“What happened?”
The grip on her shoulder eased, and she sat up slowly. “Ye fainted after ye stood. Ye need rest. Ah’ll send for the doctor. Cohlm was already helping someone else in the keep, so he won’t need to go far.”
“Ah’m all right. Ah’ll just drink water. Ah don’t think there’s anything wrong, really.”
Baile’s eyes narrowed and his mouth set in a straight line. “Ye’ll go rest by yer own choice or ah’ll force ye to. One or the other.”
Mazey pursed her lips into a pout, and considered her options. She didn’t want to miss out on the rest of the day, but she didn’t want to anger Baile either. She sighed in resignation. “Aye, ah’ll go.”
He pulled her to her feet. She tried to walk away to her room, but Baile stayed by her side, holding on to her arm as they walked. His presence near her stirred something in her. Perhaps it was just comfort, but it felt like something more.
“Ah’ll help ye to yer room. Ah’m headed to my study.”
She didn’t argue, knowing full well that it would be a fruitless endeavor. They stopped just outside her door.
“Ah think ah should wait with ye until Cohlm arrives. Ah know that women with child can faint, but ah want to be sure ye’re okay.”
Mazey felt a warmth spread through her. He showed kindness she hadn’t experienced since she was young, except for her brief encounters with people in that keep that took pity on her. Perhaps his kindness came from pity. Either way, she was happy to have it. He followed her in to the room.
Baile pulled the chair from the corner of the room, up to the side of her bed. “We have time now. Ah want to hear all about ye. Tell me about what yer life has been like. Ah care about the people who work for me, especially the ones that are caring for my child.”
Mazey was silent in response. She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t tell him everything. Were she to disclose the past to him, he would recoil. She was nothing, a lowly woman who left her husband. She disappointed her husband at every turn, and couldn’t get anything right.
Baile waited, but when she didn’t respond, spoke again. “Before ye fainted, ye flinched away from my hand, like ah would hit ye for being late. Ah’ll tell ye again, Mazey, ah’ll never hit ye. And not for something so slight. Ye’re safe here.”
Mazey shifted in the bed, trying to think of a way out of the conversation. She couldn’t tell him anything. “Ah dunno what to say,” she squeaked.
“Say the truth, lass. There’s no harm in it. Ah’ll not speak a word to another soul. ’Twill be good for ye to get it out in the open, ah promise. Ye hinted at it when ah first talked to ye that night with Lara. Ye showed me the bruises, but ye never spoke.” His eyes looked steely grey in the firelight. She felt something more when she looked into his eyes, a surge of hope. It left her with a haunting echo in her heart. “Ah’ve learned over time that hurt and pain are best put away after ye bring them into the light. Speak truth to me.”
“Ah’ll tell ye some. Ah don’t think ye could ever look at me the same were ah to tell ye everything.” A cold chill passed through her.
Baile reached over and tilted her chin up to look him in the eyes once more. When his hand brushed her skin, she felt an odd pulse in her body. She wondered what it would feel like with his hands all over her. Panic forced her to shake the thought out of her head. She must be mad. “Ah’ll never look at ye any different because of yer past. It was in the past. Ah’ve not come as far as ah have in this life to think every person has the same story. Many of my friends have woes and worries that would leave ye speechless.”
She ducked her head again, speaking to him while looking at the blanket. The words rushed out of her like water spilling from a broken cup. Once they started, she couldn’t stop them. “My maither died when ah was young, two years after my faither passed. She was everything , and her loss devastated. Ah was only ten years old, but ah knew that ah could manage on my own. Nobody cared what happened. Ah didn’t have kin to watch over me. Ah probably would have died that first winter had it not been for the kindness of an old woman that others didn’t pay attention to. She was kind to me, made me feel like ah had a home, again.”
She took a steadying breath and braved a glance at Baile. He looked entranced with her story and it gave her courage. “She took me in and taught me how to do laundry. Ah helped her for a long time before she too passed on and ah was again left without a home.”
She would have continued her story, but the physician, Cohlm, walked in after a swift knock on the door.
“Cohlm, ah’m glad to see ye. Hope life is treating ye well.” Baile stood and clasped Cohlm’s forearm.
The tall physician beamed. “Aye, life is well. Haven’t seen ye for a while now. How’s the wee’un?”
Baile’s countenance glowed as it always did when she spoke of Siusan. “She’s getting big already. Can’t believe how fast time goes by.”
“That it does, that it does.” Cohlm set his bag on the ground and looked to Mazey and then back at Baile.
“This is Mazey. She cares for Siusan now and the lass is smitten with her. Ah only asked ye to come because she fainted this morning over breakfast. Ah want to make sure she is well enough to watch my girl.” Stepping aside, Baile motioned for Cohlm to check on Mazey.
“Mazey, nice to meet ye. Ah’m Cohlm, the healer.”
Mazey nodded in acknowledgement. “Ah told him ah’m fine. Just probably stood up too fast.”
“May I?” His hands hovered over her neck. She nodded, and he examined her. When he moved the covers back, her slightly rounded belly protruded from the bed. “So ye’re with child ah see?”
Mazey nodded, ashamed the father wasn’t present..
Baile cleared his throat. “She’s here with my permission and under my protection.”
