I leaned in and rested my hands on his knees. “In the meantime, Pen and I will tend his farm to make sure Ashpoint has supplies for the coming year.”
Levitt’s gaze settled on that small point of contact, and he nodded. “That is important.”
“And when I get back,” I dipped my head to meet his eyes again, “perhaps you can tell me everything that’s happening on your side of this. Share the weight before it crushes you.”
Levitt chuckled and straightened. It was like I could see the mask slide back into place, closing the exhaustion off behind a smile I didn’t believe for a moment. I wanted to shake him, to bring back that brief glimpse of vulnerability that reassured me that he would be on our side when the time came, but it was over.
“You don’t need to worry about me, Kit,” he said.
Like I’d told Penny, I did more than enough worrying for all my friends, and Levitt was not exempt from that. Because if I didn’t worry about him, who would?
29
Penny
Spring arrived at last and brought with it the greatest swell of joy I’d felt in months. Packing our bag, leaving the cottage and kittens in Thoma’s care, and turning our backs on Ashpoint all came and went in a blur. If I hadn’t been sitting on the cart’s driver bench as it rattled down the road, I would have been running, jumping, and hurrying home, home, home.
But I sat, and Kit guided the horse that plodded along entirely too slowly for my liking. The mare’s steps were so deliberate that I leaped down onto the dirt path once or twice and walked alongside to goad her on.
Kit chuckled at my antics, which only served as encouragement. But it was his smile that lured me back into the wagon, so I could sidle up to him and kiss the happiness off his lips.
He’d been in good spirits since our engagement, persisting despite Violette’s scandalous report and the concerning comments made by our neighbors at the resistance meeting. Truly, he was unflappable, and the nearer we drew to Eastcliff, I couldn’t help but feel equally at ease.
I was standing when the farmhouse came into view. My eyes had been trained on the horizon for half an hour at least, sensing we were close. Then, it was there with its sloping thatched roof and the chimney funneling a stream of smoke into the sky, and I was on my feet again, but in the grass. I sprinted ahead while Kit laughed and called after me, claiming he and that old nag would beat me yet.
My heart thundered and my face burned from wind chap by the time I skidded to a stop at the front edge of our plot. The air was a bit crisp still, and it stung my lungs, stirring up the tickle that had taken up permanent residence there. Doubling over, I smothered a fit of coughs in the crook of my elbow and was just beginning to recover when the cart pulled up behind me.
Kit bounded off the bench to come alongside and rub his hand on my back until I straightened.
“You all right?” he asked.
I nodded, and Kit bobbed his head before placing a kiss on my temple.
Returning to the cart, Kit unloaded our bag, then took the horse to the hitching post. I waited while he secured the reins, then returned to me so we could finish our approach in stride.
Just before the front door, my hand shot out and clasped his. I glanced over, waiting for I wasn’t sure what until Kit gestured to the entry.
“Go ahead,” he said.
Despite this being my home, it seemed best to knock. With Mother and Sayla here alone, I didn’t want to startle them by barging in unannounced. So, I rapped my knuckles against the gnarled wood slab and waited, tapping my toes the entire time.
The door had barely cracked before my smile spread from ear to ear. I leaned to get a glimpse of who was answering, and let out a whoop when I saw my sister peeking past the frame.
“Penny?” she gasped, then flung the door wide. Her grin must have been as big as mine as she darted forward and crashed into me, taking us both to the ground and pulling my hand from Kit’s.
Teary laughter overcame me, and I didn’t even mind laying in the dirt while Sayla squeezed her arms around my ribs so tight they ached.
“Penny, you’d no right!” she sputtered, sounding angry and excited all at once. With a final, crushing hug, she sat up, still pinning me, then slapped my arm. “Where in the gods’ names have you been?”
A frown creased my brow as I looked up at her. Had she changed in the time away? It felt like an eternity had passed, but she seemed the same, and I breathed easier for that.
“You knew,” I began, but was stopped by her scowl. We’d made the plan together, after all. It was her idea to send me to Forstford. To meet Kit. To retrieve Father’s body…
For all I’d been looking forward to telling her, that failing was the one thing I would have liked to put aside. But she would ask, and I would have to explain. About that and so much else.
Swallowing, I tried again in a smaller voice, “I sent letters…”
She crossed her arms, burn scars mottled red on her pale skin. “It’s been months,” she retorted.
