Gwendolyn slowed to a stop. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, darling. Your father knows how to handle himself in situations.”
“He’s a businessman,” Oscar countered. “I don’t think he finds himself handling kidnappers often, if at all.”
“True, but Gideon Abbott is with him. From what I’ve observed, he knows his way around troubling circumstances. And when you add in the fact your father was infuriated with the men who took you, I imagine he and Gideon will soon have those men secured.”
“Hank will be easy to catch,” Oscar said. “There’s no way he can get out of the closet. We shoved a dresser in front of it before we left.”
“It was heavy,” Samuel added. “Me and Priss had to sit on the floor and push it with our legs.”
“How very clever of all of you,” Gwendolyn said, right before she heard a carriage rumbling their way. She glanced to Oscar. “Stay with the twins. I’m going to see who that is.”
It came as no surprise, when she reached the edge of the road and looked over her shoulder, to see Oscar and the twins following her, although they were sticking to the shadows. Trying to keep to the shadows as well, Gwendolyn watched as the carriage careened into view.
“It’s Grandmother Ethel,” Oscar said, stealing up beside her and making her jump.
“You’re supposed to be watching the twins.”
“We’re right here,” Samuel said.
“Of course you are,” Gwendolyn muttered as the carriage drew closer. “Are you certain that’s your grandmother?”
“I know what her carriage looks like.”
Praying Oscar was right, Gwendolyn drew in a breath and stepped into the road, waving her hands at the fast-approaching carriage, which had the driver, once he spotted her in the lantern light, reining the horses to a rapid stop.
A second later, the carriage door burst open and Ethel and Matilda leapt to the ground, rushed past Gwendolyn, their arms already open, and scooped Samuel and Priscilla close, hugging them tightly.
Ethel finally lifted her head to look Gwendolyn’s direction, tears trailing down her cheeks. “You rescued them,” she whispered.
“In all fairness to the children,” Gwendolyn said, as Oscar stepped to Ethel’s side and gave her a hug, “they rescued themselves. But what are you doing here?”
“We’re grandmothers,” Matilda said, peering over Priscilla’s head. “You couldn’t have expected us to remain at Sea Haven—not when it’s almost one and no one returned to the cottage.” She caught Gwendolyn’s eye. “We’re armed.”
Gwendolyn suppressed a shudder when Matilda whipped a pistol from her pocket, although the gingerly way she held it spoke volumes. “Have you ever shot a pistol before?”
“Of course not, but Ethel and I decided all one needs to do is cock back the trigger, then shoot.”
“How about you let me hold that while you and Ethel get the children settled in the carriage?”
“Oh, thank you, dear,” Matilda said, not hesitating to pass over the pistol. “I was afraid it might go off in my pocket.”
“To which I have nothing to say except thank goodness it didn’t.”
After tucking the pistol into her pocket—after making sure Matilda hadn’t accidentally cocked it, because the night certainly didn’t need an accidental shooting—Gwendolyn helped get the twins and Oscar situated between Ethel and Matilda, stilling when the sound of more carriage wheels trundling down the road met their ears.
Before Gwendolyn could move to investigate, Ethel was thrusting another pistol into her hands. “Not certain that monster’s loaded, but it might startle someone if you point it and Matilda’s pistol at whoever’s approaching.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Gwendolyn stepped back from the carriage, slammed the door shut, and nodded to Ethel’s driver. “Get them back to Sea Haven.”
The driver didn’t hesitate to snap the reins over the horses’ backs, leaving Gwendolyn standing in a cloud of dust as the approaching carriage began to slow.
Cocking the pistol, she stepped to the side of the road and took aim, but lowered it when she realized Frank Lambert was driving the carriage, Catriona riding a horse beside him.
“Where are the children?” Frank demanded, pulling the carriage to a stop the second he caught sight of her. Catriona did the same with the horse.
“They’re fine,” she returned with a jerk of her head up the road. “They’re in that carriage.”
“Walter and Gideon?” Catriona asked next.
“I left them at Low Tide after the children came out of the house.”
“They may need help” was all Frank said before he slapped the horses with the reins and was off, leaving Gwendolyn and Catriona behind.
“Should we follow him?” Catriona asked.
“No. I think our concern should be the children.”
Accepting the hand her cousin held out to her, Gwendolyn swung up behind Catriona and they were off, catching up to Ethel’s carriage and staying directly behind it until it pulled up to Sea Haven.
“The grandmothers promised us a special treat for getting snatched,” Samuel informed her after jumping out of the carriage, Priscilla right behind him.
“Did they now?” Gwendolyn asked as Priscilla grabbed hold of her hand.
“I don’t think you should take the grandmothers to task about indulging us this time,” Oscar said quietly, stealing up beside her. “They’ve suffered quite the fright, and you know it’s their habit to offer treats.”
“A reasonable suggestion, and I wasn’t going to lecture them, not really,” Gwendolyn said, earning a rolling of the eyes from Ethel, who’d climbed out of the carriage and moved to stand beside her.
“Of course you were, dear,” Ethel said.
“She’s very proficient with lecturing,” Matilda added as she joined Ethel.
Gwendolyn’s lips curved. “I truly wasn’t going to lecture you, merely make a recommendation regarding how you might indulge the children this time.”
“Avoid additional ponies?” Ethel asked.
“Well, that too, but I was going to suggest you indulge them with the treat of taking them somewhere special, somewhere of their choosing. That way you’ll be giving them memories, not simply a new toy that will be appreciated in the moment but forgotten by week’s end.” Gwendolyn leaned closer and lowered her voice. “You can distract them with suggestions of where they might like to go while we wait for Walter to return.”
After they settled into the drawing room—Mrs. Boyle fussing over the children as she served them chicken, potatoes, and a variety of other dishes, clucking that the poor dears were obviously starving since their kidnappers hadn’t had the decency to feed them much—Gwendolyn kept an eye on the clock, each tick of it seeming to last a lifetime.
Finally, after an hour had passed, she heard voices in the hallway, and then Walter strode into the room, kneeling as his children flew toward him, all three of them grabbing hold of their father as he kissed each one on the head and pulled them close, seemingly not bothered in the least that his cheeks were streaked with tears.