been in a real panic when the nursemaid and the baby disappeared. He didn't bolt though. He stayed right where he was. How better to control the investigation than to be in the center of it? As long as he continued to work for you, he could see whatever came across your desk before you did.'
Elliott suddenly bounded to his feet and rushed toward the door. 'I'm going in there and I'm going to…'
Harrison stopped him by grabbing hold of his arm. 'No, you aren't going anywhere. They've already taken him away. I know what you want to do, and it's all right to think it, but you can't kill him.'
He gently led Elliott back to the settee and helped him sit down. He didn't leave his side for a long, long while, until he was convinced Elliott was under control and wouldn't do anything he would regret.
Harrison had wanted to talk to him about his own plans for the future, but he realized now wasn't the time to burden the man with anything more. He would have to wait until later to tender his resignation.
He went up to the bedroom so he could spend some time alone to think about exactly what he wanted to say to his wife. The words had to be right, and if he needed to get down on his knees and beg her forgiveness for all the pain he had inadvertently caused her, then he would do just that.
Elliott didn't know the names of her brothers. The realization still staggered him. In the name of love and fatherhood, he had deliberately tried to erase her past and mold her into the daughter he wanted. What must Mary Rose be feeling now, and how had she endured all of their insufferable righteousness?
Her note was waiting for him on top of the desk. A feeling of dread came over him the minute he saw it, and he was almost afraid to touch it.
He read her farewell three times before he reacted. And then anguish such as he had never known before welled up inside him until it consumed him. He bowed his head and gave in to the pain, welcomed it because he had no one to blame but himself, and now it was too late.
He had lost her.
Harrison didn't have any idea how long he stood there holding the note, but the room was cast in shadows when he finally moved. Edward was pounding on the door and shouting the request to please come downstairs. Lord Elliott needed him.
He almost didn't answer the summons, and then he realized he had quite a lot to say to his father-in-law. He no longer gave a damn if the man understood. Harrison still needed to talk to him about his daughter.
Elliott was standing in front of the fireplace. He was looking down at the note in his hands.
'Did my wife say good-bye to you too?'
Elliott slowly nodded. 'She had everything,' he whispered. 'Why wasn't she happy? Did you know she was planning to leave? Harrison, I don't understand. She says… here, let me read it. The last line… yes, here it is. I love you, Father, and I think if you got to know me, you might love me too.'
Elliott lifted his head again. 'I do love her.'
'Yes, you love her, but from the moment you took her into your arms and welcomed her, you've been trying to change her. You don't have any idea what you've lost, do you? I suggest you sit down while I introduce you to your daughter. I think I'll start with Corrie,' he added. 'Crazy Corrie. You haven't heard of her before, have you, sir? No, of course you haven't. You wouldn't have listened. You will now though. I'm determined to make you understand.'
Elliott walked over to the sofa and sat down. He couldn't make himself let go of his daughter's farewell note, and so he continued to hold on to it.
Harrison talked about the friendship between the two women. Elliott blanched when he heard the description of what the recluse looked like. Tears came into his eyes a short while later when Harrison recounted how Corrie reached through the open window to stroke his daughter's shoulder.
'Her compassion for those in pain humbles me,' Harrison added. 'I think maybe that's why she put up with us for so long. God, I kept telling her to be more understanding, to give you time to accept her. You weren't ever going to accept who she was though, were you? You can't make it go away, sir. It all happened. Those men are her family. Your daughter plays the piano and speaks fluent French. You should be damned proud of her.'
It was too late in the day for Harrison to put his own plans into action, and so he stayed with Elliott well into the night and told him most of what he knew about her background.
They were given privacy. Lillian had tried to intrude, but her brother's harsh command to get out sent her running.
'A father's love should be unconditional,' Elliott whispered. 'But I…'
He couldn't go on. He began to weep and buried his face in his hands. Harrison handed him his handkerchief.
'Every morning she would sit with me and listen to me talk about the family. She never talked about her friends.'
'You wouldn't let her.'
Elliott bowed his head. 'No, I wouldn't let her. Dear God, what have I done? What have I done?'
Harrison was drained both physically and emotionally. He couldn't give Elliott the compassion he probably needed now.
'I quit.'
'You what?'
'I quit, sir. I've finished up all the work you gave me. It was deliberate, wasn't it? You wanted time alone with your daughter and so you had me running back and forth across the country. I don't blame you. I was so damned busy trying to repay the debt I owe you, I let it happen. That's why I've been so obsessed about MacPherson,' he added with a nod. 'But it's finished,' he whispered. 'If you'll excuse me now, I'm going upstairs and pack.'
'Where are you going?'
Harrison didn't answer him until he reached the doors. 'I'm going home.'
Adam Clayborne was going to be tried for murder. Harrison found out about the atrocity when he reached the livery stable. He'd planned to purchase a wagon and two horses so he could cart his possessions to Blue Belle, but once the old man who ran the place started telling him what was going on, Harrison 's plans drastically changed.
'Yes, sir, we're going to have us a hanging. Two fancy-dressed southern boys brung their lawyer with them. I heard tell they expect Hanging Judge Burns to hand Adam over to them so they can haul him back down where he came from to stand trial, but folks around here don't believe the judge will cotton to the notion. He'll want to try the man hisself or get hung for disappointing everyone. That's why my place is half deserted today. Come tomorrow, everything will be shut down tight. Folks will make a day of it in Blue Belle; treat it like a holiday. Some will picnic while they watch him swing, others will cheer. The women will mostly cry I reckon. Anyway, dancing won't start in until sundown. It's going to be a big shindig and you ought not to miss it.'
Harrison had heard all he needed to know. He quickly purchased a horse, tossed twenty dollars at the old man and asked him to hire someone to cart his things for him.
He had just saddled the black horse when the old man said, 'I can see from your hurry you don't want to miss it. You got time,' he assured him. 'I ain't leaving for another couple of hours. I'll bring your things down for you. Might as well earn me twenty dollars as not.'
'Adam Clayborne's innocent.' After making the statement, Harrison swung up into the saddle.
'Don't make no matter. He's a blackie and them two accusing him are white. Clayborne's going to hang all right.'
The old man turned around and only then realized he'd been talking to thin air. Harrison had already taken off.
He rode toward Blue Belle at a neckbreaking pace, for he was terrified of what might have already happened. He had to stop the momentum before it got completely out of hand. He'd never seen a lynching mob before, but he'd read enough vivid descriptions about them to send chills of dread shooting down his spine. He didn't have any idea what he could do to save Adam, but with God's help, he would find something. Legal or otherwise.
Harrison wouldn't allow himself to think about Mary Rose and what she must be going through. He forced himself to center his thoughts on Adam. He had known there was something lurking in his background, but Adam hadn't told him what it was.
Murder? He couldn't imagine the soft-spoken man killing anyone without just cause.
Although Harrison wasn't much of a praying man, he pleaded to God for His assistance. He was so damned
