“I’ll do my best,” she told him with a heavy sigh.
He tightened his plaid around her, then kissed her icy hands.“Talk to me while I work, aye?That will keep ye awake.”
She released another bone weary sigh into the darkness.
“Tell me of the first thing ye intend to do when we step into the sunlight,” he prompted as he stood once more, leveraged both hands under the rim of the roof, and lunged upward.
“Take a nap in a sunny spot on the grass.”
“A fine choice.”He gritted his teeth, locked his legs, and shoved again, lifting with everything in him.He had to take care to lift rather than shove lest the entire wee cage slide off the ledge.The shelf of stone crackled and groaned, but more importantly, it moved the barest bit.As he resettled his footing, with one braced on the wall beside the path, he asked, “And what will ye do once ye have had yer nap?Ask Mrs.Robeson for a cup of that vile coffee?”
She didn’t answer.
“Jessa!”
“What?”The snappishness in her tone pleased him.Irritation would not only keep her awake but also help keep her warm.
“I asked what ye would do after yer nap?Drink some of that black swill?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dinna get sullen on me, woman.Talk to me.Berate me.Curse at me or shout.I dinna care which ye choose, just keep talking and stay awake.”
“I don’t want to stay awake.”
“I am well aware of that, but ye dinna have a choice.What shall we name the puppies?What shall we name our children?”He set his hands on the roof of her prison again and shoved upward, using the wall behind him as leverage.
“We’ll name them allhey you,so we’ll never be wrong when we call them to come inside.”
The roof didn’t shift this time, but the wall behind him did.In fact, the shale crumbled, swallowing his foot to the ankle.“Feckin’ hell.”Thrown off balance, he fell forward and caught himself against the bars.
“Grant!”
“I am all right.I broke the wall, and now my foot is stuck in the mountain.”
“Bio mom once dated a guy who broke walls, but he always used his fists.”
“What the hell is abio mom?”While he lauded her for staying awake and babbling, he needed to understand what she said so he could respond.
“The woman who gave birth to me.”
The coldness of her tone reminded him of all she had shared about her early life.“Forgive me, love.I allowed all that to slip from my mind.”
“Well, you are a little preoccupied with a very important job.Can I please close my eyes now?Just for a little while?”
“Ye may not!Do as I tell ye, woman.Yer life depends on it this time, and ye ken that as well as I.Once I get loose, I’ll start again to free ye from yer wee cage.Now, keep talking—and I’ll nay allow ye to name my sons and daughters,hey ye.” He pushed himself upright, backed against the wall, and tried to twist free of the weak spot he’d found with his boot.“What will ye name our first daughter and first son?”
“First?”
He held to the bars and stamped on the wall with his other foot, trying to break away more layers of the shale and enlarge the crack where his boot was wedged.“Aye, first daughter, first son.Names?”
“How many children do you have in mind?”
She still sounded bone weary, and that worried him as he finally wrenched his foot free.He had to anger her again.“At least a dozen each.I love bairns.We need to fill the keep with them.”
When she didn’t answer, he slid downward and reached for her.“Jessa?”
She reached through the bars and touched him; her face filled with fear.“Where is that light coming from?I can see you now.”
