My Highlander: A Cree & Dawn Novel, page 6
“Love Beast,” she said, raising her head and kissing the top of the dog’s snout.
Cree knew then and there his daughter would be the fearless one or perhaps foolish one, acting without thinking. Not so Valan, he was more cautious, though no less courageous, watching, seeing the best approach as he slipped off the bench and took slow steps to his sister.
Cree left the twins to play with Beast while he planted his hands on the table to lean over and bring his face close to his wife’s.
“Why are you not in bed?” he demanded, keeping his voice low but stern.
She smiled, grabbed his handsome face in her hands, and kissed him.
“That is not an answer,” he said, though he did enjoy the kiss and he noticed a blush to her cheeks that had not been there this morning.
She grabbed his face again and kissed him again, a bit slower this time.
Cree silently cursed, her sweet kisses arousing him.
“I assume you are feeling better since you have returned to your old ways of not obeying me,” he said.
Her body shook with a silent laugh.
“Mummy laughs at you,” Lizbeth said, pointing at her da, and laughed herself.
Cree was about to tell his wife she would not be laughing much longer when he saw the delight on her face and how Valan was chuckling as well. At that moment, he was never so grateful for his wife’s disobedience, realizing that with her return, he had gotten his family back.
“Are you laughing at me too, Lizbeth,” he said with a smile and turned from his wife to scoop his daughter up in one arm, more laughter bursting from her, then reaching to scoop his son up with his other arm, and nuzzling with a playful growl at their necks.
Dawn laughed, watching the joy on her children and husband’s faces and placed a comforting hand on Beast’s head to let him know all was well.
“Help, mummy help,” Lizbeth shouted through her giggles.
Dawn hurried up off the bench to join them and a pain ripped through her side so fast and hard, she had to grab the edge of the table to keep from falling.
Cree saw her face pale and her hands grip the table. He quickly lowered the twins to the ground and playfully growled, “I am going to get mummy.”
He had his wife up in her arms in an instant while his son and daughter playfully attacked his legs.
Flanna suddenly appeared and Cree still could never understand how the woman always appeared when needed, but was glad she did. He nodded toward the children.
“Turbett has cooked something special for you two,” Flanna said and held out her hands.
Valan and Lizbeth ran to her, though Lizbeth stopped and looked to her mum and da.
“Go,” Cree said. “I will stay with Mum. Beast, go with them.”
The dog looked to Dawn and when she nodded, he walked over to Lizbeth.
Lizbeth smiled and patted Beast’s head. “Treat, Beast.”
The dog hurried off with her.
Dawn placed her hand to her side.
“Your side pains you?”
She nodded.
“I will get you to bed.”
She shook her head and placed her hand to his cheek and her brow to his temple.
“You need to rest,” he said gently, worried over her and hating to see her in pain.
Dawn nodded, then shook her head.
Familiar with that response, he said, “You know you need to rest, but not right now.”
She kissed his cheek.
“You are stubborn, wife.”
She tapped his chest.
“I am not stubborn,” he said with feigned sternness and kissed her cheek before settling with her in his arms on the bench. “I am relieved and pleased that you are up and about, but you must not do too much. You still need rest and to eat more to fully heal.”
Dawn turned her head and pointed to the honey bread on the table and smiled as she held up two fingers.
“You ate two slices. That more than pleases me,” he said thrilled that her appetite was improving.
Dawn tapped her husband’s lips, then her chest, eager to hear about Lara.
“Tell you what?”
Cree knew what she asked, but he had missed seeing her expressions that many times spoke louder than words and he smiled when she narrowed her eyes, scrunched her brow, and pursed her lips, which he knew all too well meant tell-me-or-else. It was another thing that confirmed her strength was returning.
He kissed her lips. “I have missed that look.”
She gave it again to him.
He laughed. “Try as you might, wife, you cannot intimidate me.”
Dawn sighed, a frown following, and her shoulders drooping.
Cree tapped her on the nose. “That will not work either, since you never give up that fast.”
Dawn poked him in the chest and tapped her own repeatedly.
“Now there is my demanding wife,” Cree said with a laugh.
Dawn shook her head.
“You are demanding,” Cree insisted with another laugh.
She tapped his chest repeatedly, letting him know he was the demanding one.
“Stubborn, demanding, is that what you think of me, wife?” He chuckled.
She went to nod and stopped, her eyes narrowing and she mouthed. Devious.
“What was that you said, wife” he asked teasingly.
She tapped his chest, tugged at her ear, then tapped her own chest, letting him know he heard her clear enough. She tapped his lips again, then her chest more firmly so that he understood he better tell her and now.
Cree gave her a quick kiss. “I have so missed talking with you.”
Good lord, but she loved this man, always speaking to her as if he could truly hear her words. She rested her hand to his chest and kissed him gently, showing him she felt the same.
“Lara is nowhere to be found,” Cree said finally giving her the news she had been anxious to hear. “Neil saw her just yesterday morning when she arrived at Elsa’s cottage wanting to speak with her. There has been no sign of her since.” He shook his head. “I had been so distraught over you being swept away in the rushing stream that I did not think clearly enough. I should have seen that it was all a lie. I should have looked closer at things.”
