“I thought you were leaving today. I was hoping you’d leave today.”
“Grady is to bring the flatboat with more supplies, and we leave early tomorrow. Will you cry when you wave good-bye to me?”
“I’m going to throw a party.”
“And will the girls be there? Will you sneak kisses with them?”
She picked up her fork and lunged across the table at him, but he pulled back, laughing, just as Thankfull returned.
“I hope they’re cooked to your liking,” she said, looking in curiosity from Cay to Alex, then back again.
“Excellent,” Alex said, glancing up at Thankfull with a warm smile.
She returned his smile before she went back to the kitchen.
“You were flirting with her,” Cay said in a voice that was mostly a hiss.
“She’s an attractive woman,” Alex said.
“And you’re a married man.”
“Nay, lass,” Alex said quietly, “I’m not.”
“I didn’t mean . . . ,” she began, then stopped. She wasn’t good at being angry. Even when she was a child and Tally did truly horrible things to her, she couldn’t stay mad for long. She put her head on her hands, elbows on the table. “I don’t want to stay here alone.”
“Thankfull seems like a nice enough person, so maybe she’ll turn out to be your friend.” There was sympathy in Alex’s voice.
“She’s in love with Uncle T.C.”
“Is she now? Who would have thought of that? Is he in love with her?”
“How would I know that? I’m his goddaughter. He doesn’t talk to me of his love life.”
“Maybe he should. It would have been better than telling you about the murderers in his life.”
Cay couldn’t help it, but she smiled. “I agree with you on that.”
Reaching across the table, he took her hand, and she looked at him. “I’m truly sorry about all this, lass. I didn’t mean for it to happen, and neither did T.C. If he hadn’t been so stupid as to climb on that ladder, he’d be here now and not you.”
“And he’d be going with you,” Cay said, her eyes pleading.
Alex pulled his hand back and took a bite of his eggs. “Don’t start on me again. You canna go, and that’s final.”
“He’s here!” one of the twins shouted as she ran into the dining room. Her eyes went directly to Cay. “Oooooh,” she said and sat down beside her, but Cay stood up.
“Who’s here?” Alex asked.
The girl didn’t so much as look at him; her eyes were directly on Cay. “Mr. Grady.”
“Oh,” Cay said flatly, looking at Alex.
He rapidly took three more bites of egg, grabbed his hat, and said he had to go.
Cay was right on his heels.
At the door, he stopped. “I think you should stay here. I don’t know where Grady’s been, so he may have heard the news from Charleston. He could be suspicious of you.”
“My name was cleared, remember? It’s you who’s in danger, not me.”