For the Roses (Claybornes' Brides (Rose Hill) 1)

Travis started to get up. Harrison ordered him to stay in his chair.

“Mary Rose, get up and come over to me. Look damned happy to see me.”

She didn’t hesitate. She quickly got up and walked around the table. He pulled her into his arms, leaned down and kissed her brow, and then hugged her tight.

“Welcome back, Harrison,” Adam whispered.

“When the hell did all this happen?” he asked.

“They woke me up yesterday,” Adam answered. “And here I am. You got here in the nick of time. In another hour, it would have been too late. They would have waited until tomorrow to hang me, but once a sentence is handed down, no one can do anything.”

The last of the strangers filed out of the storefront. Douglas and Cole came charging inside.

“Shut the door,” Harrison called out.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Cole muttered. He tossed Travis his gun as he came storming down the aisle. “Adam, you okay?”

“Yes,” his brother answered.

Harrison finally relaxed his grip on Mary Rose. She didn’t move away from him, however, but continued to lean into him. She was shaking almost violently now. She’d had one hell of a day, and he knew it wasn’t going to get much better.

He had so much to say to her, but now certainly wasn’t the time or the place. Getting Adam back to the ranch alive was going to require everyone’s full concentration.

“I say we run now,” Cole said.

“We’ll all get bullets in our backs if we try,” Travis argued.

“He’s right,” Douglas agreed. “Now isn’t the time to leave,” Douglas said.

“I’m not going anywhere but home,” Adam announced. He pushed his chair back and finally stood up. “Harrison, I don’t know if I should thank you or hit you. You’ve just given me two full weeks to think about that rope going around my neck.”

“You don’t have much faith in your attorney,” Harrison remarked dryly.

“I’ve got plenty of faith in you. It’s the rest of the world I have trouble with. You’re an honorable man, Harrison, but that seems to be a rare quality these days. I told Mary Rose you’d come back. She didn’t believe me. I guess she does now, doesn’t she?”

Harrison was stunned. Had she thought he’d stay on in England and go right about his business? Didn’t she realize she’d taken his heart with her?

“Harrison, are you going home with us or over to Belle’s to look at the evidence?” Travis asked.

“Home,” he answered. “I want to talk to Adam before I do anything else.”

It was a solemn procession that filed out of the storefront. The locals were there to greet Adam and offer him words of encouragement. It was good to see the people of Blue Belle hadn’t turned against him.

Harrison was given the duty of watching their backs on the way home. He stayed well behind the family, and when they started down the last hill, he stopped and waited until they were safely out of gunshot range. He made a quick detour then, found what he was looking for, and continued on.

Mary Rose sat with her brothers at the dining room table. They were all whispering and worrying out loud about the two-week reprieve.

She was thinking about Harrison. Seeing him again had filled her with such incredible longing. Why had he come back? She couldn’t be the woman her relatives in England wanted her to be. Didn’t he understand that? Oh, God, what was she going to do? She’d been so miserable from the moment she’d left him . . . until today. She’d felt as though she were dying inside, and when he’d calmly walked into the courtroom and made reason in the midst of madness, she’d started living again.

She heard Harrison come inside the house and go upstairs. Doors squeaked open and closed. He was looking for her room, she thought to herself, and did that mean he expected to stay with her?

He finally joined the family. “Adam, I want to talk to you alone in the library.”

He didn’t even look at her.

“My brothers and my sister know everything,” Adam replied.

“Alone,” Harrison suggested once again.

They weren’t disturbed by anyone and stayed closeted together for over two hours. Harrison had insisted Adam tell him everything he remembered about his daily routine while he lived on the plantation and everything he knew about the family who had owned him.

“Mistress Livonia was married to Walter Adderley. They had two sons. You saw both of them in court today. Reginald’s the baby. He’s a couple of years younger than I am. Lionel is the older one. He’s the spitting image of his father. Walter was a drunk. He’d start in around noon every day, and by evening, he’d have to be carried up to bed. He got real mean when he drank, which meant he was mean most of the time. He would pick fights with his wife. Something must have happened between them, because when he was drunk, he couldn’t abide the sight of her.”

“Would he strike her?”

“Oh, yes, he’d use his fists. She wasn’t any match for him. He was over six feet, and she was just a little tiny bit of a thing. He’d hit my mama too. She was Livonia’s companion, and so she got her share of abuse as well.

“On a late Friday afternoon, just around suppertime, I was passing by the house on my way in from planting, and I heard Mistress Livonia screaming. Adderley was beating both of them. I put myself between Livonia and my owner because when I walked into the room, he was pounding on her. I remember thinking that if I could just get him to turn his rage against me, Mama and Livonia would be all right. Mama’s nose was bloody and one eye was already swelling closed. Livonia was in worse shape. She was trying to stand up and had almost made it when he struck her again. She collapsed on the floor. She kept begging him to stop. He started kicking her then. She was pleading for mercy, and praying, Harrison. She begged me to help her . . . and so I did.”

