He sat on the edge of his grandmother’s bed and took her hand in his. She rewarded him with a fluttering of her eyes, though they didn’t focus on him. Just gazed blankly for a moment before her lids swooped down again. More than she’d given them that first day. And the doctor said it was a good sign that she was becoming more alert, and that one side of her body didn’t seem to be weaker than the other.

Still. Oliver wanted her awake. Squeezing his hand. Talking to them. “We’ll be going to St. Mary’s for a while today, Mamm-wynn,” he said softly. “Mrs. Dawe will be here, and Aunt Prue means to spend the afternoon with you, I think. Do you need anything?”

How he wished she’d demand a bun from the Polmers’ bakery. Or some new yarn for her next project. But she said nothing. He let loose a long breath and lifted her hand, pressed a kiss to the papery skin. “You did what you meant to do, you know. You brought Beth back to us. Thank you for that—but don’t think you’re finished yet. We still need you. I still need you.”

He set her hand down again and then leaned over to kiss her forehead. “Rest now, Mamm-wynn, but wake soon. Please.”

Sheridan was already in the dining room with his tea and porridge, one of the books of local history open before him—probably to a page that told him something about Mucknell and Prince Rupert. Oliver still couldn’t quite believe he was the one behind all this, however inadvertently. But at least the marquess wanted to put it to rights somehow. Not that they could all of them agree on the best course of action to accomplish that.

They had to bring Lorne and whoever the Scofields’ counterpart was before the magistrate, that was certain. And at all costs keep them from finding anything of actual worth. Even with their buyer here, on their side, none of them were willing to trust these shady antiquity hunters. If Sheridan tried to call them off and not pay them, who was to say that they wouldn’t just find someone else eager for some pirate silver? There was surely more than one gentleman in England willing to pay for it.