by Lynda Hurst
Both publishers were willing to pay handsomely for her exceptional work; both realizing she was an extraordinary talent that they had to share with the rest of the world. Faith had much to be proud of, and now she was earning a steady income, far removed from her father’s bare provision of funds for her care. With this ongoing trend, Faith was slowly working towards her development as an independent woman.
She had every intention of moving out of her father’s household when she had enough saved and planned on taking young Ethan with her. What she planned was unheard of for someone of her social standing, but there it was. Her position as an earl’s daughter was in name only; she strongly believed that nobility came from deep within and its lack or presence thereof signified one’s strength of character. She could shun polite society without a proper care; none of the ton and its gilded trappings provided anything worthwhile for her, and she would continue as she was, blissfully ignorant of the ritz and glamour of London’s noble set.
The Ellesmere twins, who were immediately familiar with Faith’s relationship with her family members, backed her plans eagerly, along with the Trucotts and the rest of the Ellesmere household. The twins pointed out to Faith a pretty little cottage on Ellesmere property that had once been a dower house, but up to now had been let out for rent. It was currently available and was earmarked for Faith to one day occupy with permission from the twins’ father, Lord Ellesmere.
Faith dared to hope that her life would make a turn for the better, that circumstances would allow her to rise above the bleakness of barely living under her father’s thumb. Her own mother found her own escape and happiness of a sort with the duke next door; it was high time for Faith to ascend into her own brand of contentment, far removed from her family’s hold.
3
Sitting at her makeshift writing table, composing new lyrics to a ditty she dreamed up, Faith startled at the sound of crashing and muffled yelling belowstairs. It was common in the Revelstoke house to hear such things, but it wasn’t expected so early in the day. Glancing at the clock, it was only half-past eight.
The yelling had grown louder and angrier; she at first thought it was her father until she heard her father’s familiar baritone echo overtop the first offender. Comprehending quickly that something was amiss, she raced out of her room to investigate what was happening in their front hall. Her siblings sleepily, joined her with groggy steps, curious about the commotion that had roused them so early. Faith did notice, however, that Mother, was not amongst their group.
More crashing ensued as she sprinted down the stairs, and could not believe her eyes as she beheld who stood there, facing her father. Devlin stood there, his stance indicating he was extremely agitated, with no sign of the friendliness she had once before been the recipient of. He was yelling at her father, “You and your family are moving out of this house today! This is retribution for the tragedy that has befallen our family three times over, and you know it’s for the atrocious way your family has been living all of these years!”
“How dare you,” Edwin hissed, spittle flying from his lips as he tried to puff up his stature in an attempt to intimidate the much younger man. “This house has been in my family for generations, and you have no right to it!”
Faith’s eyes grew round as she watched a smile of evil portent grow on Devlin’s mouth, teeth bared and flashing wickedly. “That’s where you’re wrong. You had this house and the entailed property mortgaged, and you’ve been behind your payments for months. As my first act as the newly minted Duke of Prestonridge, I have bought this house and everything with it out from underneath you.” Devlin stalked the earl with slow, menacing steps until he was an inch from the earl’s alcohol-reddened nose. With a dark look and an ominously lower voice, he stated, “And you, sir, are trespassing on my property.”
Her sharp intake of breath drew Devlin’s attention to her suddenly and found that same look of distaste now directed at her. Faith had no idea that the instant Devlin sighted her, he wasn’t seeing her but her mother. She was now a much younger version of her now that she had grown, but without the cynicism and worldliness her mother possessed. It inflamed his temper further to look at her, sparking his fury to another level.
With anger seething from his pores, Devlin directed his next verbal hit at her and her siblings, “You can help your father pack what little you do own that isn’t entailed and leave my land at once!”
Dizzy with confusion clearly written on her face, Faith stood frozen where she was. She had no clue what was happening or why and how Devlin acquired their home, but it simply couldn’t be true! Vital information was clearly missing from this puzzle, and no one cared to step in and apprise everyone present with the necessary details. Looking to her father, she hoped to be enlightened with at least some measure of the situation, but to her dismay, her father’s face mirrored her own look of bewilderment.
Her lack of compliance, however, incensed Devlin enough for him to roar, “Get out! If you refuse to move, I will be left with no choice but to have you forcibly removed with the help of my men here.” Faith jumped at the volume of his voice. She hadn’t noticed anyone but Devlin until the moment he mentioned he wasn’t alone. She spotted the three burly footmen just outside their open front door, ready to assist Devlin until called. Years of tiptoeing around her father in fear of displeasing him came back to the forefront, moving automatically to do as Devlin bid.
Faith ran back to her room to gather up her possessions in her valise: a few dresses, her notes, her writing implements, and her reticule with some money was all she planned on taking with her. Glancing at the china doll her mother had given her when she was little, her one and only gift from her, she decided Little Lucy could not be left behind.
