23. Chapter 23
Chapter twenty-three
Mist swirled around Willem’s feet as the first light of dawn bathed the town of Sleepy Hollow in glimmering, pale gold. Inferno clomped along the cobbled streets beside him. He led the horse to where he had not set foot for fourteen years.
A hollow space carved in his heart where he’d spent his tears wrapped in Katrina’s embrace, but the promise of hope flickered to life as he walked hand in hand with the woman he’d always cared for.
Katrina squeezed his hand gently when curious early risers poked their heads out from their gabled shutters to peer at them.
Willem clenched the reins, his heart pounding against his ribcage when they stopped before The Sweet Mill café.
It was just as he remembered. Blush and lavender light spilled against the weathered bricks and the stepped gable that rose into the sky.
He glanced up at the windows lining the second story.
The one on the left was where he had spent half of his life wishing he could run and play with all the little boys and girls of Sleepy Hollow.
When he was three years old, his body had been racked by consumption and had never quite recovered. He became susceptible to illnesses and had shortness of breath. Mother thought it would be best to keep him inside, so he’d be less exposed to the seasonal illnesses that plagued the town.
Father had not been pleased that his only child couldn’t work as much as he wished in the tavern. Willem found he couldn’t entirely blame him. How could a sickly son inherit the café when his father passed?
All his life, Willem wanted nothing more than for his father to be proud of him.
Willem glanced at Katrina, his breath catching at how her golden hair glinted against the morning light. Her rosy lips lifted into a pretty smile, and his chest melted inward.
He’d watched Katrina from his window as a boy. She was younger than he by three years, but her tenacious spirit and sparkling eyes never ceased to capture his attention. Now, she stood by his side, and he could hardly wrap his mind around the events leading him to this moment.
Guilt still lingered in his soul, but the feeling dampened under the feel of her fingers threading with his. She had forgiven him, and he swallowed at a new revelation. Johannes had trusted him to watch over his sister, and Willem kept his word.
A flood of tears threatened to spill, but he pushed them aside. At least there was something he hadn’t run away from.
“You can take your time,” Katrina reassured him. “You don’t need to meet them right away.”
Willem shook his head. “I have spent half my life in darkness, wondering who and what I am. But I feared what I would find. I avoided discovering the truth until you approached. I do not wish to run anymore.”
“Then I will follow your lead,” she whispered.
He tied Inferno’s reins to a nearby post. With a deep breath, he pushed through the door. A woman with her back toward him swept the café and tilted her head over her shoulder.
“We’re not quite open yet, dearies. Just wait another half hour, and we’ll be ready for you.”
Willem took another step, his limbs trembling. “Mother.”
The woman froze. His mother turned until their eyes met. Several moments passed until the broom clattered to the ground, forgotten in the moment.
“Willem?” she asked in a hoarse whisper. Her round, chocolate eyes widened.
He nodded, not trusting his voice. He took another step, and Katrina released his hand.
Before he took the second step, his mother raced to meet him halfway, but stopped before him.
Her eyes darted over his face, scanning every inch of him.
Some of her brunette hair glimmered silver in the light, and he took in the worried lines and wrinkles around her eyes and mouth.
Fourteen years had aged her just as they had changed him.
Something deep within him ached at the precious time he’d lost—how he hadn’t had the privilege of watching his mother grow older.
At last, her gaze settled on his eyes. He shifted, unsure if she could sense the darkness within, but a glossy sheen of tears appeared.
Her hands flew to her mouth. “It’s you.”
Before he could speak, she wrapped her arms around him tightly. He crumpled into his mother. Burrowing his face into her neck, his tears fell into her woolen sleeve.
“Oh, my boy,” she wailed. “My sweet, beautiful boy.”
“What’s going on out there, Charlotte?” a gruff voice asked.
His mother did not release him, but Willem peered over her shoulder. Father rounded the counter and halted.
“Hoff, it’s him,” his mother said, sniffling when she glanced behind her. “It’s Willem!”
“But—” his father started, his brows pinching.
Willem gently removed himself from his mother, but she held one arm around his waist. He regarded his father with a lump in his throat. Father’s dark hair had thinned, and his back held a slight hunch. He leaned against a cane, placing all his weight on his good leg.
Willem couldn’t decipher what his father was thinking. A bundle of nerves tightened in his stomach. Some of him still wished to run and avoid this uncertain reunion, but he forced himself to stand tall.
“Father, it’s me. I’m home,” he said.
The cane tapped against the wooden floors as his father approached. When they stood face-to-face, his father scrutinized him from head to foot. Willem forced himself not to avert his gaze.
The hard lump in his throat grew as the clock on the wall ticked down the seconds. Slowly, his father’s brows relaxed from their constant furrowed state, and a tear carved down his cheek.
“Willem?”
“It’s me, Pa.”
The cane clunked on the floor before his father stumbled forward to embrace him.
Willem’s eyes stretched wider. For the first time, he was taller than his father. The man he’d looked up to seemed frailer than he remembered.
His father pulled away, and tears glimmered from his dark eyes. “Where have you been?” he croaked.
The lump heated Willem’s throat until his own tears fell.
“I’ve been lost in the darkness for so long. I couldn’t remember my past or who I was. But…” Willem gestured to Katrina, who stood back to give them space. “I remember now. She helped me. She found me and brought me home.”
“Oh, Miss Katrina,” his mother started with a choked cry. “Thank you for bringing my son home. Wherever did you find him?”
Willem hadn’t discussed whether they would keep his curse a secret, but he trusted Katrina with whatever truth she wished to share.
“I found him wandering near my home in the forest on my nightly walk,” she said. “He saved me from a terrible fall.”
“Yes… and she saw me for who I truly was,” he murmured fondly.
Katrina grinned softly.