Page 79 of Lady of Charade
When it finally bumped to a stop, Sarah heard David let out his breath, as though he had been holding it since they had left England. She smothered a smile as they reached land, and she thought he might nearly collapse upon it.
“The village you call home…” David said, clearly trying to hide his wariness regarding more travel. “How far would you say it is?”
Sarah nearly laughed but held it in for his expense. It wasn’t that she found his illness to be humorous — it was more the desolate expression that covered his face.
“It is a few hours away,” she said, “But if you would prefer, we could hire horses instead?”
“Yes, please,” he said, sighing in apparent relief, and this time she did laugh. He managed a rueful chuckle. “Is it that obvious?”
“Your displeasure in travel of nearly any sort? Yes, absolutely. But it is entirely understandable.”
Riding, however, seemed to revive his spirits, and by the time they arrived in the village where Sarah had grown up, he was back to his usual self.
“Sarah…” he said as they rode through the greenery that lined the road, which became more of a path the closer they came. “This is beautiful.”
The familiar path brought a sense of peacefulness that settled deep in Sarah’s soul. As she glanced over at David, however, she realized that while this would always be the most special of places to her, where she had grown and spent so many days of happiness with her mother, it was no longer home. For home was now wherever David was.
“This is the village,” she explained. “We took a short cut around the town. Each has been growing, though it seems even the village has expanded since I have been gone.”
She could hardly believe her eyes. The village that had been but a few homes when she left had grown from one road to a square of houses.
“Sarah?” She turned to see a woman running toward her from one of the houses on the edges of the village. “Sarah, do not tell me that is you?”
Sarah dismounted and ran toward the woman, the two of them embracing for a long while.
“Mabel!” she said. “It is ever so good to see you.”
It truly was wonderful to see her — as well as the other villagers, those she knew greeting her warmly. Sarah had missed these people, her home, but she had to admit she was somewhat relieved. She had been worried that when she returned, she would feel that this was her true home, one she had left behind to be with David, but now that she was here… she knew that this would always hold a most special place in her heart, but life was not complete by living here. It was completed by the man whom she was with, and she had never felt so lucky as she did now to have David by her side.
She had been shocked to find her little cabin nearly as she had left it, though many of her supplies had been disturbed at some point in time.
“This was home,” she said to David. “But it doesn’t feel that way any longer.”
“No?” he asked, raising his eyebrows as she turned to him.
“No,” she shook her head as she walked over to him, lifting her hands to lay them on his chest. “Home is with you. With our family. Ourgrowingfamily.”
She met his eyes then, waiting for the moment when her words registered with him.
“Our growing… do you mean, Sarah? You are… we are…”
She laughed at his inability to put into words what he thought and felt, yet she knew all the same the sense of both shock and amazement that was coursing through him, for it was likely quite near to what she had felt herself when she first suspected.
“We are having a baby,” she said, her words just above a whisper, and David’s arms came around her and held her close. He finally drew back away from her to look into her eyes once more, and she smiled when she saw that his shone with tears. Sarah wasn't sure how long they would have stayed like that, holding one another and revelling in what was to come, but they turned when they heard a knock at the door.
“Sarah?”
“Abigail? Is that you?”
Sarah could hardly believe her eyes. Abigail, who had been but a girl when she left three years ago, had grown into a young woman. She had often followed Sarah around, interested in her treatments, picking herbs, and creating remedies for all that ailed the villagers.
“It’s me,” she said, a shy smile crossing her face. “I came to apologize.”
“Whatever for?”
“I took some of your supplies. After you left, whenever the villagers needed help and the town was too far away, I did what I could. I have not nearly the knowledge that you do, but… well, I have done what I can.”
Sarah’s heart was full of both admiration for the girl, as well as a slight bit of regret that she hadn’t sooner recognized Abigail’s interest and trained her better. But she had seemed so young, and Sarah hadn’t wanted to place such a burden upon her. But, apparently, she had anyway, purposefully or not.
