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Hannah’s throat moved, but her chin was raised in pretended surprise. “How would they have known?”
Stockton moved a single step forward. “I should like for you to tell me that, Miss Young.”
Philo’s stomach pinched. The man wouldn’t do anything to her, would he? ’Twas Joseph he was supposed to suspect.
Dainty eyebrows pinched, she shook her head unconvincingly. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Do you not?”
Stockton spun on his heel and went to the hall, his thundering voice flickering the candles. “Higley!”
In seconds the man was bounding toward them. “Aye, sir?”
“Stay here while I go see about this raid—and apprehending Joseph.”
“Sir—”
The man’s words were put short by Stockton’s cutting motion. “Stay here and guard these two until I get back.”
Stockton stormed down the hall, yelling commands as the soldiers rallied to attention.
Philo’s pulse still raced, but it charged even quicker at Higley’s sharp glare.
Higley pointed to the room. “In.”
Was Philo’s loyalty to be questioned now too?
Hurrying forward, Philo made it to the center of the room before the heat in Hannah’s glare became so hot he could go no farther. Still beside the window, she stared at him, chest rising and falling, lips pinched white.
“What have you done?” The cry that left her splintered the air with a thousand pains.
What did she think? That he’d done it to spite her? A burning started in his core and moved outward. He braved a step forward. “I act when I deem it right, and what I saw was—”
“When you deem it right?” Her chin quivered. “All you have ever done is attempt to pull us apart.”
“For your good.”
“For your good, not mine.”
Supported by his foundation of righteousness, Philo spit through his reply. “Since the beginning you have been too foolish to see past that man’s wickedness. So much so you allowed yourself to be dragged through the muck along with him, and I refuse to have my daughter—”
“You tried to protect me, did you?” Her voice went eerily calm while her exterior quivered. “You thought that making either of us believe such falsehoods would in some way shield me from a life of grief?”
Aye. At last it seemed she understood. But the hate in her stare said otherwise.
Philo flung a glance to Higley, wishing the man would stand outside the hall while the two of them spoke, but from the strength of his stance, ’twas clear the man was going nowhere.
Shaking his head, Philo stepped forward. “You do not understand my struggle because you have not loved a child of your own.”
Her face went slack.
There. He’d caught her. “If you had, you would know the weight of feeling you had done all you could and still failed.”
Eyes instantly red, she reached for the chair beside her. Her quivering increased, and she licked her lips. “You did not do all you could. Had you done so, you would not have shunned me from town. You would not have hated me for my transgression so much that you refused to see me.”
He hadn’t hated her. Not in the way she thought. Philo’s mind floundered against the rising tide. He hadn’t meant to—
“I told you I was sorry.” Volume rising, Hannah’s voice wobbled as much as her chin. “I craved your love and forgiveness.” She paused, tears streaming over her cheeks. “If you loved me as you claim, you would have been there for me as Ensign and Bea had been when I bore and buried Joseph’s child!”
