Honor Reclaimed (All About Honor) (37 page)

“We have been distracted for the
last few months, and pretty much out of touch with the outside world.
 
Of course we have known that this was
coming for years now it seems, but we had not realized that things had gotten
so out of control in these last few months.”
 
John was at a loss to know how to appropriately
respond.
 
Under normal
circumstances news of impending war would override any other consideration, but
these were not normal times in the Lewis household.

“What could be more important than
your king and your country?”
 
Sir
Henry was clearly offended at John’s indifference.
 
“Where do you stand John?
 
You have not changed your allegiance have you?”
 
This time Sir Henry’s hand was resting
on his sword.

“Of course not.
 
I swore my allegiance to my sovereign
at his coronation and I am honor bound to support him unto death, but I cannot
commit myself at this time.
 
I have
pressing personal business that we are on our way to London to attend to.”
 
John wanted to make sure his loyalties
were clearly defined.

“Sir, I do not see how you can put
any business needs above the needs of his majesty in his utmost hour of need.
The king needs all his men to back him against Parliament.
 
There can be no exceptions.”
 
His voice held a hint of threat.

“Henry, do not misunderstand
me.
 
Under any other circumstance I
would be at your side, but my youngest daughter was abducted, torn from her
mother’s arms, and spirited away almost three months ago.
 
We have been searching for her every
since.
 
We have discovered that
they are most likely headed to London to hide in the crowds.
 
I can not delay, or I may never find
her.” John was sure that Sir Henry would understand his plight, as he was,
after all, a father himself.

“I am so sorry to hear of your loss,
but John these are times when we have to put our personal lives behind us and
defend our country and our king above all else.” Henry replied.

“I am sorry you feel that way, but I
must put the needs of my family first in this regard.
 
If I do not locate her now, I may never have the chance
again.
 
They could disappear from
the face of the earth if we delay.
 
They could catch a ship to anywhere from London.
 
I have to catch up to them before they
have a chance to do that.
 
Whether
or not I find her, I have to return to
Monmouthshire
to tell her mother.
 
I am the
King’s man, and if the war reaches us in Wales, I will be there in force to
defend my monarch to the death.
 
Right now my family obligations take precedence.”

“That, my friend, is for Charles to
decide.
 
I must insist that you
accompany me to Oxford.
 
It will be
up to the King if he wishes to excuse you from service at this time.”
 
Gone was the slightly inebriated
gentleman and in his place was the hardened soldier who had fought the better
part of the last ten years on the continent.

“You do not have the authority to
require me to do anything my friend.
 
I stand by my decision to pursue my daughter at all cost.
 
You are a professional soldier.
 
I am an attorney and a family man.
 
My value to the king would be minimal,
at best, at this time.
 
I must seek
to find my child.”
 
John left no
doubt
of
his determination.

“You, of course, are right.
 
You may, however, be turning down the
opportunity to gain a title.”
 
Henry could see that nothing would deter John from doing his duty by his
family, regardless of the consequences to himself.
 
Actually, Henry would have expected no less of his old
friend.

“Is there anyway that I may be of
assistance?”
 
Henry offered.

“I can not imagine how at this
time.
 
We will proceed to
London.
 
What we will do when we
get there I do not know.
 
First, I
believe that we will check all passenger lists out of the harbor.
 
They may have fled to Holland, France
or the colonies, or they may just hope to get lost in the crowds in London.”
John was having trouble remaining hopeful.

They entered London on the evening
of the fourth day after they parted from Sir Henry at Windsor.
 
They went straight to the Lewis
townhouse.
 
John immediately
dispatched a messenger to Sir Alexander requesting an audience the following
morning.
 

They arrived at Braybrooke House and
were shown immediately to Sir Alex’s study.
 
John was surprised to seeing how little Sir Alex had aged
since he had last seen him.
 
He was
beginning to think of him as indestructible, which of course he was not.
 

“Sir, we thank you so much for
seeing us on such short notice.”
 
John made his bow to his old friend’s father.
 
“You remember my cousin Thomas and my brother in-law Galen.”
They each in turn made their bow to the elder gentleman.

“Of course, it is good to see you
gentlemen again.
 
Please be
seated.
 
May I offer you something
to drink?
 
Have you broken your
fast?”
 
He offered.

“We are fine sir.
 
We just left our breakfast table, but
feel free to take yours, we would be glad to sit with you.”
 
John replied.

“Oh no son, I have been up for
hours.
 
It becomes more and more
difficult to stay in bed with these aching bones.
 
