CHAPTER 14

SENSE AND REASON

I caught up with Ichabod later that night. A crisp breeze bit at my nose and I spotted Ichabod leaning against an oak catching a breath of fresh air.

"Tell me the truth," I demanded causally leaning against the trunk next to him.

"About what?" he asked innocently not adjusting his gaze.

"New York," I said. "A few days ago you told me you and your wife left New York because she wasn't happy there. Then today, she told me she fell in love with the city. Which one is Constable?"

"You wouldn't understand," his eyes cut right through me and he started toward his house.

"If you tell me, I would!" I shouted and took off after him.

He spun on his heels, his nostrils flaring, his lips parted ever so slightly. At that moment I wanted to kiss his lips, the crown of his head. My heart was pounding, but I did not reveal my feelings that wanted to rupture. "You don't give up, do you?"

I looked down at my feet, "Not easily," I admitted in a whisper.

"Very well. We returned to New York to bring to the court my findings in Sleepy Hollow and I told the burgomaster what happened, every detail… all sixteen murders. He thought I was mad! And for awhile, confined to the suffocation of a straightjacket, I thought I was too. If it wasn't for Katrina I would still be enclosed behind the walls of the asylum, and in the least, I owe her that much. I thought it the end of the world when he dismissed me from the constabulary, but Katrina showed me there was more to life than that. We had no choice but to leave New York, and where else to go than back here?"

"I apologize… I had no idea," I stuttered and bit my lower lip.

"No, you didn't," he said and took a breath. "And then I met you and for once in my life I realized there's more to life than just sense and reason."

He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. I thought he was going to kiss me and electricity jolted down my body. Closing my eyes and parting my lips, I anticipated his lips on mine, but it never came. Instead, he dropped his hands and left me standing in the moonlight.