by Paula Quinn
She grew serious. “Do you mean it, Elias? Would you stay here? Oh no, I could not ask such a thing of you! You have a family! I do not. You—”
“Ye have a family, Lily,” he corrected. “A father and three half-sisters. Ye never told me of yer mother. Did she die when ye were younger?”
She nodded. “At my birth. I never knew her. I was the daughter of my father’s old age. The product of his new marriage after his first wife had died. He took care of me with the help of my older half-sisters. He loved me very much.”
Elias pulled her into his arms. “We will find them.”
She gleamed. She could feel happiness radiating off her. How did he do it? How did he always find a way to make her smile even in these dark days? “Do you think they still live? Our home was in Hastings.”
“I do not know, but we still live and we will find them.”
“Aye,” she agreed, feeling better than she had any right to while others around her suffered.
They returned to the house and Elias helped her prepare her teas. Brother Simon was awake and cooking when Lily and Elias entered the kitchen. Charlie passed a secret smile to Elias, and Annabelle sat at the table playing with one of her dolls.
Elias made the announcement that they wanted to wed and everyone was delighted and excited for them. Brother Simon wept tears of joy.
After a quick morning meal of porridge with fresh cranberries that Brother Simon had picked yesterday, they left for Alan Carpenter’s cottage. When they arrived, they discovered that the carpenter looked better. Was it her tea? Would it have helped Ivett? Thanks to Bertram she would never know.
They had to see to poor Ivett’s fire today. Who else? Who was next?
They soon discovered that Norman the new reeve’s daughter, Ava, had fallen ill. They went to her right away and tended to her. After spending time with her, they left to retrieve another mixture Lily had at the shop that would keep Ava’s fever down. They returned to Norman’s and stayed with Ava and her family, feeding her sips of tea and keeping a cloth dipped in Lily’s new mixture on her forehead and neck.
While they were preparing to leave, they reminded her parents to continue giving her the teas and to keep fresh cloths where they were now. And to keep their hands clean.
Before they left, Ava’s sister, Emma, stepped forward and tugged on Lily’s sleeve. “Did you go check on Clare and little Eddie?”
“Not yet,” Lily answered. “We are going there now.”
Emma shook her head. “I do not think they are at home.”
When Elias bent to the girl, Lily’s heart pumped a little faster. “Where do ye think they are, lass?”
“London I heard him say.”
Lily’s belly began to quake and she felt ill. “Him who? Who do you mean?”
“A man. There was blood on him. It frightened me to look at him.”
At the look of horror on Lily’s face, Emma began to cry harder.
“Nae, ‘tis all right now, Emma,” Elias promised her quietly. “I will bring them back.”
He straightened and turned to Lily, “Stay—”
“No. I will not stay. I will go with you.”
He shook his head. “Ye willna.” He spoke with command and authority she hadn’t heard before.
Still, she remained unmoved on her position.
Norman’s wife, Hild, covered her mouth, frightened that they would fight right there over her child’s bed.
Lily dipped her chin to her chest, ashamed of them both. She couldn’t help but look surprised when Elias tugged on her arm, pulling her to the door.
“Lily, I—”
She slapped his hands away from her. “What do you mean by dragging me away from my friends?”
“Ye would stay and bicker with me in their home?” he demanded with storm-colored eyes.
“No!” she argued. “You could have stopped pushing me about it. I want to go with you. You can use me against Bertram to get Clare and little Eddie back.”
He gave her an incredulous look and began to walk away. “I willna use ye for anythin’, Lily.”
“But I am what he wants! We must save little Eddie,” she demanded.
“I will find another way to save them!” he called back over his shoulder.
So he thought he’d be tough then, did he? She lifted her skirts over her ankles and marched to him. “How will you catch up with them? You have no horse.”
“I will run.”
“I can run, too.”
He shook his head. “Ye will slow me down.”
“She is my friend and I love that babe. Elias!” she shouted and he stopped and turned to her. “I cannot sit here and wait. He will kill them. I know what he wants.”
“Ye,” he said.
She shook her head. “He knows he will never have me. He wants to think he broke me.”
Elias’ face darkened and his hands balled into fists. “He willna get that. I will kill him.”
“Elias, he has little Eddie,” she argued. “What will you do while he holds him over your head?”
“What will ye do?” he countered.
“I will bargain with him.” She put her hands on his arm and looked up into his eyes. “You must let me go with you. I will not sit around waiting.”
He closed the distance between them in one giant step and took her in his arms. “Lily, if anythin’ were to happen to ye—”
“Elias, I could wake up sick tomorrow…and you would not be here.”
That seemed to shake him, as if it were he who was keeping the sickness away from them. She almost smiled at how little it actually took to turn him.
He pulled her close and inhaled her. “Our marriage will have to wait.”
She closed her eyes, thinking how she was tempted to give up everything else to be married to him today.
“’Twill be worth the wait,” she whispered to him.
A speckle of silver in his eyes caught the light and gleamed when he looked at her. “Come on then.” He drew back and took her by the hand. “If ye are goin’ with me, we should be off. We must stop at home and tell Simon.”
