"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 murder, 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."