“No,” Wesley said, rubbing his brow beneath the bandage.
“What?” Willa asked. Was he remembering something?
“I wasn't there when you were taken.”
“You’re remembering?”
“What do you mean,he's remembering?” Josie asked.
“He took a blow to the head and lost his memory. He didn't even know who he was until a day ago. I didn’t either.”
Josie threw her hands in the air. “What does that even mean? Took a blow to the head.”
“From what?” Patrick asked Wesley.
“A mace flail, apparently. I don’t recall that part. And I hope I never do,” Wesley quipped. “Willa is right. For a few days, I didn't know who I was. But it's coming back in strange fragments. I know you,” he said to Patrick, “but I don't knowhowI know you.”
Patrick frowned at him in disbelief. “Incredible. I know you because of Willa. You’re in my drawing room at least once a day. Did you say you took a mace to the head?”
“He was wearing a helmet—a knight’s helmet,” Willa interjected.
Josie tugged Willa down on the settee and pressed a cup in her hand. “Patrick, we’ll need something a bit stronger than tea.”
Patrick nodded and brought the decanter over, splashing a bit into Willa's tea cup.
“Continue,” Josie said.
“They took me to their lair, which was an old forge, and bound my hands and put me in a room and that's all.”
Tears pooled in Josie’s eyes. “That’s all?”
“I think that's all. That's when Wesley arrived. I heard gunshots and a commotion, and I got free. As I ran through the building, I saw a man”—she waved to Wesley—“fighting them off with a broadsword and wearing a helmet.”
“I don't yet know why I was wearing the helmet,” Wesley said.
“Thank God you were,” Patrick interjected, “or you wouldn't be alive.” He bent close, examining Wesley's bandage.
“Have you seen a doctor?”
“Yes, that's primarily what took us so long after we both escaped.” Willa continued the story while Josie and Patrick listened, asking questions here and there.
“You roomed together? Alone?” Josie’s eyebrows stretched to her hairline.
“He was going to die,” Willa said. “And thus, we became Lord and Lady Knightly,” Willa finished delicately.
Josie covered her face.
“Pay attention. I don't want to have to repeat this, soyouwill be informing the others, eight times over.”
“That whole time the helmet wouldn’t come off?” Patrick asked.
“It was stuck,” Wesley said.
“Where is it now?”
“We left it,” Willa said.
“I never want to see it again.” Wesley added.
