The Tenacious Lady Blackmore: A Sweet Regency Romance (Daughters of Courage Book 4) by Laura Rollins

Author:Laura Rollins [Rollins, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-09-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Once, many years ago, when Seth had been working down on the docks, trading with some of the seamen there, he’d run across a man who’d recounted the most ridiculous tale.

He told of a captain who, furious at one of his men, chose to stretch a plank of wood out over the ocean waves and then forced the man to walk out on it and demanded that he jump overboard.

It struck Seth as odd, especially since such a punishment would require that the offending man throw himself overboard instead of simply being tossed into the sea.

He’d written the whole story off as nonsense.

No one would do such a thing to themselves.

And yet, here he was.

This must be what walking the plank felt like.

Seth wasn’t exactly on a ship at sea, neither was he walking over a thin board jutting out precariously over the waves.

He wasn’t walking at all, truth be told.

He sat at the foot of a grand table in Charlotte’s London home, directly across from her, quite far away, at the head. Either side of the table was lined with their children and children-in-law. Eliza sat near his left, followed by Adam, Rachel, and lastly Christopher. His second daughter—actually his niece, but he’d stopped calling her that years ago, as he loved and cared for her as though she were his own—and her husband had arrived in London that afternoon and planned to stay only through Saturday. Though no one had said so aloud to him, Seth highly suspected this meeting was the precise purpose of their short visit.

On his right was Dinah, followed by Henry, Susan, and lastly William.

So, perhaps this was less like walking the plank and more like standing trial. But when one stood trial, there was always a chance of release, albeit it small.

Seth had no such chance.

“I know what you’re all thinking,” Seth spoke to the room as a whole, every eye on him. “I should never have committed to attending the meeting tomorrow.”

Nearly everyone started talking at once. Eliza insisted that she understood why he’d done it. Dinah spoke loudly that she thought it a grand idea—that it was about time her father stepped up and proved he wasn’t as backward as society too clearly believed.

Susan leaned across the table, explaining to Rachel exactly what had happened the other day at Hyde Park and why it could prove harmful to Charlotte’s standing among the other committee members. William and Adam, sitting at opposite corners and nearly yelling to be heard by one another, seemed in agreement that Seth was certainly in the wrong to have insisted he attend. It could only lead to more problems. Christopher and Henry both listened more than spoke, but they occasionally interjected thoughts, most of which Seth couldn’t hear over the ruckus.

Charlotte alone was saying nothing. Their eyes met from across the far length of the table.

“I’m sorry,” he mouthed.

Charlotte smiled softly back. She seemed to be saying not to worry. They would figure it out.

After everyone spoke over one another for a time, Charlotte placed both hands on the table and stood.

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