Live and Let Spy by Elizabeth Ellen Carter

Author:Elizabeth Ellen Carter [Carter, Elizabeth Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

HALF A LIE is better than a full lie.

Adam repeated the phrase several times to himself on the walk back to the barn but it didn’t make him feel any better.

He wished there were no secrets between them, but Olivia had put him on the spot with her question. Let her believe it was Constance he thought about, not the boy who was their child.

He hoped for Olivia’s sake that reuniting him with the writing box and delivering news of Constance’s sad passing had been enough, and she didn’t think to dig further. If there was someone else poking into his past, the last thing he wanted was for Olivia to start asking questions, too, and attracting the attention of the wrong kind of people.

He chanced a glance in her direction. She was withdrawn. Did she think he was still in love with Constance?

Before them the barn was ablaze with light, alive with the laughter of villagers who, for one evening, would put all their cares aside and celebrate. The thought appealed to him greatly and, tonight, he planned to be one of those merry souls.

Tonight, he vowed, Olivia would be left in no doubt that his past was in the past.

Where it belonged.

And his future? To hell with that – he had no more control over that than he did the weather.

Eat, drink and be merry! For tomorrow we may die!

The smell of roasting pork and the sound of the band rehearsing a lively reel was more than enough to banish any worries.

He took Olivia’s hand and steered her around the group of people lining up around the spit, guiding her inside the inn where he claimed a corner bench. He retained a hold of her hand.

“You said you feared a spill on your dress, so I thought you might want to dine in here, instead of risking the benches outside.”

Adam watched her expression change from confusion to surprise then gratitude.

“You’re a good man, Adam Hardacre,” she said in a low voice.

Her words warmed him from within. He squeezed her hand, then brought it to his lips before rising from the table with a promise to be back with their food.

He could get used to this, Adam thought as he joined the end of the spit serving line. A quiet life in the country with a wife who loved him, to be given “this day, our daily bread.”

He picked up two plates and smiled at the Angler’s Arms maid who placed a generous slab of bread on each. Out of newfound habit, Adam looked at the faces around him. Some he knew, but not too many. It seemed that the Trellows’ dance attracted everyone within fifteen miles of Ponsnowyth.

The line moved slowly toward the freshly-roasted meat. Then he saw a face that caused him to pause before it disappeared in the crowd. Adam searched for the black hair and the figure of middle height until he was nudged in the back by a man behind him who nodded ahead where a gap had opened.

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