Disclaimer: I don't own tuck Everlasting
Winnie was exhausted. She had looked around London all day, asking innkeppers and blacksmiths if they had seen the Tucks, giving a description. No one had, but one old man had heard Winnie ask a blacksmith, and he wheezed out,
"I remember a Tuck. Miles was his name. Very good blacksmith." Winnie stared at him in shock.
"When did you see him?" Winnie asked breathlessly. Her hopes were dashed when the man smiled and said,
"I haven't seen him for fifteen years. He'd be around forty, I reckon. Looks like he's too old for you, miss. Best go find someone your own age." He chuckled, and handed her a photo of the Tucks. "He left it behind." Winnie stared at the photo. They looked exactly the same, waving at the camera from in front of the pond that Winnie remembered, where Tuck tried to tell her not to drink the water. She smiled, and said a quick thank you, then departed.
The next day she boarded a train to Paris. She remembered how Jesse loved it. After arriving there, the first thing she did was climb the Eiffel tower. She saw nobody she recognized. Leaning against the railing, she dropped her head into her hands and began to cry. SHe had been gone for four months and not a soul had seen the Tucks. Money wasn't an issue, she helped bake bread in bakeries, or clean stables. She loved any work that wasn't cleaning. Sudden;y she felt a light tap on her shoulder. A young woman stood there.
"M'excuser. Vous avez tombé cette photo. Si vous les cherchez je peux vous aider. Je sais un d'eux." The woman smiled and handed Winnie her photo of the Tucks that the old man had given her. Winnie smiled.
"Thank you. I didn't understand what you said, though. I don't speak french." To her surprise the woman smiled and said.
"I can help you. I know one of the people in this photo. Jesse Tuck. He worked for my father for a month. He left Paris a week ago. Winnie gasped. She stammered,
"Where did he go?" The woman just smiled.
"To a small town that he said holds great importance to him, and propose to a girl there." Winnie bit her lip. So she was too late. He'd found someone else. With great difficulty she swallowed and asked Jesse's sweetheart's name, and what town she lived in. The woman raised an eyebrow, as if questioning why she wanted to know, but obligingly she answered, "I don't know the girl's name, but the town I've never heard of. I believe it was called Treegap."
Winnie stifled a cry. She thanked the woman, then dashed downt the stairs, her bag in her hand, and sprinted to the nearby train station. She had to get home at all costs. If Jesse got there and found out that she was gone, he'd probably leave again. Then Winnie would have to run around the world looking for him, or any of the Tucks, before she was too old to drink the water. She had to get home in time. She just had to.