Katrina
Michael sat down on the bed with a thump. This was not his mother’s journal. But it was a mother’s journal. The mother of his child. A woman he’d abandoned just as his father had done. He thumbed through a few more pages and read of the love and affection she continued to hold for him and for the child she carried.
His child. He was to be a father. Marcus told him he had been blissfully happy with his marriage. Why would he run from that? Why, if marriage was so wonderful, had he been unable to remember? Would Mouse even be willing to take him back? His heart started to race and panic took over.
“Michael? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost. Are you well?” Jared stood by the fire, concern etched on this features.
“I’ve been such a fool.”
“We’re men, that seems to be our forte quite often when it comes to women.”
“What do you know about my wife, Jared? What have you discovered since you began your investigation?”
“Your wife? Mrs. Katrina Tidley. Lovely woman, but she is my cousin after all so that would make me biased. She is with child, and after a few weeks in London after your defection, she was extremely popular with the men, but chose to instead purchase a small property bordering Rose Hill. She moved in and set up house and has been there ever since. At least until she was abducted two days ago.
“She attends church on Sundays, helps out in the parish by visiting many who are lonely, especially the widows. Her staff adore her. In other words, she has settled down to domestic life and has given up climbing trees or playing at espionage.”
Jared sat down by the fire, put his booted feet out in front of him and crossed them at the ankles. His blue eyes held Michael’s. Jared had similar rough attire for someone living in the Rookery of London. His blond hair was long and face unshaven.
Michael sighed. “This wasn’t even the journal the Black Diamond sought.”
“It’s not?”
“No.”
“Where is the other journal?”
“I destroyed it myself. I burned it to keep warm one night.”
“The Black Diamond still seeks it?”
Michael nodded. He held up the book in his hand. “It looked a lot like this one, Jared. And if we are smart, we could dupe him again, only this time to our advantage.”
“He is looking for a woman’s penmanship.”
“We just happen to know a few of those, one of whom I believe we can trust to bury in her words a code for him to break that would lead him on a wild goose chase.”
“You are going to ask Katrina to help?”
Michael nodded. “You in?”
“I’ll give you one week, Michael. You get me a journal and I’ll see it gets into the Black Diamond’s hands.”
“Do you know who the man is?”
Jared shook his head.
“And even if you did, you wouldn’t be telling me, would you?”
“Probably not. I have a job to do. One week, Michael. I will be in contact with you. No need to seek me out. My presence in London is a secret. Marcus cannot be told.”
Michael nodded. “I have serious work to do if I’m to get Mouse to agree to help me.”
“Do you really not remember your marriage to her?”
“I wish I did. I heard it was wonderful.”
“But you were too afraid to stay and find out?”
Michael turned to glance out the window and avoid the piercing eyes of his cohort. “I’ll admit to fear. But I’m not sure of what. What I did was unpardonable.”
“Well, use your charm and wit to win her back and get me that journal by next week. I’m off to the Continent again on another assignment.”
Michael stood and crossed the room to shake Jared’s hand. “Thank you.”
Jared rose to leave, but before he did he turned. “You might want to start with a bath and a shave. You’ve truly adapted to the slums for too long, my good man.” With a smile and a wink, Jared disappeared into the night.
Michael returned to his townhouse in the wee hours of the morning and managed to bathe and shave himself. He slept for a few hours in his own comfortable bed, free of bugs, and tried to figure out how he would convince Katrina to cooperate with him.
23
Marcus saw the note on the kitchen table when he came to breakfast.
Mouse is in her usual room. She sprained her ankle. See that she is cared for. Michael.
“Michael was here? Katrina?” He threw the note on the table and was about to quit the room when his wife walked in.
“Marcus? What is it?” Josie asked.
Marcus pointed to the note and waited for his wife. “Michael has been found?”
“I still don’t know where he is. However, Katrina is upstairs, injured, and delivered here during the night by her missing husband.”
“I thought she was at her country home?”
“She was.” Marcus started for the door again, but Josie came up to him and placed her hand on his arm, forestalling him.
“Let me go to her, Marcus. I’ll see what I can discover.”
Marcus let out a breath of air he didn’t realize he held. He nodded and bent over to give his wife a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Josie.”
She smiled up at him, nodded, and left the room.
~*~
Katrina heard the knock on the door. She rested on her side, fully clothed, but much warmer than when Michael deposited her there. She dreamt of him again. She marveled at how she still knew him even given his altered appearance. His eyes seemed to speak to her soul in a way she couldn’t describe. Her husband was alive and she needed to be content with that. Her hand ran over her protruding stomach and the baby moved. In spite of the roughness of the past two days, their child seemed to fare well. Now if only her ankle didn’t throb.
Josie came sailing into the room. “Katrina, Michael left a cryptic note apprising us of your arrival and I must say I am quite curious as to what has happened to bring you to our home in the middle of the night.” Josie sat down on the side of the bed and Katrina winced. Josie jumped up. “Oh, I am so sorry. You hurt your ankle and how quickly I forgot. The doctor has been summoned and will arrive here shortly.” Josie went to pull up a chair next to the bed. “I did request a breakfast for you.”
