Stede was quiet throughout the silence, his gaze locked on Ed, trying to read his expression. Or at least guess at what was going through his mind, though he wasn’t certain that he could. He’d been about to speak, to say something, anything to fill the quiet when the question came.
“Back to Mary and the children,” he confessed.
He was ashamed to admit it, but still - so much had happened. “Which, in hindsight, was perhaps a necessary thing to do because now I’m a— well, we faked my death, you see. So that I could leave without guilt to find you.”