I touched her shoulder gently. “McKenna, I know everyone is mourning Elizabeth and Hensley, but there’s something else I must discuss with the staff. An incredibly pressing matter. Please wake Carlyle and the girls and meet me in the library right away. Send someone to the lower field to fetch Jack Serra’s carnival troupe as well. They arrived late last night and are camped there.”
Her eyes went wide for an instant, but she nodded, drying her hands on her apron, and left. While she woke the girls and gathered them in the library, I went upstairs to the attic, where I found Lucy coming out the door. She closed it gently.
“Did you tell Edward that your father is on his way?” I said.
She nodded. “Yes, and about the deaths last night. He’s feeling much stronger. He can help us.”
“Be ready to bring him downstairs, but wait for my signal.”
When I returned to the library, I paused just outside the open doorway. I could hear the somber voices of a few girls inside, one of them still sobbing after last night. Pity twisted at my heart. They were my responsibility now. I had never wanted to be a mother, and yet now I had six young girls and Lily and Moira, all of them looking to me for guidance.
I leaned against the doorway, trying to steady my breath.
A gentle hand brushed my back.
Montgomery was dressed in the dark work trousers and faded shirt that he had worn so often on the island. My heart pounded to see him like this, so wild, looking just like he did when I’d first fallen in love with him.
“McKenna told me you’d gathered everyone,” he said. “I assume you’re going to tell them about Radcliffe. Have you decided what to do?”
I nodded. Part of me wanted to tell Montgomery about Edward in private, but I forced myself to wait. He might try to convince me not to tell the others, but we needed Edward too much. I couldn’t afford to have Montgomery contradict me.
I clutched his arm on impulse. “Whatever happens, please trust me,” I said. “If I’ve ever kept secrets from you, it’s because I had no choice. Marrying you yesterday was the best thing I’ve ever done.”
He leaned in and placed a kiss on the center of my forehead. “I would follow you to the ends of the earth if you asked. They will, too.”
We entered the library and all eyes turned to me. Lily and Moira sat on opposite sofas with a girl in each lap, and the rest of the girls sat cross-legged on the rug, corralled in by McKenna and Carlyle. Jack Serra and a handful of his troupe hung about in the back, blending into the shadows. The girls’ faces were splotchy from crying, but their round eyes found mine almost beseechingly, and I realized how desperate they were for a leader.
“Listen to Miss Juliet, girls,” McKenna prodded gently. “She’s your mistress now.”
“Is this about a funeral for the Mistress and Master Hensley?” Lily asked, hugging the girl in her lap.
“No,” I stammered, and then touched Jack’s charm beneath my dress, centering myself. “There will be a funeral, but not today. I encourage you all to find time to say your own prayers of farewell to them both; I know how much they meant to you, and when we are able to, we will commemorate this tragedy with all the respect they deserve.”
The little girls just stared with wide eyes, but Moira and Lily exchanged a troubled glance with McKenna.
I looked to Montgomery, and he gave me a slight nod of encouragement.
“I’m afraid Ballentyne is facing a new danger,” I said. “A gentleman by the name of John Radcliffe is on his way here from London, as we speak. I have reason to believe he intends my friends and me harm, as well as anyone we are associated with.” I motioned to the carnival troupe in the back. “Jack Serra and his men have been spying on him. They’ve reported that he has plans to attack this household. We believe he’s seeking retribution for the deaths of several of his associates. It’s true that we’re responsible for those deaths, but we didn’t have a choice. They intended to release deadly creatures in a public square that would have killed hundreds of people.” I paused long enough to take a deep breath. “Our best option is to fight him off. We’ll have to strengthen the defenses and gather as many weapons as we can. I won’t ask anyone to stay; I don’t want to put anyone in harm’s way, and we shall hide the younger girls in the barn just as we did with the Beast. Lucy shall stay with them. This man, Radcliffe, is her father. It will be better this way, so she won’t have to face him.”
An image flashed in my head. I pictured the red door to my own father’s island laboratory, the doorknob under my hand, Jaguar slinking along the shadows ready to tear him apart if I would only twist that knob.
Through the crowd, my eyes met Jack Serra’s. No, I would not force Lucy to make the same impossible choices I had.
“Just this one man, Mistress?” Moira said. “How can a single man harm Ballentyne?”
“He has two dozen men with him,” Jack answered from the rear of the room. “And horses and weaponry. It’s a small private army.”
The girls were quiet. One of them let out another sob and it pierced my heart, so soon after the tragedy of having lost Elizabeth.
“Two dozen men?” Carlyle grunted. “They’ll slaughter us.”
“Not if we’re strategic,” Montgomery countered. “If you chose to stay, we can station those of you who know how to fire a rifle on the higher floors to give you an advantage. You’ll be protected by the windowsills.”
“Assuming we’ll help,” Carlyle said, and McKenna shot him a look.
“I can only speak for myself,” she said. “I’m an old woman, and I’ve sworn my life to Ballentyne, as have most of us. I’ll stay and do what I can, but without the little girls that only leaves seven of us, counting Lily and Moira, and your friend Mr. Balthazar. Those aren’t well-matched numbers, Mistress.”
“Eight of us,” I said, shifting a nervous glance to Montgomery. “There are eight of us.”
His brow furrowed in confusion, and I went to the door.
“Lucy,” I called. “Bring him in.”
Two sets of footsteps sounded outside. She came in a bit shyly, dressed in a simple gown, and extended her hand toward the hallway.
“Come on,” she said softly.
Edward stepped into the library. His hair was freshly trimmed, the sallowness to his skin all but gone, and he was dressed in a charcoal suit that hid the slight bit of trouble he had walking.