Afterthought - M J Marlow (pdf to ebook reader .txt) 📗

to after dinner, Daria; now is the time to tell us.” She burst into tears at the thought that she could have anything to do with actually hurting Evangeline this badly. Jessica put her arms around her older cousin and stroked her back. The ‘little mother’, as her sister and brother called her, was in her element when people needed comforting. The rest of them would have left Daria hanging, but Jess could never resist a call for help. She and Evangeline were a great deal like each other in that way. “They have a place they go when they know they’re in trouble,” Daria replied. She saw no reason to protect them, even if they had done this to protect her. They had gone too far this time. “A pub in Darrow called the ‘Ancient and Honorable’.” “I know the place,” David frowned. “Some of the patrons might be ancient; but not a one of them could be considered ‘honorable’. I’ll call the Constable and have him send some men to back me up.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed. He went into the corridor between the castle and the hospital to talk. Daria looked at her father’s stern expression and knew playtime was over. She and her brothers had gone too far this time, and he was not going to ignore the attacks on his niece any longer. She sank down on a chair and shuddered. How had it gotten this far? They’d just been having a little fun with their quiet little cousin. “You’re arresting them?” Daria looked at her father in shock as she realized what David was saying. “Only if we can prove they had a hand in this,” Sterling replied. He saw his brother stiffen. “Evangeline doesn’t remember, Alexander. All we have is Douglas’ word that they saw her fall and left her there. It was an accident, but their negligence made it something far worse.” “Criminal negligence I’d call it, wouldn’t you?” a cold voice sounded from the doorway. They all turned to see the youngest Sterling uncle, the ‘Constable’, standing there. He shared the same lean face and build as his brothers and the other males in the family; the same cornflower blue eyes as all Sterlings. His expression showed them all that he was not amused by this latest ‘accident’ Evangeline had suffered. “I talked to some of the servants on the way over, Alastair,” he said to his older brother. “They told me that Douglas and Dustin were the ones who pulled Evangeline out of the well.” He spared a kiss for his worried wife, Maura, and a smile for his nephews and nieces, and then returned to official mode. “Do we have a lead on their whereabouts?” “I was calling you, sir,” David said as he followed his father into the waiting room. “Daria told us they go to the pub in Darrow when they want to keep their heads down.” “We’re off then,” Andrew nodded. He looked at Sterling as he paused by the door and his expression told his older brother that he needed to hear something. “Your boys might have been chasing her,” he said almost gently, “but they wouldn’t have wanted her hurt.” “Does it matter?” Sterling asked his brother. “She was still hurt.” He sank down on a chair and put his head in his hands. “What did I ever do to make these children such monsters?” “They’ll have to pay some price for their part in this,” Andrew said firmly. “My son and I are just two concerned family members coming to collect them.” He looked at his oldest brother coldly. “I think it is high time you put those two in the military.” “Always blunt and to the point,” Alexander nodded approvingly as Andrew and David hurried away. He looked at his older brother and saw the lines of strain around his eyes. He also noted that Sterling and James had not bothered to change since coming in after a servant had given them word that Evangeline had been found. “Get out of those wet clothes, you two. You’ll catch your death if you don’t take care of yourself and we already have one family member to care for.” He laid his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Eva is safe and we are taking excellent care of her. See to yourself or you won’t be any good for anyone.” “I called her father,” Sterling said as he turned to go. He saw Alexander stiffen. “He needs to know about this, Alexander.” “Why?” Alexander hissed. “He’s managed to keep out of her life for fifteen years. If she mattered to him…” “He’d have been here for her?” Sterling finished. He shook his head and told Alexander something he had sworn he would hold secret. Aileen had made it pretty clear to him when she left Evangeline with them that he was not to allow Roza to come near her child. “She told him me would come back and kill Evangeline before she would let him have her.” He saw Alexander’s stricken look. “Oh hell! This is getting to all of us.” “I knew our sister was disturbed, Alastair,” Alexander said softly, “but when did she go so completely over the edge?” He thought of the sister he had known and could not believe her possible of such a thing. He had been led to believe that Roza was the cause of all the trouble. “We shouldn’t worry her with this now.” He looked back towards the exam room. “Isn’t she in enough pain?” “Perhaps he won’t come?” Sterling suggested. He saw Alexander’s dark look and sighed. “You’re right. He’d be waiting for a chance like this.” “Go on and tend to your needs, Alastair,” Alexander sighed. “See that my son there does as well. We’ll deal with this other matter when the man arrives.” He turned to