I am giving thought to turning the management my estate over
to my youngest son for a while and joining Drew in Virginia for an extended
visit.
 
Maybe I can find relief in
a warmer climate.”
 
Perceptive as
he had ever been, Sir Alex sat back in his chair and turned directly to John.
 
“I feel that you are here on a mission
and not just a social visit.
 
How
can I be of assistance?”

“Sir, we are in search of my
youngest daughter who was abducted almost three months ago.
 
We have reason to believe she was
brought to London and may still be here, if she has not been transported
somewhere overseas.”
 
John could
see both shock and sympathy in the old man’s eyes.

“My God.
 
What happened and do you know who has her?”
 
Sir Alex asked.

John brought him up to date on
everything they knew to this point.

“How can I be of assistance?
 
You know I will do anything in my power
to help you retrieve your daughter.
 
Her poor mother must be absolutely devastated.”
 
John knew how much Sir Alex loved his
grandchildren and he could see that he had his complete sympathy.

“Sir, I know that you at one time
had a man in your employ that was something of a bloodhound and a bulldog in
his abilities and determination.
 
I
know Drew had great respect for his abilities, while he at the same time
acknowledged that he was something of a scoundrel.
 
Do you know if he would be available for this kind of
work?”
 
John held his breath for
the answer.

“Certainly I will contact him on
your behalf.
 
Drew is right in his
assessment of Sullivan.
 
He will
leave no stone unturned.
 
The man
raised four daughters of his own if I remember correctly.
 
I am sure he will sympathize with your
cause.”
 
Sir Alex’s heart went out
to this desperate family.

“Return to your town home and I will
have Sully report to you as soon as possible.
 
He will want every scrape of information you can gather and
what information you have been able to acquire.
 
He will then know what to do with that information.
 
Sometimes his tactics are, umm, let us
say non traditional.
 
He can be
rather aggressive when riled. He might bend the law considerably, but he only
rarely breaks the law intentionally.”
 
Sir Alex assured them.

The men were still at breakfast the
next morning when Sullivan was announced.
 
“Mr. Sullivan, I can not thank you enough for calling on us so quickly.
 
I assume that Sir Alexander has
informed you of our need.”

“Yes sir, but I need to hear all the
details from you.
 
Try not to leave
out any detail.
 
The smallest
detail may be the very one that solves the case.”
 
Sullivan encouraged the gentlemen.

John retold the tale with some
details being filled in by Thomas or Galen.
 
When they had finished, they were disheartened to hear
Sullivan’s comments.
 
“I hate to
tell you that it may be impossible to locate your girl.
 
London is a big city and there are many
places in which to hide, assuming they are still in the city.
 
Once they reached London Towne, the
chances of finding them were drastically reduced. They could have boarded a
ship and headed for any port in the world.
 
I will do everything in my power to locate them, but I do
not want to give you false hope.”
  

John was deflated.
 
He did not know how much more
disappointment he could withstand.
 
He would have to turn it over to Sully and pray for the best.
 
He and his family had done all they
could do, but he would never give up hope of someday seeing his daughter again.

A week passed before Sullivan again
was announced.
 
“Good evening
Sully
, please tell me you are bringing good news.”
 
John knew he was being unrealistic
before he even uttered the words.

“I wish I was Mr. Lewis.
 
I am afraid that the news I bring is
not the news you want to hear.
 
It
appears that they have left the country.
 
A woman with a young child booked passage to the colonies ten days
ago.
 
While they meet the general
description you gave, they did not match it completely.
 
It is not difficult to change the color
of hair, or to cover it so that the color is unremarkable.
 
It would be expected seeing as your
daughter’s coloring was so distinctive.
 
I am sorry, I wish I could give you better news.”
 
Sullivan could only imagine how he
would feel if it were one of his daughters who was missing.
 
His heart went out to this family.

“Surely we know to which port they
were headed.
 
Could we not travel
there to search for her?”
 
John
pushed.

“They were headed for Maryland, but
once there, they could have dispersed in any direction.
 
It would be safe to say that they are
somewhere in the middle colonies, but where.
 
That is a huge area to contemplate.”
 
Sully tried to give them a clear
picture of what they were up against.
 
“It would require a vast amount of time and money.
 
I would be willing to give it a try,
but it will cost you considerable and there is very little hope of success.”

“I do not care about the cost.
 
We have to try.”
 
John could not bring himself to give
up.

“As you wish sir, I can be ready to
leave in a day or two if I can find a ship going to the right area.
 
You should return home and try to
return to your old life.
 
I must
caution you to prepare yourself for disappointment.”
 
