He fished some coins out of his pocket and pressed them into Penny’s hand. “Here. This is your payment for the days you have helped on the dig. I am certain you and the fellows can find something else to do.”
She fingered the money, her face lighting as she turned toward Dixon. “We can buy more fritters!”
“But...” Eva let the reprimand die on her tongue. Her sister deserved to have something to enjoy. “Do you mind, Dixon?”
“Not at all, miss.” The housekeeper glanced at the students. “How about it, gentlemen? Another go-around at the food tent?”
“You don’t have to ask us twice, eh, fellows?” Mr. Barker cuffed his friends on the back.
“I could go for a piece of taffy,” Bram’s uncle chimed in.
“Off with you, then, sister.” Eva grinned. “At least we will know where to find you.”
As the crew sped away, Bram nudged her with his elbow. “I am hungry as well. We could join them, but there is a sausage seller right over there. Shall we?”
She glanced across the lane, where a huge grate of smoked sausages sizzled over orange flames. The savory scent rumbled her stomach.
“Good idea.”
He led her to the booth, but before she could pull a coin from her pocket, Bram was already handing her one of the pastry-wrapped treats.
“Bram, I have told you that you need not—”
“Tut-tut.” He wagged a finger at her and chewed a huge bite before continuing. “I know you do not want me to buy you anything, butIwanted to.”
Well. She couldn’t refute that.
“Thank you.” She sank her teeth into the flaky crust, which warmed her as the chill of evening settled over the grounds. It would be dark soon. Unbidden, her gaze drifted to the balloon glowing like a dragon with a fire in its belly at the far side of the grounds. No one was riding the thing now. No doubt the balloon master was preparing it for the king and queen’s voyage—hervoyage. Her stomach clenched, the sausage inside it rebelling.
She handed her roll over to Bram. “Here. I cannot take another bite.”
“You are worried.”
She lifted her chin. “Maybe I am just full.”
“No, that crease in your chin always deepens when you’re anxious about something.”
Bother! He knew her far too well. “We should finish looking at the stalls.”
She strode to the next booth, feigning interest in a pair of perfumed gloves. The dyed-green leather was soft and the embroidery lovely, but all she could think of was being stuck up in the air with no ladder to the ground.
Bram pulled out his pocket watch. “Fifteen minutes left. Perhaps we ought to start making our way to—”
“That watch.” Choosing to deny the minutes ticking away until her doom, she pointed at the silver treasure in his hand. “I notice you always carry it on you. Even in the field. In fact, there is not a day I do not remember you pulling it out. Is it so very special to you?”
“Indeed.” He rubbed his thumb over the engraved little swirls on the front. “This watch saved my life.”
Setting down the gloves, she scrunched her nose. “How could such a small thing accomplish that?”
“Remember when I went away all those years ago?”
“You know I do.”
A faraway glimmer lit his grey eyes. “I was fourteen when I arrived at my uncle’s flat. My mother sent me off without the knowledge she was about to die, which would have been nice to know at the time.” His jaw hardened.
Her heart squeezed. How hard that must have been for him.
“Still, looking back, she did the right thing. Uncle Pendleton was a bachelor. I was a delinquent—in most people’s eyes. Certainly in his, though he never said as much. On that very first day he took me to the worst part of town. I had never seen such poverty or so much despair. It was there my uncle presented me with this watch and said, ‘Mark the time, lad. Your life changes now. I will not ever see you living for one minute on these streets. Understood?’ And, quite surprisingly, I did. I knew this would be the only second chance I would get, so I tucked this watch away, just as I am doing now.” He dropped the silver disk into his waistcoat pocket. “And with God’s help, I started a new life that day.”
