Max threw himself down onto the stairs as shrieks sounded from below. The marshal was beside him in a second, aiming his own weapon at Snyder.
But there was no need. The man had sunk down to the floor, blood pooling at his side.
Max wasted no time. He ran down the stairs to Delia and Anna. Scooping Anna up in his arms, he held onto her with everything he had until she squirmed.
“Papa, you can put me down now.”
Laughing through the tears he held back, he did as she asked. But he kept one arm around her as he reached for Delia with his other arm. He pulled her to him. “Thank you,” he whispered in her ear before hugging her closer.
She said nothing, but she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and buried her face against his chest.
His family was here. They were safe. They were together.
It was the only thing that mattered.
Chapter Nineteen
IT WAS BARELY DAWNwhen Delia went downstairs to find Max. Anna was still sleeping soundly, and the house was silent. She found him sitting on the step at the back door, watching as the sun rose to the east over the dark Wet Mountains.
“Did you sleep at all?” she asked as she sat beside him. She swallowed as her leg brushed his, uncertain if it was welcome or not. He’d held her as if she meant the world to him at the boardinghouse last night, but he’d said nothing about how he felt.
“Some,” he said. “I’ll sleep later. I know he’s no longer a threat, but all I can think is how close I came to losing her.”
Delia wrapped her arms around herself, wishing she’d put on a shawl. “I’ve never been so afraid in my life.”
She felt Max’s eyes on her. “And yet you didn’t hesitate. You figured out where she was, and you went to get her. And then you helped her escape.”
Delia looked up at him then. “That was her idea, using the servants’ stairs. I didn’t know they were there.”
Max held her gaze, his eyes searching. She didn’t know what he was looking for, but she found herself hoping he found it. She knew now, more than ever, that she wanted to be here. With him, and with Anna. She didn’t want to leave.
“You called Anna your daughter,” he said.
It was the last thing she expected him to say. She had to search her memory before nodding. “I know she isn’t mine, but I love her as if she was. I can’t—I couldn’t—” Delia shook her head, trying to rid herself of the awful fears she’d carried with her last night. “I was so afraid something had happened to her.”
Max cast his eyes down, and then, after a few seconds passed, he reached for her hand. Delia let him take it, uncertain what it meant. Was he about to let her down gently?
Because she wasn’t sure how he’d forgive her for coming here under false pretenses.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, knowing those words couldn’t make what she’d done right.
“I know,” he said softly. His thumb traced a circle over her hand. He looked up at her. “I read what you wrote.”
Delia’s breath caught in her throat.
