Put me down! Papa! Papa!" "Callie, don't!" Courtland shouted as she struggled to be free of him, somehow managing to turn herself around in his arms. She was like a wildcat, kicking and scratching to free herself from a trap, beating on him with her fists as she strained to see Ainsley as the coach began to move off down the drive. "He'll be fine. I'll fix this. I promise, sweetheart. I'll fix this." She collapsed against him at last, her entire body trembling, sobbing as if her heart would break. "It's what you were saying out there. We waited too long," she whispered brokenly against his jacket. "We waited too long to go. Oh, Papa…" Courtland slipped one arm beneath her knees and lifted her into his arms, close against his chest, and carried her into the house, Jack and several residents of Becket Village following right behind him. "In the drawing room," Jack told him. "We're all in there." Courtland expected to walk into a madhouse of shouting men and weeping women, but the drawing room was silent, although all the Beckets save Eleanor were there, sitting or standing like statues.
