Phantoms In Philadelphia (32 page)

“May the knowledge alone keep you warm at
night.”

“Understood,” Levi replied with a laugh.

After giving Levi his new post, I returned home. Leo
was in my bedchamber putting my clothes away. After closing the
door, I blurted out who the real white phantom was and waited to
hear what, if anything, Leo would say.

“She will need to be watched by someone she will not
recognize.”

It was not what I expected. He showed no signs of
surprise. “I have Levi on it. He is as slippery as she so she will
not escape him.”

Leo watched me a moment, then spoke. “What do you
mean to do?” He knew about my feelings for Guinevere; after Bess he
was my closest confidante.

Sighing and toying with the strings of my mask, I
replied, “I have yet to decide. My heart wants me to discover how
she came to work for Levitas, but my head says that it does not
matter, that she is the white phantom.”

“You will do what you know is right, of that I am
certain.”

His words were a balm. To know that
he had faith in me was enough for the moment. Leo helped me out of
my coat and boots, and
presently I sent him
away, feeling better than I had in the last two weeks.

***

I tried convincing myself that I hated Guinevere,
that I wanted nothing to do with her. She had lied; she had
deceived, she had murdered, and she had shot me, though she could
have hit me if she had wanted to, but instead she aimed so that the
ball would graze me. How could I hate someone and love them at the
same time? I used to mock the poets who wrote of love and hate like
the two went together, but here I was, stuck in the middle of an
emotional shipwreck. I considered taking myself off the mission and
allowing someone else to capture her, for a moment. Thoughts of
Bess calling in Frederick for help, of Frederick being near
Guinevere, touching her at all, even in capture, made me want to
ride to Washington and throttle him. No, I had to keep on, but I
did not know if I would be strong enough to capture her when the
time came.

Leo was clearing the dishes from breakfast when a
knock echoed through the foyer. I walked into the foyer as Leo
opened the door. When Richard entered, I had no notion what he
could possibly want with me. We had hardly spoken three sentences
to each other since he had warned me away from Guinevere.

When we were alone in the library, Richard spoke.
“As a guardian, I have only ever wanted what was best for my ward.
I did not believe that you could provide for her in the way in
which she is accustomed.”

Indeed? I had seen her humble dwellings. My house
was a castle compared to where she lived, which was another strike
against Richard. I had been inside Richard’s two story mansion.
While he lived in elegance, his ward lived in a shabby house
surrounded by ungenteel folk.

“My Nell informs me that you have nearly gone mad
with grief over my decision to keep you and Guinevere apart. So
with much consideration, I have decided to retract my judgment, and
you may marry my ward. You must wait until after September of
course, but October is a fine month to be wed.”

My nose started to burn, and my eyes watered,
clouding my vision. My gut clenched and the pain that was washing
over me was nearly unbearable. I still loved Guinevere to the
depths of my soul. Two weeks ago, Richard’s words would have made
me the happiest man alive, but now I could no more marry Guinevere
than I could allow my mother to marry Richard.

“I expected, at the least, some show of joy,”
Richard said when I did not respond. “If you are thinking that
Guinevere may reject you, you are far off. She assures me that
there is an understanding between you.”

“She said that?” I asked, keeping all emotion from
my voice, but the emotions in my mind and heart were plenty.

“That and much more. She is a volatile, headstrong
girl who requires a man with a strong guiding hand, but alas, her
heart is set on you. We must make the best of the situation.”

The best of the situation.
The best of the situation.
In that moment, as the words echoed through my thoughts, I
realized what I must do, what my father would demand that I do. I
must marry Guinevere, or at least act as if I would do so. I could
almost hear my father’s voice.

Ingratiate yourself into her affections. Make her
yours in every sense, and she will tell you anything that you want
to know. This is your job, Jack, now do it.

“Why now?” my voice came out harsh.

