The Faithful Heart (37 page)

Madeline and Crispin raced along the south
road towards Kedleridge. They’d left the rest of the soldiers
behind hours ago after stopping to rest. Madeline hadn’t wanted to
stop but Crispin had insisted. They needed to throw together a
document to convince Lydia Jack was dispossessed anyhow. She had no
idea where Crispin’s men found the parchment, pen, and ink, and her
hand shook so hard as she wrote that she was disgusted with her
work, but Crispin seemed to think it would do.

Her heart was already in her throat as they
wound around the last hill approaching Kedleridge. When she saw the
crush of carts and men in the center of the small village her head
spun. Lydia’s bright blonde hair stood out against the rough and
worn clothes of the forest outlaws. If Lydia had handed over the
money it could only mean one thing.

“Jack!” she shouted as they galloped into the
already crowded street in front of the manor.

Jack’s ginger hair caught the light of the
setting sun as he glanced up from where he stood at the bottom of
the manor stairs. His eyes flashed with joy for half a second
before a scowl took over his face. He broke away from where he
stood with Lydia, Simon, and Tom and stormed towards her.

“Get out of here, Madeline! You shouldn’t be
here. Not now.”

“Jack, a letter has come from London! You
have to hear this!” She wheeled her horse around, ready to lie like
she’d never lied before. When one of the thick guards stepped aside
to reveal a priest standing by Lydia with a book in his hands she
blanched. “No, Jack, no!” She jumped off her horse and ran to him.
“Tell me I’m not too late!”

“You’re too late, Madeline.” He caught her by
the arm and spun her back towards her horse.

Her knees gave out. Jack had to catch her and
hoist her back to her feet.

“You’ve already married her?” Crispin asked
as he dismounted.

Jack did a double-take at the sight of his
friend. “Crispin?” The noble accent Madeline hadn’t noticed him
using slipped away. “Oy, what’re you doin’ here, mate?”

Crispin pulled the parchment from his belt as
he strode to meet his friend. “Did you marry her already?”

“We’re almost done,” his accent and scowl
returned. He let go of Madeline and started back towards the
stairs.

“But you haven’t actually married her yet?”
She stopped him. She couldn’t catch her breath. The world spun
around her.

“No,” Simon answered for him, marching over
to break into the conversation. “They haven’t spoken the vows yet.”
He met Madeline’s eyes with grim triumph.

“Oh thank God!” Madeline pressed her hands
together in prayer, tears springing to her eyes.

“We’re almost done,” Jack told them, the
light in his eyes fading. “Nothing you can say will stop me.”

“You’ve been dispossessed,” Crispin delivered
the news with the force of lightning. He thrust the parchment at
Simon. “A letter came from London two days ago. Prince John has
overturned your investiture. When he was made aware of Simon
McFarland’s claim he appointed him as Lord of Kedleridge
instead.”

All color drained from Jack’s face. He
staggered back, stepping on Madeline.

It was Lydia who snapped, “What?”

Simon unrolled the parchment and read it with
the same stoic determination with which he did everything. He
scanned the document, then turned and handed it to Lydia. “You’re
in the process of marrying a penniless peasant,” he told Lydia with
a straight face.

“You’re jokin’, mate!” Jack swiped at the
parchment before Lydia could take it. He read it, squinting, chest
heaving harder and harder as the implication sunk in. Then he
started laughing.

“Let me see that,” Lydia snatched the
document away from him. She scanned it, eyes growing wider and
wider as she read.

Jack continued to laugh to the point where
Madeline was afraid the whole thing had unhinged him. He grabbed
the guard closest to him and slumped against the startled man.
Madeline rushed to shove a shoulder under his arm to hold him up.
“Oy, you still want to marry a homeless horse thief, mate?” he
asked Lydia, tears and sweat streaming down the sides of his
face.

Her turned up nose was all the answer anyone
needed. Madeline burst into tears, throwing her arms around Jack
and burying her dirty face in his tunic.

The sound of the blood rushing in her ears
almost made her miss Simon asking, “Will you still agree to hand
over the money if I marry you, Lydia?”

“Yes!” Lydia sang so quickly and decisively
that Madeline sobbed anew. “Oh yes, Simon, of course!”

It was going to work. She couldn’t believe
that it was actually going to work.

