This is what I’m wearing in the vision.
She grabbed warm undergarments and matching blue wool stockings.
Frances let out a yelp as she began to remove her nightgown. “Lettie! Brynne’s still here. The door’s wide open! What are you thinking?”
That Brynne wouldn’t mind seeing her naked, judging by his open-mouthed gape.
“I’ll get ready,” he said in a strangled rasp and hastily retreated from the room.
“Frances,” Lettie said once she heard his door slam, “I’ll need several blankets and your sleigh.”
“My sleigh? What do you need with that old thing? I haven’t used it since my husband took ill.” Her eyes turned soft as she seemed to go back to an earlier time. “But we had such fun riding out in the snow together, the two of us cozy and bundled up.”
“I want us to ride to the de Wolfes in it. That’s how I saw Brynne and me in my dream. Something’s going to happen, Frances. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I dare not ignore what I saw.”
“I don’t like it one bit, Lettie.” Frances sighed. “But I know how you feel about Brynne. If there’s any hope for the two of you, then you must see your adventure through. I loved my husband. I would have fought for him, too.”
“I’m so glad you understand.” She hugged her and closed the door behind her after she left. Then Lettie quickly washed and dressed. She wound her hair in a simple bun before bending to don her sturdy boots.
Brynne was ready and waiting for her by the time she hurried downstairs. She walked out with him, boldly placing her hand in his, relieved when he didn’t pull away. He helped her into thesleigh drawn by one of Frances’ big farm horses. The blankets she had requested were piled on the seat.
When Brynne hopped in, she tucked one of the blankets around both of them and set the other aside. They’d need it soon. “Ready, Lettie?”
“Yes, please hurry. I think we’re running out of time.”
He said nothing, merely snapped the reins, and the horse took off at a sprightly trot over the snow covered ground, snorting clouds of vapor as its hot breath hit the cold air.
They traveled in silence across the virgin paths, no one out so soon after the storm had ended. But the sky was clearing and icicles were forming on trees limbs and leaves so that they shimmered like diamonds. “Wrexham feels like a faerie land,” she murmured, for the white of the snow, the glistening green leaves, the bright blue of the clearing sky, all appeared magical and so vivid in its beauty.
As the horse continued in its rhythmic stride, Brynne eased his grasp on the reins and took both into one hand. He place the other hand on Lettie’s shoulder and tucked her neatly against his side. “The tip of your nose is red,” he said, as though needing an excuse to draw her into his arms.
“So are my ears, I’m sure.” She playfully rubbed her ear against his chest.
“Lettie,” he said softly. “What’s going to happen? Why the haste to visit the de Wolfes? I know you spoke of water and drowning. Can you give me something more?”
She shook her head. “We need to drive by the pond instead of heading straight to the house. I’m not sure why.” She shook her head again. “That is, I think I know what I saw, but it doesn’t seem possible. I can’t tell you more, Brynne. Whatever happens will be guided by our hearts.”
They traveled in silence until the de Wolfe manor came into view, but instead of heading up the drive, Lettie reminded him tofirst turn by the pond, the feeling of doom now so overwhelming it weighed like a stone upon her heart.
And then she saw the little form of a boy running toward the pond. “There, Brynne!”
“What the…” He released her and grabbed both reins in his hands as he snapped them to speed the horse along. “It’s Max de Wolfe.”
“Max the Terrible,” Lettie said with a nod. “How did he get out of the house? Where’s his nanny? Does anyone know he’s out here?”
“You did.” He let out a smoky breath. “Damn it, Lettie. How could you know? What’s he doing? Bloody hell, he’s running onto the ice. The drowning in your dream! Max is the little boy you saw! Why didn’t you tell me, Lettie?”
“I wasn’t certain. Hurry, Brynne. I can hear the ice begin to crack beneath his feet.”
The sleigh had barely come to a halt beside the pond when Brynne leaped out and began to run along its bank toward the boy. “Max! Get off the pond!” he cried in his sternest voice. Lettie knew that he hoped to stop the boy before he went too far off shore. But this was Max the Terrible and he’d earned that name. Max took off toward the center of the pond, but didn’t get very far before the ice began to break beneath his little boots.
The boy stopped and suddenly began to cry. In the next moment, he fell in and his cries were swallowed by the cruel, icy water.
Brynne stretched flat on his belly across the ice and pulled himself toward the spot where the boy had fallen in. As he drew near, he fell in as well. Tears began to fall on Lettie’s cheeks and froze before she could wipe them away. She grabbed the blankets and ran as close as she could to Brynne and the boy without stepping onto the ice. “Come up, Brynne. Please… now.”
Nothing.
This isn’t right. This didn’t happen in my dream.
