by Pelaam
“It won’t be easy.” Nicolas shook his head and met Jasper’s sympathetic gaze.
“I know that. But if I didn’t think you capable of dealing with the knowledge, I wouldn’t have entrusted you with it.”
The praise surprised Nicolas and he stood taller, straighter, as he faced his friend. “Thank you. I’ll do what I can. I’ve barely seen him these last few days. His work with Langdon is very intense and he’s leaving early and returning home late.”
“I’ll organize a cab for you, Mr. Broadberry.” Snapper stood up and extended his hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for coming here. I wish you well.”
“Thank you. And you, too, Mr. Snapper.”
“Do wait outside. My secretary will let you know when the cab is here.” Snapper indicated the door, and feeling as if he was in a dream, Nicolas went to wait in the outer office.
****
Rather than be seen getting out of a clockwork cab, Nicolas opted to be dropped off a couple of streets from where he lived and walk the rest of the way. Lost in his thoughts, he turned the corner into his road and began the walk along its length.
It took a few seconds for Nicolas to register that there was someone walking alongside him. The gypsy woman’s hair was jet-black, partially restrained in a multi-colored scarf that matched her skirt, both of which had seen better, and cleaner, days. She smiled at him, revealing several gaps in her teeth.
“Lucky ’eather, sir.” The gypsy rattled a tray of small heather sprigs. “For you or a loved one. Bring you lots of luck, sir, with a gypsy’s blessing.”
“I don’t think—” Nicolas began, but the gypsy cut in.
“Better a blessing than a curse, sir. For protection.” She waggled the tray again.
An instinct urged Nicolas to buy a sprig and he reached into his pockets. There wasn’t much there, but he took out a couple of coppers and handed them to the gypsy.
“Thank you most kindly, sir. Have this one.” The gypsy selected a sprig of white heather tied in a blue ribbon. “A gypsy’s blessing be on you and those you love, sir.”
“Thank you.” Nicolas was at a loss as to what else to say, and drew out his keys, glad to shut his door on her. He stared at the heather. It looked healthy enough, and the blue ribbon was unusually attractive, particularly given it came from a less than savory gypsy-woman.
It seemed to Nicolas that he and Nathan could do with all the luck they could get at that moment. He’d present it to his lover when Nathan got home. Making himself a cup of tea, Nicolas sat in the living room, and waited for Nathan to come home.
Several hours later, Nicolas stood and smiled as Nathan walked in.
“I’m home.” Nathan smiled and held out his arms.
In a couple of strides Nicolas was at his lover’s side and welcomed him as usual, holding him tightly and kissing him tenderly. But there was an air of excitement about him, and Nicolas waited to be told his news.
“Nicolas, I remembered something today. The garden I’ve mentioned before, I’m sure it had a fountain. There were fish, or perhaps dolphins, blowing water from their mouths.”
“That’s wonderful. Anything, or anyone, else?” Nicolas asked, and Nathan frowned.
“I thought I remembered standing by the fountain. I wasn’t alone, I’m sure there was more than one person, but I don’t even recall if the red-haired lady was there.” Nathan’s voice grew soft and his frown deepened. He shuddered suddenly, and his voice changed. “There was a carriage. It was dark. My head and my leg hurt. There was someone with me, but it wasn’t the red-haired lady. I don’t remember who was with me. I just know that I hurt so much, I just wanted everything to end.”
The last thing Nicolas wanted was to upset Nathan, and he pulled his lover close. “I’m glad it didn’t.” He kissed Nathan’s brow. “I thought how awful my life was when we lost the money that supported us. To have to beg Uncle Secundus for help. But if that hadn’t happened, I would never have found you. Now I have you, I will never look back, only forward.”
“I won’t ever regret that we met. Not my loss of memory, not even that I spent those months aboard Strawberry Fields with Melbeck.” Nathan wrapped his arms around Nicolas’s neck.
“I love you, Nathan. With all that I am.” Nicolas pressed his lips to Nathan’s. “I have a present for you. For luck.” Nicolas presented the heather and Nathan took it, pressing a soft kiss to Nicolas’s cheek.
