And somehow, he had come to her.
Still, she didn’t run to him. Not right away. She needed to breathe. She needed to remember who she was before he stepped into her life and made everything different.
Her eyes flicked to the stairwell. She saw the familiar faces of Daphne and Victoria peeking out from behind the banister. Wilhelmina caught her gaze and gave a small, wry smile.
“I’ll see to them,” she said gently. “They’ll be fine, Lizzie. They’ve grown up with our mother, remember? It’s nothing they haven’t seen before.”
Elizabeth nodded faintly, her throat too tight to speak. When Wilhelmina slipped from the room, the silence that followed was deafening.
It was just her and Alasdair now.
And so many words between them.
“I’ll call for a physician,” Elizabeth broke the silence.
“There’s nae?—”
“Stop, Alasdair. You need help,” she cut him off and rang for a maid, instructing her to fetch for the nearest physician.
The maid scurried off after a curtsy, leaving them alone once again.
“I thought I would never see you again,” she said at last, her voice quieter than she intended. It came out like a truth she’d been holding inside since the night he left.
“I felt the same,” he replied, his voice hoarse. “But I kenned… only death could keep me away from ye.”
Her heart thudded. It was the kind of thing he might say to make her laugh, normally. A bit dramatic. A bit absurd.
But not now.
“Don’t say that,” she whispered, stepping forward. “It’s a horrible thing to think about.”
“I almost dinnae make it,” he said simply.
She froze. The words hit her harder than she was prepared for.
“It was Kittridge, wasn’t it?” she asked, eyes searching his injuries. “He tried to kill you.”
“Aye.”
“And still you went to him,” she said, voice rising. “Even after you had proof. Even after all that. Alasdair, what were you thinking?”
“I wasnae thinking clearly,” he admitted. “I was angry. I needed to look the bastard in the eye. I needed him to ken what he’d done.”
“You could have died,” she said again, more quietly this time. “And all the things you fought for would have died with you.”
He took a step closer. “Aye. I ken. I ken that now. But even then, even when I was fighting him, all I could think about was ye. Yer laughter, yer voice, the way ye look at me when ye think I can’t see.”
She blinked rapidly. No one had ever spoken about her that way.
Like she was a whole world someone wanted to live in.
“I was afraid,” she admitted. “I thought we were building something real. Something safe. Then you walked away.”
“I was a coward,” he said, his voice breaking. “I told myself I was protectin’ ye, but truth is, I dinnae want to ask ye to wait for a man who might not come back. I dinnae want to see fear in yer eyes every time I walked out the door.”
She looked away. “And what did you see when I left our home, heartbroken and alone? Did you think I’d be fine? That I’d simply… pick myself up?”
“I thought I was savin’ ye pain. I dinnae realize I was causin’ it.”