Debra Kay Leland (16 page)

He stood there for a second, and then looked to the house, watching the smoke raise from the chimney with a cold calculated eye.  She stepped back with a whimper and grabbed a knife from the table hiding it in her apron before she backed up against the wall again.  She could hear him approaching, hear his angry footsteps, and yet as he neared the house there was a pause as if he were listening to the sounds from within...  She held her breath, the door rattled; a moment later it rattled again as if he tested it to be sure it was locked.  She closed her eyes and prayed for William to come back just before the door bust open with a well aimed kick making it slam into the wall aside her, then bounced back again blocking her from his view.  He stood there for a moment his eyes scanning the long empty room.  She bit her lip to keep from crying, knowing there was no way to let William know she needed him and she would have to face Egan alone…!

He strode ahead a few steps and stopped—then he slowly turned his head towards her.  She swayed slightly at the sight of him, the dark rage in his eyes made her tremble with a fear she’d never known before!  He stood there unmoving, watching her over his stiff shoulders, then he slowly turned to face her, his every movement seemed lethal and it scared her
!  His cold dark eyes narrowed, his lips hard and bitter as he spoke,
“Ye played me for a fool, lass, running away with the English before I could even stop ye!  Everyone in the village speaking of it behind my back!  And ye knew how much I wanted thee, and how long I had waited!”

She said nothing, frozen with fear.

He took a step towards her then stopped. 
“I mean to have ye, lass, and I’ll make a widow of ye if I have to!  Or maybe I’ll just take ye and yur English husband won’t want ye anymore!”

He stepped closer still and she shuttered…  Then out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash, and before she could blink a knife was wedged between Egan’s shoulder blades.  He stiffened a
nd turned to face his attacker.

William’s stood behind him, dark and deadly, his sword hissed from its sheath as he growled.  “
Give me no reason, Egan!”

Egan winced slightly and growled between clenched teeth. 
“Ye—know—I cannot draw—my sword now!  Do ye mean to kill—an unarmed man?!”

For a second Miranda thought he just might, but then he lowered his sword and stepped behind the man warily pulling the small knife from his back with a hard jerk.  Egan let out a loud growl and stumbled to the side. 
But William grabbed him from behind before he had time to turn, the bloody knife still in his hand now pressed to his jaw.
“…If—ye promise to leave now, and never show thy face here again, I shall let thee live!”

Egan’s clenched his jaw, his face taunt and pale with pain and anger.

“
Don’t be a fool, Egan,
fools die!”

Still he stood there, the blood dripping on the roughened floor beneath him, his body stiff with pain before he pulled away angrily and
stumbled towards the door.  But William’s sword hissed through the air again making Egan stop warily.

“
I cannot let ye leave here alive if I do not have thy word!”

It was a threat and Egan knew it well.  He swayed slightly on his feet, and then his low growling voice slipped from his throat.  “
I give my word…  But cursed be the day I ever laid eyes on either of ye!”

William hesitated them settled his sword again as he called out.  “
Phillip!”

The younger man stepped from where he’d been waiting beside the door frame and stopped, his eyes never leaving the wounded man in front of him.  Egan whipped his head to the side glaring at William as if he had been tricked, but William never took his eyes from him as he spoke, “Phillip, the man is wounded, take him to Thomas and stanch the bleeding—do so by knife point if he resists!
”

“Aye.”

His knife was up and pointed at the man before Egan knew what had happened, his quick hands disarming the taller man as he tossed the weapons to Thomas who waited a few steps away.

William frowned angrily.  “And Phillip, when ye are through, let th
e man go on his way in peace.”

“Aye.” 

Egan glanced at the younger man warily, then staggered ahead and went in the direction he was motioned.

William turned to his wife who was still pressed up against the wall; her face was pale, her whole body trembling as she bit back tears.  His heart clenched tightly at the fear he saw in her soft blue eyes, wishing he had seen Egan
sooner.  He lifted his arms to her and she nearly fell into them, great sobs shaking her thin frame.  He held her against his strong chest, murmuring softly into her hair. 
“Shhh, ‘tis over now, little one.  I only wish I had come home sooner.  I shall see to it that he does not bother us again.”

She tilted her teary face to meet his, her voice a choked whisper.
“But—but how?  Oh, William, please, do not kill him
…”  But she knew short of killing him, there was no way to ever stop Egan!

He lifted a tanned finger and laid it on her trembling lips
.  “Shhh, my love, ‘tis not for thee to worry about.  Trust me, in this.”

She hesitated then leaned her head against his chest again.  He drew her to the side and settled her at the table and pressed a cup of ale into her hands. 
“Here drink this.”

She glanced up into his deep blue eyes and lifted the wooden cup to her lips with unsteady hands. 
“I—I prayed ye would come for me.  He said he meant to—to take me and kill ye!”

William touched her cheek with the back of his hand and smiled softly. 
“I shall not fall by Egan’s hand.  Do not worry so, he shall not have ye, lass.  Ye are mine now, and I shall protect thee.  I promise thee that.”

She looked at him, wanting so much to believe him, ye
t her heart cringed with fear.

“I shall leave Phillip with thee for a little while, but I do n
ot want thee to worry after me.”

She nodded with a tear streaked face. 
“W—will ye be gone long?”

“Nay, not long.  I want the
e to lie down and rest, I shall be back before evening comes.”

She closed her eyes as he stood and laid a gentle kiss on her forehead. 
“I shall be back, my love.  And ye are not to worry after me…”

She nodded, unable to find words to tell him that could sooner stop her very heart from beating than to cease from worrying after him.  But soon she sat there alone in the dimly lit room staring off into the dark corner, praying that his words were true…

“
Miranda
…”

She stirred feeling the soft kisses on her cheek, and then opened her eyes, her voice soft with sleep.  “…
William
…”

He smiled into her beautiful face, running the back of his hand down her golden cheek to her soft neck. 
“Did ye rest well, my love?”

