id Emily, "Don't want

fore since there was a time when there was a strain in their interaction. So the wors

utensils, but instead, she used her bare hands to eat since she was in the belief that the more hands-on she was with food the better the taste. She wondered how Nicholas took to that assessment of food, sh

d. There was the bank and the barber shop, of course, but the fountain was the main attraction of the square. So when they reached the fountain, Emily fished out a coin from h

ed her his arm and she took it. She did not smile, for the most part, smiling made her face hurt and that was not how she wanted to remember the first day she and Sutcliffe had become friends. Ever the timekeeper, she checked her pocket watch for the time only to

Mr. Hawthorne of his house?" Emily

"it's a good set u

you willing

y dear," he replied,

was rather easy to read but the reason behind it was not as clear. He was melancholic at times and brooding, while she enjoyed the time they spent together earlier there came a shift in his manner and she wondered if it was

he brushed it away and combed it to the back of his head with his free hand. Emily

ou leaving

She replied with a question tha

the silence but the embarrassment that came with try

looking down at her

aid, finally answering the question, "as for hom

for the

o.

th her. I'm asking too much of him that I'll scare him away just like the others, she thought to herself. She had thought that she had gotten used to it somehow but that was not the case, the doubts in herself mixed with the longing for adventure were in conflict

when you're thinking?

wh

ed and he nodded

ther. Could a girl have too many defects? She asked herself again, sickened by the thought of how ill-fitting it was for her to be seen out and about with a man like Nicholas

een in the valley?"

ly as if he was hiding something,

you've

" Nicholas asked, his tone was light but there was something in the words he said tha

eplied. "What was it l

at her from his tall frame once aga

ging, life-threateni

that's to b

stalling something that he wanted to say or ask in return. Their back and forth questions and the answers were innocent and harmless f

h." Emily blurted out and t

d as they began walking again

always find my

hink, at least yo

ckled i

it using my head,"

out any hesitation but in reality, she would have stood her ground and said no, that was how she was at times and at other times not so. There had been a few instances when she said she wanted to go home when she was asked, and this was during the time when her own parents had asked her to go out and meet men they had arranged for her to see. It was nothing like this. Perha

ou call it th

thout hesitation. "It doesn't

ard and direct with everyone? No

ch a direct question from him nearly threw

es

ckled and sh

s good for her self-image, a concept that was hard for her to grasp after years of grief. Deep inside she wished she could share all these things with someone someday, her grief and pain, her uphill bat

d, and Nich

the wrong

ou did well for someone I

y that she made someone smile for once although

aid. "Where are

some time, where do you of

a secret place

d herself in thought, that beautiful blue roan draft horse of his. She had only seen the horse once, and it was the most beautiful of the horses she had seen. For the life of her, she could not recall the horse's na

ll covered by the trees that mainly comprised the forest, and people were less likely to go looking for it. There was an eeriness about the place, it was too quiet outside of the chirping of the bi

place?" She asked loo

k riding