a letter that said you no longer wanted to see me.”
A breath escaped Darcy’s mouth. “How cruel of her. Believe me when I say I did not write it.”
“How stupid could I have been to believe you had? Forgive me?”
Darcy replied with a look, with a tender glance of her eyes. Ethan faced the ruins. Suddenly he burst forth with passion. “I should have been more of a man. I should have come to you the moment I read that letter.”
“Then … you were not attached to Miss Roth in any way?”
“Thank God, I was not, nor am I now.”
The wind blew keen, and Darcy hugged her arms. Ethan stepped closer, looking concerned. “You are cold. Come, I’ll take you back, if you do not mind that we ride together.”
She moved on, and reaching the mare, she picked up the reins and turned back to him. He rushed to her, drew her close. “I love you, Darcy. I would live and die for you. Do you believe me?”
She gazed up at him. “I can say—I do.”
She hid her head against his breast and held on to the lapels of his coat. He raised her face, and to her lips his melted. He had kissed her once before, but this time it spoke of desperate love, as if the air he breathed depended on her. Tremulous with tears, Darcy put her arms around Ethan and he held her close.
After a moment, he set her back, at arm’s length. “There are things I must tell you. I was sworn to secrecy about events that have … What I mean to say is, when the opportunity to visit Mr. Rhendon’s home in Virginia presented itself, I was urged to accept his invitation with the goal in mind of finding you—to see if you were well cared for and happy.”
“My grandmother did this?”
“Madeline knows nothing, asks nothing.”
“I should be angry with you, Ethan. But I can tell whatever caused you to swear an oath to be silent, you must have done it out of good intentions.”
“With all my heart, Darcy, my intentions were and always will be honorable. Try to understand what I’m about to tell you.”
A horse suddenly raced across the fields at breakneck speed toward them, and when its rider crested the slope before them, he drew hard on the reins. The horse reared up and whinnied, then stomped its hooves into the mossy earth.
“Mr. Raverty?” Ethan look surprised. “What brings you out here, sir?”
“I’ve been sent from Fairview, Mr. Brennan,” the breathless rider said. He glanced at Darcy and then gave Ethan a knowing look. “It’s urgent you return home without delay. I do not know the reasons, sir.”
With haste, Ethan read the note and then shoved it into his pocket. His expression grave, he turned to Darcy. “I must go at once.”
“What could be wrong?” Worry swam in the eyes she met.
“I cannot say, but I must hurry.” He sprinted to his horse and leaped into the saddle. Then with a swift kick of his heels, he raced off on Sanchet.
Part 3
For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest; neither any
thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
—Luke 8:17 KJV
21
Before Ethan received the urgent message that called him back to Fairview, Eliza sat in her sitting room under the window sketching. She traced from her memory a child’s face, then another’s, and thought of her two daughters she so loved. Darcy was as close as she would ever be—at Havendale. Ilene, her babe, rested in the arms of God.
A long sigh slipped from her lips and she hung her head within her hands. “Show me, Lord, what I should do. My heart aches to see my child, and you know how I still grieve over Ilene. And Lord, I miss my husband. Wherever he is, please speak into his heart to forgive me.”
It was a prayer she had said daily all these years. Waiting for an answer, she lifted her eyes to the scene outside. A carriage lumbered toward the house, halted, and a man dressed in black stepped out. She pressed her brows. Who could he be?
A moment later, Fiona stepped inside the room, her lips pursed, her movements agitated. “A man named Hollen is here, my girl. Should I let him in? I do not like the looks of him.” Fiona adjusted her mobcap and waited for Eliza’s reply.
Rare to receive a visitor at Fairview. Eliza closed her sketchbook and stood. “What does he