oddly sympathetic for the woman who had caused so much trouble in his life. He glanced over his shoulder to Niall. “I always have and I always will love Niall, whether you understand or approve or not.”
Annamarie gasped and took a large step back, then sniffed. “May God have mercy on your soul,” she said, her face turning stony. A moment later, her expression softened. “You will let me see the children from time to time, won’t you?” she asked, her face changing yet again to an odd sort of anxiety. “I may not be the maternal sort, but they are my girls. And girls need their mother, especially as they grow older. I…I feel horrible about parting with them.” She sent a worried look to the house, where the girls still watched from the window, and then glanced to Ian and bit her lip.
Blake sighed. “It would be wrong of me to keep them from you indefinitely. But I’m afraid you’ll have to earn my trust again before that will be possible.”
“I…I understand.” Annamarie lowered her head and twisted her gloved hands together. “Oh, I simply cannot bear this rain.”
She tore past Blake, possibly even bursting into tears as she did, though Blake didn’t have a chance to follow her to see if that was the case. Ian marched forward and plucked the envelope and box with the medallion from his hands so fast that he knocked Blake to the side. As soon as he had them, he nearly ran for the carriage.
“Come on.” Niall burst forward just as fast, grabbing Blake’s arm and wrenching him toward the cottage. “I don’t trust him as far as I can see him. We need to get the kids out of here, out of Blackpool, now.”
Blake nodded. The carriage’s driver snapped his reins over the horses, sending the carriage careening down the road at a dangerous pace. Blake didn’t care where Ian and Annamarie went next. They could go to hell as far as he was concerned. He had his children back.
Greta and Jessie were shouting something on the other side of the window, their eyes wide with terror and their faces pale. They banged against the glass, shouting, “Papa! Papa!” and other things Blake couldn’t make out.
“The door is locked,” Niall said as he rattled the handle.
“Girls, can you open the door?” Blake shouted through the window.
“Mama!” Greta banged against the inside of the glass, pointing at the carriage. “Alan! She has Alan!”
“I need you to open the door from the inside, darling,” Blake instructed her.
Only when she dashed away from the window did her words begin to sink in. Blake tore to the front door—which Niall was now attempting to knock down by ramming his shoulder into it. He pushed Niall out of the way, trying the handle himself.
It took a few more, maddening seconds before Greta managed to unlock the door from the inside and wrench it open. As soon as she did, Blake leapt into the house, gathering both of his girls in his arms.
“Thank God,” he groaned, hugging them for all he was worth and coming close to bursting into tears. “Thank God you’re safe.”
“Where’s the boy?” Niall asked in a far darker voice. “Where’s Alan?”
“Mama still has him,” Greta said, voice hoarse, nearly beside herself. “Mr. Archibald called him a bargaining chip.”
Blake’s heart dropped to his bowels. He continued to hold his girls close—or rather, they continued to cling to him, burying their faces in his wet coat, as though their lives depended on it—while glancing around the cottage as if Alan would pop out of the woodwork.
“She’s right,” Niall said, guessing Blake’s thoughts immediately. “He isn’t here.”
“I want to go home,” Jessie wailed. When she lifted her face to him, Blake was struck dumb with a moment of blinding rage at the angry red bruise that covered half her face.
The corners of his vision went black and he began to shake. “What happened to you?” he asked, holding her tighter.
“Mr. Archibald struck her when she tried to fight him to get Alan back,” Greta said, her eyes wide and streaming with tears. “Mama didn’t see him do it.”
“I want—” Jessie started, but dissolved into wails and sobs as she clutched Blake so hard he didn’t think he would ever be able to pry her away. Not that he wanted to. If he had his way, his girls would never leave his sight again.
“We have to go after them,” Niall said, starting for the door. “As