She’d put everything into one big, black bag. She’d slit the leather straps and fed diamond bracelets into them. The lining, the pockets, were all full. On top, she’d put a few scarves—just in case anyone noticed.
With her breath held, she went through the drawing room. Byon and Puck were dancing together, Nicky was sulking in a chair, his back to them. Clive and Willa weren’t there. Chasing each other, she thought. And Diana was missing. Please don’t let her be in the stables, snuggled up to some damned horse!
Nadine made it out the side door with no one seeming to notice. When she got near the stables she saw the light—but she also heard voices. Up on the little hill she could see Clive and Willa. He seemed to be bawling her out. Damn him! she thought. He was angry that they were all about to leave on The Adventure That Is Life, while he had to stay and bear the brunt of Nicky’s and Bertram’s endless anger. He took it all out on poor Willa.
Finally, Clive seemed to have said something so nasty that even masochistic Willa couldn’t take it. She ran down the path to the house, while Clive put his hands in his pockets and went the other way. He seemed to be feeling triumphant.
Too bad I won’t be here tomorrow to take him down, Nadine thought.
When it was quiet again, she went to the open stable doors. There was a saddle on a stand outside. She thought it was odd that Sean had left it there. Even she knew that rain might hurt the leather.
She went into the stables and saw that it was empty of people. One of the horses was dancing about, its eyes rolling around, so she stayed away from it. The others also seemed agitated but for all she knew, they were always like that.
She went back to Sean’s office but he wasn’t there. Just last night he’d shown her his suitcase, all packed and ready, in the corner by his big tool chest. She’d expressed concern that someone would see it, guess the truth and tell her father.
He’d kissed away her worries, assuring her that no one, not even Diana, came to his office. And if they did, they would pay no attention to an old suitcase in the corner.
The suitcase was no longer there.
Maybe it was a sixth sense or just her being paranoid, but she knew something was wrong. Felt it in her bones.
She didn’t know what to do. Wait for him to return? Go back to the house? Had he left her?
She went back into the center of the stables, facing the open doors, and sat down on a bale of hay. The horses seemed to be more agitated. Shouldn’t they be asleep? she thought. Did they miss Sean? They made soft sounds when he was around and nuzzled against him. Sometimes, they almost made Nadine jealous.
“Be quiet,” she hissed at them, but her words seemed to make them worse.
When she heard a sound outside, she ducked down beside the hay bales, but it was nothing. One of Bertram’s dogs, maybe.
It was when she stood up that she saw the corner of white fabric. It looked like one of Sean’s shirts, the heavy kind that he liked. Whatever was it doing back there?
She gave it a tug, and to her horror, out fell a pistol. It clattered on the wooden floor.
Nadine stood up, staring down at it in shock.
Sean had complained about rats in the stable, eating grain, opening bags, annoying his beloved horses. “I’d like to blast them off the earth,” he’d said.
Surely he hadn’t been shooting at them, Nadine thought. But if he did, then what? The gun fell down between the bales and he forgot about it?
She used the shirt to pick it up, not wanting to touch the thing, and rolling the cloth around it. She jammed it into the top of her heavy bag and covered it with a silk scarf. When she next saw him, she planned to give him a piece of her mind. His carelessness was dangerous!
There was another sound outside, only this time she knew it was one of the little trucks used on the estate. It had to be Sean!
She hurried to his office. Let him have a few moments of not knowing she was there. Let him think she hadn’t shown up!
But it wasn’t Sean who entered the stables. There was a little window, foggy from years of dirt that looked out toward the stalls.
Oh no! Nadine thought. It was Mrs. Aiken. She despised Sean and was always accusing him of stealing food. That it was Nadine who was taking it made her and Sean laugh.
Nadine knew that Nicky and Byon had sent Puck to the pantry to “rummage and appropriate” as they said. No doubt Mrs. Aiken had discovered the missing items and had come here in the middle of the night to accuse Sean. For those she hated, she never missed an opportunity to smother them in her anger.
Nadine did not want to be part of this!
There was a back door in the office and Sean kept the hinges well-oiled. She slipped out into the night, breathing in relief that she’d escaped.
But now what? she thought. When Sean got back and saw Mrs. Aiken there, he’d turn around and leave. But where would he go?
Instantly, she knew. The chapel. It was the only truly private place on all of Oxley. No one went there.
Except us, Nadine thought as she began making her way around the house. Sean was probably waiting for her there now. He’d hold her and laugh at all her silly premonitions.
“Nothing is wrong,” she said aloud. “Everything is good.” She hurried to the chapel.
ACT FIVE
SCENE TWO
THE CHAPEL
Nadine used her key to open the door to the chapel. Sean had had copies made so they could leave the original key in the kitchen. In the past year they’d spent a lot of their time thinking of ways to keep their meetings secret. Evading Puck had been the most difficult.
“That child is everywhere,” Sean said. “She sees everything. Hears it all.” He believed Puck knew about them, but Nadine didn’t agree.
As she opened the door, her breath was held in anticipation. This was it. The beginning of her new life. Marriage to the man she loved, a child on the way. She’d miss her father, but she had no doubt that as soon as he saw his grandchild, he’d forgive all. “I hope she’s a girl,” she whispered. Her father could spoil her, dote on her, shower her with gifts. He could—
The chapel was empty. Worse, it had that feeling that no one had been in there in a long time.
She sat down heavily on a wooden pew. Now what? Did she wait for him? She put her heavy bag down beside her. Maybe he’d had an emergency. One of the horses was sick. That she hadn’t seen Diana in the house seemed to reinforce the idea. Yes, an animal was ill and they’d taken it to the vet.
She didn’t want to think about the fact that they’d heard no noise of a trailer being loaded or that no one had commented on this happening. She also didn’t want to think how much easier it would be for a vet to come to them.
Pregnancy was making her sleepy. Her head fell to her chest and her eyes were beginning to close when she jerked awake. The stone walls of the chapel were thick but she thought she heard a sound outside.