Page 56 of The Wise Daughter

Three weeks passed as happily as any Nora had ever known.

The castle buzzed with excitement as the wedding drew nearer.

The thieving stopped. Stolen goods were recovered from Raven Manor and returned to the castle while Aaron worked closely with Mr. Cornell to set many neglected matters to right.

Repairs were made. Servants’ wages were increased, and though Raven Manor was the original dower house, Aaron’s mother had agreed to live in the castle to become reacquainted with him, which meant Nora’s father could still have his fresh start.

Nora, however, insisted he be held accountable for his mistakes.

So Aaron and Mr. Cornell drew up an official agreement outlining the terms of Mr. Lacy’s occupancy at Raven Manor, including what tasks he was responsible for and, most importantly, the condition that a portion of any money he earned while managing the land would go toward Bilford’s claims until seven hundred pounds were paid in full.

After consulting the ledgers, Aaron learned there was truth to Bilford’s story.

Aaron’s father had borrowed money from Bilford, not as much as Bilford had initially claimed, but Aaron and Bilford were finally able to compare their accountings and agree upon an amount that Aaron paid to settle all debts.

As for Mrs. Westlake, Nora could still hardly believe she was Aaron’s mother.

Nora didn’t know whether to call her Mrs. Westlake, Mrs. Derricott, or Your Grace until she instructed Nora to simply call her Julia.

Whatever Nora called her, she liked having her old friend with her.

She was an expert regarding the castle’s secret passages and a masterful story-teller of Aaron’s childhood mishaps, and she filled Nora’s ear with all the best news from West Riding, including the surprising fact that Lord Newberry was engaged to a widow who was much closer to him in age than Nora.

Most wonderful of all was reminiscing with Julia about Nora’s mother. Sharing those stories together was like weaving the fabric of West Riding with the fabric of her new life at Holmrook Castle. Coming to Ravenglass was not so random and ridiculous as Nora had once thought.

And every night, Aaron would lift her off her feet, spin her around, and remind her with a kiss of the days remaining before their wedding. If he was in a particularly good mood, which he usually was these days, Aaron would also play the pianoforte for her while she sang.

It all made her smile. Everyday, she smiled. She even had smiles for those grim portraits hanging near her old bedchamber. Though now, they possessed a smug approval as if to say, We knew you could do it.

Everything was perfect.

So why was she still unsettled?

Nora paced along the wall of shelves in the study and glanced at Aaron as Mr. Cornell and her father signed the revised marriage settlement.

She was grateful for the opportunity to attend the meeting this time.

Everything had been completed to her satisfaction and more, but every time Mr. Cornell scrawled another note, her nerves wound tighter.

Her father had warned her that everyone felt nervous before their wedding, but none of her unsettled feelings had to do with Aaron. She would have married him that afternoon if she could have. So what could account for it?

To help distract her, Nora was bringing Janie into the village for a few final purchases before the wedding. The crisp air and a change of scenery was hopefully all she needed to clear her thoughts.

Nora continued to pace and watch Aaron as she waited for word that her carriage was ready.

She enjoyed watching him at work, the way he rubbed his jaw while in thought and how he barely quirked a brow before asking a question.

After enduring Scamp’s scratches at his boots, Aaron eventually picked up the kitten, who was growing like the weeds behind the stables, and rubbed his fuzzy little head.

Mr. Cornell sneezed twice, then pulled out his handkerchief. “Forgive me, Your Grace, but I believe your cat disagrees with me.”

“Sometimes he disagrees with me too.” Aaron chuckled and placed him back on the floor where he ran off to bat at the fringes of the carpet.

When Nora returned to the desk and stared down at the marriage settlement, her father placed a kiss on her head and whispered, “It’s only nerves, my dear. Your duke is the most honorable man I have ever met.”

“Thank you, Father. I feel very fortunate.”

But she still read through everything again while the men turned to other matters of business. There was something here, something right in front of her that she was missing. She was sure of it.

Then, she saw it, the truth glaring at her from its hiding place like a creature preparing to pounce. She had to act quickly.

Ignoring the rise in her heartbeat and the way the hairs on her skin prickled, she skipped across the room to the drawer where she and Aaron had stored all the letters they had recently discovered.

