“Jewel, it’s going to be dark soon. Time to go back.” He arranged the flowers carefully on a nearby log and extended a hand to help Ivy up.
Her face showed her surprise at the gentlemanly gesture. Quickly smoothing out her expression, she gave him her free hand and let him pull her to her feet.
Torin knew she wouldn’t complain. A lady didn’t mention pain in herlower limbsto a man. He held her hand a few extra seconds to allow her to steady, pretending an interest in a nearby tree, so she could discretely shake out her legs.
She glanced up at him through lowered lashes. “Thank you.” Becoming color rose in her cheeks.
His daughter hadn’t moved from her enthrallment with the flowers.
Ivy stepped to the child’s side. “Jewel, do you want to go back to the house and see Brave?”
Popping to her feet, Jewel overbalanced, almost toppling onto the flowers.
Ivy grasped her shoulder to pull her upright. “You almost ended up sleeping with the snowdrops.”
Jewel grabbed Ivy’s hand and tugged. “Folla me ta Bave!”
While Torin picked up the cut snowdrops, the two females disappeared around the corner, and he realized how seldom he let Jewel out of his sight. Normally, he’d hurry to catch up or call for her to wait. But, in spite of the urge to do so, heslowly gathered the flowers, luxuriating for a few minutes in the freedom to move at a more leisurely pace.
That night,Torin went contentedly to bed, very aware of the woman sleeping down the hall in his home. Their doors were open to allow in the slight heat from the banked fires. Although he strained, he didn’t hear any sound from Ivy’s room.Elle s'endormit du sommeil des justes,he dredged up the French quote from his memory.She slept the sleep of the just.
As she should.Their interactions today had eased some of the tension inside him.Having a governess just might work.
He soon followed her into slumber.
Until…
A nightmare crashed him into the past, intertwining with the future.
He flashed on the disdain on Mary Beth’s face as she repudiated him, dropping their baby onto the floor. Even though he dove to catch Jewel, he wasn’t fast enough. He lay crumpled on the ground and wept by her broken body.
Ivy’s uncaring expression as she spoke harshly to his daughter. Before he could stop her, she smacked Jewel’s hand with a ruler. His daughter cried out in pain.
Mary Beth danced Ring-Around-The-Rosie with her three perfect children. His darling daughter sobbed, left alone with no one to comfort her. He struggled to reach her, his arms outstretched. But his legs felt too heavy to move. He called her name, and she didn’t hear him.
A witch-like, wild-eyed Mary Beth, her hands with their long fingernails stretched out like claws, changed into Ivy, who then smothered Jewel in her sleep.
With a gasp, he sat up, his chest heaving as if he’d chopped an hour’s worth of wood in five minutes. The room was cold and dark, with a hint of green and pink from the northern lights, coming through the window. Scrambling out of bed, he didn’t bother to thrust his stockinged feet into slippers. He only grabbed his robe, shrugging it on as he hurried down the hall and into Jewel’s room.
Rushing to the bedside, he could barely make her out. But he caught the slight gleam of the cat’s eyes when Brave lifted her head. As he had so many nights throughout Jewel’s life, he placed two fingers on the side of her neck.
At the feel of her pulse under his fingertips, he let out a wavering breath.I didn’t fail to protect my precious gem. Jewel’s fine.The relief brought tears to his eyes. He wanted desperately to weep, to purge the emotional bile from within him. But the release didn’t come. It never had.
He bent to kiss Jewel’s forehead and sent up a short prayer of gratitude that God had entrusted this special girl to him. “Keep watch over her,” he whispered to Brave, before leaving the room.
He wanted to stop in the doorway to check on the governess. Just a quick glimpse to reassure himself she hadn’t turned into a witch. But he was a gentleman and forced himself to keep walking.
The cold air made him shiver. Not bothering to undo the robe, he slid under the covers, grateful a slight warmth remained. But a long time passed before he drifted off.
The rest of the night he slept fitfully, waking up far too early. Instead of his usual routine—bundling up in a blanket, taking his clothing with him into the kitchen to light the fires, dropping the clothes over the back of a chair positioned in front of the stove, and then crawling back into bed until the kitchen warmed, and he dressed by the fire—he punished himself by donning hisclothing in the chill of the room. Then he went to the kitchen to light the fires.
He wanted to creep from the house before Jewel and Ivy were awake in order to take care of the cow and the chickens, so he wouldn’t leave his daughter alone with the governess. Then, too, he needed to get breakfast started, lest Ivy awoke and wanted to help. He needed to keep his distance from the woman for as long as possible.Hopefully, I can look at her without revulsion.
The nightmare wasn’t real. You’re making too much of it.But no matter how much he scolded himself, Torin couldn’t shake a lingering sense of horror.
He went outside, hoping the cold would clear his head. He used the privy, stalked to the woodpile, and filled his arms.
Once inside, Torin stacked the wood beside the stove with unnecessary precision, each log aligned and squared. Control. Order.
