Page 91 of Mending the Baron's Sins
Neither of them would have been sad to see Colm’s name in the papers. What would have made them sorry was his associationwith her parents. Had his name been splattered across the papers, Horace knew their business could have been targeted, so he did everything he could to keep the family name out of the papers.
She was so in debt to this kindness that she gripped the paper even harder than before, making her knuckles white.
“It is a kindness indeed,” she whispered aloud, as if somehow speaking of it could make the benevolence more understandable.
Her eyes traced the article before her where she saw the man’s name, who had been given the blame for all that had happened.
Mr. Walter Gladstone, ruined business owner, convicted of fraud.
As Horace had feared, proving Walter was guilty of attempted murder was no easy thing, but in the end, there had been enough evidence to convict him of fraud. There was a short paragraph at the bottom of the article which summarized the matter all so quickly.
Following Mr. Gladstone’s conviction of fraud and Lord De Rees’ mysterious recovery to full health, there is speculation that perhaps Mr. Gladstone had a hand in his sickness, but there is no evidence of such a thing. Mr. Gladstone’s shares of the business were handed to Lord De Rees, who has sincesold Gladstone & Coates to Mr. Patterson, a local and very successful businessman. When approached for comment, Lord De Rees is reported to have said, ‘My hope is that Mr. Patterson can make the business better than it ever was under our care, but now, it’s time that we both turned our back on that particular venture.’
Orla folded up the paper and stuffed it back into her reticule. It was a brief summary, so simple and cold in its reduction of what had been a tumultuous time. Straightening her spine, she clipped the reticule shut and stepped out of the door.
“Orla. Orla!” Sarah hurried toward her, kissing her on the cheek. “Take care now. Aye, and you’ll write to us, won’t you? I’ll be impatient every day for news.”
“Calm yourself, Sarah,” her father said, moving to her side and embracing Orla tightly. “Look after yourself. Write every now and then so we know you’re well, but not every day. You need to remember to live your life, sweetheart.”
“Thank you, Pa.” Orla smiled up at him, then shifted her attention to her sister and brother that had gathered to see her off, too. She embraced Aisling warmly, who wished her well, then Thomas, who didn’t seem in a particular hurry to let go of her. “You have to release me at some point, Thomas!”
“I’m just saving up on hugs, so I have something to keep me going while you’re gone.” Thomas released her and winked. “Thank you, by the way.”
“What for?”
“I have a feeling you had something to do with my promotion,” he whispered. “I couldn’t be more thankful for it.”
Orla parted her lips to tell Thomas she had nothing to do with it, that she suspected it was all to do with Horace, but before she could, someone flew at her. She backed up on her feet, tottering and in danger of falling over as Esther flung herself into her arms.
“I shall miss you so much,” Esther gushed, holding tight to Orla.
“I’ll miss you too,” Orla whispered, rocking her side to side as she gathered her balance again.
“Don’t knock her over, Esther,” a jesting voice called behind.
Orla’s family parted to reveal George racing after Esther. She stepped back and took George’s hand.
“We have news for you too, before you go,” Esther whispered, smiling in a giddy way.
Orla held her breath, fairly certain she knew what this lovely news would be just by the looks on their faces. She didn’t think she had ever seen George so content in his life. He looked at Esther with shining eyes, his smile a permanent fixture on his face.
“We are going to be married,” Esther declared. The last Orla had seen Esther, she had challenged Esther on what had gone wrong between the pair of them. It turned out that although Esther had admitted she loved George, she had been afraid to commit herself to him for life.
With a broken heart, George had stepped back, needing to distance himself. That distance had made Esther realize just how much she loved George. When Orla had last spoken to Esther, she was quite resolved to tell George that she did not want to live without him.
“Oh congratulations. I’m so happy for you both.” Orla hugged the two of them once again.
“Orla!” Sarah suddenly cried. “You’ll miss the carriage.”
“Pah, like the baron would leave without you,” Esther laughed, though Orla’s parents didn’t seem to hear this part. Orla blushed as she glanced at Esther, who simply waved at her in goodbye.
Neither of them had spoken again of the closeness between Orla and Horace, but she had realized they did not need to. Esther knew of it, but there was nothing to be said.
“Good luck,” Esther whispered.
Orla waved and hurried toward the carriage.
Horace was already waiting for her at the door. He offered her his hand to help her up into the carriage. She took it, clasping their fingers together, then stepped inside. He followed her up, sharing a smile with her.
