The Charlotte Series: Book 3: The Pretender's Gold

18

Chapter 18

Stu stared quietly out at the scenery as they left Dovesdale behind. Stu left more than his sailor clothes behind. His days of sailing were done. They had been for years-since steel and steam replaced his beloved wood and sail.

It was something Em said in her letter-about how she didn't know what was next. How she thought he would always be at Dovesdale. It was ironic. Since she was the younger by ten years, it should be he that was wise. Em had managed to convey in those few sentences what he'd been struggling to express for years.

He'd always though that he'd sail the seas but it was not to be. Sail was as dead as his dear departed mother. When steam arrived, Stu knew he couldn't stay, but he didn't know what was next.

For now, he would fetch his sister safely back to England and see she was set up proper-like. Then if she still wanted to travel, he would find a way to go with her. She needed to be safe. He needed to keep her safe. Em was all the family he had left in this world

"We'll find her." Richard's confident voice broke into Stu's thoughts. "For all the years I searched for Dizzy I kept asking what if I had done things differently. Would she be safer then, if I had stayed with her? But always the truth. If I had done anything differently on that awful day, Dizzy would be worse than dead. She would belong to that demon and his hordes."

Stu nodded but remained silent, sensing there was more. He was not to be disappointed as he turned his gaze back toward the window.

"My point is this, my friend, you did what you needed to. You stayed at sea and sent your money home. They may have been okay without it, but because of what you did, that was a worry they never had to face."

Stu remained silent but he turned his gaze from the window to his friends seated across from him.

"Both of you." Richard went on.

"I?" Freddie raised an eyebrow as he turned in his seat to stare straight at Richard.

"Don't bother to deny it. I saw how her letter affected you. It's not a brother's love that you feel, my friend." Richard chuckled as Freddie blushed and looked quickly out the window.

"I cannot say that I have ever felt that for anyone before, so I cannot say I understand all of your heartache. But I have felt a brother's love-and worry-and the heavy burden of responsibility for my younger sister." Richard paused and shifted his earnest gaze from Freddie to Stu.

"I can tell you both that after eight years of chasing rumors and ghosts, I was never so glad as the day I finally reunited with her on the deck of The Charlotte. She was in trouble again..." Richard's voice grew soft as his gaze shifted to somewhere far off. "Dizzy always had a knack for finding trouble...but this time it was different."

That got Stu's full attention. He turned his gaze back to Richard.

"How?" he asked quietly.

"You mean aside from the fact that it was deadly peril she faced instead of some backfired childish prank?" Richard arched an eyebrow, "Because that time I wasn't alone in my desire to protect my sister."

Stu's gaze slowly swept from Richard to Freddie (who turned to rejoin the conversation again) and back.

"How did you know Bailey was good enough for her?" Stu asked, slipping back to the name he'd first known Lord Hartwood by.

This time it was Freddie who arched an eyebrow, but he had the good sense to keep his tongue. Stu almost broke his jaw on the front steps of Dovesdale. Here in the confines of the coach-Em's words rolled through his mind: I hope you remember to duck or he might break open your head.