The sun had nearly set when they stopped for the night at a farm with a large house and barn. Bethiah knew that it was a house Levi stopped at whenever he traveled between Boston and Philadelphia, but she was quite curious to know of the people who lived there. She knew they were Levi's friends, as he had mentioned them many a time before, but she had only a faint idea of who they were. A pack of small dogs greeted them as they stepped out of the carriage, barking, whining, and wagging their tails. Bethiah knelt down among them, petting and scratching them as they jumped around her.

"Terrible guard dogs, them," a man with an Irish accent declared.

Bethiah quickly stood, embarrassed to have been kneeling in the dirt among dogs instead of greeting the people she was presumably to be a guest of. "I'm sorry," she told the man, who seemed slightly older than herself and Levi, and who dressed simply. "I simply adore dogs," she added sheepishly.

The man was smiling. "We all do here," he told her.

Levi smiled and nodded to the man, then Bethiah. "Beth, this is my good friend, Brendan. Brendan, my dear friend and wife, Bethiah."

Brendan continued to smile at her. "Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Finley."

Bethiah nodded. "And you. Your dogs are a joy."

Brendan grinned. "They are that. And a nuisance. We love 'em, though. The armies both took all our crops for their winter camps, but they left us the dogs at least. We breed 'em and sell 'em as pets."

"I adore them," Bethiah declared.

"Thank you." Brendan motioned to the house. "Come along inside. We had supper, but there is enough to feed you, and your room is all ready for you. Philip is in the barn already to help with the horses. There's a comfortable room in the barn for your driver, and plenty of food to spare him a meal, as well. Philip will get that all settled."

"Thank you," Levi said. He hesitated, then held out his arm to Bethiah, who linked hers with his without a second thought. They followed Brendan into the large house, three of the little dogs bounding along with them.

The house was spacious, yet simply furnished and brightly lit. They were greeted inside by two women, also slightly older than herself and Levi. They each embraced Levi and Bethiah, surprising her.

"We've heard much about you," declared one of them, introduced to her as Amalie. She had a very slight German accent. "Levi told us you were his childhood friend and a wonderful one at that."

"We're so very happy to finally meet you," the other woman, Anna, told her. She appeared to be of a mixed-race heritage, with darker skin than the others.

The three strangers made her feel comfortable immediately, as did the dog that sat at her feet as she ate the simple and delicious meal she was given. The dog watched her with bright eyes, wagging its tail whenever she looked down at it.

As they ate the three strangers spoke to Levi about the health of Levi's father and Jasper, and his business in the city, occasionally asking questions of Bethiah about her family and herself. After some time another man joined them. Levi quickly introduced him as Philip.

"You all live here?" Bethiah asked, finally comfortable enough to respond to their personal questions with her own.

Philip gave Levi a questioning look, to which Levi responded by shaking his head. "I apologize," he said. "I was distracted by other conversations on the road and didn't tell poor Beth anything about where we would be stopping along the way to Boston."

"I didn't mean to offend," Bethiah told them quickly, though she wasn't certain how she had.

Brendan laughed. "We aren't offended by you. Only by our friend not telling you all about us as he had told us all about you."

"Perhaps we are not all the friends we believed we were," Amalie said, though she appeared to be amused and only teasing Levi.

Levi sighed. "I expect to be reminded of this every time I stop here."

"You will be," Anna assured him.

"Yes, we all live here," Brendan explained, clearly the one most patient about the situation. "We combined our resources to purchase this land and build it into a farm. It was less costly to build one house to share. Amalie is my wife, and Anna is happily married to Philip."

"And we aren't happily married?" Amalie questioned. She, too, appeared amused.

Bethiah was glad to see such friendship between them all, and such good nature between the spouses. She imagined she and Levi would have such a relationship as the years passed.

"You may be," Brendan told Amalie, expression serious. Then he laughed, as did the rest of them.

The moment Bethiah finished with her supper, she picked up the small dog that had sat at her feet for so long. It settled happily into her lap and licked her hand. Its soft fur was mostly white in color, with many small patches of brown and black. When she looked at its small face she noticed it had blue eyes.

"I see you've already picked out your wedding present," Levi observed.

Bethiah glanced up at him. "Truly?" she asked, hardly daring to believe her ears.

He smiled. "You always told me how much you wished for a dog to have as a companion. As my friends are breeders of these terriers, I thought perhaps you would like one. They assured me you could choose the one you wanted."

"And you've chosen the one we call Mopsie," Amalie told her. "You can change what you call her, of course."

