Page 36 of No Place in Time

His wife paused, dough clinging to her fingers. “I saw him leave yesterday, before the sun went down. Haven’t seen him return.”

Master Nicholas filled a bowl of soup and set it in front of Cecily. “Sit. Eat. You’ll feel stronger once there’s heat in you.”

She finished the soup, but her legs would not hold her much longer. She made it back to her room before she collapsed onto the bed.

She tried to think but couldn’t keep hold of a thought. Finn had dragged her half-dead through the streets and begged strangers for help. He had sat by her bed and told her, more than once, that he was not going anywhere. He would never leave her.

He had kissed her.

And now he had vanished.

∞∞∞

When Master Nicholas changed her bandage again, the skin was still red, still swollen, but it was no longer weeping.

“It’s improving,” he said. “Slowly.”

“Finn?” she asked.

The physician only shook his head.

∞∞∞

A few days later, Master Nicholas handed her a bundle.

“My wife wants you to have this,” he said. “Her old dress. And a cloak. We took it out of the pay we owed Finn.”

Cecily took the bundle.

“You keep looking at the door like a hound pulling against its rope,” he added gruffly. “I know you want to leave and search for your… brother. But I warn you, you’re not well enough to go out.”

“Thank you,” was all Cecily said.

When he left, she closed her eyes. Maybe Finn had decided she was too much trouble. Maybe he believed he could never keep her safe.

She opened her eyes again and stared at the door.

No. Finn might argue and storm off, but he’d never abandon her like this. If he had left, something was wrong.

She knew where he would have gone.

The shed.

∞∞∞

She waited until the next morning. She ate, then let Master Nicholas inspect her arm again and wrap it fresh.

When he finished, she said, “I’m going out.”

“You should not.”

“I know, but I must,” she said. “To find him.”

He studied her, then exhaled sharply. “You have the stubbornness of a goat. Fine. Go in daylight. And return before dark.”

“I will,” Cecily said.

The physician’s wife stepped forward and pressed a small parcel into her hand. “Bread and cheese,” she said.