Thomas continued his barrage, now using both hands as his features reddened. “You should have let her speak!”
Nathaniel pointed at the door, his volume ripping at his throat. “She betrayed us!”
Thomas lunged forward, his own tone matching Nathaniel’s as his eyes darkened. “This is the first time I have seen you act the complete fool, Nathaniel. You, of all people, should be above such behavior.” He stepped closer, only inches away. “Do you think you’re better than she?”
“Do not turn this on me.”
Thomas’s eyes thinned. “Have you forgotten that night when she was ill? Have you forgotten her terror and how she pleaded with whoever-it-was she saw, not to hurt you or her family? Have you forgotten how you vowed to find whoever had treated her thus and bring them to justice?”
“She refused my continued offers of help.”
“’Tis a sorry excuse and you know it.” The accusation in his tone grated against Nathaniel’s already raw interior.
Shifting his feet, Nathaniel glared at the ground, still gripping the chair. His breath turned heavy and he spoke through his teeth. “Higley was here.”
“James Higley?” Thomas’s expression went flat. “You jest.”
Nathaniel shook his head. “He was here after church services.” The memory stabbed him anew. “He was looking for Kitty. Said he had urgent business with her...”
He couldn’t bring himself to speak the rest, though Thomas must have deciphered what he did not say for he tipped his head back and released a mocking laugh that shook the walls almost as much as the continuing thunder. “If you believe that Kitty had designs on that man you are truly daft. She only ever cared for you.”
“She was working for him, Thomas, can you not see?” With a grimace, Nathaniel pulled back. “’Tis not only that. I am a patriot. Higley is a Tory, a man made of the same cloth as she.” He released his grip on the chair and paced in brooding silence. Suddenly he stopped and pointed at Thomas. “You know, I should be pleased this happened. I should be pleased we discovered her treachery or I might have done something foolish.”
Thomas’s expression softened only slightly. “Marrying for love is never foolish.”
“Kitty is a traitor to her family, friends and to the people of this town!”
“Take your share of the blame, Nathaniel. Your inability to love her despite her different political views—”
“Inability to love?” Nathaniel swung the chair aside, his pulse raging. “I have loved Kitty with every pulse of my heart. I have pleaded with her to allow me to share the burdens she carried, and she would not!” He panted as if he’d run for miles. “Higley’s arrival today made everything clear. She refused to open her soul to me because she was working for the enemy, the man to whom she’d already given her heart.”
Thomas yanked Nathaniel by the coat and shoved him away. “The only thing that has been made clear is the fact that you are too blinded by jealousy and fear that you cannot see what is clearly in front of you.”
Nathaniel curled his fingers, grappling for a proper response.
Staking Nathaniel to the floor with his iron stare, Thomas’s words struck like a swinging fist. “Did you not vow you would never be with her because she believes different than you despite her devotion to you and to Christ? ‘Tis you who could not trust, Nathaniel. At the first mention that something was amiss you rush to accuse her without insisting on knowing the facts she was plainly willing to tell.”
Nathaniel turned away as silence loomed. He closed his eyes. The crack of the fire snapped between them. The continuous rain and intermittent thunderclaps pressed Thomas’s words deeper and deeper.
Nathaniel’s cravat coiled around his neck and a pain lodged deep. Could Thomas be right? He forced himself to hold tight to the anger, to keep from falling into the pit of regret that gaped behind him. “Cyprian told me Higley was here today to talk to her about the powder. He said she was involved.”
“Who said she was involved?” Thomas’s jaw dropped and his arms hung at his sides. “Cyprian? You would take the word of that man before you take the word of the woman you supposedly love?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Nathaniel flung his arms, his voice taut. “He knows all the Tories of this town, and I have seen him speaking with her on numerous occasions from the very time of her arrival.” His mind whirled, desperate to find something to prove his veracity.
Breathing harder, Nathaniel strode forward. “The first night she arrived here, at the party, after she left the ballroom and I went to fetch her, I saw her speaking with Cyprian and—”
He stopped. The sound of the storm went mute.
Thomas grabbed his arm. “And?”
Nathaniel turned to his friend, eyes round. “’Twas Andrew.”
“Make sense, Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel tried to swallow but the vortex of his wrongs began to spiral upward until he almost couldn’t speak. “’Twas Andrew who took the powder. He must have been working with Cyprian from the beginning.”
Thomas’s face turned crimson. “You have only now come to this conclusion?” His expression contorted. “You have accused the woman you love with something so wretched, and all the while it may have been for naught?”