“We shall have Anna write a response,” Lydia explained. “Then, we shall take it to that bench where he wants the letter delivered.”
“Then what?” Edwin asked, anticipating the answer.
“We wait,” Lydia continued, “as long as it is necessary, so we can see who this man is.”
“That seems very dangerous, Lydia.” Once again, he hesitated. The desire to find his sister was burning inside of him brighter than ever. However, he was unwilling to put anyone’s life in danger because of it, especially Lydia’s.
“I know,” she admitted. “But just imagine… this man has been doing this to countless girls including your sister. Now, he is doing it to my sister. If we don’t stop him, he will continue to do this. How many more sisters need to be lost before he is stopped?”
He knew she was right. He hated that she was always right. She always somehow managed to find the right thing to say to convince him of whatever she wanted. It was a special power she held over him.
“All right,” he finally acquiesced, “but we shall be extremely cautious when approaching this.”
“Of course, we will,” she agreed.
“We shall have Anna write her reply, but I will be with you every step of the way,” he repeated what she had already said, but he needed to clarify that. “I will not let you out of my sight.”
“Well, we are courting,” she reminded him mischievously. “You are not supposed to let me out of your sight.”
He liked it when she turned it around like that. She could be serious and calm, but at the same time, he loved her playful side. He loved when it surfaced when he least expected it, just like now.
“I will have eyes only for you,” he replied in an equally mischievous tone. In fact, he meant it. He meant every word of it.
Ever since she had come into his life, he stopped noticing other young ladies. They were pale images of what he was already seeing in front of him. He would rather be looking at Lydia than any other lady in all of London. Especially now, with danger breathing down their necks, he had no plans of leaving her, even for a single second. That was a promise.
“I can’t believe we are so close to this man,” Lydia suddenly said, sounding eager and excited. He had to say that he shared her enthusiasm.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to solving the mystery of my sister’s disappearance,” he pointed out.
“If we are fortunate enough, by finding out who this man is, we shall also find out where Rachel is,” she assured him. “We simply need to play this well. We only have this one chance.”
“I know,” he said, still frightened that something might go wrong, terribly wrong even, and that he would lose Lydia as well. He knew that he would not bear to lose her, not now that he had her in his life.
“It will be all right,” Lydia tried to calm him down. She was his safe harbor in a torrent out in the open sea. She was his lighthouse bringing him home. It was simply the effect she had on him without even knowing.
He wondered if he would ever be given the chance to tell her how he truly felt about her. Perhaps he would. Perhaps not. Only fate knew what it had in store for them. They still needed to wait, to be patient. But Edwin could be anything, just not patient. He had been patient for two years already. Wasn’t that enough?
“Did you tell your sister?” he asked as if remembering something.
“No,” Lydia admitted. “I didn’t have the heart to tell her.”
“You know you will eventually need to do that, right?” he asked.
“I know,” she confessed. “And I shall tell her. Just not now. Let her rejoice for a little while longer. I think she was already succumbing to the notion that she will never get married because she sees herself as odd.”
“Odd?” he echoed. “But… we are all a bit odd, one way or another.”
“I know, but she can’t accept that,” Lydia sighed. “She wants to be like her friends — popular and with lots of suitors — but it simply not who she is.”
“She has not accepted herself yet,” Edwin noticed. “My sister was the same way.”
Once again, he realized why this man was targeting only such girls. They were easily convinced of anything, of even the silliest of lies, and they believed it. They believed it because they wanted to believe it. It was as simple as that. The thought once again made him furious.
Lydia seemed to sense his anxiety. She placed her hand softly on his shoulder and squeezed it. “It will be all right. We shall find Rachel. We are so close now. Just a little more patience.”
He nodded. That was all he could do.
CHAPTER20