Relieved by Charity's enthusiasm, Alanna relied on the doctor to set a fair wage and agreed to bring the first week's payment the following day. She kissed Christian's cheek, placed him in Charity's arms, and left the little house while she still could. Elliott was waiting out front, but Dr. Earle caught Alanna's arm to delay her departure.
"Think about what I said, Miss Alanna. Send the money with Elliott tomorrow. It won't do for you to become too fond of the babe, when likely as not he'll have to be given away."
Sickened by what she prayed was unnecessary advice, Alanna pulled away without replying. "Would you like to meet Mrs. Wade and see the baby before we go?" she asked her cousin.
Elliott shook his head. "I know it's not his fault Melissa's dead, but I can't help blaming him. You were right to get him out of the house. Everyone will feel the way I do."
"How can you talk that way about your own nephew? Do you think Melissa would be proud to hear it?"
Ashamed of himself, Elliott looked away, but he didn't apologize. "I can't help the way I feel."
Alanna hiked up her skirt so she could ride astride, and quickly mounted the dapple gray mare Elliott had brought for her. "I've always thought I could depend on you," she said.
"You can!"
"No, not when you're so quick to forget how much Melissa meant to us."
Elliott urged his bay gelding into place beside Alanna's mare, before he replied in a voice that was choked with tears. "I loved my sister. Everyone did. I don't mean to sound cold, but I need time to grieve for Melissa, before I start worrying about her son."
Alanna gave him all of ten minutes. By then they were far enough, out of town to avoid being interrupted, and she confided in him before she lost her courage. "Hunter wasn't just smitten with Melissa," she began, "and while she stubbornly denied having strong feelings for him, she must have."
"Why are you bringing him up now?"
"When you finally feel up to looking at little Christian, you'll know why. It's not a coincidence that he bears such a striking resemblance to Hunter."
Appalled by her comment, Elliott pulled his bay to an abrupt halt. "My God, Alanna, what are you saying?"
Alanna drew her mare around to face him. His stricken expression made it difficult for her to continue, but she needed his help too badly to soften, or delay, the truth. "Hunter fathered Melissa's child. They were together the night before you all left to join George Washington."
"That can't be!"
"Do you want to ride back to Mrs. Wade's and see for yourself? Dr. Earle recognized Christian as being half-Indian the instant he saw him. What are we going to do, Elliott? I don't want to tell Ian Christian isn't his son, but the first time he sees him, he'll know. He's smart enough to recall Hunter was here in April, and he'll also remember that Melissa refused to see him when he came back with you in August. She snuck out of the house to meet him that night though. I saw them."
Elliott felt sick. "Just what exactly did you see?"
"I didn't spy on them as they were making love, if that's what you're thinking. They talked only a few minutes, and then she returned to the house. The next morning, he left."
Elliott didn't want to believe Alanna's claims, but fearing they were true, he turned his bay off the road, and slid off its back. He stumbled through the dry grass and fell as much as sat down. He rested his head in his hands and began to weep with huge racking sobs. Alanna left her horse to graze beside the bay and hurried to his side, but when she put her arms around his shoulders, he shoved her away.
"Leave me alone. I don't want to hear any more of your evil tales."
Shocked by his insult, Alanna sat back and rested her hands ligh
tly on her thighs. "I'm not telling malicious stories, Elliott, and you know it. I think Hunter fell in love with Melissa, and maybe she loved him, or thought that she did, for a few days at least. He certainly wasn't anything like her other beaus, and maybe that was his appeal. She eloped with Ian just two weeks later, so I doubt that she could have been certain she was carrying Hunter's child.
"Think how frightened she must have been all these months. I suspected something was wrong. I asked her more than once what was bothering her, but she would never admit that she had reason to be upset. It shouldn't have ended like this, Elliott. Melissa shouldn't have died and left us with this awful secret."
Ashamed to have wept in front of her, Elliott dried his tears on his sleeve. "But she did die."
"Yes she did, and you and I are going to have to decide what to do. I don't want to tarnish Melissa's memory in her parents' eyes, or Ian's either, but we can't keep the truth about Christian's father a secret indefinitely."
"The babe was born early, wasn't he? Maybe he'll die."
"Elliott!"
"I'm sorry, I know that's an awful thing to say, but it's better than having everyone learn Melissa was a—" Unable to speak the distasteful word that came to mind, Elliott fell silent.
"A what? A foolish young woman who fell prey to her own romantic dreams? That's all Melissa was. She wasn't wicked. She just fell in love with the wrong man, became frightened, and denied it."