Chapter Fifty-Four
My mother's hands had always been an object of fascination to me as a child. They were elegant and soft, the fingers long and agile. The hands of a queen I thought. I would watch as she would do her needlepoint, my eyes focused on the movements of tips of her fingers, so perfectly beautiful and manicured, passing the needle through the fabric. And when she would open her box of pencils and open that large pad of thick paper that my father kept in a steady supply, I would lean my chin against my hands in a very unladylike way and watch her for long moments as she conjured up some lovely image. Her hands were simple beautiful. I wished God had graced with me with that inheritance from her, but unfortunately it wasn't to be.
The image had faded with her death. Locked up tightly in my memories where it couldn't hurt, but there, that afternoon, as I sat next to my newly discovered uncle at that table and I caught sight of his hands, I was reminded, tearfully reminded. The way he used them as he spoke, gently flying about in expression reminding me so strongly of my mother, I had trouble keeping the effects of the memories at bay.
We seemed to fall into an easy conversation, my mother's brother and me. Edith and Amelia had left us to converse not long after we had met and here it was hours later and we still sat in the same spots, speaking, getting to know one another and carefully broaching the topic of my parents.
"I do have to confess," he turned somber, "I was aware of your existence as you no doubt gathered from my knowing your name." I gave a slight nod in acknowledgement. "My father was angry, very angry with Jo…your mother…and for a long time he did not waver in his decision to push her out of our world and feign her death, but before he died he seemed to soften and he hired a private investigator to seek her out. That was how we found out about you." He smiled softly in my direction. "You could not have been very old, four perhaps and it pained to him know that he had lost not only a daughter by doing what he had, but a granddaughter as well." His eyes focused on mine once more. "He took the guilt with him to his grave. Every few years I'd consult that same investigator to have him check in on you. It was nine months after her death that I received word of it, but I still didn't want to intrude on your life. A fact which I hope you don't resent me for."
I shook my head honestly. "No, I was well taken care of." I gave thought to Mrs. Roark.
"You were." He affirmed. "And then you found yourself an upstanding man to marry."
"David, yes."
"I was sorry to hear about his death as well. I would have intervened then, but you seemed to disappear after that."
I nodded sadly, not wanting to speak of those years of loneliness that I had just so recently arisen from. "I did. After what happened…well, disappearing was all I could do."
His expression saddened, but he did not press me any further. "I imagine so."
Anxious to get away from the topic I shifted in my seat. "I would like to speak of happier things. Can you tell me about your family? Do you have a family?"
"I do." His broad smile reaching his eyes. "I have a wife and two children, your aunt and cousins. Vera and I have been married for twenty-five years now. Gabriel completed his final at year Oxford this past spring and Eloise will make her debut this coming year. I would like for you to know them. Even if publically acknowledging you would be difficult to explain."
I shook my head, knowing that full well on my own. "I don't expect that, but yes, I would love to know them and for you to know mine. Tom and Sybbie are both very dear to me. And Lord and Lady Grantham and their family have become close as well."
"I find it hard to believe that you were so acquainted with Grantham and I had no idea. We are members of the same club, our mothers were even friends at one time. Imagine you living with them these past few months and my having no idea. It truly is a small world."
"It is." I agreed.
He looked around us then, taking in the sight of the darkening skies out the window and the waiters who had begun to come into the dining room to set the tables for dinner. "I do hate to cut our reunion short, but the day is growing late. Shall I escort you home?"
"Yes, I'm sure Edith and Amelia are waiting for me and all of the details about you." I added that last part with a smile.
"We'll let us not keep them waiting then." He rose from his seat with masculine elegance and helped me up from my own chair. Sensing our impending exit, a member of the restaurant staff came forward with our things and helped me slip on my coat. A few moments later, still exchanging small talk, we climbed into my uncle's car and began the drive to Alec's home. The grand front door opened upon our arrival and I gratefully moved into the warm house with my uncle behind me.
I had not even taken my hat off when a sudden crowd of people seemed to descend upon me in the foyer. Edith and Amelia were there, followed by Alec and surprisingly Mary, Matthew and Robert. Oddly enough, I did not meet the surprise appearances with any alarm. I smiled and greeted the three and began to introduce my uncle, but my words were met with an uncomfortable stare from Robert and an exchange of silence between Mary and Matthew. The sudden realization that something was wrong sent panic throughout me.
"What's happened?" my voice chocked.
Alec stepped forward, breaking the hold Edith had on his arm. "Perhaps we should move into the library—"
"No!" my gaze cut directly to him. "What has happened? Tell me now!"
Several long and torturous seconds seem to pass before Mary took the reins and did what the men around her couldn't. "Tom is missing."
The blow was harsh and though I did not physically react to the news, I felt my uncle, newly found and still nearly a stranger, step up behind me to steady my form with a hand to the shoulder.
