Page 62 of Loving a Noble Gentleman
Chapter 30
The darkness shrouded Mary as she moved as quietly as a mouse through the house. She only had a small bag with her, and she was wearing her least fancy dress just because it was practical. Mary was not concerned with what she looked like; she was just worried about what was going to happen next.
“Charlotte?” she whispered as she saw a shadow moving along the hallway. She hoped that it was because anyone else could spell trouble. “Is that you?”
“It is.” Mary’s heart flooded with relief. Thank God. It seemed that Charlotte was still on board. A lot of time had passed now, and Charlotte had been given plenty of time to calm down from her rage earlier on, so if she still wanted to go, then she had to really mean it. “I do not have much with me; I hope that this is alright.”
“I do not know,” Mary confessed. “I am sure that it will be fine. I do not have much with me either.”
The girls looked at one another through the blackness of the night, both lost in their individual concerns about what the future held for them. Charlotte felt calm; there was a sense of justice about her now after her conversation with her husband, and she was ready to go. She was just concerned aboutwherethey would end up now. Mary was frightened, far more scared than Charlotte which was ironic considering everything. She trusted Duke Smith and where he would take them, but the journey to get there frightened her.
Still, it was too late now. There was no turning back. They had to get moving now; it was the only way.
“Come on then.” Mary linked her arm through Charlotte’s and pulled her towards the door. “Let us go; it is almost midnight.”
Opening the front door was not an easy experience for either of them. They desperately did not want to wake up anyone in the house, and their nerves gave them shaky fingers. Dealing with an iron lock when they could not keep still, never mind see, was not an easy task.
“I just hope we do not have to come back in,” Charlotte admitted quietly. “I hope that His Grace does not let us down.”
Mary was confident that he would not. She had full faith in Edmund. He would not make them risk so much to let them down. He knew that it would not be easy to escape this house at this time of the night, so he would ensure that the carriage was there. “We will be fine,” she reassured her sister. “The carriage will be there; we just need to get outside.”
Charlotte nodded, trusting her sister, and she focused her attention on getting the door open. She wanted to feel the cool brisk air of the night; she needed to see the moonlight, she needed that – it would make her feel safe.
Finally, with a little force, the door swung open, only it made a lot of noise in doing so, which caused both girls to freeze on the spot. They sucked in and held their breath as their limbs froze. They listened intently, both hoping and praying that no one would hear them. It was a loud sound, but it was the middle of the night. With a bit of luck, everyone would be fast asleep ...
“I think we got away with that,” Mary said quickly. “Come on, we need to go.”
Charlotte hesitated, but only for a second. She wanted to get going; she knew that this was the right thing to do, but at the same time, this had been her life for a very long time. She needed just a tiny second to say a mental goodbye to it. Not all of it was good, in fact, most of it was not, but it had still been her life for a long while.
Now it was on to brighter pastures.
“I think I see it,” Mary whispered as she stepped forward to the street. “It is down the end, so we need to be quick. I just hope that no one has heard it.” It was possible, but if Edmund was true to his word, then it would hardly matter by the time they had gone. “Come on, we need to go now.”
Charlotte picked up the pace and moved until she was next to Mary. As she walked, she kept her eyes fixed on the ground so she could not see anyone. Even if they were heard and any of the people around looked out their windows, she hoped that she would not be recognised. With her head down and her arms folded across her chest to keep the cold away from her body, she hoped that she would just look like she was a random woman ... out in the middle of the night ... moving quickly, looking suspiciously like she was running away.
Charlotte did not listen in as Mary spoke to the driver; she took her seat and breathed deeply trying to cool down her racing heart and her ragged lungs. Her whole body was cold with shock, but still there was nothing in her that wanted to turn back. Despite all the confusing emotions that were swirling around in her body, there was still a weight lifted from her shoulders. She was still shaking off her horrible husband and protecting her baby which was all that she ever wanted.
“Right.” Mary looked a little bewildered as she jumped in next to Charlotte. “We are going now.”
“Do you know where we are going?” Charlotte asked quietly. “Is that what you found out from the driver?”
“He would not tell me anything,” Mary admitted. “But it is alright. We will be with Edmund soon, and he will finally reveal all. The driver did say that it will not take us long to get there.”
As the carriage moved through the city, both girls fell into silence. They knew that wherever they were headed, they would be taken away from everything that they had ever known, but they still were not sure what fate awaited them. They both had images of the countryside floating through their minds, the simpler life that did not incorporate all the same rules as the city. Mary did wonder how Edmund could conduct his business from so far away, but he had assured her that he could do it. She was inclined to believe that. He was smart, and he had made a massive success of himself. If he thought that he could do something, then that was so.
It was not long until the carriage came to a halt, which made Mary immediately bolt upright. All that she wanted to do now was see Edmund. She felt safer knowing that she was headed towards him but could not fully relax until she actually saw him. She needed to know that he was there.
“Edmund,” she gushed as her eyes fell upon him. He had been handsome every single time that she saw him but never as much as he was at that moment. Her heart skipped numerous beats as she spotted him. She raced towards him so quickly that she did not even think to look around to see where she was. “Oh, my goodness, I am so happy to see you.”
She wrapped her arms tightly around him and squeezed. She clung to him and buried her face deep into his chest so that she could inhale every part of his scent. Her shoulders relaxed, the tension rolled off of her in waves; there was someone else to take control of the situation, and that was wonderful.
“Where are we? What is happening?” Finally, she pulled back to take a look around. It was only then that she noticed the giant crates surrounding them and the sounds of the water flickering in her ears. “Are we at the docks?”
“We are.” Edmund smiled as he tucked a strand of Mary’s hair behind her ear. He had feared that the girls would not show; he was scared that something would happen to keep them away from him, but they were here now. Everything was finally going to happen. Everything that he had been working towards for a while now was about to come true. “I have invested in a new line of business that means we can use a ship to escape.”
“We are leaving the country?” Mary gushed in shock. “Are you serious?”
“Of course. How much further can we go to escape Lord Jones? If we leave the country, he can never find Charlotte or the baby. They will be safe forever.”
