I suppose I no longer needed his help, and perhaps Zia needed him more. I couldn’t fault a man for going to the aid of his sister. Joe would have done the same for Josie. But the fact that Morton took the carriage and left us irked me. And he didn’t pay what he promised, either.
A few days later, a large package came with my belongings. Included were my cleaned gun and my wedding ring, neither of which I thought I would see again. The package was without a sender, a postmark, or even a note. “Amelia, who brought this?”
“I don’t know, mum. Pearson said it wasn’t the usual messenger boy; this one was much older, with an eye-patch.”
* * *
David constantly rocked, curled into a ball, sucking his thumb, just as I found him. He refused to sleep in his bed, hiding underneath it all night. His