“Father Joseph,” Simon rushed back to the
bewildered priest who had climbed onto the stairs to get a better
view of the drama. “Will you need to start the rites anew or can we
carry on where you left off?”

Father Joseph gaped, wide-eyed, before
shaking himself and saying, “The ceremony was already most unusual.
I don’t suppose it would make a difference how it continues from
this point. You’ll still have to come to the church in Derby to
sign the documents.”

“Oy, you got room for two more, mate?” Jack
straightened, grabbing Madeline’s hand and bustling her over to
stand next to Simon and Lydia. “Hope you don’t mind, MP,” he
murmured to her as an afterthought.

She shook her head, unable to see through her
veil of tears. “Right now is not soon enough for me to marry you,
Jack.”

He let out a loud breath and swept her into
his arms, kissing her so hard and so thoroughly that she saw
stars.

“I believe you are supposed to wait until
after the vows before kissing the bride, my lord,” Simon scolded
him with a straight face.

“Right,” Jack sobbed. “Get on with it
then!”

The priest eyed Jack and Madeline and then
Simon and Lydia with utter confusion. He picked up where Madeline
figured he had left off chanting in Latin. As the meaning of his
words came clear in her head she had to fight a swoon. She wondered
if any of the others understood Latin enough to know how close
they’d come to disaster.

“Um, let’s see now,” Father Joseph closed his
Bible. “How shall we do this?”

“Us first, mate!” Jack exploded with
mirth.

Father Joseph glanced to Simon. Simon nodded,
a hint of a smile sneaking onto his otherwise straight face as he
stole a glance at Madeline.

“Alright then. Do you, Lord John-”

“Jack Tanner, mate,” Jack rushed to correct
him. “It’s Jack Tanner.”

“Jack Tanner,” Father Joseph nodded. Madeline
laughed and wiped her eyes with the back of her grimy sleeve. “Do
you take this woman….” Father Joseph signed and dropped his
shoulders, glancing to her for a prompt.

“Madeline Matlock,” she managed to
squeak.

“Madeline Matlock,” the priest continued,
looking to Jack again, “to be your wife.”

“Yes!” Jack exclaimed with all the force of
the love he’d had to keep down for so long.

“And do you, Madeline Matlock, take this man,
Jack Tanner, to be your husband?”

“I do,” Madeline choked on her relief.

“And do you, Simon McFarland-”

“Oy! Finish up over here first, mate!” Jack
shook as he interrupted the priest.

Father Joseph sighed. “Very well. By the
power invested in me by God and the Holy Church I now pronounce you
man and wife.”

Madeline didn’t hear the rest of the
pronouncement, if there even was a rest. Jack crushed her in an
embrace that knocked the wind out of her and kissed her for all he
was worth. She could hardly believe they’d won. She threw her arms
around him and held on as though she would never let go, kissing
him back. It didn’t matter that they were surrounded by forest
outlaws and Kedleridge villagers. She gave herself over to him,
eyes closed, tongue twining with his. They were oblivious to
anything else.

A sudden cheer and applause dragged them back
to the reality of the moment. Gasping for breath, Madeline leaned
back from Jack and looked around. Lydia pressed herself against
Simon, kissing him over and over. Lydia’s men were the ones
cheering. Even the little creep Roderick stood smiling, his teeth
bared.

“This is the happiest day of my life!” Lydia
exclaimed when she finished kissing Simon.

“You can send these men away now,” Simon
spoke with the same even tone he would have used to direct one of
the maids to clear the supper table.

“Oh no,” Lydia arched an eyebrow. “Not until
all of the legal documents have been signed.”

“What legal documents?” Madeline’s heart
plummeted to her gut.

“Don’t worry.” Jack was still laughing,
red-faced and bright-eyed. “We had to drag Father Joseph out here
from Morley where you and Aubrey stashed him and his mates. He said
he could marry us in the eyes of God whenever an’ wherever, but if
there was ever gonna be any grounds to contest anythin’ then we’d
need to go to the church to sign an official decree.”

Madeline’s pulse raced again. Her glance shot
to Simon. “Then we need to go to Derby as soon as possible to get
everything taken care of.”

