“I’m Ella,” she said to Joanna, who was staring at her with a similar look to the one he’d had on his face the first time he’d seen her.
“J-J-o-anna Dicson,” she finally managed, and then remembering added hastily, “My lady.”
“Just Ella. You are the marshall’s daughter?”
Joanna nodded mutely.
The dark-haired lad with the stormy expression came up behind her. “What are you doing, Ella? You can’t run off like that.”
She sighed, with a short movement of her eyes that in a few years Thommy assumed would be a full roll. “This is my brother, Jamie.” She turned to the lad who might have even been an inch or two taller than Thommy (who was already as tall as lads two or three years older than he). “I was just saying hello to Thommy and,” she turned her head, “Joanna.”
Thommy glanced toward Jo and frowned. What was wrong with her? She was staring at the young lord as if he were one of those knights from the silly stories she was always going on about. His frown deepened, realizing that the young lord was staring right back at her with a silly look on his face, too.
Thommy stepped in front of her protectively. Joanna was a pain at times—like today when he was supposed to be joining the other lads to swim and she’d asked to come along right in front of her mother. But since his mother had died, her mother was always doing nice things for him, and he couldn’t say no.
Jamie returned the frown, seeing his movement. He turned back to his sister. “How did you meet?”
Thommy tensed.
Ella turned to him and smiled. “At the fair last month. Thommy saved me from slipping in the mud.”
Thommy released the breath he didn’t even realize he’d been holding. The only thing worse than having Lady Elizabeth see him crying might be her telling other people about it. Their eyes met in understanding. She’d kept his secret, and now they had a bond.
Jamie shook his head and ruffled her hair fondly. “What else is new, Ella? You need to stop being in such a hurry all the time; one of these days someone isn’t going to be around to catch you, and you’re going to get hurt.”
Now Thommy understood the reason for Ella’s laughter at his warning last time. Apparently her slipping wasn’t an unusual occurrence.
Ignoring her brother, she asked, “Where are you going?”
“To the falls at Arnesalloch to go swimming with some of the other lads in the village.”
“I asked if he would take me along,” Joanna volunteered.
“Jamie is supposed to help teach me to ride my new pony,” Ella countered.
The two boys exchanged looks of commiseration. Apparently Thommy wasn’t the only one having to watch over a younger sibling—or in Jo’s case an almost sibling. He’d known her as long as he could remember, and since she pestered him most of the time, he suspected that was about like having a sister.
“Would you like to come?” Ella asked. “You could bring your horses and we could all ride together.”
There was an awkward silence eventually filled by Jo. “We don’t have horses. Thommy and I don’t know how to ride.”
Ella looked perplexed. “You don’t?” She looked accusingly at her brother. “I thought you said all knights needed to know how to ride a horse.”
Jamie shook his head. “I did. Thommy isn’t going to be a knight. He’s going to be a smithy like his father.”
Thommy was surprised that the young lord knew who he was.
“You mean you don’t have to practice all day with a wooden sword like Jamie does?”
Thom shook his head. “Sometimes I get to watch my da work on them though—steel ones,” he clarified.
“I’ll be getting a steel one soon,” Jamie boasted, with an eye to Joanna.
“Maybe you’ll make one for Jamie?” Ella asked him.
Thommy shrugged, not wanting to confess that all he did right now was carry the charcoal and pump the bellows. “Maybe.” He took Joanna’s arm, knowing he was going to have to drag her away. “Come on, Jo. We should probably go.”
She resisted, and before he could stop her she asked the two Douglases, “Do you want to come along?”
