He looked off into the distance with a sad longing in his eyes.
“Ah’m sorry ye lost her,” Mazey offered.
“My heart mended after so many years. My sweet Siusan reminds me of her.”
“Do ye think ye’ll ever wed again?” She didn’t know why she asked.
Baile shook his head. “Ah dunno. Ah guess if ah found the right woman. What about ye?”
The question surprised Mazey. She answered honestly. “Ah don’t think so. With how much pain ah went through with Hume, ah don’t know ah will ever want to go through it again. Stories like ye and Moire are unusual and ah think ah wouldn’t risk it. Ah can care for my bairn alone.”
Baile patted her hand. “Ye need not worry. Ye’ll always have a place here. Siusan loves ye. Not all men are like Hume, Mazey. Ye could find someone who would love ye. There are men like that.”
Mazey laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Aye, and ah’m the Queen. Really, who would want a widowed woman who quakes in fear every time a man looks at her funny? And besides, ah’m plain to look at. Ah’ve got no dowry or anything to offer. Ah’m an orphaned widow, with child, and ah get distracted by everything.”
“Well, when ye put it like that, ye’d convince anyone,” Baile said with a smile. The ridiculousness of her situation seemed funny for a moment.
“In all seriousness though, lass, ye are beautiful and have a kind heart. Ye have a lot of fear, but that’ll go away with time.”
She doubted anyone would want her. She stood. “Ah’d best go. Siusan will be back soon. Can we stop by later today for ye to tell Siusan some stories?”
Baile nodded and a warm look crossed his face. “Thank ye for caring for her. She loves ye, ye know.”
Mazey felt a warmth spread through her. “Aye, and ah love her too.”
“Let’s go,Siusan. Yer faither’s in his study and ye have to get to bed soon.”
Siusan put down the doll she played with and followed Mazey to the hall. Mazey’s arm throbbed dully, reminding her she needed to take her tonic when they got back. Cohlm left extra tonic and instructed her to take it in the morning and an hour before bed. Siusan walked into the study without knocking and ran over to her father’s desk. He strewed papers out across the desk and was deep in thought.
“Siusan, it’s good to see ye Nguyen. How has yer day been?”
“Ah played with my doll and then ah helped in the kitchen. Ah made a hand pie today with some dough.”
“Sounds like a very productive day. Are ye headed off to bed?”
Siusan nodded and put her arms out for a hug. Baile picked her up and set her on his lap. Mazey cleared her throat. Baile looked up at her and then nodded, remembering why they were visiting this evening.
“Mazey tells me ye want to hear some stories about yer maither?”
Siusan’s eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly.
“All right then, ah’ll tell ye about her, but then ye have to promise to go to bed without fuss.”
“Ah promise, Faither.”
Mazey sat in a chair near the fireplace. She was as curious as Siusan to hear about the beautiful Moire. Malmuira spoke highly of her mother and told her how much she loved and missed her. That was something Malmuira and Mazey had in common. Both missed their mothers.
“Ye’re maither looked a lot like ye—beautiful green eyes the color of the grass in the springtime. She liked to help people. Ah fell in love with her when we were both young. ‘Ye’re too young to be in love,’ everyone told us. Ah met her on a trip with my faither to a neighboring clan and ah couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. Her faither was a blacksmith with little to his name. Ah was the son of a chief and set to be the next clan chief. They expected me to marry a wealthy woman of my faither’s choosing. But ah fell in love with Moire. She’d cook extra food and take it to the old woman who lived in the streets. She made clothes for children who needed it. She had a kind heart. My faither was less than enthusiastic to have me wed such a poor woman.”
Siusan listened with rapt attention as her father wove a story of times past. It was the longest Mazey saw her pay attention to anything.
“Her faither had a plan though. He knew how much ah cared for her and wanted his daughter to have a good life. So he worked for months on a sword of the finest workmanship. He folded the steel repeatedly. The edge of the blade cut through anything as if it were nothing more than a slab of butter. Then he formed a hilt. There were no jewels to encrust it with, being a poor man, so he designed it with delicate engravings. A dragon wove its tail around the hilt of the sword. He dipped the sword after he finished. Ah asked him years later what it was, but that man took it to his grave. When he dipped it in the vat of liquid and pulled it out again, the sword looked as though it were on fire whenever it moved. ’Twas the most beautiful sword ah have ever seen in my life. He offered the sword to my faither as a dowry.” Baile paused dramatically.
Siusan put her hand on his arm. “What did grandfaither say?”
“He looked at the mighty sword and couldn’t take his eyes off it. Never had he seen a sword so fine as the one being offered. He accepted the union, also happy to oblige what ah wanted. My faither wasn’t like other men. He really cared for my happiness. ’Tis one reason ah teach ye to read and write. My faither did that for me and ah want that for ye. If ah was born amongst sisters, ah believe my faither would have taught them to read and write.”
Siusan yawned and laid her tiny head on Baile’s shoulder. It did her heart good to see a father care so much for his daughter. For a moment, her heart ached in her chest. Her child would never know the love of a father.
