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Lily couldn’t meet his eyes and Bec seemed to have lost the power of speech entirely. Their fate had finally caught up with them. They would be going to jail.
“Do you have an answer to my question?” Ashton asked in a neutral tone of voice. “Why are you taking a stroll along the street with Henry?”
Bec opened her mouth to say something then closed it again. Lily tried to speak but her voice wouldn’t work. A tiny squeak came out instead.
“What’s that?” Ashton asked, putting a hand to his ear. “I can’t hear you.”
Bec tried again. “We … we were saving him,” she whispered miserably.
Ashton drew himself up to his considerable height and looked down at her. “Saving him? From what?”
Bec looked as if he’d just hit her. “From … from a terrible fate.”
Ashton’s lips twitched. “What would that be?”
“Sausages.” Bec’s face blanched. “Ham. Pork. Pork pies. Bacon. Ribs.” She shuddered. “We couldn’t bear it if …”
Ashton turned to Lily. “You’re very quiet,” he observed. “What do you have to say about this?”
Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry, Ashton,” she whispered. “I … I went along with it because I was still mad at you. It’s my fault as much as Bec’s.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “But I don’t want to go to jail!” she wailed as the tears fell.
Ashton was beside her in a flash. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
“It’s all right,” he said quietly. “What you did was wrong, and we’ll have to talk about that, but I’m not going to send you to jail.” He dropped his face against her hair. “Promise.”
“What about me?” Bec demanded.
“Do you want a hug too?”
“No!” Bec looked horrified. “No … er, I mean, I don’t need a hug. But will I have to go to jail?”
Ashton released Lily and looked at Bec. “Well, I think there might be other options available,” he said after a moment.
“Like what?” Bec asked suspiciously.
Ashton looked thoughtful. “I don’t know yet. Stealing Henry was a serious misdemeanor. The police would love to know about it, I’m sure.”
“We didn’t really steal him,” Bec argued. “We saved him.”
“From what? A happy life with a nice pasture, plenty of sows for romantic company, and his only job was to make babies? That sounds like a pretty good life to me.”
“But … but his babies will get turned into meat,” Bec protested. “They should be free to live happy lives in the pasture.”
Ashton considered her words for a moment. “I see,” he said at last. “We will never agree on that point. Do you have anything else to say in your defense?”
Bec shook her head. “I guess I’ll be going to jail, then,” she muttered.
“They’d kick you out,” Ashton said. “You’d cause so much havoc in there that they’d send you back.” He paused and looked at her. “No, I think I have a better idea.”
“What?”
A smile played around the corners of Ashton’s lips and Lily could tell he wanted to laugh.
“Your actions have caused me considerable expense and inconvenience, not to mention the time it’s taken me to go all over the neighborhood looking for Henry.” He looked sternly at Bec. “I think it would be appropriate for you to repay me in some way.”
Bec’s eyes grew wide, but Ashton wasn’t finished yet.
“I have the perfect idea,” he continued. “My family always runs a hot dog stand at the Hartford county fair as a fundraiser for the Oncology Center at the hospital. We all get involved in some way, and we always need more helpers. I’m sure you could spare us a day or two.”
