At the mention of the well, Esther’s hand flew to her heart.
“Ye wait here. I’ll be back.”
When Katie returned to the house, Rhiannon had returned and was supporting her mother.
“Did you find him?” Esther’s voice was a whisper.
“No. He’s not anywhere outside.”
“The … well?” The question was barely audible.
“The men are checking it now but I don’t think he’s down there.”
“How do you know?”
“I called his name and I looked over the side. I couldn’t see anything.”
“Did you look in all the buildings?” Rhiannon’s voice was heavy with fear.
“Yes. And anywhere else I could think of where a small boy would hide. I didn’t see him.”
“Lola’s not seen him.” Esther was on the verge of tears. “What about the men? Did you ask them if they’d seen him?”
“I asked the ones that I saw. No one has seen him since midday.”
“Where could he have gone?” Esther crumpled as she asked the question and Rhiannon and Katie caught her and led her to a seat carved from sandstone that overlooked the roses that were her pride and joy. “Where could he be?” she asked again.
Rhiannon and Katie shrugged helplessly.
“Oh, where’s your father?”
“Shall I run and get him?”
“Yes. No. Don’t leave me.” Esther clutched at her daughter’s hand.
“I’ll go,” Katie offered.
Esther nodded. “Tell him … tell him to come quickly … and … and tell him … we think Seamus has been kidnapped.”
Chapter Six
Rhiannon watched as her father saw the magistrate to the door. For a few minutes she could hear mumbled voices then her father entered the room alone.
“Oh, Renton.” Rhiannon’s mother threw herself into her husband’s arms, her sobs the only sound in the quiet room apart from the ticking of the clock in the corner. Rhiannon had rarely seen her parents embrace but she realised that at this time her parents’ grief had driven away all restraint.
“It’s all my fault.” Katie’s quiet voice startled them all.
“It’s no one’s fault.” Renton Sanford looked strained.
“But if I’d –”
Rhiannon’s father shook his head. “I don’t think there’s anything you could have done differently. Rhiannon was here, and Lola, and,” he looked sadly at his wife as she burst into sobs again, “and Esther. You can’t blame yourself. In fact, I don’t want anyone blaming themselves.”
Rhiannon’s eyes faltered under her father’s gaze. Did he know that she blamed herself? Was he absolving her of guilt?
Esther drew back and looked into her husband’s face. “I should never have gone to lie down. Seamus is primarily my responsibility. If there’s any blame it lies at my feet.”
Renton drew his wife close again. “As I said, it’s no one’s fault. It’s wasting time and energy to be trying to find where the blame lies when no one can be held responsible. No, we have to put our energies into finding Seamus. Wherever he might be. The magistrate is organising another search party but he wants us to stay here.”
Esther let go of her husband and dropped into the nearest chair. “But we’ve already searched. We’ve looked everywhere. Where could he have gone?”
“I don’t know.”
“Perhaps he’s ….” Esther’s voice trailed off and Rhiannon knew that she was thinking of the nearby cliffs and the pounding surf, both of which could claim a small life without leaving any remaining evidence.
“Kidnapped?” Katie’s voice sounded squeaky to Rhiannon’s ears. Although Esther had suggested it earlier in the day her head now whipped around as the words cut through the air. Rhiannon clutched her handkerchief tightly in her hands as the realisation sunk in.
“No. No. Surely not,” Rhiannon’s mother moaned but her words held a question.
“Now, now, we don’t know anything for certain, but in light of recent events we can’t rule it out.”
“Then we’ll never see him again,” Rhiannon stated with finality.
“We can’t give up. We have to hope. He’ll be found.”
“Perhaps we should pray.” The suggestion came from Katie. Rhiannon stared at her. She’d been praying quietly ever since they’d realised Seamus was missing – as she was sure her parents had been too – but why had none of them thought to suggest that they pray out loud before now? Together. “I’ll lead if ye like.”
The doctor and his wife moved closer to Katie and Rhiannon and the four held hands in much the same way as a drowning man grabs hold of a rope. Katie’s young voice led them in a simple prayer, powerful in its simplicity and utter faith that her Heavenly Father would hear them and answer. Rhiannon’s father prayed after Katie and then her mother. Finally Rhiannon finished with a simple “Amen” and felt the weight lifting from her shoulders. For the first time that evening she knew that whatever the answer, it was going to be all right.
Katie stirred sleepily as someone placed a blanket around her shoulders.
“I didn’t do it. I didn’t do it. Why won’t anyone believe me?” she moaned quietly.
“Katie.” Esther shook her shoulders.
Katie opened eyes that looked unfocused at the face before her.
“I know you didn’t do it,” Esther’s words were low. “The magistrate is here. He wants to talk with you.”
Esther was taken aback at the look of pure terror on Katie’s face. Of course, the poor girl had been through this before back in Ireland when she’d been wrongly accused of stealing and had ended up being transported as a convict to the colony. No wonder she was terrified.
“It will be all right. I’ll stay with you.”
The commotion in the room roused Rhiannon who had been sleeping nearby.
