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“The honor is all mine.” He stepped back, holding her with his stare before turning to locate the companion he’d been sent to find.
Dottie reached out, and Hannah took the woman’s hand with both of hers, grateful to have someone else to cling to. “I am so pleased to be here.” Hollow words, but ones that must be spoken.
“My dear, you are positively radiant.” Dottie quieted, as if she wished to hide her voice from listening ears. “I am pleased you were willing to attend with the major, but I daresay there are a few others I wish to acquaint you with.” She walked Hannah to the side of the dance floor where a row of seats lined the edge. “Higley is to arrive later, and he is simply—Oh! Mrs. Harper, there you are. You simply must meet my new friend Miss Young. Miss Young…”
’Twas easy to pretend she heard as the two women prattled on. Hannah need only nod and smile, curtsy and offer an occasional “hmm” or “aye” while her mind moaned over her heartache. Where was Joseph now? She looked to the clock in the far corner of the room. She’d been there only twenty minutes. Oh, how would she survive another ten hours?
“I’m most curious, Miss Young?”
Hannah shook her head, grasping wildly for the trail of unheard words her mind struggled to follow. She ducked her head apologetically. “Do forgive me. I…I didn’t hear—”
“Oh, not to worry, dear.” Dottie patted Hannah’s arm. “Mrs. Harper wanted to know who made your lovely gown.”
“Uh…’twas in town. Already made.”
Another woman began to speak. Something about how she thought she’d seen it, when another rang in saying she was sure it was the prettiest thing she’d ever seen. Hannah’s eyes began to burn, and she smiled over the pain, breathing long and slow.
Dinner could not come soon enough. Then she could busy her hands and keep her mouth full despite the fact her stomach rolled and was likely to reject anything she forced
into it. But dinner was still another four hours away.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please take your places for the minuet.”
Hannah whirled and jerked back to see Stockton already inches from her. She placed a hand at her chest. “Forgive me, Major. I didn’t see you there.”
He swept around, motioning to the floor, where couples were beginning to gather. “Shall we?”
Perhaps a dance or two would do her good. Not that she wished to be any closer to this man than she must, but the music and the motion might dull her anxieties.
She placed her hand on his and practiced a smile, praying he didn’t detect the pretended sincerity. One minute, one hour at a time. That was the only way she would make it through the night.
* * *
The drive was awash with heavy shadows, the sliver of moon offering little light for Joseph’s arrival at Willis’s yard. He pulled the horse to a halt and jumped from the wagon, the hairs at his neck already on end. Higley’s warning tapped endlessly through his memory, and he scanned the wood for any sign of movement. There was heat in the wintery air, as if unseen eyes burned through the blackness.
So far the yard appeared vacant, and God willing ’twould continue to be so. He patted the horse’s neck, wishing not for the first time it had been Anvil with him and not the wagon horse. Rounding the front of the animal, Joseph glanced to the darkness of the surrounding wood. If Greene was hiding somewhere, he had better not be alone. If he were, Joseph would prove how dangerous attacking him would be.
At the door, he knocked twice, and it swung open.
Bathed in a soft light, Willis motioned Joseph in, that jolly exterior slightly dimmed from the recent beating, but still afresh. “Come in.”
After Joseph entered, Willis shut the door, his tight expression speaking something different than his mouth. “You are ready?”
Joseph nodded, understanding the unspoken meaning. “I’ve the barrels in the back. Waiting to be put to good use.” Should any listening ears be privy to what they spoke, their conversation would be taken as naught but their already proposed plans. “Shall I help you unload them?”
With his eyes alone, Willis looked to the window, then back to Joseph, his arms crossed and voice eerily low. “Were you followed?”
“Nay.” Joseph mimicked Willis’s volume. “I saw no one outside. Is the house being watched?”
Willis breathed in deep. “It was. But I haven’t seen anyone since noon.” At this he allowed his regular volume to resume, speaking in coded words. “I had hoped Pitman would keep a few soldiers stationed here as before. There are too many risks at having such a load in one place.”
“Indeed.” Joseph glanced to the floor, where beneath his feet rested the incredible stores, then to the wagon through the window. “We best hurry.”
Willis uncrossed his arms and strode to the door. “I owe you my life.” He swung it open, stopping long enough to hand Joseph a look that hailed of gratitude before he stepped outside. “If not for you…” He needn’t speak the rest.
Joseph clapped him on the back, keeping every comment he might have spoken behind the barrier of his teeth. The stars might be listening.
They moved the barrels in only a quarter hour, securing the last remaining muskets below the floor without so much as a clink of iron.
