When Charlotte's black groundskeeper rode by on his horse and buggy, Adella couldn't even speak. He stopped to pick them up and bring them the rest of the way to the house. Adella was thankful. The children were as physically and mentally exhausted as she was.

As soon as they stopped in front of the house, he ran inside to get Charlotte.

Adella had just gotten all the children safely down and on the ground when Charlotte hurried out to meet them.

Adella could feel tears building up at just the thought of having to explain everything to Ben's sister-in-law.
"What on God's green Earth?" Charlotte called out breathlessly as she leaned down to envelope Margaret, who was crying, into a hug.

Charlotte's eyes met Adella's and she felt everything inside her break again.

"He killed Thomas," she murmured. "And Ben went after him."

"Who?" Charlotte demanded.

"One of the Green Dragoons…His real father," she sputtered as she nodded toward Eli.

Charlotte rose to her feet, eyes wide and confused.

Charlotte looked as if she was going to ask questions, but she regained her composure and focused her attention back to the children.

"Let's get them inside," she reached for Susan's and William's hands.

Once inside, Charlotte put some tea on the stove and helped Adella wipe the dirt and tears from the children's sad and confused faces.

No one talked. Adella was thankful for that. They silently got the children washed up and then shuffled them off to one of the bedrooms. Charlotte sat with them to keep them company until each child was asleep.

Adella sat alone in Charlotte's bedroom to feed Eli. She wiped her own tears off of his head as he suckled. One lone candle gave the room a dull, flickering light. She couldn't look at Eli now without seeing William's face and seeing Thomas fall again and again. She felt so betrayed. But she also felt like a betrayer-to Ben and his family and to Thomas.

"Oh Eli," she whispered softly. The events of the day replayed in her head over and over even though she didn't want to see them.

She couldn't help but feel like there was something else she could have done to stop William.

And she couldn't help but worry about Ben and the boys. She felt so overwhelmed. She hadn't even had the chance to tell William the truth. He was not the same man that he was when they last parted. She felt her body wrack with a few sobs she could not contain. The room was too quiet. She tried to focus on Eli's light grunts. At least he did not know what was going on. At least he was too little to know.

When Eli was finished, and she could not sit alone any longer, she re-covered herself and left the dark and still room.

She was wiping her eyes when she nearly bumped into Charlotte.

Charlotte had been standing in the hall, not far from the door.

"Let me take him and give you a break," Charlotte offered. "I didn't want to disturb you but you must be tired."

Adella handed him over gingerly. The soreness in her arms seemed to intensify with the loss of his weight. She hadn't realized just how tired she was.

"Come sit with me?" Charlotte asked softly.

Adella followed Charlotte back into the kitchen.

She sunk down into one of the wooden chairs.

Charlotte cuddled Eli close to her. Adella forced a smile at how gently the woman handled him.

Adella cleared her throat a little as she tried to regain some courage.

Without warning, Adella began her story in a low voice, before Charlotte could even ask. She knew that she had to tell her.

Charlotte listened without interjecting as Adella explained everything.

"I'm so ashamed," Adella stammered when she felt she had covered it all, even a brief explanation of she and William's past.

Charlotte shook her head. "You've done nothing for which you should be ashamed."

"Now I just hope that the other boys are okay," Adella continued. "And Gabriel…" she trailed off.

Charlotte nodded. "Ben will take care of them."

Adella sighed loudly. "I really hope he was of sound mind enough to take care of them."

"Ben has been through a lot," Charlotte murmured. "But his children are the most important thing in the world to him."

A soft sob escaped Adella's throat and she quickly covered her mouth.

From the candlelight, Adella could see tears in Charlotte's eyes as well.

"Della!" a soft but scared voice called out to her and Adella got up from the table immediately.

Adella was at the children's room in an instant.

"Susan?" she called out softly. "It's alright," she murmured as she reached their door.

Adella peeked inside. Margaret, Susan, and William were cuddled together in the small bed, all awake.

"You're safe now. Try to sleep," She sat down gently on the end of the bed.

"Where are father and Nathan and Samuel? Margaret demanded.

"They will be here soon," she lied.

Margaret's lips puckered as if she might cry. "Why did your friend kill Thomas?

"He's not my friend," she whispered.

"Where are they taking Gabriel?" William questioned.

"Shhh. Let's wait until your father gets back," she readjusted their quilt so that she could pull it back up to their chins.

"Stay with us," Susan whispered.

Adella nodded. "I'll be right here until your father gets back."

The children had just begun to settle back into sleep when Adella heard the front door burst open.

Adella leapt to her feet. "Stay right here, children," she ordered.

Their eyes were wide. "I'll be right back," she said softly. "It's fine."

She shut the door behind her and caught sight of the younger boys.

Adella's heart leapt in her chest.

