On this day, the frozen water framed her father’s head, giving him a crystal halo. It caught her attention as she walked into his study. He was sitting at his desk with a look of concern. “We are leaving Maidstone shortly, daughter. Are you excited?” He spoke without looking up as he continued to search through a top drawer. “I apologize. I seem to have misplaced something important.” He pushed aside items in the drawer.
“What is it, Father?”
“It is a key. An important one. I need it to get into my lockbox.” He shook his head as if clearing his thoughts. “I suppose as my eldest child…”
“Try not to fret. I will help you. But please, a young woman does not like to have herself associated with age-related words like eldest. It makes me sound spinsterish!” She laughed.
He chuckled good-naturedly. “Ha! You have nothing to worry about, my dear. You shall have your pick of husbands. But I would share some information, should anything ever happen to me.” His face took on a somber look. “I do not plan for that to happen, but life can be unpredictable.”
“That is true. Can I help you find this key? What does it look like?”
“Yes. I suppose I could l use the help. It is an iron skeleton key with a rose embossed in the center.” He smiled. “It goes to a stack of books—five of them. It makes a hollow box, and I have a lock to it. It was a gift from your mother. I use it for important papers. It contains a copy of my will and other important items.” He got up and moved to his bookcase, removing his prized Shakespeare books and tapping the back of the wall behind them. A small area to the rear of the shelf opened, and another small shelf popped into view. It held a small box disguised as a stack of books as Father had just described. They were a stack of Shakespeare books, exactly like the few he had removed from the bookcase. He pulled it from the shelf and showed it to her.
“There is where the key would fit. The key is normally in my desk. I cannot find it.” He looked on the shelf and picked up the key. “My God! I must have left it here the last time I deposited some papers.” He passed the key to Maggie for her perusal and returned the replicated stack of books. He tapped the back of the shelf and it closed, then he returned the original books.
“You probably got distracted the last time you opened the box and just forgot the key. But you have it now.” She smiled as she walked around the desk and gave him a hug.
“It is important. I have to find it. It is not a lot, but I want you to know that I keep funds in there, and my will and papers concerning an account for you. The only other person who knows of its existence is your mother. But I want you to know this—should something happen to me, your mother would need your help, and she may not recall these things. It has been a while since we have discussed it. This home was willed to your mother by her grandmother and does not belong to the entailed property of my family or title.”
“Father, it is Christmastide. Please do not mar your mood. You are going shopping. Let us speak on it tomorrow.”
“Yes. I suppose it was the tone of my brother’s unwelcome letter asking for money…again. He appears to be in more trouble with creditors. No matter. Wait.” He walked to the back of his desk, opened a small false panel, and dropped the key into it. He closed it again. “You are right, my dear.” He pulled his daughter close and gave a kiss to the top of her head. “We should focus on the holiday at hand. It is your favorite and your mother’s. Let us have a splendid Christmastide.”
“Would you mind if I did not go shopping today?”
“What? Why in heavens not? You love to shop for presents. I was looking forward to a family outing—shopping, if you can believe that.” He chortled good-naturedly.
Maggie caught herself smiling as she recalled her father’s mood. He had seemed bothered by something but was not one to let things get the better of him. “I would like to take some baskets Cook’s staff has put together for our tenants. Shep will accompany me.”
“Yes. If you will promise to assist your mother with the decorating.” He hugged her close and walked with her to the door of his study.
Maggie closed her eyes. She still smelled the bayberry he wore that day. It was his scent. She adored her parents. Her father always treated her as if she was just as valuable to him as her younger brother, Nathan, even though she was a daughter. She had acquaintances who were loved by their fathers, but not treated the same. Her brother went with her parents that fateful day. Maggie squeezed her eyes tightly, tears falling, and wrapped her arms about herself. She had lost her whole family in the carriage accident on that bridge that day. The axel broke, and the carriage veered off the bridge and into the river. Shep was the only family she still had.
She opened her eyes and focused on the snow outside. She had forgotten everything in the stack of books except the money and now wondered what the papers in the lockbox would tell her.
I wonder if that is what Slade was after. There must be more in there. I have to find the book stack Father showed me. She scanned around the room for her half-boots. All she had were the satin slippers that matched the dress Lady Worsley had had made for her. Where were her leather shoes? She