"Not even an hour after you and Edith departed for London, he packed and left for Dublin. He told Matthew and Papa it was to be a quick trip and that they were to not tell anyone. He promised he would be back before you returned, but yesterday his mother called the house…" she stepped forward and reached for one of my clenched hands. "Kate, he never made it. She expected him two days ago and he's just simply not there. And…" I watched her hesitate, pain clouding in her own dark eyes, "Sybbie was with him."
As she spoke that last terrifying sentence any semblance of control I had on my emotions was lost. My dreams from the night before came back at me harsh and unyielding. I shook as the fearful tears came forward and Mary did not waste a moment in wrapping her arms around me and pulling me close.
The hours that passed after that would forever remain a blur in my mind. Robert had told me he was doing everything in his power to locate Tom and Sybbie. Both Amelia and Edith attempted to reassure me that there could be a very reasonable explanation for the disappearance and that no doubt the two would emerge just fine very soon, however I met the idea with silent skepticism.
"No one knows why he went to Dublin?" Alec directed the question to the room. "I haven't known the man long, but leaving without some explanation just does not seem to be in his character."
Matthew shook his head. "He said nothing, though I did get the feeling it was something of surprise for Kate because he was adamant about being back before she was."
"I don't know what it could have been." I spoke, my eyes downcast, "I asked for nothing and truly what could have been there that he couldn't have found here."
"A person maybe?" Alec sat across from me in his high backed leather chair, "Mrs. Roark? He could have gone to see her."
"But why?" I looked up, clutching my handkerchief. "No, there is something we're missing. Something more sinister and you know exactly what I mean, Alec. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. The Duke is behind this. He wanted to hurt me, wanted me to suffer because he didn't get his way, what better way to do that than to take Tom and Sybbie from me."
"Duke?" my uncle wondered out loud. He had stayed despite the events and was standing near Matthew by the roaring hearth in the library.
"The Duke of Anbury, her former brother-in-law." Robert spoke and my uncle nodded in acknowledgement. Of course he knew who David's brother was. "Kate inherited a large portion of his estate recently and it has been the general coconscious that he did not enjoy handing it over to her and thus to Tom." Robert continued, "I simply have a difficult time believing he would be behind this however. It is a huge risk for someone of his position. If word got out that he kidnapped a man and a child…"
I shook my head. "No, he's not even thinking of that. It's selfishness pure and simple. His other tactics to punish me have not worked, so he has resorted to this."
The truth I spoke was met with silence from the room. I knew there was a reluctance to believe. To all of them I probably sounded downright absurd, but I would not ignore my intuition. I felt as if Tom, and thus Sybbie, had fallen into a carefully planned trap by my former brother-in-law and I was not about to let him get away with his crime. "I want to see him. I will force the truth out of him."
"No," Alec said for the majority, "I won't allow you to do that."
"You can't stop me."
"Watch me." He fired back none to gently. "It may have been in another lifetime, but I did promise David I would look after you should the need arise and I'm not about to let you go off to apprehend a suspected kidnapper when you're mere months out from giving birth, do you hear me?"
"I agree, Kate." Robert spoke next to me. "You are in no condition to investigate this on your own."
I filled with silent fury as everyone else in the room voiced their agreements. My husband and child were missing for heaven's sake! How could they be so calm and rational when my world had been so ruthlessly attacked? Tom and I had voiced our wonderment many times over the last few months on why George had suddenly just stopped with his torment and now the reason for it was all too clear. However instead of listening to my evidence and concerns and my just need for wanting to confront the piece of garbage who had initiated all of it, they cited my delicate condition to keep me quiet.
After several failed attempts, I stopped speaking all together and crossed my arms over my expanded middle, attempting to calm my ire.
"Kate, we will find them. I swear to you that we will." Robert tried to calm me, "Sir Alec and I are off to Dublin tomorrow afternoon and Matthew will see to things here. We will cover all of the necessary ground."
"Count me among your ranks, Mr. Crawley," My uncle spoke up. "I have my own connections that could prove helpful. If this brother in law of hers managed to do all of these things, it would be hard for him to not leave a trail."
"Thank you, Uncle." I finally found my wards.
Amelia considered the matter settled then and quickly closed the short distance between us and bringing me into her and declare to the entirety of the room at I looked positively exhausted and began move me out of the room and towards the stairs. "Now dear, rest is important now. The more important for you and the baby. I know things are out of hand now, but after a good night's rest all will seem better in the morning light." She steadied me by the arm as we ascended the stairs, her confident words failing to bring the hope that she intended. I heard the conversation carry on in the library even after my exit and furthered my anger.
By the time Amelia had ushered me into my room and began to help me dress for bed I was plotting revenge silently in my head. I didn't need any physical proof, my intuition was enough. It sickened me to think that the brother of the man I had loved, and still loved, could do such a hateful thing, but I was not about to let that stop me from making him pay for it. And he would pay for it, I vowed then and there that he would.