Dawn shook her head and mouthed, Lara fault.
“And mine for believing her.”
“Lara gave you no reason to believe she lied.”
Cree and Dawn both turned their heads to see Old Mary standing on the opposite side of the table. They had been so engrossed in each other, they had not heard her approach. But then she could be silent when she wanted to be.
“Lara gave none of us any reason not to believe her,” Old Mary continued. “I truly believe she was sorry and regretted her actions when it was done, which was why no one ever suspected anything other than what she told us was the truth.” Old Mary sighed. “If anyone is to blame, it should be me for failing to make sense of what I saw.”
“Does it make sense to you now?” Cree asked.
“Unfortunately, no, but I do know one thing for sure… death comes our way.”
Chapter 6
Old Mary’s words continued to haunt Cree throughout the day. Death had come close only to be chased away. Was it returning to claim what it had lost? Death was a formidable adversary, but not completely unconquerable. Cree intended to remain cautious, keep a keen eye, and a sharp ear. This time he would miss nothing.
He climbed the stairs, supper was waiting for him in his bedchamber. He would share it with Dawn. It had been a good day, having gotten to spend some time with his wife and the twins. He had insisted that Dawn return to her room to rest after speaking with Old Mary. He had felt her body grow weak in his arms. She had pushed too hard, had done too much for just getting out of bed. When she did not argue with him, she had confirmed his suspicions. She was tired and needed to rest.
He entered his bedchamber to find Dawn, in her nightdress, seated in one of the two chairs at the table that held a generous supper. He had made sure there would be more than enough food, hoping his wife would find one item more than another to her liking and eating more of it as she had done with the honey bread this morning.
He smiled when he saw that she was munching on a piece of cheese.
She gave him a you-caught-me grin and patted her stomach.
“I am glad to find you hungry,” he said and went to her to give her cheek a kiss before taking the seat opposite her and breaking off a sizeable chunk of bread from the loaf. “And I am pleased you did not wait. You need to eat so you can heal.”
Cree was glad she was chatty as well. She gestured slowly so that he could more easily understand her, though he was more than familiar with her gestures by now. She could, however, still confuse him when her hands moved too fast.
“I see that Lizbeth can be fearless, though I worry more foolish at times,” Cree said when she expressed how the twins had grown in the short time she had been gone. “Much like her mum.”
Dawn smiled wide and pointed to him.
“You think she is like me?”
Dawn nodded and mouthed fearless.
“That would be you,” he said, “fearless. Otherwise you would have never survived your abduction.”
Lara, she mouthed.
“She still has not been found, not even a trace of her. I do not understand where she could have gone to. The sentinels that patrol the land has seen no sign of her.” He shook his head. “It is puzzling.”
Dawn turned her head, her eyes going to the flames that burned in the hearth.
Cree wondered what she was thinking. What might be troubling her.
“Dawn,” he said softly and she turned to look at him. “Tell me what happened?” He had been patient, at least he had thought he had been, but he needed some answers, needed to know what she had been through.”
She reached for her tankard, the brew still warm and sipped at it as if needing to fortify herself. She placed it back on the table and proceeded to tell him. She hugged herself, but it soon resembled a struggle when suddenly her arms broke free and she pumped her arms as if she were running.
“You escaped the men who took you?” Cree asked.
She nodded.
“How long after they took you did you escape them?”
She held up four fingers.
“Four days.”
Dawn confirmed with a nod.
Cree worried what may have happened to her in those four days and he was quick to ask, “Did they hurt you?”
Dawn stared at him for a moment, then squeezed her breast and dropped her hand between her legs.
Cree held his breath.
Dawn shook her head.
“They did not force themselves on you,” he said with a relief he could not hide.
She shook her head and shook her finger back and forth.
“Are you saying they were forbidden to touch you?”
She nodded again.
“Who forbid them?”
She shrugged.
“They never said?”
She shook her head.
“How did you get away from them?” Cree asked.
Dawn gestured jumping, then moving as if she was swimming fast.
“You jumped in rushing water?” he asked, thinking she had done what was necessary to escape them even if it had meant risking her life.
Dawn nodded, gestured swimming again, then her arms dropped as if she collapsed and her eyes closed for a moment, then opened suddenly and she rubbed her arms and sighed as if she was warm and safe.
“Someone found and tended you,” Cree said, grateful to whoever it was.
Dawn nodded.
He was about to ask if it was a man or woman who had helped her when she yawned wide and dropped her head back against the chair, closing her eyes.
“You are tired,” Cree said and Dawn nodded, not lifting her head or opening her eyes.
Cree stood, pleased and relieved with what she had told him so far. There was time to learn more. Now she needed to rest.
“Time for bed,” he said and stood and walked around the table to scoop her up and carry her to bed. He pulled the blanket over her and she scrunched her brow and shook her head, questioning why he was not joining her.