Bethiah picked the little dog up to hold it close to her face and kiss its head. Mopsie licked her nose.

"It's a perfect name," she declared as Mopsie licked her face again.

They retired to bed soon after dinner was finished. Bethiah found she had quite enjoyed the company of Levi's friends and hoped to visit them again when they could stay at the house longer than one night.

"Perhaps I should have asked if I could make a bed for Mopsie," she said when they arrived at the small room they had been given, the little dog in her arms.

Levi chuckled. "She can share our bed with us. She isn't a large hound or any other large dog."

She grinned. "Thank you."

She set Mopsie on the bed and was amused to see her turn in circles before curling up on the pillows.

By an unspoken agreement both she and Levi turned away from each other to change into their sleeping clothes. Bethiah wasn't certain why she was so unwilling to undress in Levi's sight while she was quite aware that he did not desire her as another man might. Perhaps it was her habit of modesty taught by her father. It certainly wasn't that she feared Levi had lied to her about not desiring women in that way. She had known him too long to believe such a thing of him.

"Did you enjoy meeting my friends?" he asked as they undressed.

"I did," Bethiah assured him. "They were all very kind and a joy to speak with."

"They have all also married for their own convenience," he told her, then she heard him sigh. "Perhaps Mopsie could be encouraged not to take up the pillows?"

She turned to see him, dressed in his nightshirt, gently nudging the small dog from the pillows. Mopsie moved with great reluctance and Levi slipped into the bed before she could lay where he wished to. Bethiah turned down the lantern and joined him. Mopsie settled at their feet, much to Bethiah's relief. She considered that a far better place for a dog to sleep.

"They all seem to be good friends for having marriages purely for convenience," Bethiah observed. "Though I know we are also good friends," she added quickly. "I'm simply glad to meet others who married friends and are happy, not just those who married for social reasons."

Levi took her hand and held it gently. "I know," he assured her. "I, too, am happy to know others have made happy marriages of their friendships. It would be a difficult thing to know no one who had done what I wished to do. My friends have shown me that it is quite possible."

Bethiah moved closer to him. "Tell me more of them. You've known them much longer than I have."

"I met Brendan because his father is one of my father's most successful smugglers," Levi began. "We became friends, though not as close as you and I. I learned he and Philip were lovers when they were both cast from his father's crew for it. They met Amalie and Anna when they left the city and became lost. They found Amalie's farm she had been left by her late husband at his death. Anna was once their servant and was then Amalie's lover. Marrying helped Brendan repair his relationship with his father, though his father wasn't happy to see him continuing to live with Philip, even after they both married." He hesitated, then added, "I was also rather intimate with Brendan and Philip before I was able to admit my feelings to Jasper. They have been better friends to me than I deserve."

Bethiah found she was not nearly as uncomfortable as she thought she ought to be. "The both of them?"

He cleared his throat and avoided her gaze. "As I said, they have been better friends than I have deserved. Given the relationship my father had created between Jasper and myself, him a slave and me the master's son, I could not approach him and confess how I felt. I was unsure if our friendship was truly genuine or simply how he treated me to ensure he was not mistreated by me or anyone else. I also would not place him in a position where he did not feel he could deny me because of that relationship. There are many a man who forces himself on his slaves, and I would not do that. I would only approach him when we were away from my father's home and he had the freedom to leave if he wished to. I had been feeling very much interested in him for years, and my friends tired of seeing me pining over a man who, given the situation we lived under, I may never be able to show my love for. They offered a distraction for me, and it did help me."

"And now?" she asked, curious.

He smiled. "They tease me on occasion, telling me they miss having me in their bed. Genuinely, they are quite happy that I'm no longer a love-sick fop. They allowed Jasper and I to visit on occasion while we stayed with Father when Boston was occupied, and they were welcoming to Jasper. Not in that way," he added hastily. 

Bethiah chuckled. "I'm happy they were so kind to you, if it helped to distract you. I had wondered how long you and Jasper had been lovers. I know your father created a difficult position for you both."

Levi nodded, still smiling. "We did not admit our mutual feelings until the day I freed him. I told him I would like for him to stay and have a business partnership with me, but if our friendship was not real to him and he wished to leave I would give him whatever support he required. He told me, through some rather fine kisses, exactly why he wished to remain with me."

"He confessed to you, first?" she asked.

"He did. I did not complain."

She laughed. "I'm certain you didn't."

He leaned close and kissed her forehead. "Thank you for being so understanding."

She smiled at him again. "I must say the same to you. Thank you."

"Of course."