The gate was still quiet when Lena finished making the tea. She set the pot on the kitchen shelf to stay warm and went to stand near the front of the estate, where she could see the road through the gap between the gate posts.
The afternoon light was already going flat, pulling long shadows across the dirt path that connected the village to the estate grounds.
She heard him before she saw him. The road had been silent all day, so even the slow rhythm of a horse walking without urgency carried clearly through the air.
Then the shape of a rider appeared through the fading light.
Lena opened the gate and stepped to the side as he rode through. He was younger than she kept expecting him to be, even though she already knew his age.
