For a moment, she simply stood there, looking completely taken aback. Then she slipped her hand into mine. “You’re ridiculous.”
“That’s true.”
“And romantic,” she added.
“I refuse to confirm that.”
I opened the carriage door. She climbed inside, and I followed after her. The driver flicked the reins and the horse started forward. The wheels rattled softly against the street. Downtown spread out around us, fairy lights twinkling and store windows glowing.
Winnie shifted closer to me, her shoulder brushing mine. Then she moved a little closer still, until she was tucked comfortably against my side. I wrapped an arm around her. The movement felt natural. Easy. Like we’d been doing this for years. I couldn’t seem to get close enough to her.
My arm tightened around her shoulders. Her head settled against me. The scent of her shampoo drifted up, something floral that made me think of safety and home now.
We rolled past old brick buildings. Restaurants. Bookstores. Couples strolling along the sidewalks. A musician playing outside a coffee shop. All so utterly normal. It was spectacular. It was the kind of life I’d spent years watching through a window while buried in work and grief.
Winnie tilted her head back. “You seem thoughtful.”
I looked down at her. She was watching me in that careful way she always watched people. As though she genuinely wanted to understand them.
I brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I know I said this before, but I truly thought I’d lost you.”
Winnie leaned into my touch, her jaw losing its rigid strain as she let out a quiet breath. “Conrad...”
“I mean it.” I swallowed. Even now my stomach twisted, remembering that cottage. Bogdan. The way she’d looked standing behind him. The way she’d said goodbye, quitting her job without an explanation. Then I remembered the way I’d driven home, convinced something terrible was happening and unable to do anything about it.
“I spent two days thinking I’d never see you again.”
Her hand slid over mine. “I know.”
“I couldn’t stop imagining things.”
“Worse-case scenarios?”
“The absolute worst.” I looked out at the passing storefronts. “I kept wondering if I’d done something wrong.”
Her face crumpled, then she shifted even closer. Close enough that I could feel the coolness of her skin through my jacket. Something I’d noticed from the very beginning. Something I’d always unconsciously registered.
Now I knew why. Oddly enough, it didn’t bother me. It felt like her. Just another piece of Winnie.
“I’m sorry for putting you through all of that pain, mentally and physically.”
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“I do.”
I shook my head. “You were being controlled.”
She looked down. “I still hate it.”
“I know.”
The carriage turned onto the main promenade, the horse’s hooves clopping rhythmically on the pavement.
Winnie watched everything with open fascination, as though she was still capable of being surprised by the world after two hundred years. Maybe especially because she’d lived that long. Perhaps she’d learned what mattered. Maybe she’d learned not to take things for granted.
I found myself studying her again. Which seemed to be a recurring problem. She caught me. Again.
“You’re staring.”
