Howard was right. Once Captain Asher told The Garfields his side of the story, they didn't want to cut his head off. So instead, Robert and his mates had the door of their house slammed before them-very, very loudly. Mrs Garfield truly had great arm strength. Deep inside the building, you could hear her yells and the low comforting voice of her husband.

"And he had the guts to come here!"

"Honey, the neighbours may hear you."

"Let them hear me!" There was a loud crash that made Robert close his poor ears as he turned to look at Asher's sad face. This was harder than they had thought. Mrs Garfield wasn't even willing to hear any more explanations.

"He is the reason Emily is dead!" Her voice tore through the roof of the house, the rage of a former mother threatening to cause a life-threatening earthquake.

"Well, that went well," Howard said, running his hands through his hair. Robert shot him a look that meant, "not now." He raised his hands in surrender and sat near the foot of an apple tree.

A vase flew out of the window, breaking it and crashing to the floor. That was their cue to leave.

"Let's find somewhere to stay before we end up dead," Howard said, wincing at the screams of Mrs Garfield. She didn't look like she had that kind of energy left in her. Agreeably, she proved them wrong.

"Howard is right, Captain," Robert said, patting Asher's barrel-sized arm. "Let's find an inn and come back here later when she's not willing to break anymore things."

Reluctantly nodding, Asher followed them to find the nearest inn, Mrs Garfield's outcry still loud enough that it reached the road. Robert sighed deeply. Today was going to be a long day.

******

Two days had passed and whenever they went to the home of the Garfields they weren't willing to talk to any of them. But Mrs Garfield was more than willing to break some more vases. It appeared she had a thing for breaking vases when she was angry. If Robert was Mr Garfield, he would make sure he replaced all the vases in his house with plastic ones.

Now in the pub with Howard and Asher, he drank heavily from his mug of ale and settled it on the wooden counter, asking for more. They had bought and changed into newer clothes. Thanks to the wallet full of money that Robert deemed necessary to carry. Howard and Asher had assumed the day they came would be the day they would leave.

"What are we going to do now?" Asher asked, trailing his finger on the rim of his mug of ale. His brown eyes had grown pretty tired. Lately, Robert would catch him looking at the stars every night while everyone had gone to bed. He was hoping. Hope. It was what he needed to cling onto now.

"Well we could give up and go back home," Howard said and hissed when Robert stomped on his feet. "Or, you could buckle up and still cling to the last thread of hope you still have."

"I'm sure the Garfields wants to find their grandchildren too. They would have to give us audience sooner or later," Robert added, paying for their drinks.

"Speaking of the devil," Howard said, eyeing the entrance of the pub. Mr Garfield walked towards them dressed in the outfit they had seen him in before.

"Lads," he said, joining them at the counter on a stool.

Robert inclined his head. "Mr Garfield, how did you find us?"

"Chelmsford is a small village. Besides, never underestimate the will of a grandparent who so badly wants to see his grandchildren."

Robert smiled and turned to his friends. Well, this was good news, he hoped. Facing Mr Garfield, one more time, he asked,

"Does your wife know you're here?"

"Mary does. But she's not happy, as you all can tell. My poor vases had to suffer her rage," he said, shaking his head. "I'm annoyed too. But I needed to come here so we could find a way to find my Grandkids."

Asher leaned forward so Mr Garfield could get a better glimpse of him. "I loved your daughter, Mr Garfield. And I swear on my gentleman's honour that I will find those children. Even if it costs me my last drop of blood."

"You have to, Captain. Mary said that's the only way she could forgive you," Mr Garfield informed sternly. "I also understand Late General Finley was the reason you couldn't return home to my late daughter. I know the extents a jealous man would be willing to go to. Finley cost us our happiness. It would be stupid if we let his son do the same."

Good thing they hated Gerrard too. It made the job a lot easier. When they had told them about how Gerrard may have been trying to find their grandchildren, you could see the horror in their eyes.

"What about you, Mr Garfield?" Asher asked, locking his hands together. "What am I going to do for you to forgive me for what I did to your daughter?"

Mr Garfield sighed and pursed his lips in thought. "Mary and I had tried our bests to forget about the torment of having neither our daughter nor our grandchildren. After lots of years, we were able to forget a bit of the painful part. But we couldn't forget the fact that we had grandchildren out there in the world. Appearing here in Chelmsford, with this news, reminded Mary and me of a truth we were trying so hard to forget. So I guess if you can find our grandchildren for us, we'll forget that pain. And you'll be forgiven."

To ease the tension that had gotten too emotional, Robert asked, "Would you like a drink, Sir?"

"I wouldn't be in a pub if I didn't want one," Mr Garfield said, chuckling. Robert didn't fail to notice the glimmer of tears in his eyes. He tried to hide it, but he wasn't fast enough. After his drink was brought to him, he took a sip and continued, "You said in the letter, Emily said something about an old woman taking her in and helping her conceive the children?"

Robert nodded his head.

"Well, that would explain the old woman who came to our house to deliver our daughter's cold body." Mr Garfield's breath was shaky and Robert placed a hand on his forearm to calm him down. "That cold night. She brought in our daughter and said she delivered twins. We knew she was pregnant. That was why we were worried when she ran off after being two months pregnant."

"Did you or your wife say anything to bother her?" Howard asked and drank from his mug.

Mr Garfield rubbed his dry lip with a frail thumb. "We were a bit hard on her and that we dearly regret. We kept threatening to kick her out of the house if she didn't show us the father of the children." He glanced at Asher who looked sadder than the word sad. "She kept defending this man claiming that he would come back two weeks later to marry her. When he didn't come back, we began to panic. And back then, we were due to pay rent but I had lost my old job at the mill. And Emily's mother wasn't making any sales at the market."

"That was why she ran away," Robert said. "She even wrote it in the letter. That she didn't want to burthen you with her children. She knew it would be hard for you to train them without enough funds. So she did what she thought was best for you and the children."

"Giving them away," Asher said under his breath. Who knew how much he was ridiculing his conscience with guilt.

"How about the old woman? Any ideas where she might be?" Robert queried.

Mr Garfield nodded and brought out a piece of paper from his pocket. He slid it across the table to him.

"I've been paying someone to be keeping an eye on her. I couldn't have the only person who knew the whereabouts of my grandchildren go missing."

Robert nodded his head in amazement. Thanks to Mr Garfield's genius. Their job had been made a lot easier.

"What does it say?" Asher asked, looking over Robert's shoulder.

He opened it and his jaw dropped. "Crawley. It's on the other side and we can't get there by train since no train station has been built there."

"So by horsefoot then?" Howard inquired.

Robert nodded. "We have to get home first and prepare for such a long journey."

And at the back of his mind, he prayed Ella would be awake by the time he returned.