Riverbreeze: Part 2 (12 page)

She touched his hand. “I understand how proud you are of these pieces, Robert. I understand because all my mother’s jewels were taken from me and Evelyn. It broke my heart when they took them away….” She stopped, swallowing a sob.

“Oh, Elizabeth.” Robert groaned. “I’m so sorry. I’ve hurt you again.”

“No, no, you haven’t.” She was quick to reassure him.

But he didn’t listen. He continued, “I didn’t know; I didn’t know about your mother’s things. I’m sorry. And here I am showing off and bragging about this.” He gestured with the box.

“’Tis all right, because now I have something of my father’s; something made by his own two hands. The silver trays, Robert. My father made them; I recognized his mark on them. So you see, Evelyn and I have something from our family now.”

“So, that is why you two cried when you saw them.”

She nodded, smiling through her tears.

“I’m glad, Elizabeth, my pure, precious lily.” He said, putting the box down on the bed beside them and drawing her into a hug. “We’ll treasure them forever.”

She smiled over his shoulder, holding him tight. “I like that. I like being your lily.”

He drew her into his lap, burying his nose in her hair behind her ear. He felt his desire for her returning in full force and he whispered. “Are you too sore for another go?”

She shook her head, leaning back to look him in the eye. She smiled coquettishly. “This time can I be on top?”

His mouth dropped open. “Elizabeth! Where did you learn such a thing?”

She laughed delightedly and pushed him onto his back. “Are you willing?”

“Hell, yes!” He exclaimed.

She took control and straddled him. There was a moment of awkwardness at first, but soon she had taken him completely into her body. She wriggled her bottom around a little, saying, “Do you like that?”

“I think I’ve gone to heaven!” Was his answer.

Chapter Twenty-One: Morning Business

This was not the way Robert had wanted to start his day, standing outside the back door, shivering, watching two beagles doing their business too close to his kitchen garden while his brother, who had recovered nicely, remained warm and snug in bed making love to Evelyn. But the dogs needed to be taken out and it wouldn’t have been fair to leave the job to Elizabeth alone.

She had been such a good wife to him last night; his wedding night had far exceeded his expectations, so now it was his turn to be the good husband. Without too much complaint he had dragged himself out from under the warm covers, pulled on his buckskins and gone outside with her.

Together they faced the gray and gloomy morning; the sun was nowhere to be seen, blocked by a blanket of thick clouds in the sky. All was quiet around the place except for the wind in the tall pines and an occasional faraway cry of a red-tail hawk. And as far as he knew Abigail wasn’t up yet and from the look of the smokeless chimney at the small house, he assumed the servants were still in bed as well. He would have to talk to them about that, but not now. Maybe if the dogs were quick, he and Elizabeth could sneak back up to their room and also go back to bed.

But that bloody male dog was taking his sweet time, sniffing and lifting his leg at every fallen leaf, twig, and blade of grass. “Is that dog ever going to finish?” He complained.

“I’m sorry.” Elizabeth said, standing by his side. “I know how much you wanted to stay in bed this morning.” She snuggled closer to him, tightening her arm around his waist. She was wearing her fur-lined cloak, but having her arm around Robert left the right side of her body open to the cold.

He sighed and shrugged. He had his arm around her shoulders and he briskly rubbed her arm through her cloak. “Well, I couldn’t very well send you out here alone. What kind of husband would I be?” He asked, smiling into her face. She hadn’t had time to comb her hair, but he liked the tousled look on her. It reminded him of last night, when she had been beneath him and her lovely hair had been spread all around her head on the pillow.

“A typical one, I should think, so thank you.” She murmured, reaching up to touch his uninjured cheek with cold fingertips.

“Oo, your fingers are frozen.” He gasped, grabbing her hand and holding it to his lips to blow on her fingers a little. Then he gave each fingertip a quick kiss before enclosing her hand in his and holding it to his chest. “Anyway, you’re welcome.” He finally said. “’Tis the least I can do, after all Evelyn did keep the dogs last night and Jamie obviously took the brunt of their morning greeting. Did you hear that howl of pain from him?” Elizabeth nodded, trying not to laugh. Robert continued. “At first it scared the life out of me, but now when I think about it, I find it quite amusing.”

Elizabeth finally couldn’t suppress her mirth any longer. “I do too. Upon my life, I do not think I’ve ever heard a sound like that coming from a man before, but I’m sure Jamie didn’t find it amusing waking up to the dogs trampling all over him.”

“Let’s just hope they didn’t damage any of his important parts, if you know what I mean.” Robert said, winking at her.

She giggled and pushed at his chest. “Stop that! The dogs are not that heavy!”

“But a toenail in the right place….” He shook his head gravely, clicking his tongue. “…that could do a lot of damage.”

“You’re teasing me.” She said, dipping her head, but enjoying the banter.

“I love it when you smile like that.” He said suddenly, gazing into her eyes. He let go of her hand so he could tenderly lift her face with his fingertips. He kissed her lightly then, feeling the chilly flesh of her lips on his own.

When they parted, she said, “Now you’re embarrassing me.”

“And you’re beautiful when you’re embarrassed.” He murmured, cupping her flushed face.

“Stop it.” She whispered, lowering her eyes.

If she didn’t want to hear how beautiful she was, he would just talk about something else. “All right.” He said equably, but then asked her something that had been nagging at his mind ever since she told him about her dreams. “Do you think Evelyn has told Jamie about the two of you having dreams that foretell the future?”