Ethan and Erica also scrambled to take what they could carry out with them and met Faith back in the front hall. Their brothers, still nursing hangovers, scoffed at their compliance with Devlin’s orders and nastily snatched what belongings their younger siblings held only to throw them on the floor. “We’re not leaving,” Frederick stated stubbornly to Devlin. “This is our home, and you have no right to it no matter what you say.”
Faith knew better than to contradict either of them and stooped to pick up the spilled contents of her valise while Devlin watched as her head bent to focus on the task of repacking her things. He did not think to encounter a sixteen-year-old Faith whose beauty now surpassed that of her mother’s when one gained a closer look. Devlin now observed that Faith lacked her mother’s gaudy sense of style whereas Faith’s own loveliness was all natural.
But it was now too late to try to have either woman side-by-side for comparison.
Devlin’s eyes narrowed at the clear-cut memories of what had transpired over the last few days. With a deceiving calm, he announced, “Listen well for I will not repeat this again. Get yourselves packed and off the property.” To the earl, he said, “I was given notice that your wife had disappeared along with my father. It is clear that they have run off together, but haven’t said as to where. He has renounced his title, bestowing it upon me with all of the legal documents claiming me as the new duke. My sister Margaret has fallen gravely ill as a result of being dealt a wicked blow with the news that our father left us. And by God, if I cannot lay the blame for what has befallen us at your wife’s feet, then I will be damned if I let your family go about your lives without knowing how much grief you have caused us!”
Faith’s eyes widened at Devlin’s shocking revelation. Her mother had left them for Devlin’s father? Disappeared how? Why would they have decided to run away now? These were questions that she was sure the answers could only be found with the missing couple.
But before Faith could get a word out, her father suddenly turned purple in the face, clutching at his chest as he collapsed to the floor. Neither of the Revelstokes or Devlin reacted quickly enough to break his fall, but Faith was the first to reach him when he hit the ground. “Father? What do you need me to do? Should I fetch the doctor
? Should I…” Distraught, Faith’s hands hovered and trembled above him, not knowing where they would be of the most help to him. Everyone remained where they were, at a loss at what to do as the Revelstoke patriarch lay panting and writhing on the hall floor. Faith took in the sight of one of the footmen bolting down the lane, presumably to fetch the doctor.
Edwin Revelstoke could only manage to gasp in short breaths, struggling to get sufficient air. He clutched Faith’s outstretched hand to pull her closer, so his mouth reached her ear. “He…did…this. You…must…stay a-away fr-from him. Go!” On the last word, the portly earl emitted one last exhalation, and Faith watched helplessly as his eyes focused past her until they were devoid of life’s spark. Faith shook her head, No, tears falling swiftly from her pain-filled eyes. No, because the only father she’d ever known was gone. No, because their mother had abandoned them publicly. No, because Devlin only had contempt for her and her family because of the hurt her family had caused his. No, because things were spinning wildly out of control and she didn’t know where to turn to for help.
She wept uncontrollably while Devlin, her hapless siblings, and the Prestonridge footmen looked on. Devlin did not feel sorry that the old man was dead, given what he’d been through in the past forty-eight hours. But he wasn’t completely heartless; he was affected by Faith’s tears, pitying the girl who seemed to genuinely mourn her father.
Surveying the remaining Revelstokes, Devlin observed the youngest boy holding back tears bravely until he no longer could and had rushed to Faith’s side to hold her tight by the waist, hiding his tears in her sleeve. The other girl was wringing her hands, looking lost and forlorn. With a cynical eye, he observed the two brothers as they sardonically sneered down at their unfortunate father. Devlin knew Frederick and James were resolute gamblers and had amassed huge amounts of debt to several creditors. With Edwin dead on the floor, Frederick would be the next Earl of Revelstoke, penniless and reviled; his father’s legacy passed down as a consequence of his sins committed while alive. Neither of the Revelstoke children, he predicted, would survive as they now were.
With his brand of justice served to those deserving of it, Devlin’s temper had calmed somewhat. The Revelstoke family had figuratively driven themselves into a grave of their making, but the vast, hollow feeling inside Devlin left no room to gloat. He, too, had lost a father, and couldn’t find it in him to remain cold at the family’s own loss.
Signaling his footmen to turn around and head homewards, Devlin left with a parting remark over his shoulder, “You may make arrangements for your father’s funeral, but once that is passed, I want you gone from my land and my sight. I will give you three days.”
Faith gasped, whether at the heartless note in his voice or at his sneer, he couldn’t be sure so he turned towards her fully. Stepping closer to her so only she could hear him, he said, “I am sorry it has come to this, but my father was right: nothing good has ever come from the Revelstoke family. But I had always thought you were the exception.” Without giving her a chance to reply, Devlin quickly spun on his heel and beat a hasty exit.
