“Aye, we women often do. We cry when sad, happy, or even angry. ’Tis a curse.”
“I’m sorry I woke you, Isobel. Are you ready to go back to sleep? Is it okay if I stay here with you?”
“Ye dinna wake me, and aye to both questions. ’Tis comforting to know ye are here to watch after me. Sweetest dreams to ye, Cooper.”
Isobel and Cooper drifted quickly but I remained awake, staring into the dwindling flames of the fire as the night melted away. The dancing light lulled me into a sort of silent meditation where I willed good wishes for all within Cagair Castle and most especially for the one dear friend who remained out in the storm.
CHAPTER 21
“Wake up, wake up, Aunt Jane. He’s back!”
“Huh? Coop, what are you doing? What are you talking about?” My eyes flickered open as I fought the sleepy confusion that comes with being awakened so abruptly. I lifted my sore neck slowly, all the while trying to remember why I’d slept in a chair instead of my own bed. Then I caught sight of my empty bed and the stairways just outside the door. “Cooper, where’s Isobel? Did something happen? She should still be in bed.”
“She’s fine, Aunt Jane, I promise. She’s feeling much better today. But Orick’s back, and he’s fine! He wasn’t really in any danger at all. Hurry, hurry, everyone is in the dining hall eating breakfast, and you’re missing it.” He ran out of the room urging me to follow with the waving of his arms.
The good news did considerable things for my alertness. With a lifted heart, I stood and stretched before running my fingers through my hair and heading to join the others for the morning meal.
“Orick!” I called out to him as I entered the room. Immediately he moved toward me, scooping me up into a hug strong enough to crack my sore shoulders and lift my feet at least a foot off the ground. “God, I’m glad to see you.”
“And I ye, lass. ’Twas a cold night, but I fared well enough. Holed up with the lad who took in our horses, I did, and then spent the eve eating his wife’s cooking and visiting by the fire. There were many who were far worse off than I.”
“We were so worried about you, but I expected you were smart enough to not try and make it back here during such a storm. How’d you get through all of the snow this morning?”
Before he could answer, Adwen came up and smacked him hard on the arm.
“I think ye can set her down now, Orick.”
“Aye, I could, but I can tell it displeases ye, so I think I’ll hold onto the lass a wee bit longer. Do ye mind, Jane?”
I laughed, leaning back to look mischievously in Adwen’s direction. I wasn’t particularly short for a woman, but I felt tiny and delicate in Orick’s long, strong arms. “I don’t mind at all. Hang on as long as you like.”
“Aye, I will then. What did ye just ask me? How I made it here this morning? Aye, well, funny story that. I met a man in the village who traveled with a pack of dogs, ye see. He strapped them to a wooden sled, and they pulled me here before returning to their master.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I doona jest at all. I couldna believe it myself when the man offered the large beasts for my use.”
Giving me a swift kiss on the cheek after glancing in Adwen’s direction to make sure he was looking, Orick set me down.
“Well, I’m so relieved you are back safely. And it looks like the worst part of the storm has passed as well.”
“That it has, lass. ’Tis warm enough for it to start melting as well so the bridge will be passable after a day or two.”
Now with both feet touching the ground, I moved to the table to sit next to Isobel. I smiled at her as she spoke up in between mouthfuls of food.
“I canna tell ye how pleased my heart is to see ye here, Orick. I feel better today than I have in many moons, no matter the fall I took on the stairs. ’Tis a wonder what a happy heart may do for healing.”
I’d never seen her with such a hearty appetite. The day before, I’d wondered if Isobel would live to see another day but, looking at her now, with the color back in her cheeks and a cough that was much less frequent than her usually deep racks of the chest, I found it difficult to believe that her fall the day before had happened at all.
The ups and downs of Isobel’s illness were an oddity I couldn’t make sense of. Just when she seemed to be at her weakest, she would pull out of it and, for a few short days, have renewed energy followed by a brief respite from the painful cough that always accompanied her. The same had happened right before and during our travels to the castle.
I watched her closely as we ate, looking for any sign that she felt worse than she appeared to; that perhaps she put on a brave face so that the rest of us could enjoy Orick’s safe return without worrying over her but, as the meal passed, I found nothing to make me believe that she didn’t feel remarkably better than she had the day before.
“What are ye staring at, Jane?”