“You don't feel well,” she said.
“I can take another ten miles. I can handle anything as long as we reach London tomorrow night,” he said.
She nodded. “Very well, if you insist.”
“I do.”
The other patrons were amenable as well.
“I’d like to push on and get home and burn these stockings.”
He blinked. “Home.”
She touched his arm. “Have you remembered something else?”
Wesley wasn't sure. He'd been having wild dreams during the few snatches of sleep. He had images of people. Faces he couldn't name but faces that were familiar to him. A man with black hair and a thin mustache.
“I think I’m seeing people that are familiar to me, but I still can't name them.”
“Describe them to me,” she said. “Maybe I can help.”
“I saw you.”
He heard her breath catch.
“You were standing under a willow in a pink dress.”
They reclaimed their seats in the coach.
“The day before we all left Sheffield, you and I spoke under a willow. It was raining and I was telling you about my plan.”
He searched his mind, trying to connect his memories himself. “You planned to go to London alone,” he whispered.
She nodded. “My plan that failed miserably to prove my independence.”
“If it's any consolation, I’m a grown man, and I didn't make it to London on my own. It's not your fault that there are bad people in the world who do bad things.”
“I know,” Willa said, “but it is my fault. I wasn’t properly prepared for it.” She looked out the window and tensed. Wesley followed her gaze. A man in the stable yard was staring at them with a scowl.
“He’s probably drunk. Ignore him,” Wesley whispered.
“I don't know why, but there is something familiar about his eyes.”
“You know that man?”
“I can't say that I do, but he’s staring at me like he knows me,” Willa replied. She shivered. Wesley put his arm around her. The coachman cracked the whip, and the stagecoach lurched into motion. Wesley was grateful he was already holding on to Willa. They rolled out of the inn yard and onto the main road.
There were fewer people about as the day's business was coming to a close. They should be safer now, this close to the major cities. It was worth the increased risk to get a bit farther, so tomorrow he could return Willa to her family, and they could begin their life together.
Chapter 24
His head pounded, but he stayed awake, wanting to sleep in an actual bed even if it was a borrowed one. There were lanterns on the coach, but the sun had not yet set, though it was low in the hills, beneath stands of trees, and parts of the road were quite dark.
They had been traveling more than an hour, and it wouldn't be long before they reached the next village. Along the road, signs of life appeared, cottages, fields of cattle, and sheep not yet tucked away for the night. The ride was rather pleasant, the road smooth, well-tended crushed macadamia. Wesley dropped his head back against the seat and closed his eyes, not to sleep, but to ease some of the pain in his head.
He propped his elbow on the edge of the window and rubbed his temple.
A crack rent the air, and everyone in the carriage jerked in surprise.