Richard leaned back surveying me
through drooping lids as if he were tired of my presence. “Your
newly acquired fortune and the fact that by marrying my ward you
will be providing your sister with a place to reside.” When I
looked askance he sighed. “As your sister is not to marry, she will
need someplace to live.” Richard chuckled, and my brows snapped
together. I did not see any humor in that. “It is a fine joke, that
only days after Andrew Madison deserts your sister, thinking her a
fortune hunter, she acquires a fortune making her the wealthiest
heiress in town.”

“Where did you hear that Andrew left for that
reason?” I asked sharply, feeling as if the room were spinning.

“Why, I had it from Harvey last evening. Seems
someone filled Madison’s head with rubbish, and he believed it,
more fool him.” Richard chuckled again, then leaned forward. “Once
you marry my ward, she may play the role of chaperone until
Elizabeth finds a man who will marry her.”

Shooting him would be too easy a death. He deserved
to suffer. To be thrown into a cell with mice attacking him when
the sun went down and putrid smells imbedding in his nose.

***

Two days later, I was standing before Guinevere’s
house. I had taken the last two days to get my thoughts together
and to form a plan of attack against Guinevere’s heart and mind,
along with my own. When I rapt upon the door, only a moment passed
before I was facing Martha. She looked me over as her smile
bloomed.

“I am so glad to see you again, Mr. Martin,” she
said as she took my hat and gloves. There was a mischievous twinkle
in her eye as she held a finger to her lips, silencing me. She led
me to the parlor door, pointed in, and left me. I inhaled and
slowly exhaled before looking into the room.

Guinevere was upon the sofa, fast
asleep. The longing that churned in my body caught me off guard.
Her slender hands were tucked under her head as a pillow, and her
light blue dress was slightly pulled up revealing a pair of
stocking-clad, small feet and ankles. I smiled at the appearance
that she presented. The love within me urged me to forgive, to
rescue her from Richard’s clutches.
Richard’s clutches
.
Her words came back to me. The words spoken that
first night in Stark Manor. The words that I now knew were uttered
by the woman that I was watching.

My life may not be my own.

Was that the truth? Was her life not her own? Did
Richard force her to act for him? My teeth clenched, and I balled
my hands into tight fists. I had to discover the truth. Hope sprang
within me, but I could not allow it to develop roots, not until I
knew the truth. I gave myself a little shake. It was not the time
to get lost in my emotions. I advanced into the room and knelt
beside the sofa.

Strands of her hair had broken away
from the tight knot at the back of her head. I brushed away the
strands from her forehead as a poem sprang to my mind. “So long as
men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this
gives life to me.”

Her eyelids fluttered before her beautiful eyes
narrowed in on my face. She stared at me as if she were trying to
determine if I was real or a dream. She slowly, hesitantly brought
her hand up and laid it against my cheek.

Her eyes widened. “You are here. I was afraid I was
dreaming again.”

Unable to trust my voice not to betray my shaky
emotions, I only smiled. Tears formed in her eyes, and my heart and
my plans fell to pieces. I laid my hand over hers; soaking in her
warmth that I had thought would never be mine.

“Please, Jack, take me away from here, just the two
of us. Let us go and never return.”

She looked into my eyes clear to my soul, as she
waited for me to reply. She was in earnest; her every look, every
movement told me that she truly wanted me. All reason, all thought
fled in her plea. It was possible. With my new fortune, we could go
anywhere, do whatever we wanted. She would be mine. Without
thinking of anything else, I took her hand and helped her to
stand.

Fear and love burst into my heart like someone
taking a branch of candles into a dark room and making all things
visible. Love was expected, but the fear was that she would
suddenly change her mind. It caused me to speak with
determination.

“Let’s go, right now.” I looked around the room and
found her bonnet lying on the chair. I retrieved it, but as I
turned back to her and looked into her eyes the spell had worn
off.

She shook her head. “We cannot.”