Suddenly, he became a commander. “We need food and water fer the journey. I intend to find horses, but we will need to walk fer a while. Even run.”
She nodded and followed him back to the house. Charlie wanted to go with them but Elias was firm with his no this time. Annabelle cried and Lily was tempted not to go. But she knew Bertram. She knew what would satisfy him. She could save Clare and little Eddie. Annabelle and Charlie were safe here…safe from the outside world that is. She had to go. She had to help.
“Elias assures me we shouldn’t be gone longer than a sennight,” she told Simon. “I have prepared more tea. For now, please see that Alan the carpenter and Ava, Norman the reeve’s daughter, get a cup every four hours. If anyone else becomes ill while we are away, give them two cups to start and a cup every four hours. Do you have it?”
“Aye, I have it, gel,” he said a bit curtly to her. “I have been doing it for days now. I think I should be the one goin—”
He disappeared in a blur when Elias shoved him out of the way and stepped into the brother’s place. “Mayhap ye should stay.”
“No. I’m going with you,” she sang, wrapping the last of some extra herbs in a bag. She turned to kiss the children and waited for him.
He held up his hand for her to wait some more and pulled Brother Simon over again. “Marry us, please.”
“What?” the brother asked and looked at her.
She nodded and smiled and took Elias’ hand, showing the brother her consent—if that’s what he was worrying about.
“Simon, come now,” Elias huffed a bit more impatiently, and then pulled the children closer, as well. “We are wastin’ valuable time. Marry us. I asked her and she agreed, did ye not, love?” He turned to glance down at her.
“Aye, I did.”
Her consent didn’t have the soothing effect on the brother that she’d hoped but, an insta
nt or two later, he offered them a genuine grin. “’Twould be my honor—”
“Simon,” Elias interrupted. “I want to get goin’.”
“Do you want to be this lass’ husband?” the brother asked acidly. “Then,” he continued when Elias nodded, “let me finish. I will be quick. I am not a dolt.”
Lily giggled into her hand and then tried to be serious when Brother Simon glared at her.
“Elias,” he said as he finally turned to his friend, “do you vow before God to love, honor, and protect Lily, until you die?”
“Aye, I vow it.”
Lily smiled at him and bit her lip. This was real and it was happening fast! She looked down at Charlie and Annabelle and felt dizzy with emotions.
“And you, Lily,” Brother Simon said softly to her. “Do you vow before God to love, honor, and obey Elias until you die?”
“Aye, I vow it,” she answered calmly, though she wanted to shout from the rooftops. Aye!
“Then go,” Brother Simon whisked them away. “You are husband and wife in the eyes and in the Name of the Lord. And Eli, if you are not back here in a sennight, I will come looking for you.”
Lily laughed with happiness and bent to kiss the children. She would be back soon. As she straightened, she was sure she heard Brother Simon say, “You are in real trouble now, Eli.”
Was he insinuating that she was more dangerous than the plague? She was insulted. For a moment. And then she thought about what she wanted Elias to do to Bertram and thought the brother could be right.
She’d shown Bertram mercy for what he’d done to her. Now, it was different. Now, he’d killed and hurt the people she loved. She looked around as they left the village, decreased by almost half in number by the great pestilence. Bertram had done this.
For this, he would die.
But first, she thought, looking at the house and Elias leaving it, she would see to her husband.
Chapter Seventeen
They traveled northeast on foot for about three miles before coming to the natural beauty of the tiny village of Knockholt. The people there were friendly and quite helpful. They hadn’t yet felt any of the effects of the pestilence. They let Elias and Lily in and claimed to have seen a man traveling with a younger woman and child. He said he was going to north to Downe.
Elias and Lily thanked them and were given two horses. They traveled onward, relieved to be off their feet. They could make it to Downe before nightfall.
The village of Downe was quiet. No one came outdoors to greet them. They stared from their windows. Lily dismounted and glanced at Elias watching her. She was going to find little Eddie and she wasn’t going to let anyone stop her. Not even a village.
“I’m looking for a woman and her babe. They have been taken from my village in Sevenoaks by a terrible man. Have any of you seen them?”
Silence.
Lily waited another moment and then dug her heels in and shouted in a circle so everyone could hear. “You should all know that the man behind me is a cold, merciless beast much, much worse than the man who took my friend. If I do not hear from someone in the next few moments, I will unleash him on every house until no one is left but the ones we seek!”
“And what d’ye propose to do if no one comes oot?’ Elias asked with an amused grin on his face.
She looked up at him. “Stop smiling and look mean.”
When he obeyed, she had the urge to tremble and smile at the same time. She wasn’t sure if he was more magnificent when he smiled or scowled.
“I will unleash him!” she shouted one more time.
“Aye,” Elias muttered quietly behind her. “I believe ye will.”
“Miss?” an older man called out from his opened door.
Lily saw that he wore a thick piece of wool around his nose and mouth. He didn’t leave his doorstep and he held out his hand to stop her when she took a step toward him.