go back to the exam room. James and his sisters watched as their father and uncle walked off and they looked at each other in confusion. They had been told that their aunt Aileen had been married, but they had not been told anything about her husband. What kind of man was told he could never see his child? He had to be a criminal or a junkie or something equally unsavory to earn that punishment. They knew, without being told, that they were not to speak to their cousin Evangeline of this. For once, even Daria was determined to protect the girl. While the rest of the family was waiting to hear how Evangeline was, Douglas and Dustin sat in the back of the pub nursing their drinks and praying. They had not expected it to rain when they had seen Evangeline fall into the well. They could only hope that the servants had gotten her to care and that she had not been seriously injured by the fall. For the first time they both realized just how cruel they had been to their young cousin and they were heartily sorry for it. They just weren’t quite brave enough to go home quite yet. A shadow fell over them and they looked up to see a tall, copper-haired man with a dark goatee on his lean face. He was built like what he was, a warrior. His lean frame was well muscled from years of fighting and training fighters to engage in all forms of combat. Gideon Lyndon, one of the three older brothers of Nathaniel Lyndon, took a chair at their table and looked at them coldly. “Everyone is looking for you, boys,” Gideon said simply. He saw them pale. “Your cousin was found. She hurt her head, banged her knee and broke her ankle,” he continued; “minor injuries compared to the fever she is running.” His eyes narrowed. “That was a very stupid stunt, boys. The girl could have broken her neck falling into the well.” “The well isn’t that deep,” Dustin cried in protest. He looked at Douglas and saw his older brother’s angry eyes. “She must have slipped.” “So why did you run?” Gideon snapped at him. He nodded when the younger boy closed his mouth and looked extremely remorseful. Then he turned to look at the older boy. He sighed to himself. Douglas Sterling was going to be a danger until he learned to think about other people beside himself. “You have nothing to say, Douglas?” “They didn’t send you to take us back, Gideon,” Douglas said softly. “You’ve delivered your message; now go away. Dustin and I will go back when we decide to go back.” Gideon met the spoiled brat’s eyes coldly and he could see that Douglas was serious. He had never met anyone so self-centered in his life. Sterling had done his son a grave disservice by allowing him to remain this way. Well, Gideon’s eyes told Douglas in a manner that had the boy’s arrogance failing, the soft times were over. It was time for the boy to grow up and be a better man than he had been. “You boys need to go some place you can learn not to be so careless with other people’s well-being” Gideon said coldly as two other men came up to the table. The boy’s bluster faded as the two obviously superbly trained fighting machines stood there. Dark shirts and dark slacks seemed to be the uniform among Lyndon’s men and, like Gideon, they seemed to be molded to frames that were sculpted by training and combat. Their eyes were cold as they waited for Gideon’s order. “My men are going to take you to the nearest Induction Center and make certain you sign up for a hitch in the military. I’ll take your car home.” “We don’t have any intention…” “Would you prefer that we just stage a little traffic accident, then?” Gideon broke in harshly. He had no more patience for this pair of brats. “You are both drunk enough that such an event would be believable. That is the only other option.” “No,” Dustin shook his head. He could see Gideon was serious and he was too young to die because of a prank. Being away from home for a while was far more preferable, to his way of thinking. “Can we at least tell our father where we’re going, Gideon?” “I will tell him where you’ve gone,” Gideon replied tightly; “but you will write to him once you’ve signed up and apologize to him for being such bad sons. You will also write and apologize to your cousin, Evangeline, for your thoughtlessness.” “You certainly have a lot of orders, Gideon,” Douglas sniffed. “Be glad I’m letting you live, you mouthy brat,” Gideon replied. “If your little stunt had caused your cousin any more injury, you would have had only the one option. You are both intelligent enough to know I am not referring to the military.” He frowned as he saw the Constable and David come in. “We have no time for a family argument,” he frowned as he yanked Dustin to his feet and shoved him out the back; leaving his men to get Douglas going. “Come along, boys.” Andrew and David stepped up to the bar just after Douglas and Dustin were taken out the back. They talked to the barkeep and he pointed towards the table in back. But the table was empty; the boys had obviously seen them coming and run for it. Andrew frowned as he saw that there were several empty pints on the table, and had David talk to the other patrons, while he went outside to make a call. He told his men that Douglas and Dustin were to be arrested for DUI if they were spotted on the roads. Then he rejoined David and they headed back to the Sterling estate. “They are lucky the Lyndon man stepped in when he did,” a blonde woman hissed as she watched from the other corner.