“I don’t want her to have a small piece. I want her to have all of you, alive and well to love us both. Please, Mari.” He tried to give it back, but she wouldn’t take it.
How was he supposed to keep Mari alive for his daughter with naught but a few stories and a lock of her hair?
“We both knew this day would come. We’ve lived the last months with happiness in our hearts, but the shadow has closed in. The day has come, and now we must face it bravely.”
“I’ve been trained to fight my entire life. And now, for the biggest battle of my life, you ask me to lay down my sword and walk away in defeat?”
“Yes. That’s what I’m asking you to do. Leave tomorrow night with Elizabeth. Take her home.”
Cam wiped at the tears on his face. “I love you. God knows I tried not to, but I couldn’t help it.”
“I love you, too, husband.”
They managed a kiss through the bars. He reached for her hand and squeezed it.
“Goodbye, Cam,” she said.
“I’ll not say goodbye. I can’t.” With that, he turned and left.
…
Mari felt numb as she lay on her filthy pallet that night, listening to the sounds of dripping water and small rodents scurrying to find food.
Somehow she’d managed to still have hope when she’d walked into Guildhall that morning. Despite what she’d said to Cam, she’d told herself there was still a chance they would hear her and one of them would have compassion for a woman who only did what she’d had to do to survive.
It was a crushing blow to be so wrong.
She shivered from the chill and closed her eyes. Pushing out the reality of the prison, she recalled the beauty of the MacKinlay lands. The hills, the flinty outcroppings of rock. The grove of trees and the stream that ran through it. The field where she’d met Cam.
Home.
She was surprised when the guard arrived to wake her.
As she’d predicted, the trial went on in the same manner as the day before. She tried her best to remain calm, but as they continued their attack on her reputation she finally reached her breaking point and railed at them for their behavior.
If she was destined to be executed, she might as well unleash her fury on them. Unfortunately, all it served to do was to exhaust her and make her seem unreasonable. When it was over for the day, she nearly begged them to just be done with it.
As on the day before, Cam came to see her. But this time he brought Lizzy, as she’d asked.
“Hello, love.” She greeted their daughter with a smile. “I’m so happy to see you.”
Her daughter fussed and Mari longed to hold her. It wasn’t possible through the bars, but she reached out to touch and caress her daughter.
“Please, Mari. I beg you,” Cam said quietly as tears slid down his cheeks.
“I was afraid to love you, too,” she admitted. “I feared that if I loved you, it would be too difficult to leave you when the time came. But love made it easier to leave, in order to protect you. Love makes it easier for me to say goodbye now, too. Because I love you so much, I want only happiness for you. Always know I loved you with all my heart.”
“I’ll not forget,” he said so softly she barely heard him. Then he turned and walked away with their daughter.
When he was gone, Mari curled into a ball and cried herself to sleep.
…
Cam could not sleep. His body was tired, but his mind continued to search desperately for a way to save his wife.
She’d made it clear she wouldn’t approve of an illegal rescue. She didn’t want to condemn them to a life on the run. But she would be alive, and it would be a life together. It might not be easy, but he wanted to try.
Except it wasn’t just about him anymore. He was a father. He needed to do the best thing for Lizzy. And if he ended up in an English prison, he wouldn’t be there for her.
He couldn’t take both of her parents away and condemn her to grow up alone, as he had.
It was an impossible situation. One that couldn’t be solved with his brawn or a sword. Maybe if he weren’t so exhausted, he’d be able to come up with a smart way out of this.
He was distracted from intense contemplation by his daughter’s cries. He rose to go to her, but before he managed to get to the door, the crying stopped. Worried as to the cause, he hurried into her room.
There he spotted the dowager leaning over the crib. She raised Elizabeth in her arms, and Cam gasped. What did she plan to do to his child? He could only imagine the worst.
“Please, don’t hurt her. She’s all I’ll have left after tomorrow,” Cam begged, knowing he couldn’t make it across the room if the woman chose to drop the babe on the floor.
His hands were raised in a nonthreatening manner as he stepped closer.
She looked at him aghast. “I wouldn’t hurt this child.”
“You don’t seem to like bairns all that much, especially ones spawned by two Scots.”
The dowager made a noise that would have been a snort if it weren’t coming from someone so aristocratic.
“I don’t care who her parents are. She’s an angel.” The dowager rocked the babe and smiled down at the infant in her arms.
Cam relaxed a little, though still a trifle wary. “I have to be honest and say it’s because she looks like me.”
“Arrogant wretch,” the dowager said without her usual bite of distaste.
“I think she is the most beautiful babe ever created,” he said, serious now.
“By Scots,” the dowager amended.
His jaw dropped. “Did you just make a joke, Your Grace?”
“Aye,” she answered, using his own word.
He laughed and stepped closer, completely at ease now. When she made to hand Lizzy over to him, he shook his head. “Go ahead, if it pleases you.” He even pulled the rocking chair over from the corner so she could sit. “Does your foot still bother you?”
“It’s much improved. Thank you.” She sat and rocked the baby with a stiff smile on her lips. She wanted to say something else. He could tell. It was the time of night one needed to unload worries and often sought out a place of peace to leave them.
“Is something bothering you?” he asked.
“I think you have enough worries of your own than to take on mine, as well.”
“I need a rest from my own. I canna do anything for them.”
“I’m sorry this is happening. I wish now I’d done more.” Her face softened with sadness and regret.