Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
She shook her head. “I do not wish to discuss this.”
“I do.”
“We don’t always get what we want.”
“No, we don’t,” he said. “Sometimes we have to take it.”
“Such as this isle that is more important to you than I am?”
He turned his head and stepped away from her.
She reached out and grabbed his arm. “Deny it.”
“I will relinquish the land according to our bargain. Does that not answer your question?”
“Do you really expect me to believe you will keep your part of the bargain?”
He took hold of her wrist, yanking her hand off his arm. “Are you too afraid to give me a fair chance to prove my love for you?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. He walked out.
Aliss threw the cloth down on the table and squeezed her head with her hands. She wasn’t afraid. She was strong. It had taken all her strength to agree to his bargain and remain with him. Didn’t he realize how badly he had hurt her? Didn’t he know how much she loved him and wished that he truly loved her? Didn’t he know how frightened she was he would betray her again?
He had played her for a fool once. She could not allow him to do the same again. She would remain strong.
She plopped down on a chair, fighting tears.
Aliss turned at the sound of sniffles.
“I fell,” said five-year-old Joseph and held out his scratched and bleeding arm.
Aliss went to him, bending down to his short height and gently taking hold of his skinny arm.
“It hurts.” Joseph wiped his nose on the sleeve of his free arm.
“It doesn’t look bad. I think we can fix it,” she assured him.
“It won’t hurt, will it?”
“It may sting a little.”
Joseph shook his head and took a step back. “Like a bee?”
“No, no, nothing like a bee sting.”
Joseph stopped, wiped at his nose again then stepped forward. “Okay, fix it.”
Aliss talked with Joseph as she cleansed the abrasion and gently rubbed salve on it. In no time, she had him giggling and laughing and forgetting all about his injury.
Before he left, he looked around the cottage then called her to him with a crook of his little finger.
Aliss went to where he stood by the open door and bent down.
“I am glad you have magic hands,” he whispered.
“Magic hands?”
He nodded. “Everybody says so and I’m sure glad you’re our healer. You’ll always be with us, right?”
“Why do you ask that?”
He shrugged. “I heard some people say you might leave us.”
“Aliss is not going anywhere, Joseph.”
Joseph smiled and giggled as he was scooped up in Rogan’s arms. Rogan then placed him back on the ground and ordered him to go play and have fun. He turned to Aliss and said, “You are needed in the kitchen. There has been an accident.”
She retrieved her basket. “The choice is mine whether I go or stay.”
Rogan snatched the basket out of her hands. “I’m confident that I can convince you to stay.”
They hurried to the kitchen, Aliss aware that her heart beat much too fast for her hurried pace and aware that she would need to remain vigilant this time. She might be the Wolf’s prey but this time she wouldn’t be caught.
A deep cut that refused to stop bleeding had everyone frantic and the injured young woman crying in fear of losing her arm.
Anna showed up shortly after Aliss, and while they worked on Teresa, Rogan calmed everyone down and herded them outside to wait.
The wound would require several stitches and there was fever to worry about, but Aliss was sure that Teresa would be fine and continued to tell the young woman so.
What concerned her more was Anna’s pale complexion. It had started when Aliss had begun to tend the wound and had grown worse by the minute.
“Are you all right?” Aliss asked, as she prepared the arm for stitching.
“My stomach is upset.”
“Something you ate?”
Anna shook her head. “I don’t know. I have been feeling this way since traveling on the ship.”
Aliss frowned. “It cannot still be seasickness.”
“The illness has not returned, has it?” Teresa asked anxiously.
“No,” Aliss assured her. “We got rid of that for good.”
The young girl sighed with relief then smiled. “Perhaps you are with babe.”
Anna’s hand rushed to her stomach. “I never thought of that.”
Aliss smiled. “Could it be so?”
Anna laughed with glee. “Yes. Yes, it could be so. Actually, now that I think about it, it most definitely could be so.”
“How wonderful!” Teresa said. “You will have the first babe to be born in our new home.”
Chapter 25
Rogan sat under the shade of a large oak tree watching his wife chat with two other women. Once they had learned that Anna was with child it was all the entire village could talk about.
Two days later and the gossip continued; most claimed the impending birth was a blessing from heaven, a sign that assured them this was the perfect place to settle and call home.