“And this?” He said, taking her hand and pulling it the rest of the way down his belly.
“Ach, aye. I ken what that means. Ye want me as much as I want ye.”
“More lass, even more.”
“Then take me, love.”
“Nay, no’ yet. Ye havena waited long enough. And I havena touched and tasted everything I yearn for.”
She leaned back on the pillows, lifting her arms over her head. “I’m waiting.”
* * *
A week later,a messenger arrived with two letters for Aftyn. One each from Braden and Neve. She settled in the chamber she shared with Jamie at her writing desk and broke the seal on Braden’s missive. She read only a few lines before jumping up and leaning out the window to see if Jamie was on the practice ground. Braden’s news was too important to wait. She spotted him and went back to the desk to open Neve’s note, which contained much the same news.
She dropped it, slipped Braden’s note into her skirt pocket, and made her way quickly out to the bailey and around to the practice field. There, she waited for Jamie to notice her. She dared not intrude when the men were fighting. Any lapse in attention could cause someone to get hurt. But in moments, he turned in such a way that he saw her, ended the mock battle he fought with one of the younger lads, and headed toward her.
“What’s amiss, Aftyn. Ye look as though ye have seen a ghost.”
“An apt description, husband.” She handed him Braden’s letter and waited with bated breath as he read it. “Ach, lass, yer da. I’m sorry.”
“Dinna be. He treated me as though I didna exist. I havena missed him since we came here and I willna start now.”
“Braden is now Laird Keith. The men who beat ye are dead. Ye can go back, if ye wish.”
“Just me, husband?”
“Nay, we. I meant only that ye will be safe there now.”
“Ye, too. My da woulda punished ye. But going back is something for us to think about and discuss. I no longer ken how I feel about it. And as far as we ken, Agatha is still there.”
“If we must, we’ll deal with her together.
Jamie put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer, but not too close. Sweat dripped from him. “Then we will ponder and make a decision together,” he told her as he walked her back toward the entrance to the keep.
“Neve sent a letter with the same news. She and Hamish are spending some of their time caring for their first patients in the abbey’s infirmary with a Brother Alfonso, the healer we wished at the fire had arrived early. He came long after he was expected, but both Hamish and Neve seem quite taken with him. Still, they appreciate the cures I learn here and send to them. Perhaps the best thing I can do for Keith is to continue to do that.”
“Ye have time to decide, lass. If nought else, we can visit so ye can see for yerself.”
“That might be useful. They are eager to discuss with us methods they are learning. But ye also have responsibilities here.”
“The Lathan laird can call upon many more than me. I would no’ be missed if we decided to return to support Braden.”
“He will acknowledge me as his sister,” Aftyn said. “I wouldna be a nobody anymore.”
“Ye never were. And now ye are my wife, and a healer in yer own right. Ye have learned much in the time we’ve been here.”
“Aye, but there’s so much more to learn.”
“There always will be. No matter how much we ken, we must continue to learn.”
“Ye are right, of course.”
“Go inside, Aftyn. I’m going to have a tub and some hot water from the kitchen sent up to our chamber.”
She looked him up and down, smiling. “I’ll be waiting.”
* * *