“It’s lovely. The ribbon’s very pretty. Thank you. I’ll pin it to my jacket.” Nathan secured the heather and smiled at Nicolas.
“Why don’t you sit down and tell me all about your day.” Nicolas urged Nathan to sit beside him. “It feels as if it’s been an eternity since I saw you.”
“If you’re sure you want to hear about it.” Nathan shook his head. “It wasn’t very interesting.”
“I’m sure.” Nicolas made sure they were cuddled close together. “Tell me all about it.” Anything else could wait for now. Nicolas just wanted to enjoy the simple pleasure of having Nathan in his arms.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
An air of apprehension lay like a black cloud over Nicolas. He hated keeping a secret from Nathan, but he also kept Jasper’s parting words in his mind—that perhaps his beloved Nathan merely bore an uncanny resemblance to Nathan Holland. To give his lover false hope would be far worse than keeping Jasper’s findings to himself for the time being. At least no one knows of my Nathan’s existence, and Harrington Holland is hardly likely to take a promenade in this area of the city.
However, no amount of internal rationalization could dispel the sense of foreboding Nicolas felt. Alone in his office at the Wolfestan brothers’ factory, Nicolas felt a complete fraud. He wasn’t working on any of the plans as he was supposed to, instead his mind kept mulling things over regarding Nathan.
A tap at his door startled him and he forced a smile as Amias popped his head into the room.
“Sergeant Jasper Whittock to see you, Nicolas. I’ll organize some tea for you.” Amias disappeared and a solemn-faced Jasper strode into the office.
“Sorry to disturb you, Nicolas, but I wanted to update you.” Jasper held out his hand, and Nicolas shook it firmly. “I thought I’d found Esmerelda Melbeck. I was partially correct. I didn’t find her in the flesh, but I did find one of her many bolt holes. But I wasn’t the first to discover it.”
“What do you mean?” Nicolas was puzzled and shook his head.
“Someone else had got there before me. It was ransacked, but more than that. Clothing was slashed to ribbons, bric-a-brac not just broken, but ground underfoot. Someone was unleashing their fury.”
“But who? You said Melbeck had no clue how to get hold of his sister, nor had he tried to. The only other person who knew she had any connection to Nathan was Hardy and he’s dead.” Nicolas paced the floor, his stomach roiling.
A tap at the door stopped the conversation dead, and Nicolas made sure to thank the woman who brought in their tea as she left.
Jasper watched her go, then broke the silence. “I believe someone else does know.”
“Who?” Nicolas spread his arms wide.
“Harrington Holland.” Jasper held up a hand to forestall Nicolas. “Wait. Think about it. Someone was on hand at the time of the attack on Blaylock Holland’s carriage. Or else Nathan would have died like his father. What we know for sure is that Esmerelda claimed to be our Nathan’s mother and so Rufus Melbeck his uncle. Neither are true. She sends him away. You can’t get much farther than on Strawberry Fields. She even makes sure that Rufus Melbeck doesn’t allow him to leave the ship, ensuring he has as good as vanished from the face of the earth. The question is, why?” Jasper moved closer, dropping his voice. “What if she did it for his own protection?”
Nicolas didn’t answer straight away. Letting the ideas swirl around in his mind before meeting Jasper’s gaze.
“When I brought Nathan home, something changed.”
“Yes.” Jasper nodded. “I
don’t know how, but I think Harrington knows Nathan is here, and believes that Esmerelda is shielding him. Perhaps, somehow, Melbeck got word to him, although I don’t see how. But I do believe Melbeck to be the kind of man that would indeed sell out his own sister for his personal gain.”
“That much may be true.” Nicolas nodded slowly. There seemed nothing honorable about Melbeck. “But if so, then where does that leave us?”
“I’m going to put the fear of God in that man to get an answer from him that I do believe. The other possibility is that Harrington has seen Nathan with us … somewhere.” Jasper began to pace back and forth, his expression dark and brooding. “That, coupled with my very public interest in Esmerelda Melbeck, might have been enough for him to think she knows more than she does. To be on the safe side, I have a warrant for her arrest. The inside of a prison cell would be a lot safer for her than the streets of the city right now.”
