I shrugged off the compliment. It wasn’t really that big of a deal, not to me. “It was a thing, a competitive thing between me and my dad. The days I had wilderness group, he’d bet me who could light the wood stove faster. First person to get it lit didn’t have to take the trash out or wash the dishes that night.” A small smile tugged at my lips. “He probably let me win sometimes but he was the one scrubbing meatloaf off plates in the end.”
Realizing I’d just blurted a bunch of random personal stuff at her, I took a seat alongside her at the small table she’d walked over and set her two baskets down atop. The heavy looking pot was set on a hook over the fire.
“Stew.” Her hand waved airily in the pot’s direction. Pulling items from the baskets, she took the time to explain each one to me and I quietly listened.
Personal care items, three different types of cheeses, bread, dried meat, long term storage vegetables and how to prepare them, were amongst the haul.
By the time she was done I had a few spare sets of clothes, dresslike tops and long pants, two sets of thick looking socks, a heavy, frilled nightgown I wouldn’t be caught dead in but I’d probably wear it beneath my hoodie to bed anyway so I didn’tshiver to death in my sleep, and enough food that according to her should get me started.
“Daisy’s caught wind of your existence so she’ll be by any time now, I’m sure.” Dorothy smiled but it looked forced, wonky. Not a real big fan of this Daisy person. “She’s her own self appointed welcoming committee.” That felt like friendly code for she’s a pain in the ass control freak but she smiles while she does it. There was so much Dorothy was not saying, but her face said it all.
This Daisy didn’t exactly sound like my cup of tea. “Could anyone else do it?” I blurted without thought.
Dorothy laughed. “So you’ve heard of her then?” Waving her comment away, she whispered like she was dishing secrets, “She’s not so bad. She’s anxious. She can be a bit much at times but she means well. Her heart is in the right place. Miss Daisy, she just wants to be helpful, thinks it’s her purpose in life.” Tapping her lip in thought, she mumbled, “I’ve got too much going on at the moment to get you started off, I’m afraid, but I wonder… I wonder if Carrie, my Dougie’s Carrie, that is, wouldn’t mind.”
I’d heard the name Carrie before. Rek said she was friends with Dace, the woman who had given me her beanie.
A beanie I’d forgotten at Kehl’s. Ugh.
Would Dace be upset that I’d misplaced it so soon? The idea of going back to Kehl’s to retrieve it had my stomach knotting just thinking about it. No thanks. The idea of Dace thinking I’d ditched her generous gift was equally unpleasant.
I should just stay in here and hide. Yep. Sounded like a grand plan.
Me? Avoiding difficult situations and conflict? No way.
“Carrie is my Dougie’s mate. Elle is Carrie’s first mate. Oh! Dougie is over the moon being a daddy! You should see him with their Orrellie! Those cheeks! She’s too precious forwords. He’s always been good with babies. I knew he’d be an exceptional daddy. Couldn’t be anymore proud of him than we already are. ”
“I met your grandbaby and her daddy my first day here,” I confided. “She was adorable. Her daddy was a very proud papa,” I agreed with a smile. Thinking about Kehl’s reaction to the idea of getting me pregnant, my smile slipped.
“Do you need anything? Anything else?” Dorothy inquired.
“Honestly? Time and space,” I admitted.
Dorothy nodded understandingly. “You’ve been through a lot. Let me just have a peek at your head and then I’ll be on my way.”
Still, despite her response, I felt like an ass. “Sorry,” I mumbled as she made short work of removing the poultice.
“Whatever do you have to be sorry for?” she murmured as she worked. Surprise lit her features as she put something smelly on a cloth and dabbed it over the spot. “Would you look at that? Must be those Lo denaii genes in you. Healed right up. Barely a scar.”
“Really?”
Dorothy smiled and nodded. It was as she smiled, nodded, and began cleaning up that she suddenly made an Ah-hah noise and pulled a small satchel from the basket she had her medicinal supplies in. “This was by the door when I walked up.”
She held it out to me and I took it. Pulling the drawstrings on the silky looking pouch open, I peered in, found my beanie rolled up inside, alongside a pair of soft material I realized too late as I pulled them out and opened them up right there in front of Dorothy were a pair of purple panties and two pairs of black. They were made nearly identical to the underwear Kehl had torn off of me. Blushing a thousand shades of red, as seems to be my thing, I shoved the underwear back into the bag, walked to thebed as my skin heated, shoved them under the pillow on the bed, and put the beanie that had been returned to me back on my chilly head.
Dorothy’s lips twitched but she did not utter one single word about what she saw.
“I look forward to the lessons with Carrie, if she’s able,” I mumbled shortly.
Dorothy nodded as she settled the basket she wasn’t leaving behind over her arm. “It’s all settled then. I’ll go and talk with Carrie, and break the news to Daisy if I happen to pass her on the way.”
“Thank you. You know. For everything.”
“Think nothing of it. Glad I could help. It’s jarring, suddenly thrust into a new world.” Dorothy was at the door, her hand on the knob. She looked like she wanted to say something but was biting her tongue.
I supposed, after all that she was doing to help me out, I should hear her out.
“You want to say something,” I prompted.
