all again.
Caroline was, blessedly, all right. She had taken quite a tumble in the carriage, but despite Thatcher’s insistence that she be thoroughly checked over by a physician, she was declared well and healthy — just bruised and scratched.
And cold. They were all cold.
He was hardly off his horse — Caroline and Thatcher traveling in the physician’s carriage behind him — when he was passing the lead off to the stablemaster and nearly running through the door and into the inn.
He came to a stop when he found his brother, alone, sitting in the dining room, lazily twirling one ankle where his leg was crossed over the other.
“Elijah,” he said with a nod, “how is everyone?”
“Caroline is fine,” he replied. “Thatcher is seeing to her.” He looked around the room. “Where is Joanna?”
“Oh, Joanna,” Alex said with a sigh, standing and walking to the door, where Elijah stood, still clad in all of his outerwear. “Unfortunately, she is gone.”
“Gone?” Elijah said, looking at his brother incredulously. “What do you mean, gone?”
“I mean just that,” Alex said with a shrug as though it were of no consequence. “When she learned that you had left her, she decided that you were not worth waiting for. Something about, once a jester, always a jester.”
“She did not say that.”
“Perhaps not in those words,” Alex said, waving a hand in front of him. “But she is looking for a man, Eli. One who can care for her, provide for her. You can hardly take care of yourself.”
“I would disagree, for I did through three years of war,” he said, gritting his teeth, his spine stiff and straight with suspicion. He had a feeling he knew just what had run Joanna off, and he didn’t think it was her own assumptions.
But what caused this pang deep in his chest was the question of why she would have believed anything but the truth. Why had she not believed in him, and in what he felt for her?
Because he had never told her any of it, he realized. They had been so busy enjoying one another that they had never stopped and shared with one another how they actually felt. He had been scared of rejection and he supposed she had felt the same.
And now she was gone. He hoped returning to Briercrest and not all the way to London, for if she had, he had no idea how he would ever find her.
“How long ago did she leave?” he demanded to Alex, who shrugged lazily.
“Shortly after you departed.”
“That was hours ago!” Elijah exclaimed, aghast.
“So it was.” Alex sighed. “She’s likely returned to Briercrest by now.”
“What did you tell her, Alex?” Elijah pressed, angry now.
“It’s just a joke, Eli,” Alex said with a bit of a chuckle, but it was no laughing matter to Elijah.
“Did she seem to find it humorous, Alex?”
“Do any of the people we are pranking, Eli?”
Elijah rubbed his temples where the headache had formed long ago but was now pounding in earnest.
“No,” he said, shaking it, “but we were wrong. And that was years ago.”
“What about the prank on Baxter?” Alex asked.
“Well…” Elijah bit his lip, “I suppose old habits can be hard to break sometimes. But I’m doing my best. That, however, is not something I need to prove to you. I’m going, Alex. I need to find Joanna.”
He stopped, turning suddenly toward his brother. “Why didn’t you accompany her back?”
“She was quite clear that she had no wish to be in my presence — nor yours,” Alex said.
“Where did she go?” Elijah asked quietly.
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Much to the surprise of most of the patrons, Elijah suddenly lost his temper. He rushed forward, taking Alex by the collar, pushing him back up against the wall.
“Where. Is. She?”
“All right, all right,” Alex said, holding his hands up. “She went back to Briercrest. She said something about collecting her belongings.”
Elijah pulled out his pocket watch, reminding him of Joanna and her own.
“If I leave now I can hopefully catch her,” he said before casting a reproachful gaze upon his brother. “Let’s just hope there is enough time.”
Joanna stared at the costumes that currently lined her bed, mocking her, waiting for her to continue.
They were nearly done. All but one — the one that mattered the most.
She hadn’t wanted to make Elijah’s costume into the jester, but perhaps it was appropriate, she now considered.
He would have to figure out how to finish it himself. For she was done. She was done with it all.
She