Rhianna shook her head. “The way they kept whisking in and out with that key there’s no way to know where anything came from. Some of it probably came from their homes. Some might have come from the castle. I do know the hutch came from Dayed’s workshop. I saw it when I was up there.”
“It’s gorgeous,” Doreen said with a dreamy look on her face. “I never thought I’d own anything so nice, but it’s going to cost a fortune. How can I ever afford it?”
Rhianna shrugged. “When we were up there, I got the feeling he gives most of the furniture he makes away. He makes his living off the saw mill.”
“But that’s an expensive piece and I need to pay him for it. Will you find out how much I owe him?”
“I’ll ask, but I doubt he’ll take any money.”
A knock on the front door interrupted them. When Doreen opened it, Carrie was standing on the porch and Brandon was sitting on the seat of a small wagon.
“Miranda sent me,” Carrie said. “She said if you had the sisters here all day, you’d be too tired to fix anything to eat tonight, so she sent you some dinner. It’s in the wagon. I’ll bring it in if that’s all right.”
Rhianna laughed as Doreen nodded and said, “We’ll get it. You don’t have to.”
Carrie shook her head. “Brandon will take care of it. By the way, the pot is hot. And she’ll want that back sometime, but there’s no rush. We have dozens.”
While she was talking, Brandon had climbed down and gotten a big crate out of the back. “Where do you want this?” he asked as he climbed the steps.
Doreen motioned towards the kitchen. “There’s a big table in the kitchen. Set it down on that.”
Carrie came in close behind him and by the time Doreen and Rhianna got to the kitchen, she had everything unloaded. “We’ll take the crate back to get it out of your way. And don’t worry about returning anything except the pot. We have more than enough baskets and platters.”
Doreen looked at the food spread out on the table and shook her head. “There’s enough food for four or five people here. We don’t need this much.”
Carrie shrugged. “You never know when someone might show up, especially since the sisters went back to the castle and told everyone what a lovely home you have here.”
“Oh,” Doreen said. “Then thank you. And please tell Miranda we thank her, too.”
Carrie nodded and told them to enjoy their evening as she and Brandon left.
“Well, I guess we should eat,” Rhianna said. “Now where did they put the plates?”
~ ~ ~ ~
Wednesday afternoon Cpt. Lawrence knocked on Kevin’s open door. “Gen. Crandal would like to see you when you have a minute.”
“Is this about the men from the camp?”
Cpt. Lawrence nodded.
“Were any of the husbands up there?”
“All three of them. They’re waiting in the general’s office.”
“We’ll be right there.” Kevin put away the stuff he’d been working on. “I want Karl to be in on this, too. Would you stop by his office and tell him?”
Cpt. Lawrence nodded and left.
Kevin told Chris what was going on and the two of them headed for the general’s office. As soon as Kevin walked in, one of the three men from the camp asked, “Is it true? Have you really found our families?”
“We’ve found your wives, and I know there are three children with them, but we don’t know whose children they are.”
The man bit his lips. “Do you know the names of the children?”
Kevin shook his head. “We don’t know whether or not the children even belong to any of the women.”
The man sighed. “Guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
One of the others put an arm around the first man’s shoulder. “I never expected to see my wife again. This is still good news.”
The first man nodded. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, it’s just...”
Kevin shook his head. “I understand. We all do.”
“So what happens now?” the third man asked. “From what Gen. Crandal said, they’re not here yet.”
“No,” Kevin said, “they won’t be here until Monday, but as to what happens next, that’s up to you.”
“To us?” the third man asked, frowning.
Kevin nodded. “We can take you back home and let you get things straightened out and ready for your family. Or if there’s somewhere else you’d rather go, we can take you there. Or if you want to go somewhere completely new, I’m sure we can find someplace where you’ll be comfortable. But if you aren’t sure where you want to go, you can stay here, in one of the bunkhouses, until your wives get here and then you can decide what you want to do.”
For a moment none of the men spoke, then the first one said, “My brother and his wife decided to go back home. I’d like to go talk to them. We may stay there or we may go somewhere else, but I’d like for us to stay together.”
Kevin nodded again. “We’ll take you home in a minute. Anyone else know what they want to do?”
The second man shook his head. “I want to think about this for a bit, if that’s all right. Like I said, I hadn’t expected to ever see my wife again so I hadn’t thought about whether we’d want to go back to our house. I’m not sure we’d ever feel safe there again. Could I wait and talk to her?”
“Of course,” Kevin answered. He turned to the third man. “Do you know what you want to do?”
“I’m not sure. I know I don’t want to go back home, but I have some family in Zander. I’d like to talk to them and see if there’s room for us in their village.”
“And if you decide that’s not what you want to do, we can take you somewhere else after your wife gets here.” Kevin looked around at all three men. “And speaking of your wives getting here, I want all of you here when they arrive. They’re supposed to get here around two next Monday, so I’ll pick you up around one.”
