"She didn't feel like waiting" Connor released Carolyn's face as she scrambled around to face the man she thought dead.
"Haytham? I don't understand. They told me he killed you." Tears poured down her cheeks and a hysterical laugh burst from her throat but when she moved to climb to her feet he drew his sword. Placing the tip against her shoulder he walked beside her, drawing the edge up under her chin. "You stay put. I have more questions yet." She fell quickly to her heels holding steady.
In an instant Connor was on his feet across from Haytham, his dagger naked in his hand. "That's my wife!" he snarled, hardly believing that his father would pull a sword on the woman he proclaimed he had come to save. Haytham eyed him in surprise. "Well given the little bundle of joy in the next room I suppose that's good news. I'm glad you made an honest woman of her anyway. Charming little thing. By the way do babies always cry like that? I'm afraid I never met Connor as a child. By the first time I saw him he had already killed a man. That's a little too close to the idea of original sin for my taste."
"Given that he has not eaten yet I suspect he's hungry". Her mind was still reeling from the sudden resurrection of her teacher but her body was letting her know that it did not appreciate the time this was taking. Her chest was tender and sore and reminded her that she had not yet fed her child. If they didn't finish she suspected she would start leaking soon.
"Well so I am but you don't hear me crying. Anyway we need answers and it's clear you're not the one to get them. You did your best, boy but you were clearly outmatched in this fight." Haytham smiled down at Carolyn proudly as Connor looked between them in visible confusion. "She is unarmed."
"Ah, Connor, that is because you assume to be dangerous something must be sharp. She may not have a blade but she has weapon enough against you. Look at her kneeling there, so apparently helpless. Everything about her is a weapon against you; from her words to her tears to the rather indecent amount of skin she's showing. Really, I never thought you the type, Carolyn. "
Carolyn tried to adjust the front of the robe but gave up. "Your son is not one to be distracted by a flash of bosom, Haytham. The top will no longer close." Identical looks of male incomprehension met her vision before she clarified. "My milk has come in."
"Ah well, yes" Haytham had the decency to look embarrassed. "Still we must push on." He twisted the sword so the edge caught her beneath the chin. His face slid out of the side vision by she dare not move her head. "Who do you work for?"
"I came at your request." The blade twitched against her throat reminding her of long not quite forgotten lessons on direct answers. "Hmm charming but I have been gone for over a year and sent you no further instructions." He eyed Connor dubiously. "Least of all any regarding matrimony. To whom do you report?"
"Well to nobody or myself I suppose then. Until a few months ago there was really no need. We already knew his plans for Charles. It wasn't until they sent him after John Blithely that I needed to do anything and by then it was too late."
"And whom did you inform of the targets?"
"The men themselves. Or their wives in some cases. I would write a letter on some inconsequential thing, a request for a recipe or an order for their business and seal it. Then I would break the seal, include an unsigned note warning them in a varied hand and inexpertly reseal it. "
"And the delivery method?"
"Sailors from the inn usually. Occasionally a dry goods vendor." Hesitatingly she continued "Except for one. I delivered one personally. "
"Which one and when?" The coolness of the question did not hide his interest to one trained to think as he did.
"Jacob Miller." Haytham nodded, thinking on the young man he knew who had only recently received his ring before his own sudden disappearance. One of his last events as Grand Master had been attending the baptism of his first born.
"Connor had left so quickly I knew there was not time. I took the note to his house myself and left it with the house keeper."
"Did you disguise yourself?"
Carolyn snorted lightly. "It was a bare 2 months ago. There was no disguise worth bothering with. I rented a carriage from the inn and wore a cloak with my hood up. I ran into nobody I recognized or at least I didn't see anyone. I admit I was more than a little distracted though. We were due a blizzard soon and I was scared to get caught out or that Connor would return to the house while I was away. But I could not sit at home and not think on them and what it would mean."
"Foolish sentimentality." He sighed. "Last question: Who is the Grand Master in Boston?"
"I'm afraid I don't know. I haven't exactly been keeping up as I've been a bit busy lately. "
Haytham lowered the sword but Carolyn made no effort to move. "You see? This is how to question someone. Direct. To the point." Turning to Connor he continued "That fits my timeline well. About 2 weeks after that inquiries as to her whereabouts began to surface. I suppose once they were sure she lived it was only a matter of time before they contracted you."
Carolyn carefully tilted her head back and let the breeze dry at the tears on her cheeks. There was a trick to this, doing things without using your hands so as to minimize threatening movements. "But I still don't understand. Why are you here? Where were you?"
"Me? I've been in Kingston while you've been gallivanting around with my son."
Carolyn hung her head. "And you didn't tell me? I thought you dead. We all did."
Haytham smiled down at her sadly "Who would I have told? Carolyn Blair was dead. She was lost with the Sovereignty and I promised Connor not to return. It wasn't until they began looking for you that I dared to hope. I thought it a lost cause but sometimes even lost causes succeed. I had to take the chance."
"Come on." He sheathed his sword and offered her a hand. "Let's go." But she did not go to take it. She shook her head, "No. This must be finished now. I've made this bargain in good faith. Your being alive does not change that." Instead her head turned to Connor where he sat perched on the edge of the railing lost in thought.
"Connor, where do we stand?" He looked up suddenly but did not move.
"I need to know, Connor. If I am to die then I'll die but I can't live watching for you over my shoulder and I cannot leave." She said dropping her head and wrapping her arms around herself.
