Page 57 of A Winter Scandal

The figure turned and began to run clumsily back around the house. Gabriel pulled the team to a stop and jumped down from the curricle. He took off after the man, snow spurting up behind him. Thea scrambled down and started after him. Ahead of her, she saw Gabriel take the man down in a flying leap.

At that moment, Thea heard the thin, high wail of an infant. She turned and ran toward the house.

Twelve

The snow seemed to drag at Thea’s feet, slowing her steps. She slipped and fell, but scrambled back up and ran on. She flung open the door, revealing a small room. A lantern sat on the rough table to her left, and a fire had been started in the fireplace, casting a ruddy glow. A few feet from the fire was an armchair, and in it lay a squirming, kicking bundle, issuing forth a high-pitched, exhausted cry.

“Matthew!” Thea ran over to the chair and picked up the blanket-wrapped baby. He had kicked off most of the heavy outer blanket around him, and his own smaller knitted blanket had been worked into a wadded-up ball on his stomach. His face was screwed up in fury, his eyes squeezed shut and his mouth wide-open. He was trembling, though Thea was not certain whether it was from the cold or from his own panicked crying. As soon as Thea picked him up, murmuring soothing words, his crying hiccuped and stopped. He drew a shaky breath, his eyes opening to look at Thea, and a long shiver ran down his body. He began to cry again, but this time more softly and plaintively, shuddering out his breaths.

“There, there, hush now, I’m here. Gabriel and I have you now. It’s all right.”

She continued to murmur, holding him close and stroking her hand over his head and down his back. His head was hot and damp, as it got sometimes when he cried. She kissed him, and then she realized she was crying, too, the tension and fear of the last few hours seeping out of her in slow, silent tears. Matthew laid his head against her chest, letting out a little sigh as his crying sputtered to a halt.

The sharp report of a gun sounded outside, and Thea jumped. Gabriel! Wrapping the baby up again in the blanket and setting him down, Thea grabbed the poker from the fireplace and started for the front door. She was almost there when Gabriel appeared in the doorway. His eyes went to the poker in her hand, and a grin crossed his face.

“Don’t hit me. I’m unarmed.”

Even as he spoke, Thea dropped the poker in relief and flung herself across the room, throwing her arms around his neck. His arms went just as tightly around her, and he lowered his head to rest it against hers. They simply stood, clinging to each other, until at last the baby’s crying pulled them from the moment. Gabriel’s arms loosened around her, and Thea turned to go to the baby.

“Is he all right?” Gabriel asked, closing the door and following her.

“I think so. He was unhappy, but he didn’t look as if he had been harmed.” She picked Matthew up and the baby stopped crying almost immediately. Thea turned back to Gabriel. “What happened? I heard a gunshot.”

“He got away from me. We were wrestling about in the snow, and he grabbed one of those logs he’d been carrying and sent my hat flying.”

“Gabriel!” Thea’s eyes flew to his head. The hat he had worn earlier was gone. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. But he stunned me long enough for him to run away. By the time I managed to go after him, he was on his horse. I fired at him, but with that snowstorm, I hadn’t a prayer of hitting him.” Gabriel paused, looking disgusted. “I didn’t even get a good look at him. It was dark and he was bundled up, with a hat and some long, knitted scarf tied around his face. All I am certain of is that it was a man and he is smaller than I.”

“I’m sorry he got away, but we have Matthew back, and that’s what’s important.”

Gabriel nodded. “I have to see to the horses.” He frowned. “I don’t think we can make it back to Chesley tonight. The team has reached their limit, and the road is just getting worse. The snow is still falling. We can’t risk getting stuck or breaking a wheel, not with the baby along.”

“No, you’re right. We were lucky to be able to make it this far. But what about your horses? Will they be all right?”

He nodded. “There is a shed behind the house. That was apparently where the kidnapper kept his horse. There’s even a goat and its kid out there. The building is small, but they’ll fit, and there’s hay and a water trough. It won’t be quite what they’re accustomed to, but they should do well enough.”

“Good. Then at least there will be milk for Matthew. I shall see what else is here.”

Thea turned to explore the cabin. A door led into a small chamber, which contained a bed, a chest, and a small washstand with a mirror. She was pleased to see that the chest contained a few towels and sheets. At least she would be able to clean up and put new sheets on the bed.

She returned to the main room. Besides the chair in front of the fireplace, there was also a square, scarred wooden table and two chairs, as well as a low stool. On the counter was a jug of water, and a round loaf of bread wrapped in a towel. A door so low that she had to stoop to pass through it led into a small, dark room that was two steps lower than the floor of the house.

She brought the lantern closer and saw that it was a small pantry built out from the rest of the house. It was no more than a few feet square, with a roof that slanted down steeply from the cottage wall. The outer three walls were made only of planks, so it was much cooler than the rest of the house. Clearly it served as a place to store food, and Thea found a small jug of milk as well as a slab of bacon, a hunk of cheese wrapped in cloth, and a healthy piece of cold cooked roast. The kidnapper had obviously made sure he would not lack for sustenance.

Matthew was growing fussy, alternately sucking on his fist and rubbing his eyes against her shoulder. Thea kissed his head, saying, “Not sure whether you’re sleepier or hungrier, are you, young man?”

She brought out the jug of milk and poured a bit into a cup she found in a cabinet, then tore off a chunk of the bread and sat down at the table to feed Matthew. Pulling off little pieces of the bread, she dipped them into the milk and popped them in the baby’s mouth. Obviously hungry, Matthew gulped them down.

Gabriel came inside carrying the baby’s basket from the curricle, still stuffed with the extra blankets. A smile crossed his face. “Looks as though you have mastered the art of feeding him.”

Thea laughed and glanced down at the baby, whom she had tucked against her side, one of his arms pinned against her body and her arm looped around his other arm. “Yes. Mrs. Brewster showed me how to hold him—and I have had a bit of practice now. But I still have to be careful if it’s something he doesn’t want. I received a whole mouthful of mashed peas down my front yesterday.”

Gabriel set down the basket and went to the fireplace. He stirred up the flames with the poker and stripped off his gloves to hold his hands out to the fire. “It’s still snowing. I think the horses will do well enough in the shed. I rubbed them down as best I could and put out some hay.”

“Good. We appear to have plenty of food in here, as well.”

He came over and squatted down beside her, reaching out to take Matthew’s chin between his thumb and forefinger. “And how are you, Master Matthew?”