16
CAROLINE
Mr. Meecham knew something. I'd seen it in the gleam of his eye when he mentioned the package. Had he opened it? From the condition of the box and brown paper, it had received plenty of rough handling over the long distance from Minneapolis. The string that tied it closed seemed original. Even if he had opened it, he wouldn't truly know what the bottle of laudanum meant. Finn didn't know.
The man's ire toward Finn seemed to be akin to hatred. He detested my husband and it seemed on a level even greater than just stealing me away. I'd only made the situation worse. He'd threatened Finn, threatened his livelihood, all to lash out at me. It wasn't fair to Finn that I was here. He was nothing but kind, generous, voracious. Considering all the wicked things he'd done to me, I sho