Then Kevin took off his key, turned to the first man, and tilted his head towards the map on Gen. Crandal’s wall. “Now, if you’ll show me where you want to go, I’ll take you.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Thursday morning while Doreen and Rhianna were working outside, Steve drove up in a buggy. Rhianna smiled and told Doreen, “That’s Steve, Laryn’s husband. Come on and I’ll introduce you.”
Doreen wiped her hands on her tunic and followed Rhianna to the buggy.
After the introductions, Rhianna asked, “What brings you out this way?”
“Curiosity,” Steve said, grinning. “I want to see what my wife and her sisters did to your house.”
“Didn’t she tell you about it?” Rhianna asked.
“She thinks she did, but all she said was they had a good time and she thought you were pleased.”
Doreen laughed. “Well, come on in and we’ll give you the grand tour.”
Steve walked around to the back of the buggy and picked up a stack of framed pictures. As he carried them up the steps, Rhianna asked, “What do you have there?”
“Just a few pictures,” Steve answered as he set them down on a table in the entrance hall. “Last night Laryn and I went through some of our sketches and picked out a few she thought you might like.”
Rhianna picked up the picture of Corin and held it up for Doreen to see.
“I like that,” Doreen said, “but I think it’s meant for you. Why don’t you put it in your bedroom?”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
Doreen nodded as she picked up a sketch of the river with the mountaintops in the distance. “This one’s perfect for the parlor.” The next one she picked up was of a quiet river surrounded by trees. “And this one’s going in the dining room.”
Steve dug down a bit and pulled one out from near the bottom. “I don’t know if you’ll like this one or not, but it’s for you,” he said as he handed it to Doreen.
Doreen took the picture and turned it around so she could see it. Tears gathered in her eyes as she stared at it.
“What is it?” Rhianna asked as a tear slid down Doreen’s cheek.
“One of my boats,” Doreen whispered. “How did you know?”
“Rigel described it to me as I sketched it. He thought you might like it.”
“It’s beautiful.” Doreen’s voice cracked with emotion. “This is going in my bedroom, right over the fireplace.”
Steve pulled a picture of Nikki racing Xantha across the pasture out of the stack and handed it to Rhianna. “I thought you might like this one.”
“Did they really do this?” Rhianna asked.
Steve nodded. “The day you came to the castle. You and Duane were inside when Laryn took Xantha out to see Nikki. She’s the one who sketched that one.”
“I love it.” Rhianna turned it around for Doreen to see. “Where do you want this one?”
“I don’t know. I’d like to have that one where we can all enjoy it. Maybe one of the parlors?”
“You girls can decide where you want these later,” Steve said. “For now, how about showing me around?”
Thirty minutes later they were sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee. “You’ve got a good house here,” Steve said. “Well built. It’ll last.”
Doreen nodded. “Like my boats.”
“Do you miss them?” Steve asked. “And the ocean?”
“Not as much as I thought I would.” Doreen got up to top off the coffee mugs. “If someone had told me a year ago I’d be living so far inland I’d have told them they were crazy, but now I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Funny how things change.”
Steve nodded and sipped his coffee. “And if someone had told me a year ago I’d be married within the year, I’d have laughed at them. Life has a way of working out as it should though.”
Doreen smiled as she sat back down. “I think I’ll like it here. I think this is my spot.”
Steve laughed. “I know what you mean. I felt the same way when I got here.” Then he turned to Rhianna. “Have you found your spot yet?”
Rhianna shrugged. “I feel at home wherever I am. Maybe elves are different.”
“Maybe.” Steve finished up his coffee. “Anyway, I need to get back to the castle or Laryn’s going to come looking for me.”
After Steve left, Doreen said, “Before we hang these pictures, let’s go see Blair and Nan. I’d like for them to come over, look at the house, and see if they’d be interested in moving in. If they are, they can pick out the pictures they want in their rooms.”
Rhianna nodded. “And if you want to have a party Saturday afternoon, we’ve got to find some food and let people know.”
Doreen frowned. “Where can we get the food? And who’s going to fix it?”
“One thing at a time. Let’s split up. While you talk to Blair and Nan, I’ll go to the castle and find out where Miranda gets her food. We can probably get some from the same place.”
Doreen let out a long sigh. “I need to find out how to go about paying for it, as well as for the hutch and everything else the sisters brought. If you get a chance, talk to Cryslyn. I don’t think I’m out of money, but I’ve used a lot of it.”
“Will do. See you later.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Later that afternoon, Doreen and Rhianna settled on the front steps to compare notes.
“Blair’s coming to see the house this evening. She wants to move in but she’s not sure she can handle the cooking for both places. I told her not to worry about it, but I don’t think she’ll move in until we get that worked out,” Doreen said.
“Did you talk to Nan?”
“She came by while you were at the castle. She wants to move in tomorrow.”
“What kind of deal did you make with her?”
“We haven’t worked out all the details yet. At first she was like she was at the store, saying she’d pitch in but wasn’t going to do it all. I told her she wouldn’t have to if she’d teach me how to do some of it.”
Rhianna laughed. “What did she say to that?”