I dropped her bonnet, clasping her shoulders. “No,
do not do that. Do not think. I love you, and I want to marry you,
today if you will have me. I even know of a minister who could
marry us, but we must go, now.”

“I wish it were that simple,” she whispered.

I released her and stepped back, again the poet.
“You are right of course, forgive me, I do not know what came over
me.”

Something dawned in her eyes causing them to widen.
“Did you just propose?”

Heat crept up my neck, and I felt like a fool, but I
was determined to continue. “It did not come out as I had planned.”
I took her hand. We sat on the sofa together, and I angled my body
to look into her eyes. “I must ask. Why me?”

She looked surprised, but there was no surprise in
her voice as she replied. “You allow me to be my true self. I do
not have to pretend to be what I am not when I am with you.”

Her words caused a deep ache to form within my
chest, for her words exactly matched my feelings. It was part of
the reason that I fell for her. Being with her felt right, like
finally finding where I truly belonged.

Bess had been looking to Andrew as her way out of
the Phantoms. Was Guinevere looking to me for the same? If she was
a victim of Levitas, then I would extract her from their grasp, and
I would marry her, but until then I had to look upon her as the
white phantom.

That did not mean that I could not give her a
proposal that she would remember.

“Some say that when you meet the person that you
want for life, you know. It could be a feeling or a moment, but for
me there were several moments. The first was when we met. Do you
remember?” She was smiling as she nodded. “I held my hand down to
you, but your eyes halted me, so pure, so perfect. You had to
recall my attention. That was the first moment.”

I pulled a ribbon from my pocket. It was the exact
deep purple blue shade as her eyes. I turned her arm over and
placed it across her wrist. She stared down at it as I went on. “I
had forgotten to ask your name, and I felt like a fool. I did not
know how to find you, but you found me.

“When you walked into my mother’s drawing room, you
were wearing an ivory gown threaded with gold and I knew before me
stood a vision of my future.” I pulled another ribbon from my
pocket, ivory and gold. I laid it across the other. “The day that I
showed you why I was called Saint John, you were wearing dark
green, and I wondered not for the first time, why you would choose
to spend time with me.

“You were wonderful with the children, and when we
were in the carriage, I knew you understood me.” I laid a dark
green ribbon over the other two, then started to braid them
together. “At the lake I knew that our hearts beat as one.” Her
cheeks turned pink, and I knew she was remembering our first kiss,
but her eyes widened when I pulled a small gold heart from my
pocket. I slipped the braid through the loop on the heart then tied
the ends.

“As a braid, these ribbons, that were once alone,
now become a cord, unable to be pulled apart. That is my promise to
you. If you will marry me, Guinevere, I promise to be as constant
and strong for you as this cord.”

Tears sparkled in her eyes, but they did not fall as
she said, “Yes, I will marry you.”

I picked up her hand and kissed her palm then kissed
the heart on the braid. “You will never know the full depth of my
feelings for you.” That was true enough.

She held my hand and looked into my eyes, her own
looking serious. “There is one small matter. I would appreciate it
if we could keep this between the two of us for the time being.”
She smiled persuasively, “I have no desire to either take the
attention away from your mother and Richard or to be the subject of
so much talk, for people will talk when they learn of this.”

“I assure you, I will not speak of this to anyone.
For now, I shall leave you and call again on the morrow.”

She waylaid me, grabbing my hand. “I am afraid that
I have plans with Edith Harvey that I cannot cancel, but we shall
see one another again at the Knowlton’s ball in four days
time.”

Edith? I said nothing, because I did not want to
give offense, but I was surprised. Instead of speaking, I smiled,
drawing her closer until my nose brushed hers. “It shall be the
longest four days of my life.”

Guinevere smiled, and I was undone. My hand went
around her waist, pulling her against my chest as I kissed her like
I had done at the lake, but this time I did not pull away. Her arms
wrapped around my neck, holding me so tight that there was no space
between our chests. I kissed her until we were both gasping for
air.