The deadliest, such as black nightshade and foxglove, lay nearest the wall, covered with coarse linen against prying eyes and fingers. Nothing had been disturbed. She sighed and slid off the wooden stool she’d perched on when she began her work. She needed a good night’s sleep to recover from delivering Kayla’s wee bairn just before the sun rose. She stretched her arms above her head in an attempt to wake herself, then strode to the door and peeked out.
“I’m here,” she called back, just as her friend rounded the corner, dark hair flying around her head and covering her face, so fast had she moved. Aftyn put a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh and stepped back into her workspace.
“What took ye so long to answer me?” Neve demanded as she entered, still shoving her errant strands back behind her shoulders.
Aftyn gestured at the table. “I was working and didna hear ye. Where have ye been?
“In the village. Mhairi was glad of the food ye sent. Rory wasna there, but she said he’s been… polite… since Jamie talked to him.”
“Good. So why are ye in such a rush? Is there more news?”
“Ach, aye. I stopped by the post house to visit a friend. Ye will want to hear this. Jamie tended to Robena yesterday. Can ye imagine? A male healer! And after all ye have done to help her! Colin told a mate of his who told the stable master. That’s where I heard it. The whole glen is talking about it by now. I bet Agatha is in a fine temper.”
“Ach, nay! I thought he spent yesterday with Niall. When I was called away to help Kayla, I asked him to wait to see Robena with me. Did Colin say how she is or what Jamie did to her?”
“I didna hear.”
Aftyn gave her worktable a regret-filled glance. The tasks she’d planned to do this day would now have to wait. “I must go to her. He may have saved Niall,” she said and clenched a fist in frustration. He was a better healer, aye. “But he doesna ken Robena,” she said, finishing her thought aloud.
Neve pursed her lips. “Ye have been trying to save that woman’s life for months, yet she still suffers. Perhaps he finally put her out of her misery. ’Twould be for the best.”
Aftyn slashed her hand across the space between her and her friend. “Nay! Never say that. Robena doesna deserve to die.”
“She hasna deserved the suffering she’s borne, either, but that has been her lot.”
“A lot I’m still trying to change.” Aftyn muttered, moved to the cabinet of newly finished tinctures and potions she kept closed away from prying eyes, and pulled out what she thought she’d need to help Robena. She could only guess, not knowing what Jamie had done for her. She’d talk to him, aye, when she found him. In the meantime, she’d do her best to help the poor woman.
“Where is Jamie?”
“I dinna ken. If I see him, I’ll tell him ye are looking for him, and where ye have gone.” With that, Neve left.
When Aftyn finished filling her pouch, she closed the cabinet and grabbed her shawl. Once she saw Robena, she could come back by Kayla’s cot and see how she and the bairn were doing today. Then she’d visit Neve and let her know what she’d found. Her friend would expect that, since she’d brought the news in the first place.
Colin was nowhere around when she arrived at the croft. Aftyn assumed he was working an outlying field, or off in the woods, hunting. She let herself in, pleased to see Robena sleeping and breathing easily, more deeply than Aftyn had observed in months. What had Jamie given her? Aftyn must find out, so she could continue to treat Robena, and others who might need similar care. She looked around for anything he might have left, and found a small bottle filled with a liquid that smelled pleasantly herbal, a blend she recognized as a common sleeping draught her mother taught her to make. Surely that was not all Jamie had used, but he must have taken everything else with him.
She settled at the croft’s small table to rest before starting back to the village to visit the new mother and bairn. She hoped Robena would awaken while she was here, but did not want to disturb her to speak to her.
The door opening jolted her out of her second doze of the morning. She glanced toward Robena, still sleeping peacefully, and despite her tiredness, could not be jealous. Robena hadn’t slept well in months. Then she turned toward the door. “Colin, come to check on yer wife?” She greeted him with a smile. “She seems better.”
“’Tis a blessing,” Colin told her, as he bent over Robena’s sleeping form. “One I scarce deserve.” He stood and turned back to Aftyn. “I nearly pummeled that healer ye sent, before my lass spoke to me.” He turned his head to look back at his wife.
Aftyn could imagine Colin’s surprise—and ire—at finding Jamie here alone. Yet—“She spoke?”
“She breathes better now. I’m ashamed, and thankful, too.”
But how? “I’m thankful, as well, Colin.” She stood and put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “Now ye are here, I’ll leave ye to tend Robena and come back to check on her tomorrow. Ye will send for me if anything changes, aye?”
“No’ the new healer?”
Pain lanced through Aftyn’s chest. She pushed it aside. Jamie had done more for Robena in one day than she had in months. Of course, Colin would want him to attend his wife. “We wouldha come together, save for Kayla’s bairn. She had a long day and night. The wee one came before the sun this morning.” She covered a yawn, then added, “But we’ll both come if ye need us.”
9
The next morning, Aftyn dressed, gathered her cloak and a packet of supplies she might need, then went down to the great hall to break her fast. Once she finished, she planned to go back out to Robena’s to see how she’d fared during the night. When she got back to the herbal, she'd intended to continue preparing the potions she needed to stock her shelves and be ready for new patients.
She was surprised to see Niall come carefully down the stairs between Rabbie and Fearchar. He gripped a cane in one hand that he used to limp to the nearest table and take a seat, relief evident on his face as he looked around. She went to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so happy to see ye here,” she told him.
“I, too,” he answered with a smile. “I’m glad to see something besides those four walls. No’ that I’m complaining, mind ye.”
