He took hold of her arm, and, together, they raced back the way they had come, parting ways as they reached the gardens. Olivia walked on toward the house to pass on the message, while Daniel veered left, heading directly for the stables.
There was not a moment to lose, not until he knew Phoebe was safe.
* * *
Daniel led his horse out of the stables, ready to ride with all his might to catch up to Phoebe, when a figure appeared at the entrance to the stables, blocking his path.
“Do not expect me to believe that message,” Amelia said, stretching her arms wide to ensure that her son could not leave without her say-so. “If you had wanted Olivia to lie for you, you should have waited untilafteryou had departed for her to speak with me.”
In hindsight, Daniel wished hehadinstructed Olivia to wait until he was out of the gates at least, but he had been too fixated on readying his horse. He supposed, stupidly, he had assumed Oliviawouldwait.
He clenched his jaw, frustration prickling through his veins. “I cannot discuss this now, Mother. I must leave at once.”
“You are not riding there to see if you can be of service,” Amelia continued, regardless. “You are riding there because Phoebe has taken Joanna away. I suspect there is a reason for that, and you shall tell me what that reason is, or you will not be going anywhere.”
Daniel could not answer, for there was too much to explain for it to make sense, and he did not have time to tell her the entire story from beginning to end. Not if he wished to have any hope of catching up to Phoebe.
“They have discovered your secret, have they not?” Amelia said when he did not reply.
“What secret? There is no secret,” he muttered, wondering if he could ride around her.
Amelia sighed. “That it is Phoebe you love and not Joanna. I have long suspected it, and your racing after them has only confirmed it.” She hesitated. “But are you hoping to ride there to resume your courtship with Joanna, or to confess to Phoebe? I must know, or I cannot let you go. I will not see you make a grave mistake.”
“Mother, I—”
“You do not have to lie to me,” she continued, “but I simply do not understand why you would proceed with a courtship you do not want. I knew it was not Joanna you favor, but I held my tongue as best I could. I cannot hold it any longer.”
Conscious of the time that was being lost to this fruitless conversation, Daniel glared down at his mother. “I do not want to marry out of love, Mother! I have seen what it will do to me—or not to me, but to her,” he said irritably. “But it does not matter. I must leave, right this moment, and so I must ask you to stand aside.”
Amelia’s eyes widened, her stretched-out arms lowering slowly to her sides. “This is not because of your father. Tell me it is not because of your father. Tell me it is not because of… my sorrow that you are rejecting love.” Her voice hitched. “Daniel, my dearest boy, even if I had known the exact day that he would die at the very moment I fell in love with him, nothing would have changed. I would do it all again, a thousand times, even if I could not alter the ending. The happy memories, the love I had for that man, and the love he had for me, will always be worth every second of grief I have endured without him.”
“I cannot discuss this now, Mother,” Daniel repeated, his heart cracking at her earnest words.
He wanted to embrace her, he wanted to jump down and spend hours talking about his father with her, hearing his favorite chapters of their love story, but he was out of time.
“Heed me,” his mother replied firmly. “And if you are still not convinced, then think of this—he warned me of the history of the men in his family. Ididknow, to an extent, and I loved him with everything I possessed anyway. It made our time together even more special, in a way, though neither of us knew if it would come for him or not. And consider this, too—knowing what I knew, I still had you, but I have never loved you less or feared loving you as my son, with my whole heart, because of whatmightbe or how much pain Imightsuffer. That is a foolish way to live, Daniel, and you are no fool.”
Daniel’s breath hitched. “We shall finish this when I return.” He took his moment to ride past her, now that her arms were lowered. “There is something I must do, and it cannot wait.”
But as he rode hard toward the gates at the end of the long driveway, her words chased him, and he knew he could not outpace them.
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
It was early afternoon by the time the driver called out to tell Phoebe that they would have to stop soon, to feed and rest the horses. She had been expecting it for a while, but the news still hit her like a punch to the chest, for the longer they were delayed, the more time Ellen and Jacob had to get ahead.
“Did you say something?” Joanna stirred from the deep slumber she had been enjoying for the past few hours, seemingly unaffected by the trying task that still lay ahead of them.
Phoebe gripped the edge of the squabs to regain her composure. “It was the driver. We must halt soon, for the horses. I suppose we should also eat and drink something, to refresh ourselves for the fight to come.”
“Fight?” Joanna rubbed her sleepy eyes. “You are not truly planning to brawl with the Baron, are you?”
Phoebe met her sister’s gaze. “If I must. Indeed, I will do whatever it takes to separate her from that wretched creature.” She sniffed. “And you will help me, for you are not innocent in this, remember?”
“I only told a few lies,” Joanna mumbled, shamefaced. “I told you, if I had known she would be silly enough to do this, I would not have lied at all. I would have informed you immediately of what was happening. That being said, perhaps it would not have happened if you—”
“Not another word,” Phoebe interrupted, shaking her head. “You may think I am at fault for trying to protect you so… fiercely since your debuts, but this is exactly why—so you would not be preyed on. Indeed, I let myself be convinced that giving you more freedom was what I needed to do, but this would not have escaped my notice if I had refused to listen to that ‘sage’ advice. So, yes, maybe it is my fault for not sticking to my resolve.”
Joanna clasped her hands together, staring down into her lap. “It is not your fault. I should not have insinuated that.Iam to blame for this. And Ellen, of course, but… I could have stopped it. I am sorry, Sister. Please, do not be cross with me, for we still have many hours left to travel, and it shall be a very uncomfortable journey if you are steaming with fury at me. It is already rather hot in this carriage.”
