“You sound awfully pleased for someone sitting in the middle of a rural road with no help in sight,” Alex commented suspiciously.
“Just thrilled to be out of the woods,” she replied. And so very, very relieved that he had actually found a road. Even if it was in Scotland.
Alex didn’t look convinced, just gave a “hmm” and turned to take in their surroundings.
“Should we just wait here for someone to come by then?” she asked hopefully and was more disappointed than surprised when he shook his head. The road was in terrible shape, with large ruts and grass growing down the middle. Clearly, it wasn’t a major thoroughfare.
“We could be here for weeks,” Alex answered. “Which direction would you like to go?”
“I beg your pardon?”
Alex pointed down one end of the road and then the other. “North or south? Your choice.”
“My…? Don’t you know which way to go?”
“How on earth would I know that?”
Confused, she stared at him a moment before speaking.
“Well…you knew which way the road was.”
“I can follow a trail, not see across miles.”
“Oh.” She probably would have thought of that if she hadn’t been so tired. She looked down both directions and frowned thoughtfully. “It’s silly, of course, but this road looks familiar to me somehow. It can’t be the one to Haldon, I know, but….”
“You’re tired,” Alex said sympathetically taking a seat next to her. “It’s perfectly understandable—”
“Please don’t patronize me, Alex,” she said without any real anger. She simply hadn’t the energy for anything more than a token annoyance at his tone.
“My apologies. I’m tired as well.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry, too. We’ve been at each other’s throats for almost a full two days now, haven’t we?”
He gave her a small smile. “We haven’t argued the whole time,” he pointed out.
“Yes, and thank you for last night Alex, and this morning,” she said sincerely. “I should have thanked you earlier. I…what you did for me…”
“It was nothing.”
“It was something to me.”
He crouched down and squeezed one of her hands. “Then it was my pleasure. Now, pick a direction while we’re still in each other’s good graces. With any luck, we’ll find assistance before I learn firsthand if you know how to use that knife.”
“Oh, I’m a master,” she said baldly, knowing he wouldn’t believe it and finding a kind of perverse amusement in that. “Best you keep it with you, lest I feel compelled to prove my skill.”
“An excellent suggestion.” He held his hand out and helped her to her feet. “Shall we try the north route?”
“Oh, no, south. Definitely south.”
To England.
Twenty-five
Sophie couldn’t shake the feeling that she had been on the road before. There were no definitive markers to either support or dispel the suspicion, but every now and then they would pass a meadow that looked familiar, or come upon a bend and she knew, just knew, there would be a steep incline on the other side.
As the sun began to lower in the horizon, however, she lost interest in the peculiar feeling. If they didn’t find shelter soon, they would be stuck outside at night, in the dark. Sophie didn’t think she could take another night like the previous one. Don’t borrow trouble, she admonished herself silently. The sky was clear. If it stayed that way, and if the moonlight was bright enough, she would be all right. Just keep moving, she told herself. Just keep moving. She fixed her eyes on the horizon and forced her protesting legs into longer and faster strides.
“That tree is enormous.”
Sophie snapped out of her self-imposed trance and followed Alex’s gaze to a towering elm, its thick branches shading where they stood.
And she suddenly realized why everything seemed so familiar.
She made a slow turn in the road.
She knew this road, this spot, that tree.
Alex, who had moved on, stopped and turned back. “Sophie?”
She didn’t answer him. She couldn’t speak at all, just stare at the tree. Numbly at first, as memories flooded her so fast she couldn’t sort one from another. And then with a kind of growing wonder she would never have expected to come from this place.
“Sophie?” Alex said again, reaching her side. He followed her gaze to the elm. “It’s impressive, I know, but we need to keep moving if—”
“I have been here before,” she whispered.
“Are you sure?”
“I know where we are. This road leads to Whitefield,” she said still looking intently at the tree.
“That would explain a great deal,” Alex commented, thinking that it didn’t do much to explain her odd fascination with the tree. “What is it, Sophie?”
“This is where it happened.”
Her voice was so soft. So soft, he had to lean down to catch the words. “Where what happened, sweetheart?”
“This is where they died.”