Katrina smiled. It was so much like Marcus and Josie to swoop in to make one comfortable and take control when life became chaotic. “Thank you, Josie. I’m sorry for the imposition. I had not planned a trip to London. My arrival was entirely against my will.”
“Did Michael bring you?”
“Michael rescued me and brought me here.” Katrina’s eyes were pools of water. Her glasses had been smashed in the carriage when she had been taken and now the world was even blurrier than before. Katrina rubbed her eye.
“Thank God he is alive.”
“I have been thanking God for that. And fighting off my anger that I thought I was over his abandonment of me and his child.”
“He knows you are with child?”
“He carried me up here. How could he not?” She rested her hand on her stomach.
“Well. We will pray he returns to you now. You will take him back, won’t you?”
“He’s not the Michael I married, and he’s not the Michael from before his accident. I don’t know this man, but I’m still married to him.”
“God can do the impossible for you both. Don’t fret, Katrina.” Josie patted Katrina’s shoulder and rose to leave. “I will let Marcus interrogate you further later. Rest for now.”
“Josie?”
“Yes?”
“I smell like smoke. I need a bath and then to go home. Today. Please?”
~*~
“No. I will not allow it,” Marcus said in a quiet voice.
“You won’t allow it? May I remind you that you are not Katrina’s husband or father? If she wants to return to Hart Manor now, we should assist her.” Josie came around Marcus’s desk and stood by his side, forcing him to look u
p from where he sat.
“I am her next of kin.”
“And she is a grown woman and able to make her own decisions.”
Marcus sighed. “Fine. Once the doctor has tended her ankle we will send her on her way home. But with a full complement of armed footmen.”
“Surely the Black Diamond will not be after her anymore? From what she told me, he probably assumes her dead. She should be safe enough.”
“Regardless, I will arrange for extra protection out at her estate,” Marcus insisted.
Josie leaned forward to give her husband a kiss. “I always knew you were the best of men.”
Marcus smiled and pulled his wife into his lap for a passionate embrace before setting her aside and rising.
“That’s it?” Josie pouted.
“I thought I was supposed to summon a carriage and arrange for horses and guards to leave as quickly as possible?”
Josie smiled. “Well then, we will finish this later.” With a sly smile, she twirled out the door to go tend her guest.
~*~
Michael procured a blank book like the one Katrina had written in. He labored for a few hours over what information to bury in the journal and what kind of coding could be used. It was late afternoon before he presented himself at the front door of the Remington townhouse.
Shown into the study, he waited a short time before Marcus came in to greet him, locking the door behind him.
Michael raised one brow.
“I’m assuming that given your disappearance for months and your clandestine activities of the previous night, that the conversation we are about to have is private.” Marcus motioned for Michael to be seated.
“Are you sure you don’t want to scold me for abandoning your cousin?”
“Your words, not mine. No. I will leave you in God’s hands. What goes on between Katrina and yourself in your marriage is your business and I have no right to interfere.”
“Even though you’re angry with me?”
“Would you feel better if we pummeled each other at Gentleman Jackson’s? Or do you prefer to dance with the swords?” Marcus’s words were laced with an edge of ice.
“If it would break down the barrier that lies between us? Yes.”
“Michael. Where have you been? We searched everywhere. We were afraid for you.”
“Thank you for your concern, but as you can tell, I am well.”
“You appear ten years older than you did during the summer on your honeymoon.”
“Ah, yes. Always promoting the wonders of marriage.” Michael sighed deeply. “Speaking of which, I would like to see Mouse.”
“I’m sorry, that will not be possible.”
“You said you would not interfere in our marriage.”
“I meant it. I won’t interfere. Your wife left late this morning for home.”
“But she couldn’t walk. Surely she needed to rest.”
“Apparently, she desired to do so from the comforts of her home. I took it upon myself to have armed guards protecting her on the journey.”
Michael tipped his head back. He’d lose two days out of the six remaining, just on travel. He prayed he wouldn’t need too much time getting Mouse to agree to help. He stood up. “Thank you, Marcus, you are a good friend. I must depart from town without delay. It is imperative I see Mouse at once.” He started for the door.
“You cannot bring yourself to calling her your wife even once? During your two months together you forbade anyone to call her Mouse. Katrina is right. You are a different man than you were before the accident and after you lost your memory. I’m sorry to say that I’m not sure I like the change. Have a safe journey.”
Thus dismissed, Michael strode out the door without another word. Upon arriving home, he threw together a bag of clothes and changed into riding attire. Mounting his horse, he headed for the home his wife purchased. He racked his brain as to what estate that would be but came up empty.