A quick shuffle through the papers, and she found the ones she needed, the letters she had found in Raven Manor, and the letter Mr. Cornell had written alongside the letter forged in her name.

“Nora, is everything all right?”

“Can I help you with something, Miss Lacy?”

Only mildly aware that they had asked her something, she laid the letters on Aaron’s desk next to the marriage contract and took her time going over every detail. She had to be sure. She had to understand how all her realizations fit together.

When she didn’t respond, Mr. Cornell began gathering his notes. “Well, Your Grace, I believe I have everything I need now. I really should be on my way.”

“One moment, Mr. Cornell.” Nora slapped a hand on the marriage settlement before he could gather it up with the rest of his papers. “Aaron, we’ve assumed Carver was the one who lowered everyone’s wages, but do we have any way of proving that?”

“Well, he would have been the one handling their wages.”

“Yes, but you told me there’s no history of that in the ledgers.”

“That’s right.”

“So, the real question is was Carver taking the money for himself?” She picked up the letters and handed them to Aaron. “Or was Mr. Cornell?”

Mr. Cornell laughed. “I beg your pardon?”

“What is this about, Nora?” Her father came to Aaron’s side and looked at the letters Aaron was now examining.

She rushed to explain. “Carver was selling the items he stole from Aaron, but he wasn’t selling them fast enough. It would draw too much attention, but you, Mr. Cornell, had access to Aaron’s funds.”

“Are you accusing me, Miss Lacy?”

“Carver was working with someone to prove himself a legitimate heir. I believe that someone was you. He was at your mercy if he didn’t pay you. We assumed once he was caught that we had solved this castle’s woes, but that wasn’t the end, was it?”

Mr. Cornell looked deathly still, his face entirely devoid of emotion. Nora knew she had everything right this time.

“You still have Aaron’s fortune at your fingertips, but only until he turns thirty or marries. It was always in your best interest to keep him single for as long as possible.”

Mr. Cornell’s nostrils flared. “This is an insult, Miss Lacy. I’ve served the Derricott family for years, and I take my responsibilities very seriously. I’m sorry, Your Grace, but I won’t stand for this. I’m leaving now.”

He rushed toward the door, but Aaron blocked his way. “Not yet, Mr. Cornell.”

The solicitor stopped abruptly.

“There were others who suffered besides the servants,” Nora added. “Tenants of Aaron's scattered throughout Ravenglass who struggled to pay the higher amounts you and Carver demanded from them. With access to Aaron’s inheritance, I have to wonder, just how much money have you taken, Mr. Cornell?”

His face was now an angry red. “This is all speculation. I won’t stand for it! I demand you let me pass.”

Aaron met Nora’s eye, and she knew he understood. “This is more than speculation, Mr. Cornell. We have proof.”

“Proof?” Mr. Lacy stepped closer to Nora and glanced between them all.

“Impossible!” Spittle flew from Mr. Cornell’s lips.

“It’s a match, Cornell.” Aaron held up the letters Nora had handed him and gave them a gentle wave. “From the way you cross your t’s to the way you dot your i’s. Every swirl, every flourish is yours.”

Aaron took slow commanding steps toward Mr. Cornell who seemed to shrink as he backed straight into Aaron’s desk. Aaron’s height and breadth, however, seemed to grow.

“To think we almost didn’t see it. My father trusted you, Cornell. I trusted you. We could have worked together for years. I’ve always paid you fairly. Why would you do this?”

Cornell’s lips began to tremble as he scrambled to the other side of the desk where there was only a wall of books.

“I never planned this! I never meant to take so much, but you made it too easy. My sister was sick, just like your father, and I needed a way to pay her doctor’s bills.

So much money wasted on medicines and treatments that never worked. ”

“Why didn’t you simply talk to me?” Aaron kept his voice controlled and calm. “I could still help your sister.”

“She died a month after your father!” he spat, then sneezed.

Scamp was clawing his way up the curtain behind Mr. Cornell.

“I’m so sorry, Cornell. Losing her must have hurt terribly. Believe me, I understand the hold grief takes on a person.” Aaron’s voice grew thick as he took another step forward, this one more cautious. “But you have to be held accountable.”

