“I can win with your help. Make the vendor go to the farthest ring, say ‘here’ and tap the barrel. Make him do that a few times with each one.”
His brow lifted. Wycliff surely wasn’t convinced, but he tipped his hat. “It shall be done.”
A headache threatened, but nothing would stop me. Sliding my spectacles into my reticule, I squinted and saw a thin blur taking a shiny coin from my blurry Wycliff.
The baron put a sack into my palm. “Let’s see you what you can do.”
I heard Chris giggle. In my head, I saw his wide grin stretched between his chubby cheeks.
“Go, Mama.”
My son, my happiness, cheered me on.
My friend hovered. I felt secure, but I had to show him my confidence. It wasn’t lost in me.
I rolled my fingers over the burlap. The smoothness of the shifting beans inside was very different than my rocks.
The vendor shouted and tapped the barrels.
I made a map in my mind—noises, distances. I took aim.
With a flick of my wrist, I sent the burlap flying.
Thwack.
Boom.I knew the sack hit a barrel, but it fell to the ground.
Wycliff chuckled. He put his big hands on my shoulders and offered a massage. The feel of it made me tense, then I grew used to his touch. I craved it.
“Ah, so close, Ruth.”
“A first try, my lord.” Loving the feel of his thumbs caressing my neck, I pinched my lids tighter. The image in my head was of him and Chris, pure happiness, but I still had to prove myself. “Announce yourself again, shopkeeper. Strike the one I hit again.”
The blur slapped the barrel, and it made a drumming thud. “It’s here, lady, here.”
I measured the echo, the vendor’s yelp. In my head, I adjusted the angle of my elbow, the force at which the sack should leave my fingers, then let it fly.
Thwack.Swoosh.
I knew it hit the barrel, then the sack dropped inside.
Chris’s screams of glee confirmed my accuracy. “You did it, Mama!”
Then clapping. “Well done, ma’am. A few weekly outings with Wilky and me, you’ll have your shot cleanly made.”
“Don’t sass Mama.”
“Chris.” I tried to hush him but inside I felt proud.
“Yes, your mother has already taught me to watch what I say.”
His laugh sounded tentative. I knew I wanted his friendship, again. I liked being with him without feeling trapped. I liked him. “Another go.”
Wycliff put the sack in my hands, but I wasn’t talking about the game. I wanted us to have another go.
Holding onto his fingers, I leaned into him. “When we have a moment, we should discuss things.”
It was bold of me, to tell a man what I wanted, but I felt powerful. I was outside in the sun with my boy and this baron who respected me. I felt like me again.