She frowned slightly. “I do not think I would put it exactly like that. But no, I do not believe she has had the chance yet. He has been so ill.”

“Mmm, I know.” Robert said dismissively. He had known all along that Jamie would recover. “Do you think she’ll tell him this morning?”

“Why are you so concerned?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Just curious. Are you sure you didn’t have any dreams last night?” He asked, even though he had already asked her when they had first woken up.

Her lips pressed together in a quick moment of annoyance. “I already told you. No, I did not have any dreams last night!” Her voice softened then. “But I promise you, when I do, I will tell you.”

“All right.” He sighed. He hoped that he wouldn’t become too much of a pest, asking her every morning if she had any dreams; but it was an unsettling thing to be newly married to a woman who had dreams of the future. He turned his attention to the dogs, watching them for a quiet moment, but in his mind he was still wondering how his life would be affected by this ‘gift’ of hers.

“Robert.” She said softly, gaining his attention.

He turned to look at her again and her face showed such sympathy for him, he almost couldn’t stand it. “Do not worry so. You’ll soon forget all about the dreams until I have one.”

“Do you forget?” He asked, studying her face. How could she expect him to forget if she didn’t?

She turned away, avoiding his stare. “No.” She whispered. She continued to stare off in the distance. “And I go to bed every night wondering…” She trailed off, deep in thought.

“Wondering what you’ll dream next?” He asked quietly. Now he felt sorry for her; she was the one with this strange ability. What had it been like for her growing up knowing she could prevent a tragedy or maybe not? He thought that if he were the one having dreams, he might have gone mad by now.

She nodded her head. But then she smiled a small smile. “But I’ve learned to cope with it.” Her smile widened and her eyes twinkled. “And sometimes a dream shows me wonderful things.”

“You mean the dream about me.” He ventured, returning her smile.

She laughed. “Oh, aren’t you the modest one!”

He shrugged his shoulders again. “Well, I am rather wonderful, do you not think so?” He teased her, batting his eyelashes at her.

She laughed again, and then much to Robert’s surprise, she answered, ‘yes’ in a whisper.

He opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment the dogs’ excited barking stole his attention. He jerked his head in their direction. Elizabeth followed suit, startled to see that they had wandered quite a distance away, following some deliciously stinky trail. “Papillon! Fleurette!” She called urgently. “
Venez ici
!” And then she used a simple but very effective two note whistle to call the dogs to her.

The dogs turned as one, their eyes shiny and bright, and obediently started to run back to her, barking happily.

Robert’s head swung back to Elizabeth. “Venay eecee?” He questioned, trying to remember back to his French lessons from years ago. “What does that mean?”

“It means ‘come here’.” She said squatting down to greet the dogs as they stopped at her feet. “
Bons chiens
. Good dogs.” She cooed, petting their soft, brown heads and scratching behind their ears. Their tails were like whips, they were wagging them so fast.

Robert watched her praise her dogs. He was truly impressed with how quickly they had obeyed her. And he had to admit to himself, they were cute little creatures, although the thought of having dogs as pets had never crossed his mind. Maybe with some training, he could turn them into hunting dogs if she would ever allow something like that. “And Papillon? What does that mean? I’ve forgotten.”

At the sound of his name, the slightly larger male tilted his head in the direction of Robert’s voice. He sat poised, waiting expectantly for something. Elizabeth patted his head again. “Yes, he said your name, little one. Good boy.” She glanced back up at Robert. “It means butterfly and Fleurette means little flower. Evelyn and I thought they went well together.”

Robert rolled his eyes but didn’t let her see that. Instead he asked, “How long have you had them?”

She stood back up, a pleased look on her face. “About a year. When Evelyn and I saw them at the market, we couldn’t turn away. The old man who was selling them said they were descendents of Queen Elizabeth’s dogs.”

Robert made a scoffing noise. “I hope you didn’t believe him.”

“We did at the time. Even our father believed him. It is possible, you know.”

“I wouldn’t know.” He said off-handedly, eyeing the animals. They had gone back to sniffing the ground, wandering a little away, their black noses twitching tirelessly. “But, I’ll admit they are cute.”

“They are, aren’t they?” Elizabeth agreed readily, watching them adoringly.

Robert suddenly felt a sharp pang of jealousy. Was he constantly going to have to compete with them for Elizabeth’s attention? “Well, they better not cause much trouble and they certainly better not get in my garden.” He said brusquely.

“They won’t.” she said in a small voice, shocked by his sudden gruffness.

“I especially do not want them digging up my herbs and vegetables.” Robert added, as if he hadn’t heard her. His gardens were his pride and joy. They provided fresh food almost all year round, and herbs used for flavorings and healing.

“I said they won’t.” She said angrily. “And with that fence you have, I do not see how they could get in your precious garden anyway...”

“I was obeying the new law, building that fence, although I did have a shorter one before.” He interjected.

“Well, that fence looks sturdy enough to keep wolfhounds out! How tall is it anyway?”

“As tall as a horse, and it needs to be sturdy and tight.” Robert said firmly, defending the wooden picket fence around his kitchen garden. Just this past summer he and Jamie had spent a whole week cutting and planing the boards for the fence and another week constructing it. “There are a lot of wild animals around; not to mention the pigs and the neighbor’s kine. Also the deer would come and eat everything if I didn’t have that fence. And speaking of wolves…”