Page 6 of Mistletoe and Kisses
The groundskeeper shook his head. “Not exactly. Though, she did make mention that she had found a room in a boarding house not far from the market square when she visited the office just before she left.”
“How long ago did she leave?”
“Not a quarter of the hour ago, I would say. She may not have got that far from the college grounds,” replied the groundskeeper.
After slipping the man a coin and wishing him a merry Christmas, Hugh raced outside and to the waiting travel coach. He flung open the door.
“They have thrown Mary out!” he cried.
Adelaide’s eyes grew wide. It took an instant for Hugh to realize that it wasn’t so much about his revelation, as the volume at which he had delivered it. Charles put a finger to his lips. William stirred in his sleep and let out a soft whimper.
Everyone held their breaths. To the relief of all, William remained asleep.
“What do you mean?” replied Charles quietly.
Hugh caught the attention of the coach driver and issued brief instructions. He then climbed aboard and closed the door.
“The university needed the rooms for the new professor, and Mary has had to vacate them. One of the groundskeepers told me Mary left only a short while ago. I’ve asked the coach driver to head down toward the market square and see if we can spot her,” he explained.
Charles took up a position on one side of the coach, while Hugh sat at the other window. He dropped the glass window down and poked his head outside.
“Where are you?” he muttered.
As the coach entered Bridge Street, it slowed to a crawl. Being the week before Christmas, everyone was out in the town center. And all, it would appear, were headed toward Cambridge Market Square. Hugh snarled his frustration. They would never find Mary in this crush of carriages and people.
He rapped on the roof of the coach and instructed the driver to pull over to the side of the street.
“What are you doing?” asked Charles.
“If you keep going and continue to look out on the other side of the street, I will see if I can make headway on foot. Just remember she will be wearing red,” Hugh replied.
He hurried away from the coach, frantically looking for any sign of a red coat and Mary. He was met with a sea of black, brown, and gray. Breaking into a run, he slipped between the gaps of other pedestrians as he fought to make his way through the Christmas crowds.
He had gone only a few yards before a hand thumped him on the back. Turning, he found a breathless Charles standing before him.
“She is on the other side, fifty yards on.”
Hugh nodded his thanks and made a mad dash across the street. He narrowly avoided being run over by a heavily laden mail coach which was travelling in the other direction.
His reckless pursuit, however, was immediately rewarded with the sight of Mary’s red coat as she turned into Market Street.
“Mary!”
She kept walking. Hugh broke into a full run, grabbing hold of the back of her coat when he finally caught up.
“Mary, didn’t you hear me?”
She turned, and as their gazes met a look of shock appeared on her face. She was clearly not expecting to see him.
“Hugh? What . . . what are you doing here?” she stammered.
“I forgot a book . . . I mean, what are you doinghere?! Why didn’t you tell me you had been evicted?” His relief at finding her was quickly replaced with the anger he had managed to keep at bay since discovering the truth of her deception. He continued to hold fast to her coat.
Her head and shoulders dropped. “I was going to tell you, but with everything else happening in your life, it didn’t seem important.”
He released his grip on her coat and stood staring at her. “How could you not think you were important to me?”
Chapter Five