“She thought I was joking at first, but she took me seriously after I explained I’d never done any housework because I’d been too busy building fishing boats and running my father’s business.” Doreen shook her head. “I may get more than I bargained for though. She took out a sheet of paper and made a list of chores. When she asked how many people would be living here, I told her it’s just the two of us right now, so she divided the list into three parts and said we can each take a part.”
“Sounds fair to me. When someone else moves in, we’ll redo the list.”
“You’ll still do the gardens, right?”
Rhianna nodded. “Allisandra will have some seedlings ready for me in a couple of weeks.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Nothing right now. I’ll let you know when it’s time to start working on the gardens.”
“Did you find out anything about the food for Saturday?”
“Cryslyn orders the food. When Miranda’s low on something, she lets Cryslyn know and before long, there’s more in the store room. So I talked to Cryslyn. She said if we’d give her a list of what we want by tomorrow morning, she’ll try to have it here Saturday morning, but she did say at this late date she might not be able to get everything we want.”
“What should we do? Put it off?”
“No, we’ll just improvise. It’ll help if Blair’s around though.”
“Let’s see what she says when she sees the house. If she’s interested, I’ll bring up the party.” Doreen paused. “Did you ask Cryslyn how I’m going to pay for this stuff? And for the stuff the sisters brought?”
“She said as far as the stuff from the sisters, those things were gifts, even the hutch, and you don’t offer money in exchange for gifts. She said if you want to pay them back for what they did, you do something for them in return. And yes, I asked what, but she wasn’t any help there.”
“Great,” Doreen grumbled. “I know I need to do something for Jana. Now I’ve got three more women to come up with something for? What about the man who brought the hutch? What was his name?”
“Dayed. He’s one of Laryn’s brothers. I don’t have any idea what you can do for him, or any of them for that matter, but since they made most of what they brought, you’ll need to come up with something you can make for them.”
“Like what?” Doreen asked, exasperated. “I doubt any of them need a boat and that’s all I’m good for.”
“No it isn’t, but we’ll talk about that later. Back to the party Saturday. Cryslyn said she’d deduct the cost of the food from your account. I told her we also want to get some scog from Fenway’s. She said have him send her the bill with your name at the top and she’ll take care of it.”
“Do I have enough money for all of this?”
“I couldn’t come right out and ask, it’s not my money, but from the little she did say, I think you’ve got plenty in your account. She also said when you find something you want at Tolliver’s have them send her the bill.”
“I need to find out how much money I have left. I’m used to handling the accounts and I don’t like not knowing.” Doreen shook her head. “But I can do that later, after we get past this weekend.”
Rhianna stood up. “Let’s go to Fenway’s, get some dinner, and order a keg of scog for Saturday. Myron’s bringing Nikki out later and Rigel said he’s dropping by this evening. He said he wants to see how they fixed up the house, but I think he just wants to see you.”
Doreen blushed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if we’re going to Fenway’s, let’s go. I want to be back before Blair gets here. I don’t want her here by herself if Rigel shows up. She’s shy, and that might be enough to scare her off.”
“We don’t want that,” Rhianna agreed as they headed down the steps. “We want her comfortable here, especially in the kitchen.”
Chapter 23
One-Year Anniversary
Saturday morning, April 5, Kevin woke up as soon as t
he sun’s rays cleared the mountaintops. He doubted anyone else realized it, but his first council meeting was the April meeting last year. Today marked the one-year anniversary of his debut as the Master Sorcerer of Terah. And what a year it had been.
As he got dressed, he thought about all the adventures and misadventures of the past year. It was a wonder he’d survived. And to think, a little over two years ago he’d been an accountant sitting in a cubicle handling other people’s money. He’d kept his mouth shut and done as he was told. The biggest risk he took was driving to and from work. His evenings and weekends were spent eating takeout in front of the TV or computer. He could have counted his acquaintances on one hand and there wasn’t even one person he considered a friend. His life was predictable, easy, and incredibly dull.
Kevin shook his head as he pulled on his boots. He preferred the life he was living now, even with all its headaches and risks. He hadn’t seen his godfather since he woke up on Terah, but he owed him a big thank you for lifting him out of his life on Earth and dropping him into this one. He hoped he’d be able to tell him that in person one day.
He left Nikki in her crate at the stable and made his way across the river to the willow grove to run through his morning routine.
Chris was up early, too. He was well aware of what day it was and memories of last year’s meeting flooded his mind. He hadn’t been sure they’d make it out of there alive once Kevin and Rolan started in on each other. As Chris stood on his balcony and watched the light of Kevin’s magic rise and fall over the treetops, he smiled. Kevin was in good form that morning, strong but smooth, just the way Chris liked it.
When Chris walked into the dining room on his way to the kitchen for coffee, he saw Laryn standing out on the patio gazing towards the willows. He opened the door and walked out to join her. “He’s in a good mood this morning.”
Laryn nodded. “I was thinking back to last year about this time.”
Chris grinned. “I was so nervous that morning I couldn’t eat.”
Laryn laughed. “And for you, that’s saying something.”
“What’s got you up and out so early today?” Chris asked as they headed into the dining room. “You aren’t usually around until after breakfast.”
The Warrior Elf Page 34