Page 47 of The Wise Daughter
“Thank you, Hill.”
Aaron ignored the significant look Nora flashed his way. He knew exactly what she was thinking. Hill and another stablehand whose name also escaped Aaron’s memory went to work preparing their horses. Hill brought out a stepping block for Nora, but Aaron stepped forward, insisting on helping her into her saddle himself. Before long, they were rambling along the trail leaving the castle and heading toward the main road.
“About here is where I saw a man leaving the castle.” Aaron pointed to the place where he had spotted him.
“Where were you when you saw him?”
“I was actually hiding over there.” He pointed to a cluster of trees and bushes.
He watched her gaze climb from the trees to his study’s window. Could she somehow detect the hidden footholds he had used to climb down that night?
“You just happened to be waiting behind the trees?”
He shrugged. “No one ever seems to see anything. So I took matters into my own hands. I guessed a thief might follow this path.”
“Why this path?”
“Because it runs mostly along the outskirts of the village to the main road. It seemed like the best route to make a quick escape.”
Nora nodded. Aaron liked the way her eyes grew keen, her pink lips pressing into a serious line, and he liked watching her ride. She was graceful and confident on Locket, and the exercise brought the loveliest flush to her cheeks.
When they came to the river, the memory of the men’s fists pounding into him surprised Aaron with a roiling in his stomach that threatened to send him falling off his horse, but he held on. The scenelooked too peaceful for something like that to have happened there. The only thought that eased his discomfort was the reminder that this was also where he had met Nora.
“Do you see those trees in the distance?” He pointed. “That is where I confronted the man I had been following. Three other men came out of the woods and came at me at once. After their attack, one of the men hit me so hard, I fell unconscious. Whether I fell in the river or they threw me, I don’t know, but the cold water woke me with a jolt. I was already being carried by the current when I hit my head on a rock or log. I fought to pull myself to the bank, but I was struggling to stay awake. The next thing I remembered was a pair of slender arms wrapping around me and a lovely voice suggesting I weighed as much as a horse.”
“I stand by what I said.” She smiled, then glanced at the bridge. “I was standing in the center of that bridge when I saw you.”
He noticed her eyes lingering on that spot on the bridge and returning to it even when he had pointed elsewhere. It might have been his imagination, but he was certain there was something more she was not saying.
“What is it, Nora?”
“I was just thinking about,” she hesitated, “a wish I made there.”
“A wish?”
“I know it sounds silly. It’s something my mother and I always did when I was little. It’s nothing really. When you stand on a bridge, you stand between two worlds, the place you’ve been and the place you’re going. So it’s the perfect place to make a wish.”
Her cheeks were growing a becoming shade of pink.
“What a charming idea. What did you wish for?”
“Oh, no. A wish is entirely private.”
“Please?”
“We had better ride to those trees where the men attacked.”
She spurred Locket into a trot, leaving him to follow, then stopped right outside the woods where the trees thickened.
“Nora, did you make the wish before or after you found me?”
“What lies beyond these trees?” she asked, ignoring his question and peering through as if she might discover something within.
“More trees. Did your wish have anything to do with me?”
She glared at him, then slowly led Locket into the trees.
“You don’t want to tell me.” Aaron led his horse in after her.
