Page 36 of Mistress of Darkness

Chapter 17

Gwen glanced behind at Regina asleep in the back seat of the rig, and Parks on the floor at her feet. They’d piled almost every blanket they could find on top of the two of them. Robert had taken only a few minutes to reload the pistols before they’d set out for Renwick. She leaned her head on Robert’s shoulder as he drove her mare through the darkness.

Robert squeezed her hand lightly, looking grim. He’d put Christopher’s body in the library, and covered it with a linen. They had already agreed that he would report a regrettable accident to the police. Christopher had been bringing his gun upstairs to clean, and startled himself when he realized it was loaded. Implausible as it might seem, it ironically fit the facts.

Up ahead a few lights shone through the fog.

“There it is,” Gwen gasped. “We’ve made it.”

Gwen directed him through a few streets until Robert stopped the rig in front of the Archer’s house. After the opulence of Dredthorne, Gwen was struck by how modest her childhood home was. As she expected, there were no lights on, nor any smoke from the chimney.

After Robert helped her down, she strode up the familiar path and knocked on the door. She heard Regina stirring behind her as Robert informed her that they’d arrived home. Though Gwen had to knock a few more times, a light finally came on in the front room. Her father’s weathered face appeared in the window with a candle, and his jaw dropped at what he beheld. Through the door, she could hear him shouting for her mother. Despite the circumstances in which she’d returned, she smiled at the sound of his voice and how it warmed her heart.

Gwen heard the sound of the latch, as Robert and Regina joined her. Then her mother burst through the door.

“Regina!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around her daughter’s neck. “Where have you been? What has happened?”

Gwen found herself wrapped up in her father’s fierce hug. “I despaired of seeing either of you again,” he said. Then he must have seen Robert. “Mr. Sheraton. Do I have you to thank for this happy reunion?”

Robert bowed to him. “In the end, we three worked together to…affect our outcome.” He nodded at the rig in the lane behind him. “But I must beg your forgiveness. I must find a doctor for my valet.”

“Your valet?” her father said, concern in his voice. “Well certainly. Let me tell you where you may find him.”

As her mother fluttered around Regina and hurried her into the house, and her father escorted Robert to the rig and gave him directions, Gwen hovered on the threshold between the two. Here in the tiny village of Renwick, Dredthorne Hall almost seemed as though it’d been some fantasy, with its journals and secret passages. But Frances and Christopher were both dead, and that had not been a dream. As her father returned to her, Robert accompanied him.

“With your permission, sir,” Robert said, “I’d like to bid Miss Archer goodbye.”

Though Gwen knew that they would have to part, the word ‘goodbye’ took her aback. She was not ready to say goodbye—far from it. Nothing that they’d endured had prepared her for this moment.

“Yes, of course,” her father said. As he retreated to the house, he gave her a wink and squeezed her shoulder. “Don’t stay too long out in the cold.”

When the door closed behind her, Robert looked into her eyes, but kept a proper distance between them.

“I must arrange two funerals now,” he said. “I shall see to it quickly, but I don’t know when I’ll see you again.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “We must do our duties.”

He nodded and seemed like he might take her hand, but instead glanced over her shoulder at the house. He cleared his throat. “Well, then, I must–”

“When it’s time, we shall go back to Dredthorne together,” she declared. “I feel we have a duty there: to Frances, and Miss Wilson, and to ourselves.”

Though his face was haggard, and his journey not yet over, his eyes seemed to blaze in the darkness. “I shall hold you to that, Miss Archer.” He gave her a bow. “Until then.”

* * *

The servicein London had been simple but dignified, as Robert had instructed the Sheraton’s funeral furnisher. Black crepe, muslin, and ostrich feathers had been liberally used throughout, and the procession from the sanctuary to the churchyard had been accompanied by bell ringing. There had been tributes for his father and kind words for his brother—or at least the man that his brother had once been. The Archers had met his mother, and then accompanied her, Robert, and their other relatives to the graveside.

As the clergyman intoned the last words of his prayer, Robert noted how well Regina looked, nearly recovered from her mysterious disappearance. Gwen, of course, was such a vision, even in black, that he had to guard himself from looking at her overly long.

In truth, he’d done his mourning at Dredthorne. Those grim days after his father’s death, while he waited in vain for Christopher, had been dark. Though he’d been glad to comfort his mother and aunt, and take the reins of the family’s affairs, the funeral was the end of a certain phase of his life, and he found that he was anxious to progress to the next.

“You’re sure you’ll be all right?” Mr. Archer asked Gwen. The other mourners had already found their carriages, and Robert had bid his mother goodbye. But Regina and her parents remained. “We can arrange for portage.”

“That won’t be necessary, father, really,” Gwen said, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Mr. Sheraton and I can bring my trunks and Regina’s things. His steward has been at the hall for some days now. Everything’s settled.”

“I shall take good care of her, Mr. Archer, ” Robert assured him. “You have my word. We shall return to Renwick tonight.”

Gwen bid her family goodbye, and Robert helped her into his carriage, before climbing up himself. Once inside, he rapped on the roof. “To Dredthorne,” he called up to the driver.

With a quick check through the back window to assure himself that no one could see them, he joined Gwen on her seat. It was the first time they’d truly been alone since…finding Christopher waiting for them in the library.

He immediately framed her face with his hands and tenderly kissed her mouth. As though time had stood still, she responded in kind. It was as if they’d never been parted. When he released her, they both took in a sharp breath.

“How I’ve wanted to do that,” he breathed.

“It felt like an eternity,” she said at the same time.

Reassurance washed through him. As much as he’d looked forward to this moment, he’d worried over it as well. It had occurred to him that Gwen might have a change of heart once she was home, safe with Regina and their parents. Her sister had suffered so cruelly at the hands of his brother, and almost been killed by him herself. But now as she sat smiling beside him, he knew that his fears had been unfounded.

“I’ve asked Thackery to examine the skeleton that we found in the secret room,” he said.

Smiling, she took his hand on her lap. “Oh Robert, what a wonderful idea. I would so like to understand what happened to her.”

“I feel we must,” he said, nodding. “As you say, it is our duty, not just to her, but also to ourselves.”

With that, they nestled against each other, hands clasping hands, and settled in for the ride.