not having secured the door after their last sojourn there and hoped no animal had gotten inside and torn up the place. Reaching the cottage, he stepped inside and was startled to find two figures before him. One, a large woman, had her back to him. Beyond her stood Anna, her face white with fear.
“I want your life. Yours—and your child’s.”
Dez recognized the voice of Matron, the woman in charge of the patients at Gollingham. He dropped the basket and sprang forward as the woman lunged at Anna.
His wife was prepared, though, and as she leaped to the side, she yanked something over her head and swung a strap over the hand that held a knife. Anna jerked hard and the force caused Matron to drop the blade.
Dez grabbed the attacker from behind, pinning her arms back as the large woman struggled against him.
“Get the knife, Anna,!” he shouted hoarsely.
She swept it from the floor, gripping the hilt, her breathing rapid.
“Get a bedsheet,” he instructed calmly.
Anna hurried from the room, returning quickly with a bedsheet. He had her tear it into strips and as he held Matron, he had Anna secure the first one around the woman’s ankles.
“Tie it firmly. Use strong knots.”
Matron cursed loudly, language Dez hadn’t even heard used in the army by the coarsest of soldiers.
“Bring another strip,” he told his wife as he slid his hands from grasping Matron’s elbows down to her wrists, holding them together as Anna bound them as she had Matron’s ankles.
“Another strip for good measure,” he suggested and Anna complied.
Their prisoner was now thoroughly restrained, though she shrieked as if he had stabbed her several times with the knife she had brought. He shuddered, thinking of what might have happened to Anna and shoved all thought of it from his mind, else he might murder Matron.
Taking another piece of the bedsheet, he used it to gag the woman, muffling her shouts and the torrent of curses.
“We must go for the magistrate,” he said. “She meant to kill you.”
“Secure her to a chair,” Anna suggested. “I fear if someone comes along, they might free her. Better yet, I will stay with her.”
The thought horrified him. “I won’t leave you with her, Anna.”
She placed a hand on his forearm. “I will make sure she goes nowhere.” Glancing to Matron, she added, “I will show her the mercy she never showed me.”
He gripped her shoulders. “Are you certain, my love?”
“I will be fine. Fasten her to a chair and then be quick.”
Dez did as she asked, dragging Matron to a chair and using additional bits of the torn bedsheet to fasten her to it. The woman growled beneath her gag, her eyes bulging and furious.
He took Anna’s hand and led her outside, where he enfolded her in his arms. She clung to him, tears now coming. He kissed them away and then searched her face.
“I could have lost you. And our babe.”
“But you didn’t,” she said. “Go, Dez. I am fine. I will even sit out on the porch so I don’t have to look at her.”
“I’ll be quick as I can.” He kissed her hard. “Oh, Anna, I do love you so.”
Her sky-blue eyes gazed upon him with so much love, he felt it fill him and spill over.
“I love you, my precious husband. I always will.” She kissed him. “Go and bring the magistrate back so that we can close this ugly chapter forever.”
Dez cradled her cheek. “I will be back before you know it.”
Epilogue
Four months later . . .
Dez tried to focus on his correspondence and gave up, pushing it away. He hadn’t seen Anna or the baby in close to two hours and needed to remedy that.
Their lives had changed radically in the week since their son’s arrival. It amazed him how full of love his heart was in an instant, the moment he saw the perfect little person they had made together. He was endlessly fascinated by his son’s tiny fingers and toes and though he knew it was impossible, he knew Charlie smiled anytime he or Anna talked to him.
A knock sounded on his study door and he replied, “Come.”
Johnson entered bearing a silver tray.
“A messenger has arrived from Gillingham,” the butler said.
Dez lifted the parchment from the tray. “See that he has something to eat and tell him to wait.”
The clocked chimed three and he added, “No, tell him he will be staying overnight and can leave first thing in the morning. It is already too late