I feigned cooperation for Amelia and it wasn't long before she left me alone, tucked in the bed promising that everything would turn out. As soon as the door was shut behind her, I moved as quickly as I could to the door and locked it, but as soon as I turned back to pull clothes out of my wardrobe there was a soft knock. My breath caught in my throat thinking that Amelia had come back and as quietly as I could I stepped back to re-turn the knob. However, it wasn't Amelia that waited in the hall.
"Mr. Barrow?"
The butler from Downton stood aloof and tall in my doorway, still dressed for traveling. I could only surmise that he had accompanied the Crawley's that were currently downstairs. Somewhere I had heard that he sometimes played the role of valet when the Earl traveled.
"May I come in?" he asked by way of a greeting.
I hesitated for only a moment, damning propriety once I realized how ridiculous it would be to refuse the request under the circumstances. I nodded and opened the door wider for him. He moved in swiftly, stepping near the washroom door. "There is something I need to tell you. Something I do regret not saying before. I believed I had the situation handled, but as I can see now, I was quite wrong."
"Do you know something about Tom and Sybbie?" I asked quickly, the question soaring with hope.
"I can't say for sure where they are, but I do know why Mr. Branson left." He swallowed stiffly. "Your maid, Mrs. Branson, was not who she seemed."
"_?" my pulse was racing then, fearful and panicked. "What has she done?"
"On numerous occasions over the past several months I have witnessed her doing things she should have not been doing. Speaking to Miss Sybbie in the nursery, lurking about in dark corners spying on you, Mr. Branson, Miss Sybbie and the rest of the family." He shifted his posture, "She told Miss Sybbie of your condition in the hopes that the child would tell others and that it would tarnish your reputation."
My throat was suddenly dry. So that was who had done it. "Why? Why would she do these things?" and without even needing him to answer, I already knew. "The Duke."
"Yes ma'am."
The tears began to form in my eyes. "If you knew all of this before why didn't you say anything?"
"I had no clear proof that she was being anything other meddlesome until right we left for London this afternoon and I did my best to keep her away from the child. This morning however I confronted her hearing the news and she admitted all to me. The Duke hired her to spy on you and make trouble. She hinted to Mr. Branson that you wanted a former family servant by your side when your time came in order to get him to Ireland. She did not know the child was going to go with him. According to her his Grace only wanted Mr. Branson."
"Why?"
"She did not know."
"You haven't told Lord Grantham any of this?"
"I thought it best to tell you first. There wasn't time before we left to do anything else. His Lordship, Lady Mary and Mr. Crawley were hell bent on getting here to tell you before too much time had passed."
I shook my head and moved past him to sit on the bed. This was unbelievable. "I knew there was something about her that…but I didn't think it anything like this. She made me uncomfortable and my instinct was that something going on, but I never thought…" I shook my head, the tears falling once more. "Why? I don't understand why. How could anyone be so hateful? How could someone like _ be a part of it all?"
The memories of what he had described began to run through my mind then. The sense that someone was lurking in dark corners, Sybbie knowing of my pregnancy before Tom or I had said anything to her, the rumors that had begun to run wild among the staff at Downton about our quick marriage and Tom's suspicions that it was Mr. Barrow causing it all. I had never had a reason to suspect the man myself, he wasn't what I would call kind, but neither would I call him evil, especially when I had seen how he had been with Sybbie.
"She said she had done it for her family. It seems her parents our tenants of His Grace and though she didn't say it outright, I believe money was behind it."
"Money?"
The money I had inherited. Could it be that our suspicions had been right and the amount had truly disabled the Duke? I had no wanted it. I did not need it, but the solicitors had been adamant about the fact that the large sum could not simply be given back. Something somewhere was preventing the Duke from getting his hands on that money.
Only minutes before I had been set on revenge, but now a more rational thought was forming in my mind. I wanted answers now as much as I wanted my family back together and just as much as that, I wanted to fix this situation once and for all. I looked to Mr. Barrow once more, knowing full well I could do any of it on my own. George would not be in London right now, like most aristocracy he would be in the country for the season and in my pregnant state there was no traveling there alone.
"I need your help," I finally spoke, "I know you care for Sybbie a great deal and I know that was happened is my fault-"
"No ma'am." He cut in. "You did not do this. You have been a welcomed presence in that girl's life. I would not put the blame on you for any of this. I will help in whatever way I can."
I smiled a small smile, grateful for the words. "Everyone downstairs has our best interests at heart, but they think I am too frail to take on the Duke by myself, but I think that's the only way to solve it. I have a plan I'm not sure if it's a good one, but I am going to stick by it. I need to see him, I need to confront him, but I cannot make the journey to Somerset by myself. Will you please go with me? I'm sure by asking I am putting your job at risk, but I feel like you are the only one who won't stop me."
"You won't go to Ireland?" he seemed confused.
I shook my head. "No, Lord Grantham and Sir Alec are going. I do trust them to find Tom there and Sybbie as well, but I must stop this situation at the source or risk something even worse happening next time."
He nodded, agreeing to my request. Quietly, I began to tell him of my plan and we made the preparations to leave within the hour.