Adam paused to take a shaky breath before continuing. “I put my arms around his waist and pulled him back while Mama ran over to help Livonia to her feet.

“Adderley went crazy. He told Livonia he was going to kill her, shrugged me off of him, and went after her again. That’s when I hit him. He stumbled back about ten feet and then started to charge me. He lost his footing and crashed into the edge of the mantel. I think he was dead before he landed on the floor.”

“Where did you hit him?”

“In the chin.”

“Not from behind? You said he had turned away from you . . .”

“Yes, but I was quicker than he was. I put myself in front of Mistress Livonia again to try to protect her and struck him when he tried to kick her.”

“And then what happened?”

“Mistress Livonia gave me money and told me to run. She and Mama were going to tell the authorities I’d been sold. When the authorities arrived, Livonia told them it had been an accident. Neither woman mentioned me at all. I hadn’t done any damage to Adderley’s face with my punch. I was just thirteen and didn’t know how to fight. Everyone in the state knew what a drunk Adderley was. No one doubted Livonia. She told them how her husband had stumbled and crashed into the mantel. It was ruled an accidental death.”

“Did anyone else see what happened?”

“No.”

“Why would her sons come after you now? What evidence do they have?”

“The letters I wrote to my mama. She saved all of them. Adderley’s sons must have found them. I mentioned the past in several of the letters and told Mama I was afraid for her.”

Harrison let out weary sigh. “You aren’t guilty of a crime, Adam.”

“I was a slave, and I dared to raise my hand against my owner. I touched him. His sons believe I should be killed just for that.”

“Do you think Adderley’s sons went to their mother and forced her to tell them exactly what took place?”

“Oh, yes. Lionel’s turning out to be just like his father. Mama’s letters are filled with her worries about Mistress Livonia. None of it matters, does it? If two white men accuse me of mur

der, we both know I’ll be convicted.”

“Not without a fight,” Harrison promised. “I have to ask you something else. Do you want to stay here and fight this, or do you want to run?”

“Would you let me run if I wanted to? You put up everything you own to ensure I would stay around.”

“I didn’t put up my most valuable asset,” he answered. “I’ll still have Mary Rose, if she’ll let me stay.”

“What do you advise?”

“In my heart, you’ve become my brother, Adam, from the day I married your sister. I don’t want to see anything happen to you. As your attorney, I would advise you to stay and fight.”

“So the brother in you wants me to run, and the attorney wants me to face it.”

“Something like that,” Harrison agreed. He happened to notice the framed words Adam had copied down and hung on his wall. It made sense to him now, the reason Adam so loved the passage.

“Make me a promise, Adam.”

“What is it?”

“When this is over and we’ve won, you’ll take the passage down and put it away.”

Adam stood up and stretched the muscles in his shoulders. “I’ve lived my entire life hiding and waiting. I don’t want to live like that any longer. I always knew the day would come, and now that it’s finally here, I’m going to stay around and face it. ‘For whom the bell tolls,’ ” he added in a whisper. “ ‘It tolls for thee.’ ”

“Hell, that’s grim.”

“I’m feeling grim. I’m entitled tonight. Are we about finished talking?”

Harrison smiled. “We’ve only just begun. We’re going to talk about what you’re going to say when you’re on the stand, and what I don’t believe would be a good idea to say. Sit down, Adam. It’s going to be a long night.”

Harrison started taking notes. Cole carried in a tray with cheese and biscuits and beer. Since he wasn’t asked to leave, he stayed inside the library and leaned against the edge of the desk while he listened to Harrison question his brother.

Travis and Douglas joined them an hour later, but Mary Rose stayed behind. She thought Adam would speak more freely if he didn’t have to worry about her.

She couldn’t eat anything, her stomach was too upset, and after sitting at the table all alone thinking about Adam, she finally got up and went to her room.

Her thoughts kept turning to Harrison. What in heaven’s name was she going to do? He’d called her Victoria. Who did he love? Didn’t he know he’d broken her heart when he’d called her that name? Why couldn’t he love her just the way she was?

There was a flower on her pillow. It wasn’t a rose, but a brilliant red fireweed.

She finally understood what he had been trying to remind her of from that first night in England when he’d had a long-stemmed rose placed on her pillow. He knew what it would be like for her in England, how difficult the transition would be for her to make, and so, while everyone else was diligently trying to change everything about her, Harrison had been quietly reminding her that he loved her just the way she was. He accepted her, flaws and all.

She was his Rose.

She was overwhelmed by her husband. How could she have ever doubted him? And how could he ever forgive her for not having enough faith in him?

She sat down on the side of the bed, and while she gently pressed the flower to her heart, she bowed her head and cried.

“The flower was supposed to make you happy, not sad.”

Harrison was standing in the doorway. Her heart felt as if it had just done a somersault. He looked so worried and tired . . . and vulnerable.

“You love me.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“For loving you?”

She shook her head. “For putting up with my uncertainty. I love you so much, and I’ve been so afraid inside. Wait,” she added when he started toward her. “I have to beg your forgiveness first.”

