensure that no one could blackmail me, Arthur, or you again. I had to make this right. The biggest issue I found myself facing was getting into the Wright estate. Lady Wright, Hattie, and James live together in a home that belonged to the late Lord Wright and that James’s brother continues to allow them to use as their personal home.

I made a meeting with Lady Wright under the pretense of discussing the possible engagement with Hattie, and I’m sure I led her to believe that I was going to try and change my brother’s mind.

Once I was inside the estate, it wasn’t difficult to find James’s room, and from there the letters. ”

He glanced at me as if to ensure I was still paying attention and then reached into his pocket, removing a small and well-worn notebook.

“I stole the letters back from him, and I stole something else from alongside them.” Charles’s face was flushed pink now, clearly overcome by what he had found.

“There’s a reason I waited until I knew he was dead before I sent for you, even with the letters in my grasp.

” He flipped the notebook open and read from it solemnly.

“I know that what I did was wrong, but I did not do it for the money. Let them think I did, and I will not correct them, but it was never motivated by material gain, and even if I lose the ability to blackmail those involved, I will not stop. I did all of this for love.”

“For love?” I asked, realization dawning across me before I even truly realized what he’d said. “Charles, you’re joking.”

“I’m not joking,” Charles said, looking at me directly.

“It goes on in detail.” He tossed the notebook on the table in front of me and I picked it up, leafing through its contents.

It was a journal of sorts, some written in shorthand and some written in full length, James’s writing small enough that most entries took up only an inch or so of each page.

It was clear he had carried it with him for a long period of time, and I realized he had only left it behind when he was deployed because he had filled it.

A cursory glance revealed that Arthur’s name filled the pages, mentioned across entries and over years. “My God,” I said, furrowing my brow before I looked back up at him. “Have you read all of this?”

“Yes,” Charles said. “He was a madman, Tom, obsessed beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. What he’s written in there is years of obsession.”

“Does Arthur know?”

“Arthur has no idea,” Charles said. “I haven’t told anyone.

I was afraid of what would happen, so I kept it to myself with the full intention of confronting him when he returned.

I thought if he was faced with the fact that I knew, he might stop.

” He came and settled down alongside me on the chaise longue, gripping one of my hands tightly.

“Now you know exactly what I know. I swear to you, I’ve regretted the night I sent you away since I did it.

You have to know that I only did it because I thought it would keep you safe, and I…

whatever you said to Arthur, whatever kept him from turning his anger on me…

I will do whatever I can to undo the harm you caused on my behalf. ”

“I told him I was the blackmailer,” I said, turning my hand over to grip his in return.

“It was the only thing I could think of to prevent your relationship with him from being destroyed, and I… I thought that if I was going to leave him that night, he wouldn’t have been able to handle it if he hadn’t had you at his side still. ”

“ You took the fall?” he asked, visibly surprised at the admission. “Thomas….”

“I told him I had stolen the letter to use it against him,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

“I told him I wanted money, and he told me that he would have given it to me, but I… I told him I cared nothing for him, Charles, and I made him leave. I don’t think that what I did is something that can be repaired. ”

“I refuse to believe that,” Charles said. “If it takes me the rest of my life, I’ll restore what you two had.”

“What about you and Ida?” I asked. “I can’t believe that you would just let her think you some kind of monster. Surely you could have leaned on her during these past three years.”