It was rhythmic, almost soothing… in, out… in, out… but it was becoming louder, enough so that he simply couldn’t sleep through it any longer. Additionally, he could feel hot breath on his cheek and it wasn’t pleasant. Disgusting, actually. When he opened an eye, all he could see was pale hair and part of a snout.
Even half asleep, he knew what it was.
“God,” he muttered with revulsion, putting a hand up and feeling the dog that was lying on him. “Queenie?”
On a chair next to the bed, Mattie had been sleeping with her head on the bed and her left arm across Gar’s thighs. She heard her name but thought she was dreaming until Gar stirred slightly and called her again.
“Queenie, move the dog, please.”
Head up like a shot, Mattie stood up so fast that her chair tipped over. Instantly, she was hovering over him, yanking Winchester away from Gar as the dog wondered what he’d done wrong to be treated so poorly.
“Gar?” Mattie gasped, her hand on his forehead, which was surprisingly cool. “I’m here, my love. I’m here.”
His eyes were still closed, but he put a hand up to grasp hers and she held it tightly, trying desperately not to weep because he was awake. And moving. And talking.
It was a miracle.
“Where am I?” he asked, tongue thick.
She kissed his hand. “Home,” she said. “You are home. How do you feel?”
He twitched, trying to move a little, and grunted in pain. “I think I’ve been better,” he said. “What has happened?”
Mattie stroked his brow in a comforting gesture. “What do you remember?” she asked. “Do you remember the battle, here, at Gleann na Fola? When the postern gate was breached?”
Gar’s eyes rolled open, crusty and bloodshot. “The breach,” he muttered as the cobwebs of his mind began to clear a little. “Aye… I remember it. I remember seeing my grandfather struck by a Scotsman. I went to save him and… I do not remember what happened. Is Poppy well? Did he survive?”
Mattie nodded. “He not only survived, but he took the army into Scotland and razed the castle at Westerkirk,” she said. “The army was victorious.”
He looked at her, then. “Westerkirk?” he said, confused. “How long have I been unconscious?”
“About six days.”
Before he could reply, Winchester managed to jump on the bed again and the chamber door opened, revealing Jordan and Rhoswyn. Mattie bolted to her feet.
“Look!” she said excitedly. “He is awake!”
Jordan and Rhoswyn rushed to the bed, seeing for themselves that Gar was lucid. Rhoswyn was so happy that she nearly wept with joy, taking her son’s hand and kissing it asJordan bent over him and put a gentle hand on his forehead, making sure the fever was completely gone.
It was a moment they’d worked so hard for.
Mattie stood back, watching everything with more relief than she could express. The days had been so dark and hope had been such a difficult thing to come by, so to see Gar awake and speaking to his grandmother was almost more than Mattie could bear. Tears of happiness sprang to her eyes and she kept wiping at them, watching Gar with his mother and grandmother, until Rhoswyn held out a hand to her.
“Mattie, love,” she said. “Come here. Dunna stand back there.”
Mattie came alongside the bed and Gar reached out to grasp her hand. “My beautiful Queenie,” he said. “Mama, I would like a moment with my wife. Can you fetch me something to drink? I kept having dreams that someone was trying to force spoiled milk down my throat, but I find that I am quite thirsty.”
Rhoswyn chuckled. “Ye dinna dream that, lad,” she said. “Someonewastrying tae force ye tae drink medicine, but it did ye good. It worked.”
He curled his lip. “Whatever it was, it was awful,” he said. “I take it that I was wounded?”
Rhoswyn’s smile faded. “Ye dunna remember?”
Mattie looked up at her. “He only remembers helping William,” she said softly. “He does not remember anything after that.”
As Rhoswyn nodded in realization, Mattie returned her attention to Gar. “You have a wound to your torso,” she said. “Your grandmother and Uncle Paris tended you. You had a fever, but it broke two nights ago.”
He looked at her, trying hard to piece together what she was telling him. “I was cut down?”