Katie stood as the magistrate entered the room with the doctor.
“I’ll need to question everyone. What convicts do you have on the property?”
The doctor ran through a list of the convicts he had working for him.
“Any others that have access to the house or its surrounds?”
“Only the man next door. Monty Montgomery. He’s courting our housemaid.”
“I’ll want to question him.” The magistrate fixed an eye on Katie. “What about that girl?”
Esther put an arm around Katie’s shoulders. “Katie is our daughter-in-waiting.”
When the magistrate looked down his nose at Esther, the doctor hurried to explain. “I spoke to you about Katie a while back. We’re wanting to adopt her as our daughter. You started the necessary paperwork.”
“Humph. I remember. Still, she’s a convict and will have to be questioned with the others.”
“No!” Esther’s voice was loud and strong in the room, startling everyone as she saw with wry amusement. What a time to be amused!
The magistrate frowned. “She’s a convict. She can’t be trusted. They’re all dirty criminals.”
Esther drew herself up to her full height. “Katie is not. She can be trusted and she will be questioned here with the family if there’s any questioning to be done.”
The magistrate raised his eyebrows. “You realise it’s the life of your son that’s at stake?”
“Katie would never hurt Seamus.”
“Not even to make a way for herself in the family?”
Esther felt Katie trembling and held her closer. “No. If you suspect Katie of being guilty of harming Seamus then you have to suspect all of us.”
Again the magistrate raised his eyebrows, but this time he turned to the doctor, but whatever he saw on the doctor’s face caused him to nod reluctantly in agreement.
“So be it then. I’ll interview the convicts in the kitchen with your permission, then I’ll let you know where we go to next.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Not until the magistrate and the doctor had left the room did Rhiannon explode.
“I can’t believe that man could accuse Katie!”
“Hush, Rhiannon,” Esther calmed her daughter as she led Katie to the sofa and sat down with her, loving arms still wrapped around the girl.
Katie seemed to be in shock and not responding.
“He might as well have accused me or you of kidnapping Seamus.”
Esther smiled. “I think I told him as much.”
Rhiannon moved and sat down on the opposite side of Katie. “Are you all right? Did he scare you?”
Esther shot Rhiannon a warning look that failed to make any impact.
“That’s his job,” Esther reminded her daughter.
“It was the magistrate’s job before too,” Katie’s voice was a whisper and mother and daughter looked at each other in surprise.
“Do you want to tell us about that time?” Esther enquired gently.
Slowly, and quietly, Katie filled in the details of that other visit she had had with a magistrate in another time and another place. When she had finished mother and daughter had tears in their eyes.
“Samuel had told us a little of your story but we had no idea what you had endured. You poor girl. I’m so sorry it happened but we’re glad that you are here with us now. Oh that sounds selfish doesn’t it? I mean, if it had to happen we’re glad that you’ve ended up in our family. You’re like a daughter to us and the sooner the paperwork is finalised the better.”
Rhiannon wrapped her arms around Katie’s waist. “I’m so glad you’re my sister.”
Her head tucked against Katie’s back, Rhiannon failed to see the look of pain that crossed Katie’s face but Esther saw it and understood.
“I still think we should question that girl. No matter what your wife says. She could know more than what she’s letting on.”
The doctor went to the door and looked out into the slowly lightening sky. It would be dawn soon and Seamus was still missing. “My wife has already told you that Katie is not to be questioned like a common criminal.”
The magistrate put down the utensil he’d been fingering. “Women are lovely creatures but they’re not always rational at times. We need to come at this logically. Now man to man, that girl is a risk and needs to be questioned.”
The doctor turned and smiled sadly. “If Katie is a risk then so is Rhiannon. I know that girl as you call her. She has lived in my home for almost twelve months. She is as upset as any of us. Perhaps even more so since Seamus attached himself to her the moment she entered this house. And the feeling was mutual,” he added as he recognised where the magistrate would take that line of thought. “Now if you want to talk man to man, find my son. Dead or alive. But don’t accuse my daughter. Yes, daughter,” when the magistrate frowned. “Forget about Katie and find Seamus. That’s all I ask.”
The magistrate thumped his hand on the table. “I tell you, you’re making a big mistake.”
The doctor shook his head. “I don’t think so. You yourself know that the girls have been threatened by a man claiming to be Seamus’s father. I suggest you find him first.”
“We haven’t been able to find him,” the magistrate admitted reluctantly. “Ever since that attack on your daughter and the … on your daughters,” he amended quickly, “we haven’t been able to locate him.”
“Find him and you’ll find my son.”
“How can you be so sure?”
The doctor shrugged. “I can’t. But this I am sure about: Katie had nothing to do with Seamus’s disappearance. She loves him as her own brother. I would stake my life on it.”
“Well let’s hope it never comes to that.”
“Shall I make some tea?” Esther raised her head from the sofa at Lola’s question on entering the room where they had spent the remaining hours of darkness. The sun had risen an hour ago and was now streaming through the window where it fell across the sleeping forms of Rhiannon and Katie: one tall and fair, the other small and dark. In some ways Katie resembled her more than her own daughter did, Esther reflected as her heart swelled with love for both girls.