“Oy, I don’t care, mate.” He pulled her into
his arms again and squeezed her tight. “I don’t care if we sign
papers or spit and shake on it or just tell everyone we’re man an’
wife and go live in a hole in the ground. You’re mine an’ I’m yours
an’ no one can ever tell me different!”

Her heart melted at the words and once again
tears flooded her face. She was really going to have to find a way
to break that habit. As soon as Jack would let her she leaned back
and looked him in the eyes. “Jack, we have to go to Derby and sign
whatever Father Joseph needs us to sign, right now,” she whispered,
trying to tell him with her eyes alone everything she and Simon and
Crispin had plotted.

“Yes, we should go and get everything squared
away this instant,” Lydia agreed.

A few of the closest observers were taken
aback by the urgency both Madeline and Lydia showed, but enough of
them knew better than to delay.

“Your horses are already saddled,” Simon
glanced from Madeline to Crispin. “I see a few more belonging to
Lydia’s men. The rest of us will borrow those. We can be in Derby
in an hour. How long will it take you to prepare the documents,
Father Joseph?”

“Uh,” the priest stammered as all eyes turned
to him. “Not long. Before the night is out I suppose.”

“Good,” Simon nodded, grabbing Lydia’s hand
and starting for a cluster of saddled horses. “We’ve no time to
lose.”

Giddy with joy and anxiety, Madeline stood on
her toes to kiss Jack one more time. She then spun out of his arms
and started towards her horse. Tom was standing a few feet away.
His face was a mask of conflicting emotions.

“Oh. Tom.” Her stomach twisted with
awkwardness.

“Tom.” Crispin swooped in and took charge.
“Would you be willing to do something for me?”

Tom blinked between Crispin and Jack and
Madeline. “Uh, sure.”

Crispin leaned closer. “Two dozen of my
soldiers are riding this way. When they get here I need you to
direct them to take these wagons on to Windale.”

“Windale?” Jack shifted to business in spite
of his energy.

“We’ll store the money in one of the
warehouses there until we can count it. I don’t want to run the
risk of Pennington getting wind of it and coming back. The fewer
people know of its presence the better, and we can keep it well
guarded there.”

“Yes, my lord,” Tom snapped straight and
bowed to Crispin. “You can count on me.”

“I’m sure I can.” Crispin nodded in return
and thumped him on the shoulder. “The rest of us should get going.”
He sent Madeline a knowing glance before striding off to mount his
horse.

This time Jack caught the communication
between them. “Oy, what’s that all about?”

Madeline grabbed his hand, shaking her head
and rushing him to the nearest horse. “I’ll tell you later.”

As soon as they were mounted and on their way
to Derby Simon left Lydia’s side to ride beside Madeline. “My
lady,” he said with a fierceness in his eyes, “your face has been
bruised.”

On the other side of her Jack blinked and
leaned over to get a better look. “What the bloody hell?”

Madeline swallowed. “My father.”

“I’ll kill him!” Jack growled, his high
spirits twisting to vengefulness. Simon’s expression matched
Jack’s. “As soon as we sign the decree I’ll ride up there and-”

“No,” Madeline shook her head. “You didn’t
see what I saw.” Both men, her two protectors, sent her curious
frowns. “My father has hired an army of mercenaries.”

“Mercenaries?” Simon asked.

“Why?” Jack followed. “What does he want with
mercenaries?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “He must be
plotting something.”

“Did I hear you say mercenaries?” Lydia
pushed her way into their conversation. The three of them
straightened in their saddles, lips sealed, not looking at her.
Lydia sighed. “I don’t want to talk about mercenaries on such a
beautiful day. I want to talk about all of the glorious changes
I’ll be making at Kedleridge, starting with getting rid of the
riff-raff.” She stared deliberately at Jack.

None of them took her bait. They kicked their
horses to ride faster. Lydia had to hang onto her saddle for all
she was worth to keep up with them. It turned into a race and by
the time they reached the city Jack’s joyful mood and humor had
returned.

“Aubrey’ll kill us when she finds out we got
married without her,” he laughed as they reached the church and
dismounted. “Oy, why don’t we wait a few minutes and send someone
to go an’ get her?”

“I’m not waiting for anyone, not even a
countess,” Lydia shoved past him and into the church. “Where are
the documents?”

Simon followed her in silence.