She smiled softly. 
“Aye…”

He bent down and kissed her again and she smiled under his cool lips.   “
Why is it ye smile when I kiss thee, lass?”  He said with amusement.

She smiled even more and gently propped herself up on her elbows.  “’Tis that ye make me
glad, husband.”

He smiled and laid his forehead against hers.  “Glad or not, I am hungry, my love.  Come, lest we both starve to death.”

He stood, and she sat up looking after him. 
“William, how is it that ye know that Egan shall not bother us again?”

He shrugged and turne
d to the fire.  “It is not for thee to worry about lass, but seeing ye do, I shall tell thee.”

He added some dried wood to the dying flames and the fire crackled to life again.  “I went to Chadwick and met with the men there, I told them what Egan had done.  And I reminded them that I was English and that if they allowed him to attack us, I would send word to Whittington and bri
ng down an army against them.”

Her teeth troubled her lip at his words.

“Thy father stood with me in it all, and they assured me there would be no trouble for us from them or from Egan.”

She looked up at his soft words then slowly smiled, before she jumped up
and ran to him throwing her arms around his shoulders and laying her head on his back where he still crouched by the fire.  He laughed.  “Are ye happy, lass?”

“Aye, I am happy!  Very happy!  Oh, William, I love thee!”

He stood and turned her in his arms, gazing down into her soft sweet face.  “And I love thee too, lass.  Ye need not fear, I told ye I would protect thee.”

She stood on her tip toes and kiss him then. 
“No one dared stand up to Egan afore this, no one but my da, and now ye!  Oh William!”

He smiled and put two strong warm hands on either side of her neck and tilted her face to meet his.  He kissed her then with a kiss that was a promise that as long as he drew breath he would see her safe…

Winter came to Glenton Moor not long after the men had finished the small house along the ridge.  Smoke spiraled from the stone chimney of both houses now from the roaring fires that warmed each in their hearths.  William sat on the bench by the fire and worked on the new chairs he had started not long ago, working quietly, his tools on the floor
beside him.

Miranda sat by the table
, a fat candle flickered nearby as she mending a shirt he’d torn, a light Celtic tune on her lips threaded through the narrow house.  She glanced up at her handsome husband, but this time with concern in her eyes, though she would never share her thoughts she could not help but worry after his health.  He never complained after it himself—never, and although at first glance he seemed hale and hardy, she could tell subtle changes in him…  His eyes that once were bright and blue seemed shallow and sunken, his skin had lost its healthy glow and was paler, and he had lost weight…  She had noticed that too…  And yet even now, she wasn’t ready to speak her fears aloud, not yet—maybe not ever…  William glanced up from his work and noticed his lovely wife looking at him.  “And what have I done to deserve such a look, my love?”

She blushed and g
ave him a bright smile instead.

“Ah, there is the smile that stole my heart.”  He set his work to the side with a contented look.  “Enough for today!”  He stood and dusted off his trousers then walked towards the door, she noticed how he rubbed the back of his neck and worried that it might be happening again...  “I shall bed the animals down for the night, and then return shortly.”  He
drew a heavy woolen cloak over himself and pulled his gloves over his strong hands before he turned to smile at her again, then he opened the door against the cold evening air and stepped out.

William took a deep breath of the chilly February air and walked through the knee deep snow to the barn.  The animals fared well, and he settled them for the night before he turned to walk back to the house.  He stopped before he got there to look up into the cloudless, starry night.  His breath billowed from him in
clouds of white smoke.  His eyes focused on the brightest star in the heavens as he whispered, “…
Make haste to help me…let me not die from the sword of my enemy…nor bring sorrow on the young girl whom I love…”
  He was dying, he knew it, and there was nothing he could do to stop it…

That night he held her against himself, savoring the soft sweet smell of lavender in her hair and her warm body against his own.

“’
Twill be spring soon, William.”

He smiled and stroked her silky hair lightly.  “Aye, there shall be much to do then.”  But even as he said it he feared he would not be there to help her with it. 
And he worried what would become of her then…  “Lass, have I ever told thee where I buried the silver I brought here, and the silver thy father gave me for thy dowry?”

She bit down on her lip to keep from crying, not wanting to know, not wanting him to speak of such things!  She didn’t want to hear, afraid he would speak the one thing she’d dreaded herself—that he was dying… 
“Nay, husband, and I do not wish to know!”

“Ah, but lass, ‘tis important ye do.  It is in the barn under a board where the grain barrel stands.  Ye shall have to dig down some, but not far, and then ye shall find it in a chest of sliver.  If need be ye could sell the chest as
well…”

She felt tears slip down her cheeks in the darkness.  “
Do not tell me more
…”

He bit back the emotion in his own voice. 
“…Aye, ye are my wife, ye should know these things…”

She hugged him fiercely as if to keep him with her forever.  He turned her face to his in the dim room and kissed her as a man in love, and claimed her again as his.

William opened his eyes, his wife was asleep in his arms her soft young face was even more beautiful like this.  Her long lashes fanned over her golden cheeks, her soft pink lips were almost smiling.  He wondered what she dreamed about that made her smile so…  His heart ached at the thought, she could no longer dream of them, nor of their lives together, nor even of the children they would have…  He was dying, and soon would leave her with only tears…  If he had only known it to be so, he would have never married the lass only to leave her a widow so soon.   His long tanned finger traced her delicate brow as if to memorize it as he whispered into her soft silky hair.  “…
I’ll wait for ye, lass, forever and a day…”
  His whisper choked with emotion, though she did not awaken…