“And Nathan? Is he safe, too? Should we get away from here?” Nicolas asked, his heart racing. He’d assumed that once away from Strawberry Fields, danger would be a thing of the past.
“I think if Harrington knew where Nathan lived, he’d have made a move. Time ticks away relentlessly for him. That he ransacked Esmerelda’s bolt hole suggests to me he doesn’t know, but thinks Esmerelda does. Nathan should be safe enough here. He’s with Langdon during the day and gets a cab home in the evening. He never walks the streets for anyone to see him. If circumstances change, I’ll come and speak to him myself.”
“His memories are returning. I think now he’s back here and feels safe, they’re breaking through whatever wall his mind erected. I just wish they’d come back entirely. Then we’d know.” Nicolas rubbed at his face. “I hate keeping secrets from him.”
“I know. I understand.” Jasper’s tone was warm as he patted Nicolas’s shoulder. “Look, give me two more days. If I don’t find Esmerelda by the day after tomorrow, I’ll come by and tell Nathan everything. It’s not fair to expect you to shoulder all this responsibility. Perhaps your friends could put you up somewhere out of town for a few days. I’m getting close. I know I am.” Jasper balled his right hand into a fist and smacked it hard into the palm of his left.
“All right. Once we’ve told Nathan all we know, I’ll speak to Gerhardus. Nathan can do his hat designs wherever we are. He doesn’t have to be in Langdon’s hat salon.”
“Fine. I’m going to speak to Melbeck right now. By God, if he thought Hardy was a man to be feared, he hasn’t met me in a foul temper.” Jasper stuck out his hand and Nicolas shook it firmly.
“Good luck.” Nicolas called out as his friend left, but he had the distinct feeling that Jasper wouldn’t need it.
****
Since his mind wasn’t on his work, Nicolas claimed he was suffering from a migraine and went home. Guilt added to the mix of his emotions. A soft, tinny whine caused Nicolas to look down. Poppet stood at his feet. Nicolas reached down to pet the mechanical dog, but the whining didn’t stop.
Concerned, Nicolas looked down more closely at the mechanical, wondering if it had developed a fault of some kind
“What’s the matter, Poppet? Do you need me to look at your mechanics?”
Before Nicolas could move, the front door slammed and Amaretta dashed in, the face ash-white.
“Nicolas. Something’s happened to Nathan.”
“What do you mean? How do you know?”
“He got a runner to give me this.” Amaretta held up a small hat, then pulled out a torn scrap of paper from inside. “It says, “Docks, Strawberry Fields. Hurry.” The urchin could only say that the man who gave it to her was with a dark-haired woman and that he’d be given sixpence for delivering it.”
“You must go to Jasper immediately.” Nicolas was already on his feet and went to his sister, holding her upper arms, as she trembled. “Take that note to him. I’ll go to the docks.” An insistent tugging at his leg made Nicolas look down. Poppet was pulling at him as if eager for him to move.
“She’s never done that before. She’s very fond of Nathan. Do you think she understands?” Amaretta asked.
“I don’t know. But I’ll take her anyway.” Nicolas scooped up the mechanical whose tail waggled back and forth. “Now, you need to hurry. The station’s the other side of the city to the airship docks. It will take some time for you to get there.”
A couple of minutes later Nicolas was in a clockwork cab, rattling its way to the docks, Poppet clutched in his arms. Dear God, please let me be in time. Don’t let harm befall my beloved Nathan.
Chapter Thirty
At the sprawling docks, Nicolas ran toward Strawberry Fields, dodging around towers of containers, Poppet galloped beside him. Then the mechanical veered away, toward a row of long, low, shed-like buildings. Nicolas stopped. The note had mentioned the ship, but perhaps that was just to get him to the dock.
“Do you know where Nathan is, Poppet? Can you find him for me?” Nicolas asked.
Poppet glanced back at him, gears whirring before moving at a slower pace as if uncertain exactly where to go. They passed several warehouses, Poppet hesitating at each before moving on. They were almost at the last building when Poppet stopped, cocked her head, then went to the door.