"It would appear she does not wish to go." Haytham stepped back from Carolyn and nodded to Connor encouragingly. He glared at his father before kneeling before her taking her face into his hands once more. He could feel her pulse speed beneath his fingers. "You would really do it, wouldn't you? You would really let me kill you?" he searched her eyes.
"I've made my choices. If this is the price I must pay for them, then yes. Do you think I do not know the line I walked? That I didn't hold my heart in my throat every time you left knowing that they might use my warning to trap or kill you? I know it's unfair of me to ask you to keep a vow made in ignorance. I know that. But mine was not. Please. Don't make me go? I just can't. I'm sorry. I would rather you kill me now than make me leave you and our son."
"I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise that if anyone ever tries to kill you, you will fight. Even if it is me. You've got a child now. Where would he be without you?"
"Connor, if I had pulled a knife last night what would have happened? If I had tried to run this morning what would you have done? Can you honestly say that?"
He did not answer but looked away in guilt.
"And so this is how I fight. I fought with the weapons you left me." She swallowed. "While you were gone I asked Diana should anything happen to me to go with you to Boston to find a wet nurse. She would have found a good one. The baby would have been fine. It was only my own life I offered. "
He looked at her thoughtfully. "I was wrong. I should not have tried to hurt you. It will not be easy, but perhaps we can learn to work through it together. You are my wife and I would not undo that nor our child. " He pulled her carefully to her feet and wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders.
Haytham breathed out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're being reasonable for once. I admit for a bit there I thought we might end up with a Shakespearian tragedy on our hands. " He glanced at Carolyn, Connor's hand in dark contrast to the paleness of her shoulder. "Othello I think perhaps. That 'one more prayer' was charming. It quite broke my heart. Now let us continue this discussion inside I think. "
"Ah but unlike Desdemona I'm actually guilty of what I'm accused of." She did not get into Connor's questioning of the baby's father.
Not knowing what else to say he changed topics, "By the way did I ever tell you that Connor was the reason I came home sopping wet that day? It's true. He threw us both out a second story window without looking to see what lay below. We landed in the river." Carolyn thought back on the house fire. "Well yes, that would be Connor. In our case there wasn't a river." And together they entered the house.
Carolyn could not stop shaking as she entered the room. Some was the cold but she had little doubt some was shock. With a sob she stumbled to the cradle and snatched up her son, holding him at last tight to her chest. The crying babe startled and immediately began to nuzzle at her chest. "There's soup on the stove but go on without me. I'll feed the baby first". Still trembling she carried him to the bed, not trusting her arms to support him in the chair. She undid the fastening of her top and crawled in beside him.
Connor walked from the doorway to the other side of the bed, watched his wife nurse his son and thought on how much he had almost lost. His child's tiny had waived around excitedly while he nursed and he kicked his feet. Carolyn glanced up at him before resuming her careful examination of their child's face. "You can lie down if you like. This is still your bed." Carefully he climbed in across from her, their child lying in the space between them. He reached out and let the tiny hand hit his palm. Curiously the baby batted at the immovable object before wrapping his fist around Connor's finger. "He is truly remarkable." Carolyn brushed the hair back from the baby's face. "You know we never settled on a name. " Connor's eyes never left the baby. "Sometime people pick random names but there are some traditions. For instance some sons are named after men in their family. We could have two Connors. Or two Haythams . That might be a bit much." Connor had to concede to that.
"I wonder what his father's name was." The past 24 hours had put a whole new perspective to his relationship with Haytham. He tried to imagine the baby across from him as a man full grown and out for his blood. "His name was Edward, the same as my father." Carolyn answered quietly. "I know it's hard to understand but he does love you. He's just not good at showing it. I never thought about it growing up, but when be brought me to his house that day he already had a room. I think it was your room, Connor. One of his first lessons to me was on how people take things at appearances. He dressed me as a boy and took me around town to see how people would treat me differently. He had the clothes on hand. I don't doubt that he loved me like the child he never got to have, but I could never take your place. In the end he worried about you more than he did me or he would never have asked me to come here."
"Sometimes it strikes me as odd how well you know my father and how poorly I seem to. Edward is a good name I think. " Unlatching the baby Carolyn propped herself up on one arm. "I'm going to try the other side for a while." She crawled carefully over the now fussing infant and curled up in the space between the baby and Connor. He stayed very still and she was aware of his presence inches away from her back as she reattached the baby to the other breast.
"Tell me about Othello." He voice surprised her and she suppressed a jump as best she could. "It is one of Shakespeare's tragedies." She began. Sometimes during the winter he would read aloud to her while she worked but she had shied away from this one knowing how close to the truth it touched. "About a solider named Othello. He was a great man but proud and angry. Someone tricked him into thinking his wife had been unfaithful." She paused to adjust her position slightly. "What did he do?" Connor asked.
Carolyn looked down at the baby who was starting to drift back to sleep. "He killed her. He killed her and her servant. Then when he discovered that it had been a trick, that she was innocent he killed himself. One of the greatest parts of the tragedy is how quickly it all unraveled. She begged him just before the end; for an hour, for a minute, finally for the time to say one more prayer. Had he granted it three lives might have been saved."
"Can you forgive me?" She felt his breath on the back of her neck.
"Connor, I loved you thinking you had killed one of my most beloved and might kill me at any moment. Today you've given him back to me and a son as well. I could forgive you anything today." At that he wrapped his arm gently over hers and the baby and closed the space between them. She relaxed into the warmth of his body, the last bit of cold draining out at last.
"Carolyn, how many robins were out there?" he asked her.
"áhsen" she replied sleepily.