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“It’s better if Justice comes with me.”
“But why?” Liberty’s heart was breaking. Everything was going back to the way it was before. Soon she would be all alone again. Boy hadn’t shown any signs of regaining his memory. Mender was heading to trade for more wheat and potatoes and he wanted to take Justice with him. What made it even harder to accept was that Justice wanted to go. Everyone was deserting her.
Mender crossed his arms. “Justice wants to see my territory. He knows he’ll see yours after we meet back up in a few months.” His expression softened. “It’s not going to be forever. Besides, I have my own motives for taking him with me.”
The wind whipped a strand of hair into her eyes, so she tucked it behind her ear. “What’s that?”
“Thrasher has a daughter about Justice’s age. There’s no one her age within miles of her parents’ farm. I think it’s time someone played matchmaker around here. The world’s getting smaller and smaller every day.” His cheeks were now a nice shade of pink.
“What if they like each other so much Justice decides to stay?” Her chest tightened at the thought.
Mender touched the sleeve of her blouse. “Then maybe you should be happy for him.”
“But I just found my brother.” A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. Mender wiped it away with a brief swipe of his fingertip.
“Justice isn’t like Boy. You can’t lock him in your cabin so you’ll have someone to talk to. He needs to have a future. Maybe Justice will choose to grow wheat instead of flying from place to place, trading produce. Let him decide. He can’t do that unless we give him some options.” Mender leaned an elbow on the ship’s rail. “Who knows? Maybe he’ll dislike Hope on sight.”
Liberty released a pent up sigh and leaned next to him, staring off into the clouds but seeing nothing. “What does this girl look like?”
“Hope? She’s a tiny little thing. Big blue eyes and blonde hair long enough to sit on.”
“Ugly, huh.” Of course Mender was right, he usually was. It would be selfish not to let Justice see as much of the world as possible.
Mender turned. “Justice is just a kid. He deserves to see what’s out there.”
Liberty faced him. “What about you? You’ve seen what’s out there. What do you want to be when you grow up?”
He touched her cheek and smiled. “I want to be like you, all tough and full of foul language.”
Liberty laughed in spite of the sadness pressing down on her heart. She kept her tone light. “I’m not full of foul language.”
“But you are tough, and you’ll survive a few months without us.” A stray lock of curly hair again blew out from behind her ear so he tucked it back for her. “I made you something.” He slipped a wooden comb out of his pocket.
“You made me a comb?” She took it, not able to believe anyone would do something so wonderful for her.
He touched her curls again. “Just don’t pull your hair out trying to get all those tangles out.”
Liberty couldn’t be angry, not after he had done something so sweet. “Thank you.” She took his hand before he could lower it. “Go on then. Waters and Patch are expecting more wheat and potatoes. I would hate for them to be disappointed.” She held on to his hand, as if needing to extend the physical contact.
Mender pulled her against his chest. “I’m going to miss you too. We need to talk, but let’s wait until we meet back up.”
She laughed. “We’re talking now.”
He kissed her fingers but then released her and stepped back. “How about next time we do less talking and more kissing?”
“But we haven’t done any kissing.”