This is a little bit cheating, since this is an extension of my novel, so the characters and situation are well formed in my mind. Nonetheless I'll try penning a brief, awkward encounter between a man and a woman with a complex history (though not the history you'd think):
Having settled Coney into the stable, William latched the door and turned to ascend the steps to the apartment. A flurry of movement at the door caught his eye, and he smiled gently as he saw a familiar form bustle out. As she busied herself with the latch, he stepped forward with a gentle smile.
"Hello, Judith", he said, holding out his hand.
"Oh!" she jumped and spun about, her eyes wide, clutching her bundle and dropping a few items. When she saw who it was, her immediate fright dissipated, but it was not replaced by unqualified warmth. "Bill! You - you startled me."
"I'm sorry", he replied, picking her things up and handing them back to her. "It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you again, too", she replied, taking the items and then suffering her hand to be taken and kissed, as was his custom. She was smiling now, but there was a wariness in her eyes. She didn't let go of his fingers, and then, almost as if she had come to a decision, she leaned forward and lightly kissed him. "It is very good, old friend."
"Well", William replied, caressing his cheek where her lips had touched. "I must say I hardly expected that, especially after... everything."
"I - that is, I don't - I'm not mad at you, or John, or Claude", Judith replied, beginning to walk along the street. "It's just that it was so confusing, learning all that so quickly. But it's no matter now, no matter."
"I must say, if I'd had to learn all that as quickly as you did, I'd've run, too - only further and faster", William acknowledged. They walked in silence for a moment before she spoke again, almost under her breath.
"I wasn't running, you know."
William bit back the question that sprang to his lips - it was no time to start back in on their famous spats.
"I was just - trying to think things over", she continued.
"Well, I'm glad you had a good place to come think", William replied. "We were worried when you just vanished like that."
"Yes, Widow Stilton pampers me shamelessly", Judith admitted, then after a moment she asked quietly, "Were you?"
"Were we what?"
"Worried about me?"
William looked at her in amazement, but she was looking at the ground, so he could not see if she was jesting.
"Of course we were worried. John and Beauchamp - er, Claude - are still invalid, so they keep pestering me for any word of you. They'll be ecstatic that I found you, and that you're safe."
"Will they?" she looked up sharply with one of her dazzling smiles, but then noticed that she'd done so and dropped her eyes again. "I mean - it's good to hear that they remember me."
William stopped dead in the street and stared at the woman. He was stunned, almost as if he'd been slapped. "Remember you? Remember you? Judith, how could we not remember you? Is that what you've been thinking out here all these weeks? That we'd forgotten you? Gracious, girl, John has been worried sick, and Beauchamp has had runners all over the valley searching out even the slightest word of you, and you're out here wondering if we remember you?"
She'd turned toward him, her head bowed, and he thought he could see tears sparkling on her eyelashes. "It's not that", she breathed. "It's not that at all, it's just that... when I learned... I mean, you had your mission..."
"Is that it? Our misson?" William stepped forward. He wanted to put his arms around her, but thought that would complicate matters, so he took her free hand. "Judith, dear Judith, we had a mission, but that doesn't mean we don't care about our friends."
For some reason this tipped her over the edge, and suddenly he found himself with a sobbing woman clinging to his neck. He felt a little self-conscious, especially in the middle of the bustling street, but held her and gently rubbed her shoulders. Again that distinctive scent came around him, bringing back all the memories.
Finally she gathered herself enough to step back. "I'm - I'm sorry", she stammered. "I didn't mean..."
"Think nothing of it", William interrupted. "Things have been a little upsetting of late."
"It's been so - confusing - and I don' t know what to think", Judith sniffed a bit. "The morning after - I saw you on the city wall - I couldn't sleep that night, and found John in the morning. I was so confused, and I started asking things, and then he said the strangest things, and I was so confused, and then - then we realized... oh!" She stopped suddenly, as if just realizing that she'd said more than she intended.
"Judith", William said gently, still holding her hand and looking into her eyes. "John told me everything."
"Everything?"
"Everything. I'd ordered him to stay back from the battle, but he went anyway, which was how he got so badly wounded. Afterward he felt such remorse that he told me everything, even about your conversation that morning."
"Oh!" Judith cried. "So it was because I - he went because we'd - "
"None of that!" William interrupted. "You were not responsible for any of his actions. He went because he was confused and hurt and his pride had been wounded - and that's not my assessment, that's his. He was a fool who should have listened to his superior instead of trying to commit suicide on horseback and endangering his own comrades in the process. He's paying in pain for his folly, but is at least alive, and will be have more of his burden lifted when he hears you are well."
