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Neck muscles tight, Higley swung a glance to the others before continuing. “One of my men tells me they saw him in town today.”
“Today?”
“Aye, and I have a feeling he is wishing to prove himself, much like Stockton’s son did. He doesn’t like to be told he is wrong.”
“Wrong about Hannah, you mean.”
Higley nodded.
Joseph wiped a hand over his face and looked behind him to be sure the others were well occupied and hadn’t stilled to listen in. Thankfully, they talked between themselves. Joseph turned back to Higley. Did Greene still think he could sway Stockton?
“You think he will try to come back?”
Higley threw a quick glance to the soldiers as Joseph had done and stepped closer, nearly whispering. “I suspect he will be about. Be careful.”
He spoke of tonight—the drop he must make to Willis. Joseph only dipped his chin in acknowledgment. Why did this man seem so intent upon helping him? Was he not the enemy?
After a sigh, Higley began again, speaking of something different yet equally pressing. “She will need you there tonight.”
The pronouncement made Joseph yank the bellows harder, the flames in the forge roaring. “If you think I will let her go alone, then you don’t know me at all.” He didn’t speak again until Sackett spoke to Deane over the clanking of his hammer. “I shall follow and watch from outside. If I could attend, I would, but ’tis a private gathering. I’ve not had an invitation.”
“But of course you have.” Higley smacked him on the back, speaking so low the fire would be hard pressed to eavesdrop. “If anyone asks, I delivered an invitation to you in person.” He looked behind, then continued. “Make the expected delivery and arrive after dinner. Your name will be on the list, and I daresay Stockton will be pleased to hear your report.”
Could this man do that? “Who are you?” Joseph regretted the question as soon as it left him, but the curiosity was too much to retain.
There was a pause before his reply. “Just a soldier.” Higley touched the end of his hat and signaled his departure to the others, his volume rising above the din. “Men.”
They nodded in acknowledgment, more intent on their work than paying attention to anything else.
Joseph stared after Higley as he left, struggling to balance the questions atop the peaks of revelations that were glaringly few. Higley was a soldier, but not the kind Joseph knew. That kind would be more willing to aggrieve than assist. Where Higley…with all his secrets he was far too trustworthy to be seen as a mere Lobsterback.
Joseph breathed easier, hardly knowing he’d been so tense. God be praised for this cryptic stranger. Without him, he would have been forced to watch from afar, but now he could protect Hannah at her side.
He pulled hard on the bellows. Tonight it would be over. And tomorrow, they would at last, at last, be one.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Pressing the needle up and down through the fabric was a pitiful occupation for one so rife with anxiety. Hannah glanced up, allowing an audible sigh to free some of her angst as she sat at the kitchen table. If Stockton returned to find her here instead of abed, she could plead his understanding that staying warm by the fire with easy occupation of her hands was rest enough. In truth, she had to find a way to keep her mind estranged from what ailed it.
The note she’d copied and folded sat like a brick in her pocket, so heavy she feared it would be seen bulging from the side of her skirt. The courier had taken the original hours ago, and she prayed once she gave thi
s to Joseph and the Patriots received it, it would not be too late.
A knock on the front door spun her on her seat. Standing, she peered through the kitchen window to see who it was before she ventured to answer it.
’Twas Reece.
Hannah hurried to the door and opened it, balking in surprise at the large package in his hands. “Good afternoon, Reece. What brings you here?”
Those ruddy cheeks widened, and his eyes smiled. “You do, miss.”
She laughed through her reply. “I?”
He extended the package to her with a polite bow. “A package for you. I was instructed to be sure it made it into your hands.”
A package for her? Mouth open with happy surprise, Hannah took it. “Why, thank you.”
Reece stepped back, his boyish expression genuine and innocent. “Of course, miss.”
