“I have?”
“Yes. If you didn’t want me to pay your helpers, then you should have locked away your money.”
He waved her statement away. Or he tried. His index finger wiggled. “Don’t beggar me.”
She smiled. “That was my fear as well. So I have looked at your ledger to be sure I did not ruin you.”
Of course, she’d looked. His books were in the same room she worked. If she’d found his lockbox, she’d found his ledger. “Have I enough left to pay Mrs. Hocking?”
“Yes,” she said, a laughter in her voice. “You do.”
“Excellent.” He ought to have enough on hand to pay the entire village for six months’ work.
He slept.
The next timehe woke it was to find his sister-in-law sitting beside him. She was embroidering another seat cushion, but she looked up when he whispered her name.
“Are you alive, then?”
“Where’s…Li-Na?”
Nessie set down the embroidery and crossed to the table where she poured water into a glass. A moment later, she helped him drink. It wasn’t quite like swallowing knives, but it came close. When he was done, she sat back down.
“Li-Na is resting now. She and I have come to an understanding. I will allow that she is a worthwhile addition to your household.”
So many words to sort through. “You disagreed with her?”
“I said we have come to an understanding.” She gathered her embroidery but didn’t look at it. “Her paintings are very odd, and I find the sound of that abacus very irritating. But she has cared for you well, and I will not gainsay a useful servant. Indeed, I have even seen the worth of Mrs. Hocking. She has been invaluable these last few days and her soups are excellent.”
He scratched at his chin, pleased to realize he could move his arms without pain. Indeed, beyond a general weakness, he felt much better than he had in a long while. “My head is better.”
“Good.” She straightened off her chair. “I will call Mrs. Hocking’s son. He will tend to your other needs.” She pulled a watch out of the folds of her skirt. “It is time I returned to the inn. Li-Na will see to you after that. I will tell Mrs. Hocking to heat up more broth.”
He nodded. He knew that when Nessie became perfunctory like this, it was best to agree with everything she said. She was under the strain of too much emotion to suffer any debate. Or questions.
“Thank you, Nessie,” he rasped.
“You’re welcome. Don’t you dare do this to me again.”
Seeing to hisbasic requirements exhausted him. He managed a full cup of broth then dropped into an exhausted sleep. He woke hours later in a room that was mostly dark. A single candle flame flickered to his right, and he turned toward it in hope.
“Li-Na,” he said.
She looked up and smiled. “Do you need help with the privy?”
“I need to see what you’re painting.”
She shook her head. “The light is not good here. I am drawing the sound of your snores, nothing more.”
“Show me. Please.”
“Only when you are snoring.”
He grinned and snored in a loud, shuddering breath that hurt his throat. She arched her brows at him, but he would not be deterred.
“I am snoring. Show me your work.”
“It is a trifle.”