“The candles need extinguishing and I need to shed my garments,” he explained.
She smiled and nodded and turned on her side to keep her eyes—fighting to remain open—on him.
Cree snuffed out the candles with his fingers and slipped out of his clothes. His wife was nearly asleep when he slipped beneath the blanket and took her in his arms.
Dawn cuddled against him, wishing she was naked, wishing she could feel his warm flesh against her own naked flesh, but she had been too tired to shed her nightdress. Her body was beginning to stir to life again and it would not be long before she would want to make love with her husband. Something, however, told her that he might not feel the same. There was a reluctance in him, she could feel it. He held her tight, stroked her arms, her back, yet his hands kept his distance from any intimate touch. And he would have never let her in bed with her nightdress on.
That was not like him.
Her husband could never keep his hands off her. Did he fear her too fragile to touch yet? If so, as soon as she felt well enough, she would show him she was far from fragile. She had missed the intimacy they shared and she longed to share it again. And they would, she would make sure of it.
Three days of rest, poultices, and endless brews and Dawn had had enough. The bruise to her side was fading by the day as were the painful movements. Her feet were healing nicely, most of the blisters mended enough for them not to cause discomfort, and Elsa had assured her that the bite mark on her backside had faded considerably.
She was feeling much improved, much like her old self and she hoped Cree would start treating her as such. He was treating her as if she was fragile and fragile was something she had never been. Vulnerable at times due to her lack of a voice, but she had maintained a strength and determination that had seen her through a number of difficulties, many of which her husband was aware of, some he had even caused.
Dawn smiled at some of the memories her thoughts had stirred.
“You are not only healing well, you are also happy,” Lila said, approaching the large oak tree Dawn sat under, her son Thomas running to join Lizbeth and Valan busy eating blueberries from the bowl on the blanket spread out in front of them.
Dawn nodded and patted the blanket beside her, inviting Lila to join her.
Lila did not hesitate, she lowered herself down beside Dawn. “That daughter of yours has that large monster of a dog eating out of her hand.”
Dawn looked and watched as Lizbeth shared the berries with Beast. The dog had taken easily to the twins, watching them with equal concern as he did her.
With a nod, Dawn agreed with her friend.
Lila leaned her shoulder against Dawn’s and kept her voice low. “I am glad you did not die. I missed you so much and I have news to share with you.”
Dawn looped her arm around Lila’s and pressed tight against her, eager to hear what her friend had to say.
“I am with child again,” Lila said, a smile spreading across her lovely face.
Dawn broke into a wide grin and threw her arms around Lila to hug her tight, then patted her chest and Lila’s and asked about Paul.
Lila laughed. “He is overjoyed and, naturally, hoping for a son. I am glad this bairn will not deliver during an attack on the village.” She shuddered recalling the troubling memory of Thomas’s birth when Cree and his warriors attacked, laying claim to the village.
Dawn pointed out at the active village, smiling faces, sounds of laughter, children running about in play, and smiled.
Lila smiled as well, nodding as if she heard Dawn’s silent voice. “The village is a good and happy place with Cree ruling over us, and glad I am for it.” She patted her stomach. “This one and Thomas will be spared the suffering of a cruel overlord.”
Dawn pointed to Lila’s stomach and shrugged.
“The bairn should arrive about a month or so before spring,” Lila said.
“You are with child?”
Dawn and Lila looked up to see Lucerne not far from them.
Lucerne’s eyes turned wide and she lowered her voice as she asked, “Was it a secret?”
“Not anymore,” Lila said with a laugh and shook her head when Lucerne went to apologize. “It was only a secret until I told Dawn. I wanted to make sure she knew before anyone else.” She patted a spot beside her on the blanket. “Come join us.”
Lucerne eagerly joined the two women.
“Your bairn arrives with the winter, if wagging tongues are truthful,” Lila said.
Dawn turned a huge grin on Lucerne, patted her chest, and pointed to her.
“Dawn says she is very happy for you,” Lila interpreted.
“And I am very happy you have returned to us,” Lucerne said.
Dawn nodded and patted her chest, letting Lucerne know she felt the same. She did not think anyone could truly understand how much she was relieved to be home. The three months had been sheer hell for Dawn and something she wished she could forget, yet knew she never would.
“Why did you wait until only a few weeks ago to let everyone know about the bairn?” Lila asked.
Lucerne’s eyes filled with sadness. “I realized not long after Dawn went missing that there was a good chance I was with child. While it brought great joy to Sloan and me, I did not think it was a good time to share it with Lord Cree, he was suffering so much, so we chose to wait.”
Lila nodded and looked to Dawn. “It was a terrible time. Laughter died along with smiles and fear once again returned to the village.”
Lucerne nodded, agreeing with Lila. “I was relieved when Sloan had those posts installed on the practice field, though we have Elsa to thank for that. She told Sloan that Lord Cree’s warriors were suffering far too many injures, and more than minor ones, when they practiced against Lord Cree. Sloan could not believe that a new post had to be installed daily.”
