“If we do this,” she whispered, hands fisting in his shirt, “I will never leave.”
He stilled, and she felt the fight in him, felt it pass through him and settle. His hand dropped. He looked at her as if he could build another life by looking long enough.
She stepped back. “I choose pain now, nae ruin later.”
He closed his eyes, then nodded once, as if he were binding himself to a hard truth. He left without another word.
Much later, Grandmamma found her tying her nightrobe. The old woman’s eyes took in the packed satchel, the pale set of Erica’s mouth, the line at her throat.
“I had hoped ye would marry,” she said, tired and kind. “Ye were the best fake daughter-in-law I have ever had.”
“Thank ye,” Erica answered, a smile on her face.
Grandmamma patted her cheek. “Ye have a good heart. It will cost ye. I bless ye anyway.”
Erica laughed again, her voice clear.
Midnight came, and she still couldn’t sleep.She lay on her side, eyes open to the dark, breath caught between thoughts that would not settle. Sleep would not take her. She turned her pillow and stared at the ceiling again.
The knock hit hard and fast.
“Help,” a small voice cried. “Please. Me faither is trapped.”
Erica was on her feet before the second breath. She pulled a shawl around her shoulders and yanked the door wide. Bettie stood there with Katie at her side, both of them flushed and solemn, as if the night itself had ordered them to be brave.
“What is it?” she asked. “Where is he?”
“This way,” Bettie whispered.
They hurried down the passageway, the candle flame shivering in the draft. Erica’s heart thudded high and sharp.
The girls moved too assuredly. Their hands were too steady. She knew it, yet she followed them anyway.
Was this another joke?
CHAPTER 31
They turnedthe last corner and slipped into Alex’s chamber. The door closed at once behind them. Erica blinked at the candlelight and the scatter of color across the floor.
Petals. Dozens of them.
Roses from the inner yard and little blue cornflowers that she knew the girls liked to pick for her hair. They lay in a ring at the center of the room like a childish spell.
Alex stood barefoot inside it, sleeves pushed to his elbows, throat bare, eye on her as if he had been there for hours.
“Well, ye daenae seem to need help,” she called, folding her arms over her chest.
Alex laughed, and relief flooded through her, then disbelief. It came out as a laugh that sounded too thin for her own ears. She pressed a hand to her mouth and shook her head.
“Ye wicked pair,” she said, turning to the girls. “That was a fright and a sin. Daenae do it again.”
Bettie’s mouth twitched. Katie’s hands were clasped tight behind her back.
“Nay promises,” Katie said, small and stubborn.
Erica sighed, softening at once. “Out. Both of ye. I will see to him.”
Bettie kissed her fingers and touched them to the door for luck. Katie did the same, as if they could bless the wood itself. They slipped away. The lock clicked.
