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My dear Miss Harcourt, pray forgive your brother I fear the hu, but it has brought the gift of wildflowers, quite unlike anything I have ever seen The field is a carpet of lavender and white, and I cannot help but think you would like it very much

--from Thomas Harcourt (and Edward Rokesby) to Cecilia Harcourt

Cecilia was soon back to her old self, save for a few scabs on her legs where she had not been able to keep fro She resumed her search for Thomas, and Edward often accoth, so when the weather wasn’t too overbearingly hot he tucked her arm in the crook of his elbow, and they walked about town, running errands and asking questions

And falling in love

She was, at least She refused to allow herself to wonder if he felt the sah it was more than obvious that he enjoyed her co her good night And good ood afternoon And with each touch, each shared glance, she felt herself slipping further into a falsehood of her own creation

But oh, how she wished it were true

She could be happy with this man She could be his wife and bear his children, and it would be a wonderful life

Except that it was all a lie And when it fell apart, she wasn’t going to be able to escape by sing a strawberry

Goal for today: Stop falling in love

Never had one of her little goals felt less attainable And ns that Edward’son his uniform, he turned to Cecilia and said, "I haven’t done this for a while"

Cecilia, who had been reading the book of poetry he’d brought with him from home, looked up "Done what?"

He was silent for a moment before he answered, and he frowned, as if he were still working out his thoughts "Put on my uniform"

Cecilia used a ribbon to "

"No, before that" He paused and blinked a few ti, "I didn’t wear a unifor to set aside her unease "Are you sure?"

He looked down at hiht hand over the scarlet wool that marked him as a soldier in His Majesty’s Army "Where did this co "Your coat? It was in the church"

"But I wasn’t wearing it when I was brought in"

This, Cecilia was startled to realize, was a statement, not a question "I don’t know," she said "I don’t think so I did not think to ask"

"I couldn’t have been," Edward decided "It was far too clean"

"Perhaps soative "We should ask Colonel Stubbs"

"Of course," Cecilia de, but Cecilia knew thisto find the outline of a puzzle that was still htlessly at the , his hand tapping against his leg, and Cecilia could only wait until he see sharply toward her to say, "I re else"

"What?"

"Yesterday, ere walking along Broad Street A cat brushed up against me"

Cecilia did not speak If there had been a cat, she hadn’t noticed

"It did that thing cats do," Edward continued, "rubbing its face against , and I remembered There was a cat"

"In Connecticut?"

"Yes I don’t knohy, but I thinkI think it kept me company"

"A cat," she repeated