Wife. She was his wife. He read the registry. She wore his ring. She carried his child. Why would he even think that she would sleep with anyone other than him? She had always been so pure and devoted to him. Why would he doubt her now? Why would he question her motives in marrying him just because he couldn’t remember such a significant event? Was that her fault? No. Then why was he punishing her?
He felt robbed. He was angry with himself and his fickle mind. He wanted to remember nights of pleasure in his wife’s arms. He was afraid to touch her now. Would he be the same lover she had known? He laughed at himself as night fell. He was jealous of himself, the part of him that knew Katrina in a biblical sense when he didn’t. He was jealous that he had two months of freedom from the past, and only delight in the present with a wife devoted to him. And he recalled none of it.
He arrived at Didcot in the early morning hours and bespoke a room at the inn where he rested and shaved so that he could present to his wife an impeccable husband instead of the disreputable one she last met.
Michael followed the directions Marcus gave him. He grew puzzled. Surely she hadn’t purchased…
He rode his horse down a familiar lane. Bittersweet was climbing a trellis on the south side of the house and was in full bloom with reds, yellows, and oranges. He remembered his mother making wreaths out of the branches to hang on the front door, or on the doors of neighbors. He left his horse at the stable, a modest building, and came to the front door where, just like when he was a child, a bittersweet wreath hung. He knocked and was greeted by a middle-aged man dressed appropriately as a servant should be. Michael handed the man his card and asked to see the mistress of the establishment.
The servant looked at the card and back at Michael. “Sir Tidley, welcome back. Let me show you to your room so you can refresh yourself after your journey while I fetch the lady of the house.” The servant bowed and Michael clasped his shoulder before he could depart.
“My good man, I slept in the inn last night to avoid upsetting the household at a late hour. I am adequately refreshed and would like to await your mistress in the drawing room if possible.”
The man’s mouth dropped open and then shut. “Yes, sir. It shall be as you wish.” He led Michael across the foyer to wait.
The house appeared much the same as it did when Michael lived there as a child. There were mild changes but they were all for the better. Rooms were brighter and more welcoming. He was left by himself in the drawing room and he came to stand in front of the fireplace where a low fire was in the grate. He stirred the embers to warm the space. Glancing up he noticed the painting that hung there and it took his breath away. It was a painting of a young woman and a child of about eight years of the age. The woman had sad eyes but her affection for her son was visible in the way the artist portrayed them both. Michael remembered sitting for the picture and how tedious it had been. He wasn’t sure he’d ever even seen it. Had his Grandfather hidden it in the attic? He hadn’t bothered to search there when the house was sold. Since he was not a legitimate heir, the estate had been sold instead of passed down.
“Your mother was beautiful, Michael. She obviously loved you very much.” Katrina hobbled in with a makeshift crutch and sat in the nearest chair.
Michael continued to look at the picture before turning to glance at Mouse. No. Katrina. He stared at her with her hair put up on a loose braid and her characteristic strands coming loose. Hazel eyes glanced at him and then down at her fingers.
“You are well, ma’am?”
Katrina gave a short smile and glanced up. “Please be seated, Michael. We need not stand on ceremony with each other. We are old friends.”
“Friends. Are we, Mouse?” He noticed the shudder run through her.
“We were at one time.” She motioned to a chair near him.
“Last I heard we were more than ‘friends.’” He sat, holding his hat in his hands.
A dreamy look came over her face. She peered at him. What he saw in her eyes rocked him and would have knocked him over if he had been stand
ing. “We were much more than friends for a time, Michael.”
Lord, have mercy. She loves me still.
Michael cleared his throat. “I came to beg a favor of you.”
“A favor?” Her eyes widened in surprise. They sparkled gray with tinges of green on this fine morning, reflecting the emerald green of her gown.
“Yes, a favor. One last bit of work with the War Office, if you will.”
“Lord Hughes sent you?”
“Not exactly. But someone who works with him. I only have five days to have this back in London.”
“Five days? What is it exactly that you require, Michael?”
“Remember how we broke the code with your father’s journal?”
Katrina nodded.
“This time I need you to write a journal with code imbedded in it.” He pulled out the two journals he had carried in his coat. “And I wanted to return yours to you.” He handed her the small book and she took it in her hands.
Katrina opened the book and glanced at a few of the pages. “How?”
“A friend retrieved it. But we need to give a replacement, a falsified one. If it is to look like the one my mother wrote, it needs to be written by a woman. I thought you would be the only one I could trust with the task.”
“You want me to fill a journal, similar to your mother’s, and embed code in it and have it done in four days for you to take back to London? You ask too much of me, sir!”
Michael stood, took two steps towards her and dropped to his knees. “I know I do, especially after the way I’ve treated you. But if not for me, will you do it for our country?”
She sighed. “I will do it for our country, Michael. But will also do it for you.” She glanced at the blank journal he presented to her. “Do you have the messages to be embedded in the code?”
Michael pulled a sealed envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her. “This must be protected at all costs.”
Sir Michael's Mayhem Page 24
