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For the next two hours, Elena devoured the book, asking now and then what something said.

Tomas woke her up gently just as the carriage jerked to a halt. She must have dozed off. “Stay here,” he said. Then he opened the door of the carriage and jumped out. She heard voices and then he was next to her. “There has been an accident ahead. The young boy said some were injured. Time to do our good deeds for the day.”

The carriage moved on for half a mile before stopping again. This time, Tomas helped her out. Ahead a carriage was on its side, and people were sitting or lying beside the road.

“Looks like a broken axle,” he said. “I’ll get your bag for you.”

Elena picked up her skirts and ran towards the jumble of people. She assessed each one and prioritized who needed attention. One had dislocated his shoulder and was moaning in pain, and with help from Tomas she was able to put it back into place.

She moved on to the next patient, who had sprained his ankle when he jumped from the carriage. Giving him a few drops of poppy to relieve the pain, she turned to Tomas.

“There are a lot of people with cuts and bruises, but I think I have treated the worst of them.” She put some calendula and tea tree on a pad and handed it to Tomas. “Dab it on the cuts and let me know if any of them may need stitches.” She handed him the bottle and some more pads.

Together they made their way, one by one, through the passengers.

Elena wiped her hands on a rag. “What do we do now? They can’t walk all the way to the next coaching inn.”

“A cart has been sent for, but we can take the worst of them and the mother and child.”

“Will we all fit?”

“I’m going to ride on top. I think the mother and child will be calmed by your presence in the carriage.”

Guiding the mother and child into the carriage, she collected her father’s bag and joined them. On the other seat were the men with the dislocated arm and the sprained ankle. They were lucky. The injuries could have been a lot worse. The broken carriage had been dragged to the side of the road, and the two horses were tethered to the back of the duke’s carriage. It was slow going to the next inn, but Elena spent her time playing with the child. There was no language barrier when playing.

The coaching inn was bustling. People were running from place to place, moving trunks and bags. Once all the passengers had disembarked from the duke’s carriage, satisfaction flowed through her body. She had been useful today and glad she had a full supply of goods she had packed from Cadiz.

Tomas’s head appeared in the doorway of the carriage. “Come, Mrs. Markham. You deserve a meal after all your hard work.”

“It was not only me. I have to say, you take orders well, Captain Markham.”

“Uh, not a captain anymore, remember?”

“You will always be a captain. It is an honor that cannot be taken away from you.”

Tomas smiled and offered his hand to her. He would always be the captain of her heart, even if he no longer served in the British army.

*

Back on the road, Thomas settled in with his wife snuggling up against him. The carriage accident had waylaid their travel, but he had rejoiced in seeing his wife take control of the chaotic scene. He could see how much she loved helping people, healing people. Was it too much to hope that the people who lived in the village and on his estate would let her help them too?

As dawn approached, he could see some familiar landmarks. He took a deep breath and let it out. He was almost home.

“It is pretty here,” Elena said looking out the window. “Not like Spain, but everything here is so green.”

“It rains a lot here, which will be good for your garden.”

“What did you tell your mother about me?” she asked, looking back at him over her shoulder.

“I told her that I had met and married a woman who was as clever as she was beautiful. Who cared about others before herself and who had stolen my heart.”

“You are not like my brother. He was always straight to the point. He would have said, I am married. I am coming home. No other explanation would have been given.”

“Do you think he would have liked me?”

“Of course not. For one, you are English, and two, you married his sister.” She laughed. “I wouldn’t have cared if he approved or not. I am my own person. He knew that about me and although he didn’t like it, he put up with it.”

Both of them both fell asleep and were awakened when the carriage jerked to a stop and there was shouting outside. Thomas looked out the window and swore.