“No.” Turning, Alex looked at her. “I never asked and she never told me. But then, we were together for such a short time.”
Cay lay back on the pillow. “That’s odd. I told you about my family ten minutes after we met.”
“Aye, you did, lass. You’ve told me so much about your life and your family that I feel I know them. But Lilith wasn’t like you. She said little, just what was important.”
“But family is important. Family is everything. I know your father means a lot to you. Did you tell your wife about him?”
“I did. I told her a great deal about my life in Scotland and about my dad. She liked to listen to the stories. She couldn’t understand me when I didn’t speak with the American accent, but I couldn’t blame her for that, now could I?”
Cay was glad to hear the humor in his voice and she was pleased to hear his breathing slow down. She’d done what she intended and calmed him. Of course it did cross her mind that if she had any sense at all she’d not spend the night locked in a room with a man who’d been convicted for cutting the throat of the woman lying beside him.
Just as she felt his change in mood, he knew when there was a difference in her breathing. “If you’d rather I went into another room, I will.”
“No,” she said. “I feel safer with you here.”
He didn’t say anything for a while, then he reached across the big pillow and took her small hand in his. “Thank you for that. You’re only the second person who has believed in me.”
Cay liked his big, warm hand on hers—liked it too much. She removed her hand and turned on her side, facing away from him. “If you go off into Florida without showing me how to do that handkerchief trick, I’ll take it all back.” She smiled when she heard him chuckle, and his breathing eased and she heard him go to sleep. His soft, quiet breathing relaxed her, but she looked at the moon out the window and thought about what was going to happen in the next few days.
Thanks to her many questions, she’d been able to piece together his “plan” for her. His intent was to dump her on some friends of Uncle T.C. while Alex went exploring. After a week or two, still dressed as a boy, Cay was to travel back to her parents’ home in Virginia and hope that nothing ever came about because of her escapade of helping a criminal escape. There was no more talk of trying to prove Alex’s innocence as there had been at first. Somewhere along the way, he seemed to have dropped that idea. For the last couple of days he’d spoken only of Cay returning to her family and safety.
Had he given up his thoughts of justice? she wondered. And if he had, had he done it because of her? The way he spoke now, he meant to go into the jungles of wild Florida and maybe never return.
But she’d heard the difference in his voice when he spoke of the past. When he talked about his horses, he was full of energy, even excitement. He’d left his homeland and his father with hope for his future life.
Just as I have a plan for mine, Cay thought. She knew what she wanted out of life, and so did he. He’d even started working on it while he still lived in Scotland. She smiled at the memory of his story about illegally mating his mare with a “great beast” of a stallion. He’d done it so he could get to America and someday have his own farm, with his own wife and children.
He wants exactly what I do, she thought, and sadness nearly overwhelmed her as she realized that it was possible that she’d get the future she wanted, but Alex never would. For all his life, he’d be haunted by the fact that he’d been convicted of murder and had escaped hanging by just one day.
But what if Nate got her letter and went to Charleston and found out the truth about who killed Alex’s wife? Knowing who killed someone wouldn’t bring that person back to life. While it was true that Alex could possibly be cleared of the murder charges, he’d never get ba
ck the woman he loved. Such a tragic happening would take years to recover from—if he ever did.
“Stop thinking so hard,” Alex said. “It’s keeping me awake.”
“All right,” she said. “It’s just that I don’t think that going to Florida will solve anything.”
“Nor do I,” he said, “but right now it’s the only thing I can do. We need to sleep, as I plan to leave very early.”
“Maybe if I bury my face in your hair and smell the jasmine, I’ll be able to fall asleep.”
“Don’t even think of touching me.”
“Yes, Mr. McDowell,” she said as she closed her eyes.
Eleven
The next morning, well before daylight, Alex told Cay to get out of bed, but she couldn’t seem to wake up. “We need to go, so put that thing on your chest and let’s leave.”
“I want my chocolate,” Cay mumbled as she tried to stand up. “And I want to take a bath.”
“You had a bath two days ago. Now get dressed.”
As soon as Alex went to the other side of the room, she fell across the bed and was asleep instantly.
“Up!” he said as he grabbed the waistband of her breeches and pulled. “Fall down like that again and I’ll give you a smack across that round little bottom of yours.”
“You’re cruel.” She couldn’t seem to get her eyes open and she was standing, but she swayed on her feet.