Releasing my hands, Jack glowered. “I don’t want—” But after these few words, he broke off with a choking sound in his throat.
“Something is wrong,” said Harker.
I moved closer to Jack, gripping his arm. “What’s happened to you?”
Panic flickered in his eyes now, and his gaze swung around the clearing again.
“You’resafe, Jack. Do you hear me?”
His eyes came back to me. His lips parted, and he shook his head. Then suddenly he turned and darted off through the trees.
“Jack!” I shouted after him, my voice breaking. “Jack!” Feeling Harker’s hand at the small of my back, I cast him an anxious glance. “He seems fey, does he not?”
Harker nodded. “It almost seems a kind of enchantment. Like what happened to you on the heath. Maybe to stop him from speaking about what happened to him?”
I stared after my twin, drying a tear that had slipped onto my cheek. Would he be fool enough to go after Goosevar? The creature had held up his end of our bargain, but future mercies seemed unlikely.
“Maybe he’s gone home,” suggested Harker. “Shall we go there, too?”
I turned, managing a smile as my heart swelled with gratitude. “Aye. I can make us all supper.”
“There may be things you’d like to have from there, as well.”
It’s no longer my home.That fact had yet to really settle in. But it wasn’t for me to feel the happiness and excitement of a new bride.
The bright moon allowed us to find our way down the heath rather than walk on the road, which would help us to keep our business quiet.We wouldn’t be able to avoid our neighbors’ disapproval for long, but I was glad not to have to face it on our wedding night.
Mist rose and thickened around our knees, like we were walking on clouds, and I wondered whether we would glimpse Goosevar again. I suspected if we did all that he wished, we might go the rest of our lives without seeing him. But of course that couldn’t be.
It was a blow to find the cottage dark and quiet; Harker’s idea that Jack might have come here had given me hope. We entered through the back door, and Harker, who saw better than I in the dark, lit the lamp on the table and then went around lighting candles.
“He’ll be back,” he said. “He’s bound to be confused and afraid right now, but he has nowhere else to go.”
“Do you think it will wear off, whatever is afflicting him?”
He set the lamp on the table. “I wish I could say. It may be that he’ll never be able to speak of what happened to him. But he has survived.” He stepped closer to me. “You’re not alone, Mina. For good or ill, you never will be again. Whatever happens, we’ll face it together.”
Warmth pooling in my chest, I nodded.
With a careful smile, he said, “You must be cold. I’ll light a fire.”
The roomwascold, and the candles cast long shadows on the walls. Yet in my blood, something was simmering.You’re not alone. We’ll face it together.Harker and I were a “we” now.
As he was turning toward the hearth, I said, “If we light the cookstove, I can make supper and tea. It heats the cottage enough for all but the bitterest-cold days.”
He gave me a doubtful look. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather rest?”
“I think it will help take my mind off things. If Jack does come back, he’ll likely be hungry.”
It turned out Harker had no experience with cookstoves, but I showed him the firebox and the basket of wood and kindling, and by the time I’d changed into a dress that I didn’t mind soiling, he had it ablaze.
“This seems a worthwhile apparatus,” he said.
He moved to the other side of my worktable and watched as I mixed ingredients for pie dough. I would have to bake from what I had on hand—eggs, potatoes, a few dry crumbles of cheese, and a tin of smoked pilchards.
It felt very strange having him here in our cottage. I wondered what he made of the rough planked floor and plain furnishings. Though I was doing something I’d probably done a thousand times, I was nervous and kept spilling and dropping things.
“Mrs. Moyle gave us the stove when she put a new one in The Magpie’s kitchen,” I explained. “I’ve been thanking her ever since by making pasties for the shop.” I picked up the rolling pin and flattened my dough. “Jack’s always complained about my job, and he certainly wasn’t keen about putting in the stovepipe, but he’s never complained about going hungry.”
