“He is eating in the room where we feed the children, but I think he may have heard something because someone is running this way fast.”
“And we ken it isnae Harcourt,” he said, and Annys laughed.
“Mora!” Andrew cried out, and Gybbon thanked Annys for catching the boy before he slammed into him. “Easy, laddie,” he said to Andrew.
“She just fainted, Andrew. That is all,” Annys said as she stroked back the boy’s curls. “We just need to wake her and find out what made her swoon.” She looked at Gybbon with narrowed eyes and he shook his head, knowing she suspected he may have bedded down with Mora.
Gybbon set Mora on the bed and stared down at her, then frowned. She looked pale, but on her cheeks were two growing flags of red. She had shaken off the fever, he thought, as he felt her forehead and found it hot.
Annys also felt her forehead and frowned. “She has a fever, mayhap even a bad one. Is she ill?”
“Nay. She got a bad wound and became a little feverish, but it passed and the wound healed. Jolene just said she shouldnae ride for a week or so.”
“Good advice. Weel it has come back. Out.” She gently pushed both Gybbon and Andrew out of the room, then hurried to the head of the stairs to bellow for Mary and Joan. The two women came running up the stairs and then all three disappeared into Mora’s room. The door was shut firmly behind them.
Gybbon looked at Andrew and patted the boy’s back before leading him down the stairs. “She is in good hands, laddie.”
“What happened?” asked Harcourt when Gybbon sat back down beside him.
“Her fever has come back.”
“Annys will fix that and, if she cannae, we will send for Jolene or one of our own healers.”
That eased Gybbon’s worry and he turned his attention to an anxious Andrew. He had to do a lot of talking to the boy before he calmed down and finally went back to be with the other children. Gybbon stayed long enough to finish his meal with an outward calm. It was strange that she had gone down with a fever again, and Gybbon realized that he faced strange with little calm at all.
Chapter Twelve
Gybbon stepped into Mora’s bedchamber and watched Annys bathe her face with cool water. “Annys, go to bed,” he said quietly as he walked up to her. “Your husband wants company.”
“He just wants someone to complain to,” she said, but stood up and dried her hands. “She is a bit cooler now, and I had a good look at her healing wound thinking I may have missed something. There was no sign of infection, but I wouldnae expect any since it was Jolene who took care of it.” She shook her head. “So, I have nary an answer for why this fever came on.”
“It may be as simple as the journey she took to get here.”
“Aye. Mayhap it was too much too soon as I heard she spent the whole time stuck in the back of that cart and covered over.”
“Needed to keep her out of sight for her murderous cousin was following us.”
“Aye. She did too much too soon, that is all. Just because someone feels better or their fever fades doesnae mean they are truly ready and hale enough to make a journey, especially nay one where they must sit and hide in a cart. Do ye ken, it could even be just the constant worry and fear she must have been feeling for a long time now. I ken I had a lot of it when I was dealing with Adam and the possibility that he would win the battle for my home. It hasnae been so verra long since she had to bury her parents. She also must believe her brothers are dead as weel. Then there is a mad cousin doing all he can to kill her and her last surviving brother. A body can only take so many blows.”
He nodded but said nothing for he was still uneasy, but her words had worked to calm him a little. “How did Harcourt hurt his foot?”
Annys stopped just as she reached the door and looked back at him, smiling faintly. “Didnae he tell you?”
“Nay.” He could see her lips trembling as she fought what he suspected was hearty laughter. “Since there were so many of us round the table and everyone was talking, I let him mutter something about how he shouldnae have been on the stable roof anyway.”
“He was on the cursed roof because Roban was up there and Benet was afraid he would fall. A few little tears and Papa is getting up on the roof.”
“It is a cat and has more weight and more everything than even this one,” he said, and pointed at Freya, who was curled up at Mora’s side. “Animal could probably have nimbly leapt to safety all by itself. What harm could come to it?”
“Verra little I suspect, but Benet was scared. And, aye, the cat took care of itself once Harcourt got up there. Made a beautiful leap from the stable roof to the bathhouse roof and then to the ground. Unfortunately, Harcourt lunged after the cat and lost his footing. He was nay so graceful as he flailed around trying to grab anything that might stop or slow his fall. I had to get Benet to go away because the boy was so pleased with his cat he was boasting of how it had jumped, then wondering why his papa couldnae do that.” She grinned when Gybbon laughed. “Harcourt is verra lucky he didnae break more than his foot.”
“It is broken then, is it?”
“I think it might be, so I have treated it as a broken limb, but it was definitely twisted and badly wrenched.”
“Go on,” he said, laughing softly. “Big bairn was whining about a lonely bed.”
Annys giggled and hurried out the door. The image of his older brother climbing up something to get a cat because Benet shed a few tears was amusing. But he could understand why Harcourt did it. Looking down at Mora, Gybbon had to admit that he would probably do something similar if her cat looked to be in danger, but at least he would have the excuse that the cat was a runt that needed such protection.
He stroked Mora’s forehead, finding it only faintly warm. Then he noticed that the red in her cheeks was gone. This time if she roused free of the fever, she would be sternly instructed to go very carefully until she had been free of it for at least a fortnight. Or longer, he decided. He wet the cloth and gently bathed her face, hoping she could throw off this fever as easily as she had the other one.
“Is she going to be all right?”
Gybbon started in surprise at the small voice speaking up beside him. He looked down at Andrew and wondered how he had missed the sound of the boy entering the room. The child looked terrified and Gybbon could understand. Mora was all the boy had left of what had sounded like a very decent family.
“I believe so. She has already lost most of the burn of the fever.”
“Then why did she get it again?”
“Lady Murray thinks that your sister just had too much sadness, and then there was all the trouble caused by Robert, a wound, worry, and even fear, and it proved to just be too much.”
“Mora is little but she is strong. My da said so.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned over to lightly hug his sister. “She e’en beat him at chess once and Maman said she was stunned for few grown men could do that.”
“She is good at the game.”
Andrew stood up and tilted his head to the side as he asked, “Are ye staying here with her?”
“Weel, I think someone should, aye?”
“Aye, someone should. Good night, Sir Gybbon.”
“Good night, lad. Just where are ye sleeping?”
“With Benet and Joan’s lads at the end of the hall, so I willnae be verra far away if ye need to call me.”
“I will remember that. Sleep weel.”