Page 81 of Once Upon a Reckless Rogue

“Your wife?” June repeated in shock.

“She was not my wife then, but she is now. It’s a long story. Her name is Elena.”

“Elena? Elena! You married a Spanish woman?” Her mother clutched her silver cross that hung around her neck.

“Why does it matter that she is Spanish?” This was what he had feared. Thankfully, Elena was not here.

“And I bet she is Catholic too. Oh my…where are those salts?”

“That Spanish Catholic woman saved my life, Mother. I would not be here if it were not for her.” He stood and paced to the other side of the room. He needed to cool down. It was just shock, he told himself, that made her react this way, but he could not help his disappointment.

“Forgive her, Thomas. She has cried every day since we were told the news of your death.” June stood and hugged him. “I am glad you are back, and I do not care that you have married Elena. If she did indeed save you, we all owe her a great debt. Now, come and sit down.”

He followed her to the sofa, his mother now in a chair fanning herself. “June, what were you told about…my death?”

“A man came to the house. He had a box and in the box was…your finger. He said it was proof that you had died.”

“Was that man Lord Stafford by any chance?” Thomas asked.

“Yes, yes, I think it was. He was fairly old, but he had a keen look in his eyes. I believed him immediately.”

“I am afraid to say that you have all been misled. It was, in fact, Lord Stafford who sent me to Spain and who tipped off our enemies so that they could capture me.”

The three women gasped.

“Oh, that awful man must have thought us most gullible,” his mother said. “I’m sorry for my initial reaction, dear boy. I just never expected to see you ever again. Or to hear you are married. But dear, if you married in a Catholic church, you are not really married legally here.”

“That is why we married again when we reached London. Fear not, Mother, my wife is legitimate. You will love her when you meet her.”

She nodded. “I hope she will love us also. To think that we believed everything that man said to us.”

“I think he believed I was dead. It was the deal he struck with the French. My finger was meant to be truth and a reason for my ward to be pulled out of hiding.”

“Your ward? What ward?”

“Father bade me to keep her a secret on his deathbed. He said that if anyone knew who she was she would be in danger. The only other person who knew was Stafford. Perhaps on the way home I will tell you the whole story, but for now I must know why you fled Milford. Why did you sack the staff and close the house?”

The two women looked at each other before his sister said, “Lord Stafford told us it was not safe to stay. Once certain people knew that you were dead, they would come to our home demanding answers to secrets we did not know. That they may use force to pry out the information. We knew of no information and allowed him to sack your study. He was not happy when he left and told us we must leave immediately, lest angrier men than he come knocking.”

“We left that very day,” his mother added.

“And the money part?”

“Was just an excuse to keep the staff safe also, for if the man had told the truth no one at the house would be safe. We could not leave them to keep the house if there was danger.”

That explained why the house was in such a state. “That must have been very frightening for you both. I apologize you had to go through that. I would not want that for you if I had really died.”

“My question is, Thomas,” June said, “why were you in Spain, and why were bad men after you? You never even wrote to tell us you were leaving London.”

Ah, this was where he had to make some hard decisions. Exactly how much should he tell them? He looked at his aunt and then at his mother and sister. “What I tell you now cannot be talked about outside this room. Is that understood?” he said.

They all nodded.

“I am…was a spy for the British Empire.”

His mother gasped, and his aunt gripped the arm of her chair.

His sister took her hand away from where she had been covering her open mouth. “All this time, Thomas?”