Page 35 of The Invisible Hour

“I can’t seem to stop eating,” Mia said apologetically. Just this morning the thought of food had made her ill and now her stomach was empty.

“You eat a great amount for one woman,” Elizabeth said thoughtfully.

“I’ve come a long way.”

“From where?” Louisa wondered.

“New York,” Elizabeth was quick to answer.

Mia gazed around as she devoured her breakfast, taking in the rough-hewn kitchen, the stove fed by wood, the pump beside the large black sink, the earthenware dishes for everyday use. Already the room was blazing hot, and it would be far worse later on, when the air turned muggy. While her mouth was full, Mia asked, “Is Nathaniel out walking or is he in the owl’s nest?”

The sisters exchanged a fleeting look, with Louisa going quite pale. Perhaps this woman was a faerie or a witch, although her hunger made her appear mortal enough. Mia took more toast for herself without even asking and then spooned on gobs of elderberry jam and wolfed the food down. She was certain she had never tasted anything as delicious as this breakfast, or sat at a more inviting table, with a jug of pink snapdragons set out, and the butter in a glass dish, already melting. This world was slower and smaller, but the details were brilliant, each a spot of shining color in a muted background. She felt heavier, but in a good way, as if her nerves had been calmed now that she was far away from Joel Davis. At last, she had the receipt of fern-seed.

“What do you know of the owl’s nest?” Louisa asked. “And how do you know our brother? Are you the woman he spoke about when he was so distressed?”

Elizabeth cut in. “Our mother is resting, and our brother is a hundred and thirty miles away, so once you’re done with breakfast, I will walk you home. Surely, you’re longing to get back.”

“Where is he exactly?” Mia hadn’t even stopped to think that Nathaniel might not be at home, writing.

“He’s in the western part of Massachusetts,” Louisa announced before Elizabeth could hush her.

“I intend to go after him.” Mia took what was left of the bread and butter that had been set out and rudely wrapped it in a napkin, which she then stowed in the pocket of her dress. She had never been more famished or more in need of all her strength. She turned to Louisa, who she already knew to be tenderhearted from Nathaniel’s descriptions, and whose eyes were filled with concern. “Please, tell me exactly where he is.” She was met by a renewed silence, and soon saw that Elizabeth was glaring at her sister, doing her best to ensure that Louisa would say nothing more. “Fine.” Mia nodded. “If anything happens to me on my travels to find him, I will blame you both.”

Louisa threw her sister a panicked look, fearing they might be the cause of some catastrophe. And as it was, their guest now took ill. Perhaps the heated conversation had affected her adversely, perhaps she had eaten too much, but Mia now felt sick to her stomach. She excused herself, stepped outside, and was ill near the bushes. The sisters watched her from the threshold.

“Ebe,” Louisa pleaded, for her first instinct was always to do good in the world. “What if Nathaniel would want to see her? What if he’s desperate to do so?”

Elizabeth’s face was grim. She didn’t like what she was looking at. A woman on the walkway being sick in their garden beside the twisted vines. “He’s been involved romantically in the past, and it has never led to anything that did him the least bit of good.”

“If you won’t talk to her, then I must,” Louisa said, knowing that would get a rise out of her sister.

“I’ll handle it.” Despite her own sense of impending disaster, Elizabeth went out to speak to Mia. “We discussed this and agreed. You will ruin him.”

“I swear if I ever thought I could or would, I would leave immediately. Let me have my chance. Shouldn’t I at least have that?”

Elizabeth was no longer convinced this was her battle to fight. She wished someone would give her her chance, for anything or anyone, for a single dream. “If you must know, our brother is in Blackwell. He’s gone to fish.”

Mia took his destination to be further proof of their interwoven fate. “Then he’s gone for blue trout,” she said with certainty. “I grew up in Blackwell. I know the rivers there.”

ELIZABETH ESCORTED MIA TO the Mannings’ stables. Because it was a stifling day, Elizabeth carried an umbrella to keep the sun off her pale, freckled complexion, while Mia didn’t seem to care if her skin burned or if her boots were caked with mud. Once they reached the stables, they learned that the fishermen’s carriage was not expected back until the start of the following week and there was no other carriage to be had. The clerk suggested that Mia take the new train line, which would go out west via Boston to Albany with a stop before in the Berkshire hills, in the town of Blackwell. This would mean changing trains three times and spending two days on the journey.

“Are you certain you’re feeling well enough for such travel?” Elizabeth asked.

“Of course. I’m perfectly fine.”

Elizabeth gave her companion a look. Was it possible that Mia had not figured out what was obvious to Elizabeth as soon as Mia began to wolf down her food? “Do you have no idea?” she asked Mia. “Are you that much of a fool? I assume Nathaniel is the father, but even if he is, if you think a fish can breathe that air, you are terribly mistaken. And what becomes of the child of a fish and a sparrow? Where does that child abide?”

Mia sank down on a wooden bench. Her head was pounding, for she immediately knew Elizabeth’s statement to be true. She had thought she was ill, or the weather had exhausted her, but that wasn’t it at all.

“Perhaps you’ll tell Nathaniel about the child,” Elizabeth said, “and then of course he’ll marry you. He wouldn’t think of not taking responsibility, no matter if it will change all that’s meant to be. Other men might walk away, they do so every day. Every baby on the hill had a father, but the mothers were the ones held accountable. My brother won’t feel that way, and it will change everything. There is one life he’s meant to have, and this is not it.” They sat side by side, so close that people passing by might have imagined they were sisters.

“My mother ran away in order to have me. She gave up everything and never had a life of her own. I’ve often wondered what she would have done if she could have lived as she pleased,” Mia said. “What would you do if you could make your own choices?”

“I’d run away from here,” Elizabeth was quick to say. “I’d go to sea and write a book and have a child that someone else raised so I could be free.”

Mia smiled. “In other words, you’d be a man.”

“I would. Or a woman in your time,” Elizabeth responded.