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pleasure, but it proved to be in vain as he spilled himself inside her.  Valerie collapsed on top of him, kissing him softly. 
    “I love you, Alexander Whitfield, and don’t you ever forget it.”  Alec wrapped his arms around Valerie, holding her close.  Some days he could almost feel Finlay in the room with them, but today wasn’t one of them.  Today she was his alone.

Chapter 6
     
    Louisa threw off the thin blanket and rose from the narrow cot.  The loft was so dark that she couldn’t see her own hand in front of her face.  Mrs. Dobbs had warned her against opening the shutters and the window during the night, for fear of letting in evil humors, but Louisa didn’t care.  She felt as if she couldn’t breathe.  She opened the tiny window and threw open the shutters, letting in the cool air.  Weak moonlight flooded the room, dispelling the feeling of being buried alive.  Louisa pulled a chair up to the window and sat down, peering into the darkness.  She heard the brook gurgling somewhere to her right, and an owl hooting in the distance.  The dark outline of trees looked ragged against the night sky, the only light coming from the crescent moon and countless stars. 
    After living in Manhattan for eight years, the sounds of nature seemed almost like complete silence.  Louisa longed for a car horn , or the sound of a TV from her neighbor’s apartment.  It would be lovely to put on her iPod and listen to some soothing music, but those things were lost to her forever now.  Her life would now be reduced to the basics, with no comforts or gadgets that she was so used to.  Even running water seemed like a luxury now.  A shower would have been wonderful, but the closest she could come was the ewer and pitcher on the nightstand.  She could wash parts of herself if she chose, or get up early and go take a dip in the brook, if it was deep enough. 
    Louisa was so wired that sleep simply wasn’t possible.  Silent tears slid down her cheeks as the pent-up emotions of the day finally caught up with her, drying quickly in the summer breeze.  “Get a hold of yourself, girl,” she whispered to herself.  “It will be all right.  One day at a time.” 
    John Dobbs had promised to take her to Plymouth in the morning.  He would install her at a respectable inn, and go to the docks to inquire about a ship to America.  He said the voyage would take about two months; weather permitting.  The thought of being trapped on some wooden ship for two months in the middle of the ocean terrified Louisa, but she tried not to think about it.  It was the only way to get to Virginia, and to Virginia she would go.  Valerie made the trip with an infant, so her own crossing would be a piece of cake. 
    Louisa finally drifted off just before sunrise, exhausted and emotionally drained, and didn’t wake up until Mrs. Dobbs came in and started chiding her about the open window.  It wasn’t until Louisa finished her milk and buns , that she realized that she would be riding to Plymouth on horseback.  It seemed her ordeal was about to begin.  As she mounted the horse with the help of Mr. Dobbs, she wondered what would be the bigger challenge, riding to Plymouth astride, or spending several hours with her taciturn companion.

Chapter 7
     
    The ride to Plymouth had been long and uncomfortable, with the unfamiliar muscles of the horse moving under Louisa’s butt, and flies buzzing around her head.  She was perspiring freely from the May heat, and the strain of keeping herself upright on the horse.  Every time she began to relax, she felt as if she was sliding off to the side and would fall off; winding up under the hooves of the unfriendly mare.  She was so tense that she barely noticed the fields and the villages that they passed along the way. 
    John Dobbs was silent for most of the ride, as expected, and only perked up as they got nearer to the town ; shielding his eyes from the sun, and looking toward the harbor where