Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 230

Chapter 230: The night
Ford lay awake in his borrowed bed. He still felt as if, any moment, someone would come to his door and demand that he move to the barn, that the floor was not comfortable enough for the boys, or that there was no place for a friend of Martin in this household.

He wondered how much Mia shared of what he’d told her with her parents.

He wondered how she was feeling.

A soft knock at the door startled him. He wondered for a moment if he’d imagined it, but after a moment he heard it again.

Reaching for his crutch, he struggled to his feet and got to the door. When he opened it, he was more than a little surprised to see Mia standing in the dark hallway.

She held a finger to her lips and stepped inside the slightly opened door, closing it softly behind her. His eyes widened. What was happening??

He opened his mouth and she lifted her hand to cover it. His heart pounded. This was a dream. A bizarre dream. Didn’t Trace manipulate dreams?

Perhaps this was a test about his self control, or how he would treat Mia? Did the family think he might be interested in courting her, and put Trace up to manipulating him?

Ford steeled himself to present a strong front of virtuous disapproval for her being in his room at night, but she interrupted him.

“I’m leaving,” Mia whispered. “I’ll take you where you want to go, but we have to leave now. I’m going to get food for the journey and be back in two minutes. Will you be ready?”

Ford tensed. This was exactly what he’d wanted. Well, sort of. The look in her eyes wasn’t what he expected, but she was at least determined.

Since her hand was still over his mouth, he nodded, and so did she.

“Don’t wake anyone,” She whispered before slipping out of the door.

Most of this things, such as they were, already lay in his tattered bag. It only took a few seconds to make sure everything was there before shouldering the parcel. He looked down at himself and realized he was still in a borrowed nightshirt.

His face flamed. Mia hadn’t reacted to it. It was her brother’s after all, but for some reason Ford still felt extremely self-conscious. Knowing time was running short, he changed as quickly as he could into real clothing.

Was it stealing to take the clothes he wore with him?

He would pay them back once he got the treasure, he told himself. Though why it bothered him after they’d let his map be burned, he didn’t quite know.

Shoes on and bag over his shoulder, he made his way to the door just as another soft knock sounded there. He opened it, and Mia was standing there, laden with two sacks and two bedrolls.

Finger over her lips, she led the way to the front door, past the sleeping boys in the sitting room. Ford moved slowly and carefully; though Mia was light on her feet and slim, he was louder if he wasn’t extremely careful.

Mia glared at him impatiently until he was on the front porch and the door was closed behind them.

“Won’t they come after us in the morning?” He finally whispered.

“I left a note,” She said. “But we still need to go as far as we can.”

Ford looked at his crutch. There was no way they would get far enough on foot.

“Can you ride?” Mia whispered. “I’ll meet you in the barn.”

Without waiting for a response, she ran ahead silently in the moonlight. Ford’s mouth fell open. He’d never been on a horse in his life!

At least, he assumed she meant riding horses. There were some donkeys that ran the water pumps at the mines, but other than that he didn’t know of other animals people rode.

He followed Mia and made it to the barn just as she finished putting the saddle on a tall, pale horse. How was he supposed to get up on that monster?

“Is this stealing?” He asked aloud.

“Harper is my horse. No one would think anything of me taking her with me,” Mia explained.

“We’re going to ride the same horse? Can they do that?” Ford had strongly mixed feelings about the prospect of sharing a horse with the young woman.

“I’m saddling Henry for you. Papa was planning to take him to market and sell him. He was grandma’s horse, but she doesn’t ride anymore, and he hates pulling a plow. They won’t miss him much.” Mia explained.

Ford was uncomfortable. Some clothes that no one wore were one matter. A valuable animal that could be sold for probably quite a lot of money was another.

“I don’t like stealing,” He insisted, but Mia waved him off. “She would readily give me Henry if I asked her. It’s fine, I promise.”

“Would she be fine with you using him to run away?” Ford asked, hating himself for advocating against his own interests.

Well, sort of against them. He knew that horse thieves could be punished very severely, and didn’t want that potential consequence hanging over his head if Mia’s family should want retribution against him.

“I’m not running away,” She turned and glared at Ford in the darkness. “I need some space to work through the memories I’ve got. What better place to work through those memories than the place where they were made in the first place? And since you want to go there anyway, I’m throwing a good deed into the mix.”

Ford opened his mouth, but did not find it in himself to refute her logic.

“I’ve never ridden a horse,” He told her instead.

“It’s easy,” She told him flippantly, before looking down at his splinted leg. She frowned. “But can we take that off?”

“Um,” He hesitated. The leg was still painful, but the pain had changed from sharp, deep stabbing pain to more of an ache and soreness recently.

“Come on,” Mia urged. “Let’s take it off and see how you are. We’ll move much faster without it.”