Shaking her head, Esther rose. “I think I’ll clean up first.” Patting her hair into place she moved toward the stairs. Once upstairs she seated herself before her mirror and observed her image. If it was possible, she had aged overnight. Of course, worry and lack of sleep were probably to blame for the reflection that greeted her now, but for a woman who had often been admired for her beauty and grace, it was uncomfortable to see that she could look as haggard and worn-down as any convict or servant girl. With a sigh she unbound her hair and started to detangle it with her fingers. The brush lay at her elbow but there was no point using it until she had managed to remove the worst of the knots.
A loud persistent knocking on the door caused her to pause in her task. “Who could that be?” she spoke the words aloud.
She sensed rather than heard her husband’s heavy steps approach the door, but then she heard his voice calling, “Esther, come quickly!”
Her heart rising into her throat she hurried down the stairs and into the passageway before stopping abruptly. “Seamus!” Before another second could pass the boy was clutched up in her arms and held tightly to her chest, her unbound hair falling over his face. She was only dimly aware that Rhiannon and Katie had joined her and that their arms were also around the little boy.
She glanced up at the man in the doorway. He was a stranger but his face was kind and smiling as he surveyed the scene before him.
“Where was he?”
“Come in, come in,” the doctor took charge. “Eat with us,” he invited the man.
“No thank you. I must be on my way to work. But I thought you would want that there wee man so I brought him as soon as I knew where you lived.”
“But where did you find him?”
“He was in his old house there. How he knew it was his old home I’ll never know. I live there next door. My wife was the one there that found his mother the night she died. He must’ve hidden there in the house all night.”
“Alone?” the doctor’s voice was incredulous.
The man shrugged. “I’m guessing so. We heard a lot of clanging noise this there morning and when we went to investigate we found that this there wee man had found his mother’s old copper and was banging it with a spoon.”
The doctor looked at his wife, puzzlement obvious on his countenance.
“It seems so incredible.”
“That it does there but I’m telling the truth.”
“I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise,” the doctor hastened to explain. “It’s just a puzzle how Seamus got that far without being seen and how nobody saw him until this morning.”
“My wife’s busy there at home with all our wee young ones and I work from dawn to dusk. There’s no one living next door there. Though there was a strange fellow there a wee while back but I’ve not seen him there for a few weeks. So it’s not surprising at all. Well, I’m late now and must be off but I just wanted to see that there wee man safely home.”
“We thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” Esther passed Seamus to Katie and rose to escort their visitor out. When he had gone she turned to her husband.
“Well! What do you think of all that?”
He stroked his chin. “It’s all rather unusual. I’m not sure what to make of the story. But the man seemed genuine enough.”
“At least we’ve got Seamus back,” Rhiannon spoke from the floor.
“Yes, but I don’t understand how he managed to find his way to his old home. I don’t think he could have done it on his own. It’s just too unlikely.”
Concerned, his wife met his gaze. It did seem all rather irregular. But the trio on the floor were oblivious to the tension in the air above them. For now it was enough that they were all together again.
Rhiannon’s Journal
April 28, 1830
We have Seamus back! I thought we would never see him again – that he had been kidnapped or worse but he’s back and he doesn’t seem too badly affected b
ecause of his ordeal. I’m beginning to realise that love hurts – but the alternative is even worse – to end up like Grandfather, cut off from those that want to love you and never being able to give or receive love. For better or worse, I think I’ll keep loving even if it does mean that sometimes we lose those that we love – like Lily. How can I ever forget Lily? If she were alive today she would be almost three years old. It still hurts when I think of her – but at least we knew her, even if only for a short time.
But back to Seamus. For the past few nights Seamus has slept cuddled up in Katie’s bed with her. He never used to be afraid of the dark or reluctant to go to bed but since his return he cries uncontrollably at bedtime. We have to hold him until he goes to sleep and if we then try to put him down into his own bed he wakes and cries some more. Father says Katie has started a bad habit by taking him into her bed but for all that Father doesn’t really seem to mind.
We’ve not been able to find out how or why Seamus ended up at his old home. It’s a mystery and while we are all grateful for his safe return we all feel that there’s still a shadow hanging over us. Mother and Father are not satisfied that this is the end of our ordeal but the magistrate says that the case is closed and refuses to investigate any further.
All we can do is hope and pray that we never lose Seamus again.
May 1830
Chapter Seven
Renton put his pen down and rested his chin in his hands. Nearby his wife unwound a skein of wool for the tapestry she held on her knee. The girls and Seamus had gone upstairs hours ago and husband and wife were the only ones up. Outside all was silent and the house was quiet apart from the usual nocturnal noises as it settled down for the night.
“Esther?”
“Yes?”
He paused, not knowing what to say. His wife spoke up. “You feel a threat.”
“What?” He was staggered that his wife knew his thoughts.
To Rise Above Page 6
