“We could get some medicine for little Will,” Iris murmured. She kissed the babe’s head, which was covered in light brown down, but the child barely moved in response.
“And shoes for Jeannie,” Daniel added.
After a moment, Iris cautiously approached Ezra, then plucked the coins from his outstretched hand. She ran her thumb back and forth across the golden surfaces as if confirming that they were real. Slowly, her lips curved upwards.
“I…we…thank you.” Despite her smile, she seemed abashed, slightly dazed.
“It isn’t that we aren’t appreciative,” her husband added, “but I wish we’d no need of the three of you.”
“A reasonable thing to wish for,” Ezra agreed. “Self-sufficiency is something everyone desires.”
“Not everyone,” Tej said grimly.
Ezra nodded. “Not those who live in the manor houses.”
“People like that take from people like us,” Rhys said, “and we’re here to keep things a little fairer.”
Daniel came forward to shake everyone’s hands, including Jessica’s. His hand was very rough and calloused, his grip strong.
“You have our gratitude,” the farmer said.
“Will you not stay for something to eat?” Iris pressed.
Ezra offered his most charming smile, and when the farmwife blushed, Jessica couldn’t fault her. Jessica’s own chest fluttered at the sight of Ezra’s flashing white teeth and the emergence of his dimple.
“Alas, time is not our friend today,” he said. “But we’ll return.”
“I’ll be sure to prepare my lemon cake,” Iris promised. “Jeannie will help. She’s a dab hand in the kitchen.”
“I’m going to be a cook at an inn someday,” the girl shyly confessed. She glanced at Jessica. “Come back and I’ll make you lemon cake.”
“Best in Essex,” Daniel said proudly.
“I do love lemon cake,” Jessica answered, which wasn’t a promise to return, and everyone but the girl knew it.
Jeannie beamed at her, and something fragmented beneath the cage of Jessica’s ribs.
Ezra turned to go, with Tej and Rhys doing the same. They walked to the perimeter of the farm, untying their horse and stopping long enough to wave their goodbyes at the family. Jessica lifted her hand in farewell, but she couldn’t gesture with much exuberance, not when she had no idea if or when she’d ever see Daniel, Iris, Jeannie, and the children again.
She joined the highwaymen as they dipped back into the forest.
“London’s full of people like them,” she murmured, as bracken crunched beneath her shoes. “Rookeries bursting with the desperately poor. Hell, my own family had a shop but there wasn’t ever enough to go around. We were better off than most in Stepney, though. I considered myself blessed by providence to find some means of supporting myself. Few were—are—that fortunate.”
“It’s a story all over England,” Ezra said.
“So many have so little,” Tej noted.
“While a sliver possesses everything,” Rhys added.
Jessica stopped walking and faced the men. “Which is why you terrorize the road.”
Ezra spread his hands. “It’s never enough, there are always more struggling to survive.”
“Yet it’s something,” Jessica said, “which is more than most can claim. I give ha’pennies to crossing sweeps and posy sellers, but that’s paltry.”
“Not so paltry.” Tej moved to her and took her hand. “That’s a day’s meal you provided the crossing sweep and posy seller.”
“But in comparison—” Jessica shook her head. “It’s hardly the same.”
