Forged In Love

Chapter Thirteen

In the days that followed, Dr. Brown and Mrs. Smiths visit, Lottie seemed to be getting better. Her color was coming back with a bit of rose in her checks. Mary had seen her eyes moving under her eyelids and took that as a good sign. They were praying that she would regain consciousness. Henry had gotten to talk to Mary about that marriage contract on the second day she came up to the manor to nurse Lottie.

"Well what do you think I should do? I know she wants to marry me and I want to marry her. Do you think she will feel like I went behind her back?"

"It sounds like you have given this a lot of thought already, my lord."

"Yes, you know Lottie better than I do, and I would hate to hurt her."

"Is that so? Most men wouldn't care. It's not like you picked each other. This is an arranged marriage."

"That is true, but even if we aren't each other's dearest love, I would like for us to be companions."

"Sign the papers, my lord. She will be relieved when she wakes up. She has been waiting to finally take this place over and do better than her father."

"You're sure she will be relieved? Alright, then I will take care of it this afternoon. Thank you so much Mary."

"You are very welcome, my lord."

Henry had left her with Lottie and gone to study. That conversation was all it took for him to make up his mind. In the eyes of the law, he and Lottie would be married. He still couldn't shake the feeling that by doing this he was protecting her and everyone there. After finding the dart, Henry just wasn't sure how safe she really was. He was going over the lack of leads in his head when he came to the door of his study. It was open. Henry's heart dropped into his stomach, and it was like he knew exactly what was missing. He walked in slowly just in case the culprit was still inside, but unfortunately it was empty. He went over to the desk and opened the middle drawer. It had obviously been searched but nothing was gone. Henry then popped out the hidden panel and there was the contract. Whoever had been in the study clearly didn't know about the false bottom of the drawer, but did have a spare key to the study. This left Henry with more questions. However, he was certain of one thing. This and Lottie's accident were connected. Henry sat down and went through the whole contract, making sure he signed everywhere that was required. Once that was all done, he decided he needed to move the contract to a better hiding spot. He needed to be able to keep an eye on it until Lottie woke up. The best place seemed to be in his own chambers, maybe in one of the many books that line his walls. Henry stood up and rolled the papers up, then placed them inside his waistcoat. He didn't want to tip the intruder off. He also decided that outside of the Winslow family he would be keeping the signed contract a secret. Maybe they would be able to flush this person out. Leaving his study, Henry made sure to lock the door, and then, at a normal stride, made his way to his chambers. Once again, Henry made sure to lock the door behind him before hunting for the perfect hiding spot. Obviously, he didn't want to lose where he was going to hide it. It was then that Henry actually started looking at the titles of the books. The majority of them were about nature, specifically birds. On the very bottom shelf there was one that was very worn out. Henry couldn't really make out the title on the spine. When he flipped to the title page he knew he had found the perfect book to hide it in. The title was The Basics Of Smithing. It almost made him smile to think that this book was here. Feeling good about his decisions, Henry went to go check on Lottie. It was something he did frequently, and it was something he looked forward to doing. He wanted her to wake up, but his visits to see her made him happy. Probably because he just wanted to see her.

Henry strolled into Lottie's chambers to see the familiar face of Mary and a couple of new faces.

"Hello ladies. How is our Lottie today?" All three women turned to face him. The two he didn't know, were younger women, maybe close to Lottie's age. They were dressed like Mary, so he knew they must be from the village. Mary was the first to stand and curtsy to him, which confused Henry as she had only done that once when they first met. The other women immediately followed suit.

"Hello My Lord Henry. How wonderful of you to come visit Lady Charlotte."

"Yes, well, how is she doing today, Mrs. Winslow?"

"She seems to be improving my lord. As you can see the color is coming back to her checks."

"Wonderful. We must continue to pray for her recovery. Mrs. Winslow, who are these two young women with you?"

"Forgive me my lord, this is Sophia Collins and her little sister Rebecca. They are from the village." Both girls curtsied again as Mary introduced them. Henry inclined his toward each one in turn.

"It is nice to meet you both. Are you close to Lady Charlotte?"

"Not as close as the Winslow's, my lord." Answered Sophia.

"Well, I shall leave you ladies to it then. Mrs. Winslow may I speak with you in the hall please?"

"Yes, my lord." Mary followed Henry out into the hallway. Henry walked a few feet away from the door to Lottie's chambers and quickly turned around, almost knocking Mary to the ground.

"What is going on?"

" Those two girls are not friends of Lottie's and need to be kept at arms' length. I have never trusted them and I still don't. They came up this morning claiming they wished to help, but I believe they wanted to get a peek at you."

"The formality was for them. That makes sense. But I have to say, I was very confused." Laughted Henry. Mary laughed as well. He and the Winslow's had slipped into the informality of first names that he didn't really even think about it.

"Also, I wanted to tell you in private that someone had been sneaking around in my study. The door was open when I went up there to get the marriage contract. Fortunately, they didn't find it and I signed all the papers and hid them. I can trust that you will keep this in the family only."

"Oh my goodness! I am glad they weren't stolen. And yes, of course, we wouldn't say anything to anyone. That would upset Lottie to learn she was married and everyone else already knew."

"I knew I could trust you." Henry gave her a little hug and left the hall.