The Scandal of a Perfect Kiss by Farmer Merry

Author:Farmer, Merry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Henrietta was only vaguely aware of the buzz of activity that filled the house after Lady Tavistock and Lord Denbigh stole Ricky away from her. She collapsed onto a sofa in the drawing room to weep until her tears gave way to stinging eyes and a pounding headache. She was vaguely aware that Fergus stayed with her, his chair parked beside her sofa. He said a few words of comfort that she didn’t really hear and attempted to stroke her back, but she shrugged him off. How could she possibly think of finding comfort in his touch when she’d been so bloody foolish as to play right into Richard’s mother’s hands?

It was her fault, all of it. She’d put her own happiness ahead of Ricky’s. She’d rested on the laurels of the power she’d believed she had, and it had cost her in the most painful way possible. She never should have brought Ricky to London. She never should have let him out of her sight for one moment. Now it was too late.

“Henny?” She jerked up from her morass of tears as Freddy rushed into the drawing room. “I came as fast as I could.”

Fergus moved his chair aside so that Freddy could run to her, arms outstretched. A fresh wave of tears broke over Henrietta as she flung herself into her brother’s arms. It shocked her how relieved she was to have him with her. He was the only family she had left beside Ricky, and it struck her with stunning clarity how important it was to have family to lean on.

“By what right did Lady Tavistock bring policemen into Henrietta’s house to take her son?” Freddy demanded.

It took Henrietta another moment to realize he was speaking to Fergus, that the two of them had begun a conversation while she wept. Deep shame filled her, bolstering her in a strange way. She could not fall apart, not when Ricky needed her the most.

“She had some sort of court order,” Fergus began.

“She did it to strike out at me for living my life instead of existing in a constant state of mourning for her son,” Henrietta said, forcing herself to sit straight and wiping away her tears. “And for raising Ricky as I see fit rather than by her stifling methods.”

“There has to be more to it as well,” Fergus went on, glancing between Henrietta and Freddy, as though he were about to say something Henrietta wouldn’t like. “Denbigh’s involvement is not an accident. He spurred Lady Tavistock on because we wouldn’t close the investigation against him.”

“We’ve been through all of this before,” Freddy said with surprising command. “At Morwell Manor and after. At this point, motivations do not matter. We have to get Ricky back as fast as possible.”

“But how?” The hopelessness in Henrietta’s heart felt like a black ink stain, spreading through her and darkening everything that had once been light within her. “Lady Tavistock managed to get a court to decide in her favor.”

“Without a hearing?” Freddy asked, his arm firm around her back, holding her up.

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