Free Dark Angel by Tracy Grant

to say goodbye to some of the villagers?
    Adam returned to the street. If Caroline was making farewells, he should leave her in privacy. He paused for a moment and glanced at the stone church at the end of the street, a modest building that dwarfed the surrounding cottages. It looked as if it had stood there for centuries and it must have survived God knew how many wars. Adam found the thought reassuring. He had started to turn back toward Adela's cottage when he caught sight of the graveyard, a small grouping of unadorned sun-bleached stones beside the church. It was empty save for a single slight figure in gray who knelt before one of the stones. Her back was to him, but her fair hair was unmistakable.
    Adam felt a sick sensation in the pit of his stomach which had nothing to do with his wound. Of course. Caroline had wanted to pay a last visit to Jared's grave. He should leave now, at once. If he had not wanted to intrude on her farewells to the villagers, he certainly had no right to intrude on her farewell to her husband. But it was a moment before he could order his thoughts and in that moment Caroline stood, and turned, and saw him.
    At this distance he could not read her expression. He had no choice but to stand and wait while she walked toward him. She was wearing a cloak, he saw, of thick, heavy wool which would afford much needed protection on their journey. But the hood was pushed back and the morning sun picked out a few strands of gold in her hair. She paused to allow a young man leading a thin burro with sticks of kindling strapped to its back to pass between them, then crossed the street. "You were looking for me?"
    Her voice was cool and detached, but her eyes were luminous and Adam understood why. She had been crying. He saw the patches of damp on her cheeks and the tears still clinging to her lashes. They were further confirmation that her marriage to Jared Rawley had been a real one, not the disaster she had led him to believe it was five years ago. That had been merely one more deception in a night filled with them.
    "I thought you might need help with your things," Adam said, feeling singularly stupid. He had blundered and intruded where he had no right to go.
    "Thank you, I can manage." Caroline studied his face, very much as Hawkins had earlier in the morning. "You're feeling better?" She sounded a little less remote.
    "Abundantly." Adam managed to grin. "I don't remember a great deal of last night, but I think I owe you my thanks."
    "On the contrary. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have been hurt." Caroline smiled, then turned away, as if made uncomfortable by the shared moment. "I'll get my things," she said, walking toward the cottage.
    Adam insisted on carrying the bundle. Caroline took Emily's small cloak, cast a brief glance round the cottage, then turned and walked through the door. She seemed to be forcing herself not to linger over the place that had been her home for the past two months.
    "You'll miss it," Adam said, following her into the street.
    Caroline looked up at him, as if grateful for his understanding. "Does that seem mad?"
    "It's difficult to leave a place you've called home," Adam said, thinking of all the places he had lived in the last nine years and how unlike a home all of them had been.
    "Adam." Caroline hesitated, looked away, then looked into his eyes again. "Thank you for coming after me."
    It was progress, of a sort. Adam smiled in acknowledgement and they began to walk down the street, keeping a safe distance apart.
    They found the children playing a game outside Adela's cotage. Emily was laughing and shrieking, apparently oblivious to the fact that she was about to be separated from her friends, perhaps forever. With some difficulty, Caroline persuaded Emily to hold still long enough to be wrapped in her cloak. Adela came out of the cottage holding the baby, and then, after a flurry of final preparations, the Soro family accompanied Adam, Caroline, and Emily to the