I returned, finding Mabs dressed in one of the sets of breeches I had managed to pilfer off of Bryn. Over the years, I had accumulated a few pairs, and now they would be put to good use. Looking at her, I nodded and took a pair out for myself, stuffing the others into a saddle bag. With a second thought, I took out all but one and put my best gown in. I would need it once I arrived.
In my shift, I stole down the stairs, hoping beyond all hope that no person was up at this ungodly hour. Padding down the central stair, my feet hit sticky wood and I crept into the study, where it was as dark as pitch. Quickly, I lit the candle and searched for what I wanted. And I found it in moments. The twin pistols that had been my grandfather's. Brought into the family along with Whitford by some poker game in some tavern in some distant town, they had remained something of lore. Anyone could succeed if grandfather could go into town with two dollars and come out with two pistols and a plantation. Although they were antique, they were still in good condition. That was when I heard it. I slid them underneath my shift.
A bleary eyed Rowan entered, scrubbing at his face with a sleepy hand.
"I thought I heard someone down here." He attempted to stifle a yawn.
"I was just returning a book to the shelf. I took it down to read and now I have decided against it. I had best be off to bed," I tried to remain as calm as I could with two pistols underneath my gown.
"Oh," his face showed some comprehension, but it was obvious he was thinking of something he had meant to say to me before. "You are alright then? You will be okay?"
"About what? Tally? Of course I'm tolerable," I spoke in truth again. I did not really care that Tally had run off with Moira. I had only wished that he had told me, or at least not married me beforehand. But if I thought about it too much, I would become too angry and that would affect my judgment when I had this task at hand.
"Good, good. Well, I'll just be off to bed then," Rowan looked happy enough hearing that, but I felt something was missing.
"Rowan," I called as he left the room. He re-entered.
"Yes," his voice was eager and I smiled.
"Thank you. For caring."
He smiled back, "It is the very least that I can do."
I was relieved when he finally left the room. But for some reason, I also felt a creeping sense of guilt. I felt as though I should have told him the truth, and that I should not have lied to him. Perhaps it was because of the picnic.
The picnic went well enough, but afterwards, Mariah and Slone went to walk by the river and Rowan and I sat on the blanket talking. And in that hour and a half I knew him better than I had ever known Tally.
He began, of course, at the beginning for him. He was the youngest son of some lord (he laughed when I told him I had no idea who his father was, and then wrote it off as America's indifference to aristocracy). He had, of course, an older brother who would inherit the family estate when his father died and a sister married. As the youngest son, he had not much choice in career.
"It was the army or the navy for me," Rowan had said with a laugh. Somehow I had felt sad, he could have been much more somewhere else, but he was restricted by the order of his birth. This was the only job he could have even though he was the son of a lord. Obviously, he had chosen the navy and succeeded.
"And why, if you are doing so well, do you not have a wife?" My question was meant to be a light jest, but his mouth turned from smile to serious in a moment.
"Well, I am only the second son. But mostly, I have not found the right girl."
"As second son do you really have the luxury of a match for love?" I was serious now.
"I always will. I am willing to sacrifice much, but not that much." Rowan looked into my eyes and I felt myself begin to squirm. I felt like he knew me, though we had only just met. I felt like he knew my secret, why I wanted to be with Tally.
And while I was contemplating my thoughts on this matter, I did not notice him growing closer.
"I think that it is long overdue that I claim my prize from before," he said.
"Of course, my lord," I said with a laugh, leaving my thoughts behind. "As I am the party who lost, I stand victim to your verdict on what you deem is the proper reward."
"I am not a lord," he said with a light smile as he leaned in. And this time when he leaned in, I knew there would be none to interrupt us. I did not attempt to fight it; I was convinced it would mean nothing to me. What a laugh.
When he pulled away, I could not help but sigh.
"Prize claimed," Rowan said huskily. I had never felt that way when Tally kissed me. He kissed me in a way that I had never been kissed before; I could feel it deep in the pit of my stomach. That was the way that a girl should be kissed. And kissed everyday for the rest of her life.
Returning to the conversation we had before, I asked, "And do you have hope of finding this love match?"
"More than ever," was his answer.
And thinking back on that I began to fret that perhaps I should tell him what I was about to do. Just give him an inkling and ask him to take care of the house and my brother. Ask them not to follow me and to let me do this on my own.