Sully promised to keep them posted to the best of his
abilities.

“We will be returning home within
the week, if you need to contact me you may do so at my estate at Llanthony
Priory near Abergavenny.”
 
John was
obviously disheartened, but they had exhausted their options there was nothing
else they could do here.
 
All that
was left to do was wait and see if Sully could locate her.

Chapter 19

Returning home John began to prepare
himself and his men for the battles that were sure to come.
 
He had known for a certainty that this
was coming since word reached him in September 1642 that the King had raised
his
royal battle standard over Nottingham Castle as a declaration of war against
Parliament
.
 
In November he learned of the Battle of
Edgehill, the first pitched battle of the war, which had been fought on October
23
^rd
in Warwickshire.
 
The outcome of the battle was questionably decided for the king.
 
It was an inauspicious beginning and
things had not improved greatly.
 

In
preparation they gathered, forged, or repaired crossbows, longbows, arrows for
both, battle axes, spikes, swords, lances, muskets, ammunition, gun powder,
bridles, saddles, blankets. They drilled on foot, and those that had them, on
horseback.
 
They practiced their
archery and their musketry week after week.

He had
drilled his men endlessly preparing them to respond as a unit in battle, hoping
never to have to use these hard earned skills.

The
message finally arrived from
the
Earl of Worcester to report immediately to Raglan.
 
John knew this meant that the Puritan forces were expected
and a siege was sure to follow.
 
They would of course be subjected initially to a frontal assault, but
inevitably it would result in a siege and defeat.
 
Quite likely everything including his own life would be
forfeited for this lost cause, but he had no choice.
 
His honor demanded that he offer his service in the defense
of the king; and so he would, regardless of the consequences to himself and his
family.
 

Eirian and the children would suffer
as well since his property would likely be confiscated and they would be
require to rely on the charity of her father, but he had no doubt that Sir
Morgan and eventually Galen would care for them in his absence. William would
be a man soon and with the help and support of his grandfather and his uncle,
he would learn to shoulder some of the responsibilities for his family.
 
He was a son to be proud of.

John had known that Eirian would
take his leaving hard.
 
He had
delayed this moment as long as possible hoping that the war would not actually
reach them here in their remote corner of the world.
 
The moment could no longer be delayed.

“You cannot be serious!
 
Please John, you can not leave me and
the children to go on this fool’s errand.”
 
Eirian held fast to John’s arm and looked at him pleadingly.

“Fool’s errand or not baby, I am
obligated.
 
I swore an oath to my
sovereign.
 
I must honor my
oath.”
 
It hurt him to see the pain
in her eyes.

“Do you care so little for your life
that you are willing to sacrifice it for a lost cause?” Eirian fell to her
knees and wrapped her arms around John’s legs burying her tear stained cheeks
in his lap.

“Do you care so little for my honor
that you would ask me to sacrifice it to stay safely home with you and the
children?”
 
John countered, lifting
her chin and forcing her to look in his eyes.

“You swore and oath to me the day
you married me.
 
Where is your
loyalty there?” She asked with a tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I have loved, honored, and
cherished you everyday of our marriage and will until death do us part, but I
must do what I feel is my duty or I could not be the man that you married.
 
Baby, please try to understand.” Eirian
could see that no matter what she said or did, John would follow his conscience
and do his duty, even if it was tantamount to committing suicide.

There was nothing more to be
said.
 
Eirian could not accept his
obligation to the King and he could not disregard it.
 
He had to follow his conscience.

“I love you, but I must go.”
 
John turned and left the room.
 
Eirian lay prostrate sobbing
uncontrollably.

His bags packed and his men
assembled below, John made one more attempt to part amicably from his
wife.
 
Walking up behind his wife
John bent to kiss her neck, “Eirian, it is time that I must go.
 
Can you at least kiss me and wish me
God’s speed?”

She rose from the chair and turned
to face him.
 
“Please forgive
me.
 
I love you more than life
itself.
 
I am so frightened of
loosing you, but I can not let you leave without telling you how much I love
you and that I will pray for you everyday.”
 
She collapsed into his arms burying her face into his chest
and allowing her tears to flow freely.

John held her for as long as he
could, his check resting on her head.
 
“Kiss me my love, for I must go.”

Eirian wrapped her arms around his
neck pulling his lips down to hers.
 
Their lips locked in heart wrenching desperation, sharing the sorrow of
their parting and the promise of love everlasting.

John eventually forced himself to
release her, and turning without another word he left his wife, his home, and
his life, as he had always known it, quite possibly for the last time ever.