Gabriel led them down the hallway. Adella's eyes met his but he diverted his gaze back to the boys.

The boys' eyes were wide. They looked as if they were in shock.

"I"ll take them," Adella moved forward and Gabriel did not argue.

She began gently leading them away to wash them up and get them into bed, but Charlotte seemed to come out of nowhere and intervened.

"Here," she held Eli back out to her. "I'll get them washed up."

Adella took Eli back and nodded. She turned back to Gabriel. He looked extremely tired and worn down.

"Where's your father?" Adella asked nervously, once they were alone in the front room together.

"He's coming," Gabriel answered shortly.

Adella breathed a slight sigh of relief. She was thankful that they had all returned. She did not condone what Ben had done to the boys, though. He took them on his revenge spree. But she could not say anything- how could she after what William had done?

Ben's presence, however, sent her blood running cold when he walked through the door. He was covered in blood that did not seem to be his own. He looked oddly out of place and wild-eyed.

"You don't want to upset the children," Gabriel pushed at him gently. "I'll bring you fresh clothes and something to wash with," he pushed his father back towards the door.

He went back outside without arguing.

Adella stood frozen as Gabriel left and returned moments later with a wet cloth and a stack of clothes.

"Let me," she reached for them with her free hand, but Gabriel shook his head.

"Please go be with your brothers and sisters," she added. "They need you."

"You don't want to be around him right now," Gabriel muttered.

"Please," she reached for them again.

He shrugged his shoulders and allowed her to take them.

Adella walked outside uneasily, but she took a deep breath and pushed herself onward.

Ben was sitting on the wooden bench not far from the door.

She could not see much about him, but she held out the wet cloth to him.
He took it without speaking.

Adella nervously sat down beside him, adjusting Eli on her lap. "I also have some clothes Gabriel found for you when you're ready."

Ben began slowly wiping his hands.

She could actually smell the blood on him and that was something she had not expected.

"Did you… kill him?" she finally spoke the words she had been to scared to speak from the moment she'd seen him.

"No. We did not see him," he grumbled.

"But you killed others?"

Ben did not answer her. He stopped wiping his hands and stared out into the darkness of the yard.

Adella swallowed the large lump in her throat. Her eyes were beginning to get used to the darkness. She was not sure how she felt now that she knew William was still alive. Scared was probably an accurate feeling.

"He is his father," she finally spoke. "You deserve to know… I had not even had the chance to tell him that he was a father before I had to leave, and he left on orders. I swear to you, I did not even know until we arrived in South Carolina that I was pregnant. And I told you right away when I suspected it-"

"Stop," he interrupted her.

Adella fell silent.

They sat in silence for a few moments before she finally rose to her feet. She knew that he did not want her there.

She laid the pile of clothes on the bench where she had been sitting and then he finally spoke.

"How could someone like you become involved with someone like that?" Ben demanded harshly. "Was it even consensual?"

"It…It was," she choked out. "He was…Different then-"

Ben scoffed. "Or you did not actually know him."

His eyes drifted away from the darkness of the yard and to the baby in her arms.

Adella did not like the way that he looked at Eli, even in the darkness.

She pulled Eli closer to her chest. She clutched him tightly, protectively as her eyes stung with tears.

"He's who they call the butcher, you know…The stories we had heard. I cannot believe that I raised the Butcher's child as my own," Ben murmured lowly.

Adella chewed at her bottom lip. He was not the Butcher when she met him. Was she right in the feeling that she had to now protect her child from the man who had raised him as his own?

"It would do the children good to see you," she murmured as she turned back to the door. "But you've got to get this blood off of you."

Adella went inside, trying to hold her composure. She went straight into Charlotte's bedroom, the only space she felt was safe from Ben and Gabriel's judging glares, and she broke down again.

Adella was not sure how long she stayed in Charlotte's bedroom. She paced with Eli, trying to soothe him and get him to sleep for the night and tried hard to keep her tears at bay. What was she supposed to do now? She no longer felt welcome. But where was she to go?

Adella had just gotten Eli to sleep when the door to the bedroom opened. She hadn't heard the mumble of voices throughout the rest of the house in a while. When she looked up, she realized it was Ben. He stopped in the doorway for a moment before he stepped inside and quietly closed the door behind him.

Adella paused in her tracks, suddenly nervous. She felt cornered, like a trapped animal. She hadn't expected to even see him again before morning.

Ben walked a few steps and then knelt at the foot of the bed as if he was praying.

Adella laid Eli down on the bed- half expecting Ben to order her to leave, but he did not say anything. He stayed in his kneeling position.

Against her better judgement, she knelt down and wrapped her arms around him. He still smelled faintly of blood and sweat.

She felt his body wrack with sobs before she heard them. He allowed her to hold him.

"I'm so sorry, Ben, she whispered.

She felt his body shake again.