My Once Handsome Husband - Chapter 230
The sun rose one morning on a warm day with clear blue skies. The snow began to melt and birds could be heard chirping in the bushes that grew outside the windows that lined the dining room walls. Delaney, Ian, and Vincent sat eating their breakfast and laughing over a memory. They were almost finished when the door opened unexpectedly.
Harris came in looking worried. He had been acting as the butler, among other things, while they were at the city house with such a small staff of servants. He quickly bowed to them all and apologized for interrupting.
“C-Captain Black,” he said nervously, “A man from your father’s estate is just inside. He came with this letter marked for Lord Adair and it seemed urgent. I imagine you would like to speak to him before he leaves though so I asked him to wait. I don’t believe he understood me but I tried my best to get my point across.”
“Yes of course,” Ian wiped his mouth and dropped the napkin on the table, “If he’s one of my father’s pirates then he won’t speak the same language anyway. Thank you though Harris that was a good choice.”
“Should you wait until I’ve read the message?” Vincent asked.
Ian smirked at them, “Gossip spreads among pirates as quickly as nobles. I’m sure the man knows the contents of your letter.”
He left the room and Harris hurried forward to give the note to his master. Vincent took it from him and quickly broke the wax seal and began to read. Delaney waited anxiously for him to finish and tell her what it was about. As he read though she watched his face go slack.
“Vincent, what is it?”
He didn’t answer but instead held the note out to her to read herself. Delaney took it from him and quickly read over it. Her heart seemed to stop in her chest and she gasped. The letter fell from her hand and landed on the floor but she didn’t bother to try to retrieve it.
Captain Luke Black, Ian’s father, had sent word that one of his other ships had reported finding debris in the ocean on their way home. It was from the Black Tide, Ilona’s ship.
The ship had gone down in a storm.
“Oh my God,” Delaney whispered and a hand went to her mouth, “Oh my God Vincent.”
“He said he didn’t know if Mason was on board when it went down. It could have been after they were returning from the Red Lands. But that still means…”
“Ilona would have been on board no matter what,” Delaney continued for him, “And Ian’s mother. And if they were able to rescue his two younger siblings from the prison in the Red Lands then they would have been with her too and who knows how many more of his siblings.”
“My God,” Vincent whispered and dropped his head in his hands.
“Oh no,” Delaney gasped and jumped to her feet, “Ian! He’s going to be hearing this from whoever his father sent as a messenger.”
Vincent got quickly to his feet as well and they both rushed from the room in search of their friend. They had barely made it out the door when they caught sight of him. He was sitting on the stairs with his head in his hands. Standing beside him looking very sad himself, was another pirate.
Delaney hurried forward and knelt in front of her friend.
“Ian,” she said quietly, reaching out and lightly touching his arm, “What can we do? Is there anything we can do for you?”
He didn’t speak at first so they waited. Vincent had a servant bring the waiting man a cup of hot tea and something to eat. As soon as the Duke tried to talk to the pirate they realized he didn’t understand their language. Ian wasn’t in any position to translate so Vincent just signaled for the man to follow him and take a seat in one of the chairs by the door. The pirate seemed grateful for the food and drink as much as the chance to rest.
“Prepare him a room and a bath,” Vincent ordered and the servants hurried off to do as he’d asked.
The Duke then went back to stand behind his wife. It was only a short time later when Ian moved and looked up at them.
“I have to go,” he whispered with red-rimmed eyes, “I have to go look for my sister and my family… And Mace if he was with them. I can’t accept that they’re all just gone.”
“Do you think there’s a chance they could have survived the ship going down?” Vincent asked gently.
“It depends on many things… But I know all of my siblings would go out looking for me if they learned my ship had gone down. I’m sure my father already has everyone available out on the oceans looking for them. Ilona would be the first one to go to try to find me. I know I have to try to find her now.”
“Of course,” Delaney nodded, “We understand. You must go.”
Ian stood then and looked very seriously at Vincent.
“I want to go speak to the King. He told me if I ever needed use of his men and his ships I only needed to ask. I need them more now than I ever will.”
“I’ll go with you to speak to him,” Vincent agreed immediately, “We can go right away.”
“Thank you. My father didn’t send word to the King because he knew Mason had run away from here with all of our help. I think it would be best if we took the letter he sent you to show Daniel now. They don’t know if Mason was still onboard or not so that may affect how many men and ships he wants to send.”
“Good idea,” Vincent nodded, “He will be… he will be quite upset to hear this so it will be better if I’m with you.”
Delaney stood, “I’m going as well then.”
“No!” they both snapped in unison. Ian immediately blushed and dropped his eyes. Vincent looked at him for a moment before turning back to his wife.
“My Love I don’t want you to go back there,” her husband spoke seriously to her, “That court is very dangerous and we were lucky to get out safely the last time. I don’t want to push our luck and have you come again.”
“But Daniel and Sophia are happy with us now,” she countered, “Daniel promised you things would be different.”
“I know but who knows what he will do when he learns that his only brother may have been lost at sea aboard the ship belonging to the pirate we introduced him to.”
“But he…”
“Please Delaney,” he took her hands in his and shook his head, “Please just stay here. I can’t risk anything happening to you. Not after all we’ve managed to survive. Let Ian and I go and we will return as quickly as we can.”
She looked at her husband for a moment before glancing over at her friend who was looking at her with pleading eyes as well. She looked back at Vincent’s scarred face and nodded.
“Alright, I will stay here… But you must both agree to hurry and return the moment you can.”
“I promise,” Vincent kissed her quickly on the forehead before turning to Ian, “Would you tell your man they’re preparing a room and a bath for him so he can rest? We’ll give him a fresh horse as well so you can both travel quickly.”
Ian nodded and looked past them to the pirate who was happily filling his belly. He called to him in the strange language Delaney suddenly wished she had ever thought to have her friend teach her. The man replied to Ian in the same language and Ian looked back at them.
“I’m going to go to my room and dress,” he informed them before turning and hurrying up the stairs.
Delaney signaled for Vincent to go as well and watched as he made his way up the steps much slower than the younger man before him. She waited around until the servants came to tell the other pirate his room was ready. When he didn’t understand Delaney smiled at him and gestured for him to follow her.
Once she had Ian’s man safely in the room that had been prepared for him she returned to wait by the door for her husband and her best friend. They both appeared on the stairs fairly quickly and went down to meet her. Delaney saw there was a carriage waiting outside now and knew Harris must have sent for it to be made ready.
She gave Ian a hug first, holding him tightly and telling him to be careful. Once he’d walked out she wrapped her arms around Vincent and held him close, giving him a deep, desperate, kiss.
“Promise me you’ll come back,” she whispered with tears in her eyes.
“I promise you, my Love. I’ll come back to you.”