“This one. All right. Let’s see, shall we?” Nicolas eased the door open and peered inside. The building went back farther than Nicolas could see and was made up of row after row of shelves, all stacked with boxes of various sizes.
Poppet had no doubts, the mechanical clicking past Nicolas, then looking back at him as if to see why he hadn’t followed. Somewhere in the depths of the warehouse, Nicolas heard something.
In three strides, he was inside, and had scooped Poppet into his arms, afraid the sound of mechanical paws on the concrete floor might be heard. Slowly, Nicolas made his way toward focusing on the sounds and as they grew louder Nicolas realized they were voices.
They were very close now. Setting Poppet down, Nicolas dropped down. On his hands and knees, Nicolas edged forward, Poppet at his side. The murmur of voices grew stronger. When Nicolas was almost at the edge of a row of shelving, Nicolas stretched along the floor out to peer through a gap in the stacks of boxes.
Relief swept through Nicolas when he saw Nathan was alive and well. But his lover wasn’t alone. A slender woman in an emerald green dress stood beside him. This woman’s hair was black as pitch, and that, along with the color of her dress made Nicolas certain that she was Melbeck’s sister.
She was also the gypsy woman who’d sold him the heather. While she may have disguised herself with the scarf around her hair, and fake blackening on her teeth, Nicolas recognized her earlobes, which almost tapered to a point.
When she moved slightly, Nicolas’s breath caught in his throat. A third figure came into view. A well-dressed man, in top hat and tails was also there, holding a pistol that he swung back and forth from the woman to Nathan.
“I’m so sorry, Nathan.” The woman paced back and forth, wringing her hands. She stopped, letting her arms fall to her sides. “Your father was a good man. And honorable. As foolish as it was, I fell in love with him.” The woman sighed, then shrugged her shoulders. “When I realized that I cared too much for him, I told Harrington that I wasn’t prepared to continue to try and seduce him, and that if Harrington went to other women, I’d warn them off, and make sure your father knew what he was trying to do. I have a lot of contacts with criminals, those who walk on the wrong side of the tracks, and some of those men have power. Harrington knew my threat wasn’t idle.”
“You were a stupid bitch, Esmerelda,” the man, Harrington, snapped at her. “If you’d done as I’d asked, I would only have resorted to blackmail. My brother might yet be alive.”
“Don’t lie to me. I know you far too well. You’d already decided to kill him.” Esmerelda snapped back, her face contorted with hate and anger. “Yes. I was indeed stupid. I’ve always thought there was nothing in life for me but to sell the only thing I had, my body. But you had
a start in life. You chose to go bad. So I chose to do the opposite, to think of another before myself.”
“I don’t understand any of this.” Nathan clutched at his head and it was all Nicolas could do to remain where he was, watching and waiting for an opportunity to do something.
“I should have gone to your father sooner and confessed Harrington hired me to seduce him. Instead, I just walked away. Then, when I heard that Harrington had set a trap to attack your father, kill him and make it look like a robbery gone wrong, I knew I had to act fast.”
“What happened?” The color drained from Nathan’s face, and Nicolas had to pat Poppet as the mechanical dog gave a soft whine, its body vibrating.
“I was too slow. By the time I got there, the coachman was already shot, lying in the road which had been blocked to stop the carriage getting through. The carriage itself had gone over the embankment, and, dear God, I still hear the screams of the horse before it fell silent.” Esmerelda started to pace again, her hands clasped together and pressed hard to her bosom.
“I saw Harrington and his henchman scrambling down, and I started to go after them. But I stopped when I heard a groan. I thought it was your father, but instead I found you. You’d been thrown clear somehow. Blood covered your face and your left leg. I knew then that I couldn’t save your father, even if he hadn’t died in the crash, I couldn’t stop Harrington. Instead, I helped you up, and half-carried you away from there. I took you to my home. Not the one Harrington knew. My real home. You remembered nothing. Not your name, not what had happened, but Harrington remained a threat to you. You were next in line to inherit, but not for another year. To keep you safe, I gave you to my brother, Rufus Melbeck, to keep aboard his ship. I needed you kept away until old enough to inherit.”
