Page 80 of The Unknown Birds

Inside were a handful of treasures—artifacts from her time in France: the irreverent note Blake had found in the German bunker, the picture postcard of pre-war Albert, her own identity discs. She chuckled and her cheeks warmed when she found a single prophylactic, pressed into her hand by the quartermaster when she went on leave. Once prepared, twice rewarded, he had told her. She’d never had any use for it, and she wouldn’t now—of course she wouldn’t—but she tucked the little sachet deep into her luggage just in case. “Once prepared, twice rewarded,” she whispered with a tiny smile.

To ease her nerves, she had made a brief list of conversation topics. Shakespeare was generally safe. She’d been thinking of trying A Comedy of Errors with the children when classes resumed. She could also ask his opinion of the journalist who had reached out to interview her because of her article in Picture Post. And Susan. She could tell him about Susan.

When she’d gone to check on the classroom garden that morning, the girl had been there, watering and weeding as though she hadn’t just graduated at the ripe old age of fourteen.

“I didn’t want them to die while the kids were on holidays, Miss,” she’d explained. “And you shouldn’t have to do all the work.”

“Can you keep an eye on it for the next week?” Ashley had asked her. “I’ve a holiday of my own, turns out.”

“Of course, Miss! Are you going to the seaside?”

“No, I’m headed north to the Midlands to visit someone I used to know.”

“Farm country, isn’t it?” Susan asked brightly.

“Wheat and barley, I believe. And probably sheep.”

“Maybe I’ll get to visit the Midlands someday soon. I’m joining the Women’s Land Army.”

“Are you?” Ashley asked, her heart giving a tiny squeeze.

Susan shrugged. “I’ve really loved working in our little garden. And it seems like an important job once the war comes. I mean, not as important as fighting, but…”

“It’ll be one of the most important jobs,” Ash assured her.

She hated hearing the girl say once the war comes and not if, but obviously the government thought the same since they were reviving the Land Army.

Stepping into the classroom, she found a less-worn copy of The Life of the Fields buried in her bookshelf and offered it to Susan as a gift. “Take this with you when you go. I know we studied a few of the chapters, but it’s a beautiful text, and I’ve treasured it a long, long time.”

“Thank you, Miss,” Susan breathed before throwing her arms around Ash in a fond goodbye.

“Write and let me know how you’re getting on. And above all, enjoy the adventure!”

“Every day—and twice on Sundays,” Susan had laughed.

Since Rook was the one who’d gifted Ash her first copy of the Richard Jeffries book, which he’d inherited from another soldier at the Front, she thought he might appreciate hearing the story of how the The Life of the Fields legacy lived on.

The northbound train left from Euston Station, so Ash and Rook had agreed to meet there rather than him collecting her at home. She didn’t know why exactly she was lying to her mother about where she was going. She told herself it was so the older women wouldn’t get the wrong idea about Rook’s intentions.

Not that he had any.

Nothing was going to happen—of course it wouldn’t.

Nor did she want it to.

Did she?

She wasn’t sure.

Could his preferences have changed so dramatically in the last twenty years? And was it worth the risk to find out, when she finally had her dearest friend back in her life? That, all on its own, was some kind of miracle—so much more than she’d ever dared imagine.

No. The answer was unabashedly, emphatically no. Nothing was worth risking the easy companionship, not even the slim possibility of more. Not after knowing twenty years of the colorless void that was life without Alex Rook in it. Her mother’s suspicions would only complicate matters and weaken her resolve, so she kept her plans a secret, just between her and him and the captain she hadn’t seen since the 1910s.

Upon entering Euston Station, Ash was battered by memories of her younger self in a similar railway station all those years before. In a sea of a million strangers, on the precipice of a whole new life, she had made a brave decision to do the next right thing and follow through.

Now the same fear and excitement which had spurred her on back then froze her in place, as the masses of people coming and going swarmed past like busy bees. How would she ever find Rook amid all this chaos?

She needn’t have worried.