CHAPTER 16
Catherine whirled as the bridge gave way behind her. She saw Aaron disappearing into the gorge carved by the busy stream.
“Aaron!” she cried out, scrambling to the edge on hands and knees.
She peeked down, afraid of what she might see. But the slope on this side wasn’t as precipitous as it was on the other. Aaron had slid down to come to rest beside the stream.
“I’m not hurt!” he called back, “nothing except my pride…”
He hauled himself to his feet and then cried out as one leg gave away beneath him.
“Damnation!”
“Hold on!” Catherine yelled out over the gushing stream, “I’m coming to you!”
“Don’t! Then we will both be stuck down here!”
He began trying to get back to his feet using a slender tree as a support. He managed one step before being deposited on the leafy ground again.
“If I don’t, then you certainly will be,” she exclaimed, “and I am the cause of it.”
“Yes, you are. I would not be here if you hadn’t gone running off as you did,” he snapped in a disgruntled tone.
“Do you think I did it on a whim?” she demanded.
“I haven’t the slightest what goes through that head of yours, darling,” he drawled, “one moment you are playing croquet, the next you are running away in the dead of night.”
He settled himself upon a rock, reaching down to his left boot, wincing as he touched his ankle.
“I’ll be damned if it isn’t sprained…” he muttered.
“Why are you here if I am such a burden?” Catherine demanded hotly.
Aaron scowled, lowering his head. He almost seemed to be waging some kind of internal war. Finally, his head tipped back. The fading light of the afternoon caught his face, and something in his expression made her heart lurch.
“Because I need you,” he said flatly.
Four words. Quiet. Unvarnished. They hit her harder than a shout might ever have.
Her grip tightened on the splintered edge of the bridge. He made no attempt to climb up to her, just sat there among the wreckage, his chest rising and falling.
She’d never seen him like this. At least, not while he was sober.
“And what—what became of my letter to Isabella?” she finally stammered.
“I don’t know. I swear to you, I never touched any of your belongings.”
“It should have been in my bureau. Before I… fell asleep, there was a half-written letter.”
“Perhaps Sally cleared it away, thinking it rubbish. Or stored it somewhere else for you. On my honor, I did not remove it.”
Catherine thought of the vows they had shared as children. There had been many. And the one that Aaron had always taken most seriously was his honor. She bit her lip.
Am I wrong? Is he truly the boy I knew and considered my friend?
She came to a decision.
She could abandon him, unable to pursue her, and use the time gained to lose herself completely.
