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How could life change so quickly from greatest joy to the greatest of sorrows?
On the long ride, Samuel informed her that they would be married a week from tomorrow. He loved her so much, he said, he didn’t want to waste time.
Seven days.
Pulling the blanket over her head to shield herself from the icy breeze, Eliza bit her cheek so hard she tasted blood. Her life was coming to an end, and worst of all, she was to blame. If she had taken Thomas’s wise counsel and stayed away from that formidable rally, then none of this would have happened. Samuel might never have found them and she and Thomas could have lived and shared their love to the end of their days.
Forgive me, Lord, for what I’ve done. I tried to make things right—to make a proper choice and learn why Father did what he did. But now, I see I have failed yet again.
Eliza rolled on her side toward the fire, and writhed on the hard ground, her bones pressing her flesh into the unforgiving bed of solid earth.
Samuel fussed with the small fire and humphed, grumbling curses under his breath.
Eliza moved back the blanket and peeled her eyes when he rose and walked to the other side of the cave. In the dim light she could only distinguish a faint outline of both men. Donaldson stood over the fire, warming his hands and appearing to ignore Samuel’s presence.
“Eliza and I will be married tomorrow week.”
Donaldson turned a disinterested eye at Samuel then gazed again at the growing fire. “So you said.”
Samuel approached him. “I have one more task for you.”
“I told you, I’m no longer your pawn.”
Samuel’s voice lowered even more, and Eliza strained to hear above the popping of the fire. She peeked quickly at Kitty. Thank the Lord she’d found peace in sleep.
Samuel leaned into Donaldson, heat searing his words. “If you want to continue your military career you will do as I say. Your sister’s medicines need to be paid for, and if I remember correctly, you supply the money, do you not?”
Donaldson cranked his head sideways, his tone low and heavy with malice. “So you’ll blackmail me as well?”
“I wouldn’t have to, if you would simply do as I ask.”
Eliza couldn’t see his face, but Donaldson’s stance showed his rage. “What is it?”
“Once we get back to Boston and Eliza and I are wed, you will return to Sandwich. Burn Thomas’s house, his barn—everything.”
Dear God! No! Eliza slapped a hand over her mouth to shelter her gasp.
Donaldson whipped toward Samuel and grabbed his collar. “Never.”
Samuel shoved Donaldson into the spiny cave wall.“You have no choice! I suggest you follow my orders.”
“You’re the devil,” Donaldson seethed, shoving Samuel at the shoulders.
Eliza clenched her eyes and bit her lip again until the familiar taste of blood trickled over her tongue. She choked on the lump in her throat and clenched her arms around her stomach, trying to keep down the acid that surged in her belly.
Oh, Lord what have I done?
“You have to go after her, Thomas.” Nathaniel sank into the Windsor chair across from Thomas at the lonely table in the kitchen. “You’re a fool not to.”
The dark sky outside grated on Thomas’s thin nerves and matched the despair that swirled within him. Eliza had been gone for more than fifteen hours, but it seemed to him like three lifetimes.
“Perhaps I am. And yet, I cannot do it.” Thomas ground his teeth together, picking at the day-old bread Eliza had made.
Nathaniel’s face curled. “You know she loves you.”
“She never said she loved me.”
“Did she have to?”
