She scoffed and folded the paper back together before tucking it next to Samuel’s likeness in her Bible. A deserter. Was that all? Somehow she’d expected to discover something truly scandalous, though indeed desertion was no small crime. Anna leaned forward and rubbed the ache that began to inch through her head. She prayed the man had good reason to leave his post. For what little she did know about the army, she understood well that no matter what befell a man, leaving his company for any reason was met with exacting punishment. Her brother would have done the same as Captain Stockton. Bring him in, certainly, and make him pay his due. She could only hope the captain would be as lenient as he stated, but she wasn’t a fool as she’d allowed the man to believe. She was willing to help locate the fellow for her own reasons, but believing this Henry Donaldson would be treated as merely “misguided” was laughable. War was a terrible thing. For everyone.
“Whoa!”
The carriage jerked to a halt. Quickly, Anna replaced the likeness in the Bible and stuffed it in her bag.
She peered out the window. “Is everything all right?”
“Aye, miss.” The driver got down and spoke to her without looking in. “Got to check the horses.”
“Oh, of course.”
“You are free to get out and stretch your legs if’n you like.”
The mere thought of it made her limbs twitch with the need to straighten. Tightening the strings of her bag and clutching it against her lap, she waited. After a moment, Anna scowled and peeked out the window. The driver would not expect her to open the door for herself would he? She unlatched the door and peered both directions. Well, apparently he would. Was this what it felt like to be of such low status? No one to help you, no one to even assist you in exiting a carriage? Of course, she’d hoped to be seen of low status when she’d taken the tattered dress and left all her worldly goods in England. She glanced at her clothes again, almost grinning to herself. You wanted a new life, Anna, and here you have it.
She pushed the door open, feeling as if she’d stepped into a new world, one with less confinement and more power. Her spirit lifted and somehow she could breathe deeper. Once outside the carriage she walked around the back of the large wheels to reach her arms wide without being seen engaging in such unladylike behavior. She couldn’t stem the grin that widened her mouth as she gazed at the sky, stretching her arms. When had she ever felt so uninhibited? Edwin would have been horrified to see her so recklessly ignoring propriety.
“Excuse me, miss.”
Anna jumped and twirled. “Aye?”
“Forgive me, I…” Mouth parted, eyes scanning her head to foot, the driver stared breathlessly. “Forgive me. You look so much like your mother. I nearly called you Catanna.”
Anna’s heart lurched at the sound of her mother’s name. “I beg your pardon?” She stepped back and pressed a hand to
her chest. When she next spoke her voice was so low she hardly recognized the sound of it. “Who are you?”
He moved toward her, hand extended. “Do not be alarmed, I beg you. I simply…” His brow furrowed. “You don’t remember me.”
“Why should I?” The man took another step forward, and Anna hurried backward, bumping into the wheel behind her. “Get away from me.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
Despite the sincerity in his soft eyes, Anna’s breath came in and out in short bursts. “Then tell me who you are and how you knew my mother.”
The man opened his mouth, then closed it and rocked his jaw back and forth. His gaze lowered to her necklace then moved back up to her eyes. “That I cannot tell you.” He continued toward her and Anna’s pulse jumped.
“You will not?” She hurried around the other side of the carriage, the stranger at her heels. “That is fine. I wish to continue to Providence.” She opened the carriage door, trying to keep her quivering fingers from revealing her fear. “I will overlook this upsetting interlude if we continue immediately.”
He grabbed her arm. “You do not belong here, Anna.”
“How do you know my name?” Fear cascaded through her, blood leaving her head and limbs yet pulsing wildly at the same moment. “Let go of me!”
She struggled against his grasp, but he held firm. “I would see you returned to England where you will have safety and security.”
Nay! The truth knocked her so hard she nearly choked from the impact. “My father sent you.” Her blood chilled.
Without releasing his hold, the man’s gentle tone mirrored the pleading in his eyes. “’Tis only the best he seeks for you. Though I understand why you have run, you cannot know what calamities await you here. ’Tis folly to believe—”
“Nay!” ’Twas then his eyes took their place in her memory, and she gasped. He was the one she had seen from the window of the officer’s house. Father had known she would leave. He’d sent this man to collect her, but never would she let him claim the prize.
“I will not go back!” She all but yelled. Jerking from his grasp she whirled and stepped toward the woods. “I refuse to be forced to live a life of bondage. I would rather die here than endure the rest of my days in such a prison.”
Anna spun around, scanning the dense wood for some place, any place, to escape. The blowing branches beckoned her to the safety of their shadows. Blood racing, she clutched tighter to the bag in her hands. There was the wood, aye, but nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run and no one to hear her cries. Lord, rescue me!
“Please, Anna, forget this foolish venture and return with me to England.”
She breathed hot and hard as indignation surged in her chest. Turning to him, she growled. “Never! I will never go back!” Anna paused and her jaw ticked. “Father cares only for the material means another such union would provide and I will not be his pawn.”