He didn’t speak for fear he would end up yelling at her and getting kicked out of the house. It was much too late to take his wee daughter away to find another place to stay for the rest of the night.
“I wasn’t able to protect Eliza,” she said quietly. “Nor was I able to protect Marian.” Her breath caught on a slight sob. “But by God, I will not fail this little one. I’ll do whatever I must to make certain my son doesn’t hurt another innocent person.”
She pressed her thin lips to Lizzy’s head and held her up for him to take.
He scooped up the baby and held her close, using his other hand to help the older woman out of her chair when she struggled.
“For a Scottish brute, you’ve been ever so kind,” she said without meeting his gaze, and left the room.
When he heard a door close down the hall, he looked at his daughter. “She’s a touch batty, but I can’t say I blame her for it. If someone hurt you, I’d have their head removed from their body, as well as a number of other parts.”
He took the chair and rocked his already sleeping daughter. It would have been safe to place her back in her cradle, but he wanted to hold her a little longer.
“I’m still not ready to give up,” he said softly. “I have to keep thinking.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Through the night while holding his baby daughter, Cam’s sadness faded and was overrun by intense anger. How dare Mari ask him to give up on their life together? How dare she not fight to be with him and their child?
She was ready to stroll up to the gallows and face death without protest.
It would be easier for her. She’d be gone. One more day and she’d not know this pain—the intense pain Cam would feel for the rest of his life. Or the empty spot in Lizzy’s life where her mother should be.
“No. No. No!” He slammed his fist on the breakfast table, making the dishes rattle.
The dowager hadn’t come to breakfast, which was good. In this mood he would most likely call her out for not stopping her son from taking a second wife and hurting her as much as he had his first wife and his young sister.
But as mad as Cam was, he wouldn’t lay any more guilt at the poor woman’s feet. He’d seen the torment in her eyes. She had been imprisoned by it for nearly her whole life. She’d punished herself enough.
Unable to eat, he stood. After seeing that Lizzy was safe with the nurse, he left Blackley House for the trial. Mari had asked him not to come back. But he couldn’t stay away. He needed to be there for her. He might have a chance to spirit her away, and he needed to be ready.
…
Mari awoke only a few hours after she’d managed to finally fall asleep. She’d always had trouble sleeping over the years, whether from excitement or fear. But last night was different.
It was difficult to spend the precious little time she had left in sleep. Today she would be found guilty and ordered hanged for murder. And those few hours she’d spent sleeping could have been better spent thinking of her husband and daughter. Or her sister and her wee nephews.
It led her into thinking of all the time she’d wasted. Such as all those nights after she’d first come to Dunardry. If only she’d known how short their time together would be, she would have spent it loving Cam from the very first minute.
She knew there was no sense worrying. What was done was done. And in several hours, her life would be over, too.
Cam would take care of their daughter. As would her sister. She trusted them both to do the right thing for Lizzy.
As Mari was led into the chambers to face her punishment, she’d expected to feel somewhat at peace. There was nothing else she could do, after all.
But that wasn’t the case. She found herself wishing she’d made plans to escape with Cam. She wasn’t ready to give up. She wanted to be alive, to have a life with her husband and daughter.
It wasn’t fair. She’d only done what she had to do to survive. But to those who judged her, that meant nothing.
She gasped when she saw Cam’s head towering over the rest of the crowd.
He was still here. He hadn’t left her as she’d asked.
Which meant there was still hope. A chance he might come up with some miracle to get her out of this.
She met his gaze and nodded, wishing they had a moment to speak in private. To plan.
She wanted to apologize for giving up. If only there were time…
The booming voice of the head magistrate cut through the air. “If there are no other witnesses to be heard, we shall—”
The justice was cut off by a single word from the back of the room. It was much too soft and feminine to have come from Cam, and it came from the opposite side of the courtroom.
The crowd murmured and parted until a small, regal woman made her way toward the front, her head held high and her lips pinched. Her cane clicked against the floor as she approached the men who were to decide Mari’s fate.
“I will be heard,” the dowager duchess demanded, and stepped closer. “Bring me a chair. This will take some time.”
Mari sat there in shock. This woman she’d finally befriended—or so Mari had thought—the person they’d just months ago shared a warm and companionable Christmas with, had come to put the final nail in Mari’s coffin. A sliver of betrayal sliced through her heart.
But Mari had killed her son. So she couldn’t rightly blame her.
One thing Mari knew, now that she had a child of her own, was that she would punish anyone who harmed her daughter.
But as the dowager began to speak,
