“I know what you say is right, know that I will slow you down, but the waiting will be endless.”
He kissed her gently on the forehead.
“I have failed you before, I will not do so now.” He released her.
She watched him mount his horse, and the desperation inside her climbed.
“Stay safe, Gabe. I love you.”
His smile was small. “As I love you.”
She stood there with Dimity’s arm around her shoulders, watched him until he had disappeared from her sight.
“I feel helpless.”
“Daniel is strong of mind and body, Abby, as is your brother. The first will stay safe until we reach him, the second will do what he must to ensure his return to you.”
…
The hours seemed to drag on leaden feet as Abby and Dimity waited at the inn for the carriage to reappear. She ate when food was placed in front of her and dozed during the night. Visions of Daniel and what he was enduring filled her head. She was also worried about Gabe. Would he reach London? What if something happened?
“You’ll make yourself ill with worry if you don’t stop gnawing on those thoughts,” Dimity said.
Abby was standing by the window, as she had been for hours, watching the road. They had to be close now as the day was advancing. The proprietor had told her Hindmarsh Clearing was an hour's ride from here, which meant they would need to travel there soon.
“How can I not worry? I have created so many scenarios inside my head I’m unsure which is fact and which is fiction.”
“It will not be long now.”
“Thank you for being here, Dimity. I would have gone mad had you not been.”
“You would have coped I have no doubt, but company helps in such times.”
She saw them then, men on horses, thundering into the courtyard. She was out the door seconds later, running to her brothers.
Chapter 32
They took Daniel to a stable to wait for the rendezvous with Oliver. He’d learned his captor’s name was Jenny Blackheath, and that she spoke only with two men during the long hours he sat bound hand and foot, against a wall, on a cold dirt floor. Brothers, he guessed as they shared a likeness. Both could rival Oliver for size. These three were clearly in control, as the others did not approach them and took the orders that were spoken without comment.
Daniel knew Hindmarsh Clearing as he’d ridden through it often over the last few years, on his way to Devon. He intended to buy property there one day soon. Would Abby like that? She said her aunt lived in Devon, so he thought it would likely suit her.
He would have a life with her.
“I’m sorry, Dillinger, there is not enough food for you. You will go hungry as my uncle did in prison,” Jenny Blackheath said. She was seated between the two men, and he wondered if one of them was her lover, or perhaps both.
“Your uncle was a murderer, Miss Blackheath; they would not waste their time feeding him when others were more deserving.”
“You’ll pay for what you and yours did!”
“Yes, yes, I have heard that repeatedly,” Daniel taunted her. “It’s growing tiresome.”
“I’m going to kill you first!” She spat the words at him.
“Of course you are welcome to try.” Daniel knew she wanted him alive until Oliver arrived, which he would, so he was safe to antagonize her.
“Why have you not carried this ridiculous, and can I say foolish, revenge out before now? Why wait?” The question had been plaguing Daniel. It made no sense. Jacob Blackheath had died many years ago in prison, Oliver had told him that. Why had they waited this long to exact the revenge?
“I told you why, ’tis time for my family to be avenged,” she said.
“It’s taken you many years to reach that decision, it seems.”
“Be quiet.”
“You could have taken any of us at any time in the last few years, but you waited. I’m curious as to why?”
Jenny shot the two men who sat with her a look. They shrugged.
“He’ll know soon enough anyway,” one of them said.
“He’ll know when I bloody well say he’ll know,” Jenny said. “Gag him. I don’t want to hear any more of his yammering.”
“Excuse me, but I have never yammered a day in my life,” he said. “You may as well tell me what it is you have planned.”
“Gag him!”
“You do know that all this revenge business has addled your brain, don’t you? You’ve wasted years and years on this, when you could have been living your life. Seems a waste.”
“Shut him up!”
A filthy piece of cloth was stuffed into his mouth, and he battled the needed to gag. There was more to this encounter. He just had no idea what, and that worried him. What would his brother be walking into? He would come, as would others, but not Abby. Thankfully her brother would have ensured she was safe. At least in this he could find a small measure of relief.
He slept as cold gnawed at him, but he didn’t let it weaken him. Daniel had to stay strong for what was to be faced… in whatever form it took.
Finally he was pulled to his feet and lifted onto the back of a horse once more. His legs were numb, and he clenched his muscles to get them working.
“Quiet now,” someone whispered after they’d been riding awhile. “We need to get in place. Remember, no shots will be fired until after the fight.”
Fight? What fight? Wasn’t Blackheath’s intention to shoot him and Oliver? Now there was to be a fight? What the hell was going on?
They moved off the road and into the trees, and Daniel ducked to avoid low-hanging branches. They came out into Hindmarsh Clearing where the trees formed a circle. It was here they stopped and waited.
“You men take up your positions. Make sure your guns are trained on Dillinger and his brother at all times. If he has brought others, shoot them,” Jenny Blackheath