A slow smile caught her by surprise. She shouldn’t be smiling now. She needed to be serious so he would believe her when she promised to never doubt him again.

“You have the patience of Job,” she began. “All this time you’ve been waiting for me to understand, haven’t you?”

“No, you always understood. I was just reminding you.”

“You called me Victoria.”

“I did?” He looked astonished by what she’d just said.

“You broke my heart.”

Harrison closed the door and went to her. He stopped just a foot away.

“I love you, Mary Rose MacDonald. I don’t care what name you go by. If you want to change it every other week, that’s okay with me. You’ll always be my Rose.”

She didn’t want to hold the flower any longer. She wanted to hold her husband. She put the fireweed on the side table and stood up. “I love you too,” she repeated. “I’m so sorry I doubted you. Can you ever forgive me?”

“I should have been there for you. I knew what you were going through, and I should have quit working for your father a long time ago. I shouldn’t have wanted to finish everything first. Can you ever forgive me?”

“You quit?” she whispered.

“You didn’t do anything crazy when you came back here, did you, sweetheart?”

“Crazy? Like what?”

“Like getting one of those divorces I read was easy to procure here.”

“I’m not answering until you kiss me. Oh, Harrison, in the midst of all the confusion today, you remembered I used to think fireweed was a rose. Please kiss me.”

“I’ll only marry you again if you did get a divorce. Forever, Mary Rose. I meant it.”

And then he finally pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the love and tenderness he possessed. The ache he’d been suffering during their separation vanished, and now he felt complete again.

She placed fervent kisses on his face. “Why did you wait so long to come to me?”

“Sweetheart, if you had looked behind you while you were on ship, I could have waved to you,” he exaggerated. “I got here as soon as I could. Let me kiss you again.”

They were both shaking with their need for each other when they pulled apart. Mary Rose rested the side of her face against his chest. She loved the way his heart hammered in her ear, loved everything about him. Even when he was driving her crazy with his stubbornness and his arrogance, she loved him.

She wondered if he knew how perfect he was.

“It isn’t easy to get a divorce here. You’ve read too many dime novels, Harrison. And no, I didn’t divorce you. It’s forever, remember?”

His chin dropped to the top of her head. Lord, he was content. He felt whole again, complete, and all because of her magical love.

“Are we going back to England? I will go anywhere in the world with you. As long as we’re together, I shall be content.”

He was overwhelmed. She would give up paradise for him and do so willingly because she loved him.

“No, we aren’t going back. We’re going to live here. I’ll buy some land close by and build a house.”

She started crying again. She assured him they were tears of joy, of course. And then she pushed herself away from him and insisted she couldn’t speak another coherent word until she’d taken her clothes off.

He was happy to accommodate her. He thought he set a record of some kind for stripping out of his clothes and getting her out of hers without tearing anything. One of them pulled the covers back, and then they fell into bed together.

He covered her completely and kissed her softly until he felt her mouth open under his. The tip of his tongue rubbed against hers and then gradually slipped inside. He was determined to go slow and not give in to his hunger now, but she was making it impossible for him. Her hands caressed him everywhere, and when she began to stroke his arousal, he forgot all his good intentions.

He twisted her long curls around his hands and shifted his position. His tongue thrust deep inside her mouth. With o

ne motion, he penetrated her. The pleasure of feeling her walls squeezing him inside made him close his eyes in ecstasy.

She drew her knees up to bring him deeper inside her and let out a little whimper as the wave of pleasure washed over her. The intensity took her control away from her. She was mindless now to everything but finding fulfillment.

He had more stamina than she did. She reached utopia first, and when he felt the tremors of her release, he quickened his pace and gave in to his own.

And it was as perfect as he had remembered.

He didn’t have the strength to move away from her for a long, long while. He hoped to God he wasn’t crushing her, and just as soon as his mind could get his body to cooperate, he’d find out.

She didn’t cry this time. She laughed. The sound proved contagious, and he found himself smiling in reaction.

He finally lifted himself up so he could look into her beautiful eyes.

“Felt good, didn’t it?”

She slowly nodded. “Better than good.”

“I behaved like an animal in heat.”

She laughed again. “So did I. The memory of what happened is already fading. Do you think you could remind me again?”

“You’re killing me, Mary Rose.”

She almost did too. Harrison fell asleep an hour later believing he had died a happy man.

January 2, 1876

Dear Mama,

Today is my sixteenth birthday and I am finally allowed to wear my beautiful locket for the very first time. I’ve been waiting for such a long time. Thank you, Mama, for giving me the treasure. I will value it forever. I’m so lucky to have you. Adam says that God has been watching out for all of us from the day they found me in the alley. He’s right, Mama. He gave me four brothers to love and protect me, and He gave me you.

I’ve saved half the money I need to make the trip to Carolina. If all goes well, I’ll be able to come and stay with you next year. It’s my dream, Mama. Please let me. I so need to hug you.

Your daughter

Mary Rose

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