The Dark Days

Chapter Eighteen

In the end, we decided not to stay in.

The day was still young and to spend it indoors, sleeping or otherwise, seemed like too much of a waste for a trip this far from home. Hank served us, and four other patrons, with a hearty breakfast. I have never felt as satiated as I had when I stood up from that breakfast table.

The market was in full swing, with stalls set up in front of most stores and music playing somewhere off in the distance. The street was busy with people, onlookers, and day travelers walking beside their horses. Druig held my hand, not letting go even when the street grew busier.

"Do you think we should do the shopping today?" I raised my voice above the buzz. With so many people weaving in and out of the shops, I was afraid they'd buy the very thing I was there to buy.

"It's always this busy. One day won't make a difference." Druig leaned to speak into my ear, raising the hair on my arms and neck. I cleared my throat, not that anyone could hear it, in an attempt to refocus. Druig pecked my cheek, a chaste small display of affection, "Come on."

We walked through the crowds until they grew thin. Druig led me to what looked like a pier of sorts. One littered with at least a dozen or so men holding rods and string.

I pulled us to a stop, "Are you taking me fishing?" I fished every day of my life. I was not about to do it on a day I absolutely did not have to.

"No," he chuckled. There was a set of steps to the side of the pier, leading to the beach itself. The wooden steps were as we all but ran down them, wet but somehow not slippery. I'd never allowed myself the luxury of visiting the beach on the days I usually ventured out this far. Always by myself, I never wanted to risk it, to 'tempt fate'.

A giggle bubbled out of me as briny sea air became more apparent and I could actually taste the salty sea air. It was so different up close. The last time I'd been here, in the water at least, had to have been with Papa. I released Druig's hand and ran straight for the water, my heart thundering in my chest, my breathing uneven. I pulled my boots off and then my socks.

I hiked the hem of my dress up and stopped just before the line where the sand met the ocean. The fizz of the seafoam swept closer and closer to my wriggling toes, but never touched them. With the waves crashing mere feet from me, spraying that gloriously cold water on my face, my dress, my body, my soul, I inhaled as deeply as I could.

At this moment alone, I was not the provider of my family. I was just a girl, at the beach, with a boy she was falling madly in love with. It was just Jane.

I inhaled deeply again, selfishly taking as many gulps of ocean air as my lungs would allow, and then exhaled as slowly as I could. With the village behind me and nothing but the ocean and sky in front of me, it was breathtaking. Just the simplicity of it, the lack of human interference. It was such a stark contrast to the tall buildings in the village behind me, the smog from chimneys in Wrights and Daysa.

Druig sidled up beside me and wordlessly took my boots from my hand. He looked as peaceful as our surroundings and I wondered if he felt as free at this moment as I did. It wasn't until a peal of sharp laughter sounded behind him that I broke our locked gazes to peak over his shoulder.

There was a family of five just a few feet from us. A set of parents and three boys. Boys, because none of the kids wore skirts or dresses. The boys were splashing about in the water and when I looked back at Druig, I saw the spark in his eyes. He'd seen the boys too.

"No..." I was shaking my head, laughing, and stepping back all at the time. I may as well have said nothing with all the good it did. The corners of Druig's mouth tilted up in a smirk as he side-stepped into the surf and when the water crashed around his bare feet, he reached down and splashed water my way. A shriek of laughter burst out of me as I tried, and failed, to step out of the trajectory.