Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Something caught his wife’s thoughts and he let her be, though wondered where her thoughts had taken her. She was right about being a sensible woman. With no other recourse, her escape made sense and that she had not let any fear or doubt stop her spoke to her courage. Though some might think her foolish or even proclaim her insane for taking such a dangerous chance.
To him, she had been courageous though maybe a bit insane.
Elsie turned to him. “There is only one reason I can see why my da would send his three daughters away… to protect us. The question is, from what?”
And did it connect in any way with Slayer’s father and brother’s deaths? Cavell wondered. It seemed Clan Murdock was full of secrets, and he intended to uncover every one of them.
The news of Elsie’s arrival home traveled fast the next morning with not a single person questioning it. Though word was asked about Leora and even Sky and they were told that both women would be returning home soon.
“Who did your da seek counsel from the most, I wish to speak with him to see if he has any information that may help us?” Cavell asked, after finishing the morning meal in the Great Hall.
“That would be Leora. She is skilled at seeing the truth in situations and either adapting to them or finding ways around them that would best benefit the clan,” Elsie said.
“An unusual position for a woman,” Cavell remarked. “Was there no man he confided in?”
“Aye, Morton, a close and dear friend since they’d been young. He’s been dead almost a year now and my da still grieves his passing almost as much as he continues to grieve for my mum, Terena, gone five years now. My da says Morton was lucky to follow his wife in death, dying a month after her. My sisters and I were glad he didn’t do the same, losing our mum had been difficult enough it would have been unbearable losing our da shortly afterwards.”
For a moment, Cavell felt a jolt at the thought of losing Elsie, not seeing her smile, not feeling her touch, not kissing her ever again, not waking to her warmth snuggled against him as he had this morning, though wisely leaving the room before she woke.
The shock of his thought made him realize that he cared for his wife and that concerned him. What he would or could do about it, he didn’t know, and he decided with all that presently needed his attention, it was best to let it be and see what came of it on its own.
“I have little memory of my mum except that when she spoke to me it was as if I could hear her love for me. I remember being at market one day, years after her death, and hearing what I thought was her voice. I ran to the woman only to hear a far different voice.” He shook his head. “I never told anyone that. I worried they would think me foolish.”
“You missed your mum and thought you heard her. There is nothing foolish in that. Not long after my mum passed, I thought I heard her call out to me several times. I like to think it was her and that she wanted to let me know she was there with me.”
Why was it his wife made it sound reasonable? That it actually was his mum he had heard even if it had only been in his mind. He would like to think it was, for she had truly made him feel loved and he still missed her.
The thought hit him again how he would miss Elsie if she was no longer in his life, and he wondered over it.
“I am not ready to lose my da yet, so please do not deprive me of my time with him.”
That she rested her hand on his arm did not surprise Cavell. It was something he had not only gotten used to but looked forward to since it seemed such a natural thing for her to do. Also, that she reasoned rather than argued with him was another thing he favored about his wife. And it was another reason to prove she was not insane. Insane people did not reason. He had seen that himself before and after many battles.
“We will visit with him,” Cavell said.
“I must speak with him sooner rather than later. My sisters’ lives depend on it. We cannot delay freeing them from the abbey.”
“You do not make things easy for me, wife,” he said, and her face lit in a soft smile that poked at his heart.
“I do nothing, husband. It is your rules that make things difficult.”
“You are far too wise—” He paused a moment, his eyes drifting to her generous smile, and he lowered his head as his arm slipped around her waist. “And your lips are far too inviting to ignore.”