“The people you seek are not here,” he called out, keeping his eyes on Elias. “As you can see, we do not open our doors to anyone. We did see who you are looking for but they did not stay. Now, do us the courtesy of leaving before you bring whatever disease you have to all of us.”
“Tell me which way he went and if the woman and child looked well,” Lily insisted.
“They seemed well but that was yesterday.”
Lily felt relief wash over her and almost turned to smile at Elias.
“They went north,” the man concluded and retreated back inside.
London. Emma had said London.
Lily prayed they did not end up in London. But for now, there was nothing to do but move forward.
“How is he moving so fast with Clare and little Eddie?”
When she heard what had just come from her lips, another possibility came to her. What if he no longer traveled with them? She looked at Elias and it appeared he had the same thought.
“We will find them,” he assured her with a practiced smile.
She nodded, trying to remain as hopeful as him.
They reached the area of West Wickham by nightfall and were given a room at the inn, as there was only one room to be had.
Lily beamed when she looked up at the moon and a spray of twinkling stars from an open window on the slanted roof above the bed. One bed. She wondered if Elias would sleep on the floor. She didn’t want him to. She wanted him to hold her tonight, just for a few hours while they rested. But she had no idea how to go about getting him in bed. She had no idea what to do about anything really. But she was not one to sit back silently and wait for things to happen. She would learn as she went.
Instead of telling him what she wanted, she asked him to turn away and then began untying the laces of her kirtle.
Letting her skirts fall to the floor, she looked over her shoulder at him, a bit shyly, for she had never thoughtfully seduced a man before.
He’d turned away but he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. He seemed to grow bigger, more needful before her. He came to where she was standing with her back to him. His hands came around her slowly and, with exquisite thoroughness, cupped her waist through the worn linen of her chemise, clutching fistfuls of it across her belly, quickening her pulse with the thought of him tearing it from her body. But she knew that later, when she had only one chemise left, she’d regret it.
He didn’t tear her clothes away. He ran his callused fingers over her erect nipples and tugged gently. He scooped her hair off her neck and kissed her pulse, slipping one hand down past her belly to between her legs. She gasped a little bit. She’d be content to die after this. No. She would want more.
She understood that they were here to find Bertram, but she couldn’t help but find delight and amazement in her husband.
He stopped touching her and stepped away. Lily turned to see him closing his eyes and clenching his jaw.
“Elias? What is it?”
He shook his head. “I just…I hate the thought of losin’ ye. It grows more…harrowin’ every day.”
Aye, she had thoughts of losing him, too. If they both felt it, it must be a common fear. What would she do without him? “I prefer not to think on it.”
He sat on the bed with his back leaned up against the head frame and raked his fingers through his hair.
She sat next to him and took his hand. “Elias, are you afraid?”
“Of what?” His glorious smile returned. “My fears are not the truth and I willna live as if they are. We will both come oot of this unharmed in body. Our hearts will grieve, but we will live.”
How could he be so certain that he could convince her? Of course, she wanted to believe him. Who wouldn’t? Who would prefer spending what was possibly the end of the world with someone who was constantly terrified and talking about dying?
There was no one she wanted to spend these days with other than Elias. In fact, she wanted hundreds of thousands, if there were such an amount, more days with him. She trembled and closed her arms around herself.
“Lass.” He sat up beh
ind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “Are ye afraid?”
“Not of you.” She smiled to reassure him. “But this is so…like nothing I have ever felt before. When I think of you, my heart flutters and races. When I see you, I feel as if my breath has left me. Sometimes, I feel positively ill from the way my belly twists and flips when I am with you. I do not tell you because I do not want you to think I have the pestilence. I do not know what grips me.”
“Simon would say ‘tis love,” he told her softly over her shoulder while he ran his hands down her arms. “He might be correct, fer I feel the same way.”
She turned to cast her best smile on him. “Do you think you love me, Elias?”
“Aye, I do, my lady.”
She leaned in and he caught her face in his hands. He kissed her and then gently withdrew and pulled her to sit between his legs and lean back against him.
While he held her, they spoke for a little while about Bertram and Lily’s past. She told him her father named her Lily after the flowers, lilies of the valley. “He told me the flower is also called the May lily and means ‘return to happiness’.”
“Aye, ‘tis what ye do, my lady. Ye bring happiness back,” he told her, speaking into her ear while she nestled into his muscles. “Ye brought happiness back to me. Even in the midst of all this.”
“Aye,” she told him. “You have done the same for me. I feel like a silly fool sometimes, wondering how I can feel such happiness with all that is going on around me. But then I see you, or I hear your voice, and my heart sings.”
She had never spoken things like this to any man. She was surprised to hear them coming from her now, but it was easy. Elias broke down her walls. She wasn’t afraid to excite or entice him. After Bertram had tried to force himself on her and she had to do such a detestable thing to him, he never came back to her bed. Richard had never tried to be intimate with her, and he never asked her help with his impotency.
She was a widowed virgin. She thought she had more time to tell him. It was something he should have known before he married her. Would he forgive her?
“Elias? There is something I must tell you.”
“What is it, my love?”