I know he’s coming, but until then, I have to be strong and protect myself and my children. And I am.
Until the sound I’ve never forgotten echoes along the floor and into my ears.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Sullivan stiffens at the sound of the cane and almost strangles my dress with his grip. Blanket forgotten, I angle myself in front of him as much as possible. Hair slicked back, Montgomery’s freshly changed into black pants and a crisp, white dress shirt. A soapy scent wafts from him as he smirks and watches for my reaction.
I won’t give him one. But I’ll be damned if he hurts Sullivan with that cane ever again.Stall for time. Keep him talking. “How did you find me?”
“Come now, Mara.” He tsks, shaking his head. “I thought you were more intelligent than that. How many white men have married someone like you in this town? And beyond that, how many of them decided to have a photograph taken?”
I lock my knees to keep from swaying in shock. That’s how he found me? Because of something as sentimental ascapturing a moment in time with the family Warren and I made together? “A photograph,” I repeat flatly.
Montgomery circles me, his movements slow and deliberate, and with every sharp knock of his cane to the floor, I want to snatch it from him and beat him with it. “It was my first day in town. No sooner had I reached my lodging when I just so happened to chance upon a man showcasing his photographs right across the street. My, oh my. I couldn’t believe my luck when a familiar face caught my eye. Surely I was seeing things, I told myself. Surely my favorite little half-breed didn’t manage to trick some man into marrying her.”
A retort fights my tongue, but I wrestle it back. That’s not at all true. Warren wanted to marry me all on his own.
“So I looked closer, and wouldn’t you know it but I was right.” Montgomery bends to meet my gaze, and the chill that runs down my spine has nothing to do with the damp dress clinging to me. “It was you. And on your lap was a child. A child who just so happens to have the same birthmark as me.” He raises his hand as if to remind me of it. “When were you going to tell me I had a daughter, Mara?”
“Never,” I seethe, clenching my teeth. Emmaline squeaks as I hold her almost as tightly as Sullivan clutches my leg. Never have I been so fearfully furious as I am right now. He’s saying things just like he did in my terrible dreams from months ago. This time there’s no Warren to wake me up and hold me and tell me I’m safe. “She’s not yours. She already has a father.”
“That mark on her hand says otherwise.” His lips form a semblance of a smile, but there’s nothing friendly in it. He glances down to her hand, and I want to pluck his filthy eyes out for daring to look at her. “Besides, who said I wanted to be a father to her?”
“Then why do you want her? Why take us?” And why bring us here if he was staying at the hotel in town? How did he even find this cabin?
“Because she’s mine, first of all. Nobody steals anything from Montgomery Blackwood. I can keep her and sell her off for a rich price when the time comes. Skin as pretty as her mother’s…”
My blood burns at his unspoken threat. I’ll fight him to the death before anything happens to my daughter.
“And as for you…well, how could I not take you right along with her? I’ve missed our times together, haven’t you?” Montgomery hooks his cane around a chair, not giving a care for the harsh scraping noise as the legs drag across the floor. “Now, enough of the pleasantries. Put the child down and take off that dress.”
Christ, the way my heart pounds against my ribs as my thoughts begin to race. Whatever I have to do once my dress comes off, my children’s little eyes and ears need shielded as much as possible from it. Sullivan is almost my shadow as he follows me to the blankets in the far corner.
“Do you think you can play with Emmaline for a little bit?” I ask. My arms tighten around her tiny frame, already missing her comforting weight before I’ve even given her up.
His eyebrows wrinkle as he thinks it through. “I can try. She’s real little, though. And I don’t have any toys.”
My heart aches for him. Of course a man like Montgomery wouldn’t care to give a child any toys. “Can you sing? She loves it when her papa sings to her.”
“Yeah,” he says with a bit of doubt. “I can do that.”
I press my face to Emmaline’s hair and fiercely breathe past the remnants of Montgomery’s coat and cologne until I reach her soft, baby scent.This is just for now, my darling.
Just for now.
A small, dirty hand tugs at my arm, and I crouch to hear Sullivan’s whisper. “I’ll take care of her, but who’s gonna take care of you? He’s not a nice man. Sometimes he gets mad even when I listen real hard and do everything he says.”
Hatred for Montgomery flares again, but I keep my tone mild. “It’s all going to be okay,” I swear softly to both of them. “Trust me. No matter what you see or hear, don’t look over there. And stay here in this spot.” He nods somberly, and when I carefully lay my daughter down, she lets out a hesitant cry that quickly turns into a wail when I stand. Sullivan anxiously begins singing, but the tune is drowned out by her cries.
Montgomery cuts a sharp glance to her. “Good God, make her stop.”
“I can’t,” I bite out as Emmaline’s crying intensifies with every small step I force myself to take away from her. My nails dig into my palms, and I press them in harder, imagining it’s Montgomery’s face. “She’s tired and hungry and wants to be held.”
“Then feed her. If that’s what it takes to make her stop.”