That was when I realized that if I was getting out of the house, then I would have to be going right now. And I ran up the stairs as quick as I could with the pistols in my hands before I lost my resolve.
"I thought you had been caught," Mabs said in relief when she saw me enter the room. "That would be one whipping that you would never forget!"
"And what makes you think that I would get whipped? Neither Father nor Patience is here to punish me for my mistake."
"Well, that marriage was quite a mistake."
I grinned at her as I pulled my breeches on. "Goodness Mabs, perhaps you should have told me about your feelings on this before I married him."
"How was I to know that you'd go wed him? I wish it was someone else," she muttered. "You've had enough of these Southern gentlemen. None of them seem what they are. What held you up downstairs?"
"Rowan. He heard someone in the study and came down. Mabs, can I tell you something?"
"You're married to him too?"
"No! What do you think I am? Never mind, do not answer that question. It is late and we are both overtired. I will tell you what I was about to tell you. I felt awful lying to him Mabs. I felt like I should have told him the truth. That I was accountable to him and that he knew what I was doing."
"Well, he does not. And that's because you are falling in love with him. You were probably in love with him from the first. We must be leaving if we are. I believe we are if what I think proves to be fact."
"And what is that?"
"That you need to be the pretty little Southern belle once more-- withoutyour Southern gentlemanhusband."
I threw Mabs a quelling glance that served only to strengthen the grin plastered on her face. Climbing out the window, I looked up and saw she followed. She would always be with me.
Once on the horses, and far from Whitford, I realized I had not left a note. I contemplated stopping at a post office, a town, somewhere, to post a note just quickly so that no one would worry. But there was not time for that. I needed to get to Maryland. And quickly.
"It is growing late," Slone could not help but agree with the words Mariah had spoken so many times in the past hour.
"We should go and wake her. Past time for breakfast! And time for us to go, go ride, go picnic, go out!" Mariah was anxious to get going somewhere.
With that Slone stood and announced he was going to get his sister, but Rowan and Mariah followed at his feet.
He knocked on the door, "Ariane, are you ill? It's past time for you to be up."
When there was no answer, he opened the door.
The room looked perfect. The bed was made, the clothes were put away. Nothing was out of place. Nothing remained. But as they looked about the room, Rowan noticed a piece of paper on the floor.
"Look, it's the letter from Bryn," Rowan said holding it in his hand.
"Where do you suppose she has gone? She has Mabs with her," Mariah said shocked.
"I have an idea," Slone was the one who finally broke the silence. "She went to go fight. The man she loved had forsaken her, had left her for possibly the only woman she absolutely detested."
"No," Rowan said immediately. "She did not love him. I know that. Ariane all but admitted it."
"Her pride was wounded, you cannot question that," Slone said.
"Not that badly," Mariah turned the voice of reason. "Obviously the letter was out for some reason. Read it again. It might tell us as to where she's gone."
After listening once more, Mariah sighed. "She did not go home, that is for certain. She does not want to see Patience, for you must know that Patience is well pleased with herself about the impending nuptials, though they may have already taken place. I do not understand."
"Would she have gone to stop the wedding?" Slone asked.
"No! How many times must I tell you this," Rowan said. "She does not love him. She does not care."
"Whatever you may think is the truth, that is the only possible explanation," Slone calmly said. He could see Rowan losing his patience. What could have made Rowan so certain? "Did she leave you with any promises? Row, you must tell me now."
"Did you promise that boy anything?" Mabs broke the companionable silence they had been riding in for the past couple of hours. They took the back roads, avoiding where they knew there would be men massed.
"What boy?" I was confused, "Mabs, I married Tally. I think that is some sort of promise."
"Not him, the other one. Rowan. Did you?"
"It's complicated. But the easiest answer, I assume, is yes."
"YES? Are you truly mad? You are married to one man and promise to marry another? What is this? I would think that your parents have raised you better. And this occurred on that picnic did it not?"
"Yes," I regretted promising it now, but there was such a sweet promise that waited in the background. I felt something different when it came to Rowan; he was not the typical gentleman. He was more real to me than anyone else.
"What did you tell him?"
"That if it could ever work, I would be his forever. And he said he would wait until it worked."
"Ariane! That is lovely!"
That threw me for a loop. "Mabs, you really must make up your mind! First you are angry that I promised him, and then you turn into a hopeless romantic. But we will not worry about it, it is best that we focus on the task at hand."
"You there—stop!"
And we both froze and prayed that we had not been discovered.