4
Six Years Later
Looking out across the garden of Atwell Cottage, the former dower house at Ellesmere, Faith hummed a little tune she had been working on for the past few days. Pride in her home filled her whenever she viewed its abundance of blooms overflowing their beds and its quaint but comfortable four walls that sheltered Ethan and herself. As promised, Lord Ellesmere had opened the dower house for her to rent, but for a fraction of the price because, as he put it, “she was family.” He had insisted that no payment was necessary, but she had made it a non-negotiable condition if she were to stay there.
Both Mary and Jackson were thrilled she had taken up residence close by. They were almost certain that the Revelstokes were going to leave the area to parts unknown after Devlin had unceremoniously thrown them out of their home.
With Edwin not yet cold in his grave, Frederick and James abandoned their younger siblings to fend for themselves when they booked passage on a boat headed for America. Leaving England behind them to seek their own fortunes in Georgia, the Revelstoke brothers had also left behind their insurmountable debts. But not one single creditor had come knocking on her door to claim payment from anyone with the Revelstoke name. At least, she and Ethan had not been sought out for payment against their debts.
Erica had quickly run off after the funeral with her footman, seeking Gretna Green to tie the marriage knot around her man firmly to her. She had admitted to Faith before she left, “I had always wanted to leave our house, but had no means to do so. I had already given up hope that I could escape until Raul had come along and treated me really well. He wanted to marry me right away, but Father would never have consented: an earl’s daughter with a duke’s footman? He would never have allowed it. But now that he’s gone and our brothers off to the wilds of America, I’m finally free to do what I want!”
Faith wished her sister well and hoped that she would finally have the happiness that they both craved. Despite the Revelstoke’s disintegration into fractions, Faith suspected that each of them was finally able to find their own portion of contentment away from their father’s restrictive rules.
Now twenty-two, Faith found her own measure of success with her music and writing. As a woman of independent means, Faith could afford to keep herself and Ethan comfortable without having to worry about the next meal. With her earnings, she was able to send Ethan to university now that he was eighteen. She also managed to pay for one servant to help manage her tiny household. Faust, as he was known, had been a Revelstoke kitchen boy while the earl was alive and been let go when the earl was running out of funds to keep servants. Faith had known him as a dear friend, despite he being twelve years her senior, and had reconnected with him six years ago at the local posting office searching for work.
As the lone Atwell Cottage servant, Faust served the Revelstoke siblings in multiple roles: as valet, butler, cook, and nurse all rolled up in one person. Loyal to a fault, he carried out his duties with the aplomb of someone who cared deeply for the people he looked after.
In the middle of adjusting the notes to her new song, Faith was cautiously interrupted by Faust. She heard him clear his throat before he announced, “Faith, you have a visitor wishing to see you with all haste. I have placed him in the parlor with a tray of tea and biscuits for you and your guest.”
“Thank you, Faust. I have been expecting him,” she said but did not explain further when he raised a brow in curiosity at her. When she didn’t volunteer the extra information, he knew that the meeting had something to do with the little project she’d been obsessed with for the past year.
Faith made her way into the house, glanced in the hall mirror to check if she was presentable for her visitor, and then breezed into the parlor when she deemed herself satisfactory. A male figure, dressed in dark riding clothes, stood at her entry and bowed his head to her in greeting. “Lady Revelstoke, your servant, ma’am.”
“Ah, Mr. Denby, I had been expecting you. Have you made any progress in your investigations?” Faith asked. She seated herself as she waved for him to a comfy chair next to her.
“My inquiries have not proved fruitful, I’m afraid. After your mother and the Duke of Prestonridge had disappeared, there have been no records of either of them booking passage with any of the ships at the four closest harbors. It’s curious that their own personal funds have not been touched either since the day they had disappeared.”
Faith struck that information as odd indeed. If they had truly run away together, wouldn’t there have been some trace of their whereabouts by now? Especially now that she had hired several Bow Street Runners to look into where the two lovers could have possibly disappeared to.
Mr. Denby added, “They couldn’t have hired a coach to leave the area as they would have had records or reports of two people with their description on their lists. I fear I won’t be able to find anything further if th
ey have discovered a way to cover their tracks. Maybe they don’t want to be found.”
Faith craved answers and wasn’t going to give up her search for her mother. Although they weren’t close, the Countess of Revelstoke was still her one remaining parent, and she felt honor-bound to find her to at least inform her of what has become of her own children. Shouldn’t a mother at least want to know about the fate of the children she brought into the world? It was Faith’s hope they could at least reconcile and learn about each other now that she was a woman grown.
“No, I’m not about to give up my search. Please find another angle to investigate as I’m determined to at least find some clue about what’s happened to my mother and the former duke.”
“Begging your pardon, milady, but we’ve exhausted all of our sources for information. No one has been able to find anything new for the past year.”
Her jaw firmly set, Faith insisted, “Keep looking. There’s bound to be something we’ve missed that could lead us to their whereabouts.”
With a long-suffering sigh, Mr. Denby said, “As you wish. I can only promise to look down the same routes of thought, but it isn’t likely we will find anything different from before.”