Mr. Cornell pulled a pistol from his coat pocket and pointed it at Aaron. Everyone sucked in a breath and held perfectly still.

“I’m truly sorry for this, Derricott. I really am, but we can still be reasonable. All I need is for everyone to remain calm as you let me pass. You’ll never hear from me again.”

Aaron shook his head. “I can’t do that, Cornell.”

Scamp leapt from the curtain onto Aaron’s desk and began prowling back and forth across the length of it. Mr. Cornell sneezed again, then pointed his pistol at Nora.

“Think about what you’re doing.” Aaron’s voice grew taut. “You’ll have to answer for what you’ve stolen, but you’re not a killer.” Aaron took another cautious step. “No amount of money is worth this kind of trouble.”

“Money is always worth the trouble! Carver understood that. He was willing to pay me the rest of his life for my help, but when your father died, I realized I didn’t have to rely on Carver for money anymore. I had all your money at my fingertips, but you were too stupid to notice.”

“Maybe I didn’t notice you needed help, but you still could have confided in me. I could have been a friend who understood your grieving.”

“Money helped me grieve! There are more ways to spend it than ways to die, which one of you is going to do if you don’t let me leave right now.”

He aimed his pistol at Nora’s head and cocked it.

Several things happened at once. Scamp leapt onto Mr. Cornell’s shoulders and swiped his claws across his face.

Mr. Cornell cried out and sneezed while Scamp held on and raked again.

Mr. Cornell stumbled into the shelf behind him, sending books falling and his pistol firing at the ceiling before he dropped it.

Aaron rushed upon him, prompting Scamp to leap off, and secured Mr. Cornell’s arms behind his back.

As Aaron pressed him against the wall, Nora retrieved the pistol.

She only had a vague idea of how to wield such a weapon, but Mr. Cornell didn’t know that. Feigning confidence, she held it steady and pointed it at his face.

“I’ll go fetch help,” Mr. Lacy called, racing out of the room.

Cornell shook and fought, but Aaron’s hold was firm.

“There’s no point in struggling, Cornell,” Aaron snarled in his ear.

“My betrothed is pointing your pistol at your head. Whether or not she has been taught to shoot, she is the most determined woman I have ever met, and she is standing too close to miss her target if shooting becomes necessary. Do I make myself clear?”

Mr. Cornell’s attempts to flail died. “You don’t need all that money. I could have taken an extra hundred pounds from you every month, and you never would have felt the difference!”

“No, but you’ll feel it in the gaols.”

“I could have–”

“I mean it, Cornell. Stop jabbering. Nora may not shoot you, but I’ll let her put her cat back on your head if you keep it up.”

It was this threat that finally silenced him.

The door burst open with Mr. Lacy, Ruthers, two burly stablehands, and Mr. Rowe who was there cleaning another chimney.

“Leave him to us, Derricott.” Ruthers cracked his knuckles. “I fancy making another visit to the constable. Don’t you boys?” The other men whooped their agreement. “We’re becoming such good friends. I just might become one myself.”

Mr. Rowe wore an especially large grin. “Just as I promised, Your Grace, you have a friend in me for life!”

The merry manner in which the men left, hauling off a struggling Mr. Cornell in their many capable grasps, one would have thought they were on holiday. Mr. Lacy followed, promising to testify to the constable and magistrate what he had witnessed.

With everyone else gone, the room fell uncommonly still. Aaron looked at Nora, and she looked at him, and they rushed into each other’s arms.

“You’re all right, my dearest Honora?”

“I’m all right. You?”

“Yes,” he whispered, his lips pressed against her hair.

She released a shaky breath. “I had no idea what to do with that pistol, but it’s over now, right? It must be over.”

“I think it truly must be.”

“I knew there was something we were missing.”

“You were right, as always.” Aaron looked at Scamp who had crawled between them and was now pawing at Nora’s hem. “I suppose that little fellow finally has my respect.”

Nora laughed and slipped her arms around Aaron’s neck. She kissed each of his temples where his bruises were completely healed, then pressed a kiss to his lips.

“And now, my lovely Honora, I do not think there is anything or anyone standing in the way of our happiness.”