Sasha giggled. The woman tugged one of her pigtails with a grin. Despite herself, Charlotte liked that grin.
Her mouth twitched. “I’m not sure that will fool anyone for long. You might want to avoid talking too much.”
The woman shrugged and said, in her normal voice, “Too bad. I’ll be asking plenty questions.”
Charlotte escorted her back to the stoop. “Why?”
“I’m looking for someone.”
The woman thumbed the cap farther up her forehead, contemplating the slate roofs of the village. The setting sun reflected in her gaze.
Charlotte’s breath caught at the sight of those serious dark eyes. Good thing the woman had said she wouldn’t be here long. Otherwise, lonely as she was without her brother, Charlotte might have invited her to supper to get to know her.
Not for the first time, she wished she didn’t need Arthur so much. Needing people was how one got hurt. She’d learned that first from her mother, then her husband. She didn’t intend to learn the lesson again.
The woman pulled the cap off, turning to Charlotte. “The name Maggie McIntire mean anything to you?”
Charlotte was taken aback. “Bess Little’s friend, isn’t she? The one who was visiting from Port Lorne.”
The woman nodded. She turned the cap over in her hands. “You know by any chance what happened to her?”
“She went home, didn’t she? That’s what I’ve heard.”
“You see her go?”
Charlotte’s skin prickled. She thought uneasily of the dark trees into which her brother had vanished only this morning. “No.”
The woman didn’t seem to share her unease.
“Shame. Thought you might’ve seen her, if she headed that way, what with your house practically right up against the trees.” She jammed the cap back on and started downhill. “Thanks again.”
Charlotte didn’t respond. She stood on the stoop, chest heaving, until the ugly brown cap vanished downslope, lost amidst the rolling heather.
She stepped inside and slammed the door.
“Mama?” Jonas slipped to her side, Sasha hot on their heels. “Who was that?”
Charlotte closed her eyes. “No one. She helped me up the hill, that’s all.”
“I liked her,” Sasha said. “And I liked her trousers.”
Charlotte said nothing. She staggered to the sitting room, shrugging Jonas off when they tried to help, sank into her armchair, and didn’t get up again the rest of the day.
x. In which Arthur loses his horse
They didn’t make it much farther before stopping for the night. The spasm in Arthur’s back persisted, probably because he’d pushed through it to prevent the horse from falling into that horrible pit. He longed for something with which to warm his heating pad but was grateful he’d managed to keep it. He might have to make it another day or two, but once he got home, he could sit in his armchair and doze off with the heating pad at his back. The forest would be nothing more than a horrible dream.
He wished Charlotte had talked him out of coming here; he would’ve stayed home if she’d insisted. Then he wished he’d had enough gumption to decide to stay home without her insistence.Thank you for the opportunity, Mrs. Livingston, but I’m afraid I can’t take it on at this time.Would that have been so hard to say?
Since they no longer had a cart, Arthur removed Maurice’s harness. He inspected the nearest tree with his torch to make sure it was ooze-free and looped the driving lines around a branch. He sighed. If he made it back, it would be without the clock. He could set out again, but by the time he reached Port Lorne—if he reached Port Lorne—it would be too late.
He wasn’t sure he could’ve said no. He couldn’t have turned the money down, not when his family could use it so much.
It didn’t matter that he’d accepted. He was lost in the forest; all he knew was that home was closer than Port Lorne. He would return in defeat, if at all.
Don’t think that.Of course he’d make it home. He had to. He’d promised.
Arthur slipped a hand into his pocket, rubbing the rowan cross Charlotte had given him. A piece of their father she’d kept just to have one. Arthur didn’t quite believe it would protect him, but he didn’t quite not believe it, either. It was a piece of his sister as much as a piece of their father now. He couldn’t help thinking it would somehow ensure he’d make it back to her.
