He passed two carriages heading the other direction. The magistrate and the doctor, most likely.
A half mile outside the village, he saw a tall figure ahead of him and he galloped toward it, recognizing her dark hair and issuing a silent prayer of thanks.
But his chest was ripped open when he saw she had Lavinia on a leash and was carrying a small bag and wearing a coat despite the warm weather.
She wasn’t escaping the house temporarily as she had with Lady Starling. This time, Caro was leaving him.
She looked over her shoulder as he approached with no break in her relentless, long stride. But when he got off the horse, saying “Caro, stop,” she darted off the lane into a field of not-yet harvested winter wheat, running.
He ran after her. She dropped the bag. She dropped Lavinia’s leash. Her legs were long but her skirts hindered her, and he caught up with her.
He grabbed her and held her. She fought against him, pushing at his chest, pummeling him with her fists, trying to kick his legs.
“Stop. Stop, Caro, darling, you’re going to get hurt. Stop.”
But she wouldn’t listen. She struggled like a wild animal, past all sense and reason. It took all his strength to hang onto her.
“You have to stop.” He was losing his breath. “You’re safe. You’re safe now.”
She whipped her head back and forth and flailed her body.
“Tell me why you’re running. Tell me.”
She suddenly went still and put her head back and keened into the sky. An inhuman sound, filled with pain.
Coldness sank into his bones.
Someone, something tortured his wife.
She wasn’t just a brave woman who had lived in isolation for years with a cruel father. She wasn’t just a clever woman who had muted herself because she didn’t like how she spoke. She wasn’t even a woman who had just had her life threatened in her own house.
She was a woman who had grappled with agony for years and it had left its mark on her.
“You’re safe now. You’re safe. I’ll keep you safe from now on, I promise. And you can tell me anything, Caro. I love you.”
“You wouldn’t, you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t.” Her head tossed back and forth, the words coming out of her in wrenching gasps.
“I wouldn’t what?”
She resumed struggling against him, trying to get enough space between their bodies to use her elbows on him.
“I’m stronger than you are, Caro. I’ll last longer than you.”
“You wouldn’t love me!” A howl. Then a broken whisper. “If y-y-y-you kn-kn-kn-knew.”
“If I knew what, darling?”
She fought on, her inhalations great gulps of air, her exhalations sobs.
“Tell me.”
“I c-c-can’t.”
“You have to. Because I’m not letting go until I understand why my wife is running away from me.”
She hung her head and went limp and he was no longer holding her to keep her from fleeing but to keep her from collapsing to the ground. Very slowly, he went to his knees and then laid her down on the bent stalks of wheat. But he lay next to her, keeping his arms around her, holding her close, wary that she might roll away at any moment.
“Tell me, Caro.”
