She's leaving. Of where she's going she has only a vague idea. Somewhere isolated, somewhere north, somewhere that he can't track her down. She didn't think this through, and she knows she should have. The destination is not something she is used to worrying about. The rest came easily. How many times had she packed her belongings into that suitcase with the same intent? Folding clothes to fit three rows across, tucking underwear in the small, elastic pocket along the top? Even now, muting her appearance to pass unnoticed among the crowds came instinctively, an instinct honed by a life on the run.

Still, she half expects to turn over her shoulder and find him standing there.

Now that she's sitting and has time to think, it's easy to rationalize her actions. Leaving him was the only thing she could have done. He has spent too long seeking vengeance for the loss of his family to give up the chance at having one again, and she knew that their lifestyle would be a curse - a death sentence – for the child she now carried.

The train lurches into motion and she glances out the window again at the station, half-hoping, half- afraid to see his tall, spare form looking for her. For better or worse, he's not there. How easy it is now to admit how she feels about him, now that she's facing a future without him. Less than a week ago she had woken up next to him in the tiny little apartment they had been renting for the last few months. The proprietor, a bent old soothsayer with a fondness for antique pottery and crocheted sweaters, had sheltered them without asking any questions. Linda hadn't been as grateful for that as she should have been. Just that morning she had woken beside Lee in the bed they had shared, his sleepy eyes in a rare moment of peace. And that smile, just a soft curl of his lips at the corners.

She forces her mind away from that, and tries to focus on where she'll go. Perhaps she can stay with her sister for a while. Becca is always willing to take in visitors, especially her wayward younger sister. It would offer her some comfort and Becca wouldn't ask questions - she was very good about that.

Overhead, her suitcase rattles in the luggage rack as the train shakes around a curve. It's not that she hasn't done this before. It's just that this is the first time the seat beside her is empty.