“Unhand me, you savage! That is not the proper way to touch a lady.”
“Trust me, Your Grace. I well know the proper ways.” He winked at her to make sure she was thoroughly offended by his remark. When he could see she was in no great harm, he continued his campaign simply to ruffle her, now that he had the opportunity.
“Please just go back to your meal and leave me my dignity, so I might get back on my feet.”
“That will not do at all. Your foot is broken. I believe your wrist is, as well.”
As if to challenge him, she turned her foot and promptly hissed. Then she moved her wrist and winced.
“It’s back upstairs with you, Your Grace.”
He slipped his arms under her frail body and lifted her up, being careful because she might have lesser injuries in other places.
“Put me down, you brute!”
“I’ll do so soon enough.” With a nod to Parkes to lead the way, Cam carried the dowager up the stairs she’d just fallen down and into her elaborate suite of rooms at the farthest side of the house away from his and Mari’s.
He settled her in bed and removed her slipper, noticing how the skin was already turning purple.
“Well, you’ve gotten what you wanted,” she snapped at him when he propped an extra pillow behind her back so she could sit up.
“Nay, hardly. You didn’t break your neck, did ye?” Cam laughed so she knew he was teasing. It was so easy to rile her up, he couldn’t seem to help himself.
As expected, he was awarded a glare of surprised disgust.
“What has happened?” Mari rushed into the room.
“I stumbled on the stairs and your barbarian of a husband couldn’t stash me away in my rooms fast enough.”
Mari blinked at him as he chuckled. “Her foot and her wrist are most likely broken. A healer is on the way to confirm. I merely wanted her to be comfortable.”
“He wanted me out of the way,” the dowager muttered. “And we don’t have healers, we have physicians.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.” Cam crossed his arms. “A physician will have to do, I guess.”
Her lips pulled up tighter, and he hid a smile. He really couldn’t help himself.
“I’ll bring up some breakfast for you,” Cam offered.
“I’ll not eat anything you’ve touched.”
“I’m not planning to touch it.”
“Please stop.” Mari raised a hand at each of them. “I’ll bring you your meal—”
“Nay.” Cam shook his head. “I’ll not have another lass fall down those stairs. Especially not the one carrying my babe in her belly. I’ll get the food, and you will eat it, you miserable old crow.”
With that he left. He passed the physician on the stairs as Parkes led him up to the dowager’s room. The man’s eyes went wide, and he moved to the far side of the steps so as not to risk brushing against Cam’s kilt.
Bloody English.
Cam offered the man a menacing smile, and he practically ran the rest of the way up the stairs.
Had Cam known being in London would be so much fun, he might have visited sooner.
…
Mari sat with the dowager as the physician checked her over. Cam had been correct. Her foot and wrist were both broken.
Her former mother-in-law looked close to tears when the man told her she would need to stay in bed indefinitely. “People who stay in bed never leave them,” she complained.
“You’ll be up and around soon enough. Sooner if you mind what I say and stay off that foot until it’s healed properly,” the physician scolded.
“These people—”
“I used to live here,” Mari reminded the woman stiffly. “And I can assure you I have no need for any of your fancy possessions. I’ll not be able to use them where I’m going.”
That shut them up.
The dowager looked away and let out a breath. “Very well. I’ll stay up here and hope for the best.”
“I’ll make sure you’re taken care of,” Mari promised.
She didn’t know why she felt the need to see to the woman’s health and comfort. The dowager had been nothing but nasty to Mari every time they’d ever shared the same space.
But there was something about facing death that made Mari want to treasure every bit of life while she had the chance. She would make sure she had no regrets over how she’d lived her life at the end. Caring for people—even surly dowagers—made her feel needed. As though she actually served a purpose here on Earth.
She rubbed her stomach as she remembered her true purpose.
To love her husband and child for as long as she drew breath.
…
“I feel sorry for the dowager,” Mari told Cam a few days after the witch had been settled in her rooms.
Cam’s eyes widened. “You must be joking.”
“No.”
“Then ye have the kindest heart imaginable, to care for someone so prickly.” He kissed the top of her head, knowing his words were true.
“I think she is deliberately mean. It’s her way of keeping people at a distance so she doesn’t have a chance to care about them.”
Cam thought about it and realized Mari might be right. No one could be that hideous unless they were trying hard to be. “Or mayhap she’s just a miserable crow, as I’ve said.”
“No doubt we’re both correct. But my guess is she wasn’t born this way. People seldom are. I think she grew to be this way from experiencing constant hurt and disappointment. I know her son, the late duke, never treated her well. The new duke, Richard, doesn’t seem to want her around, either.”
“Can you blame them? I think you may be putting the chicken before the egg. Mayhap they didn’t like her because she’s a miserable crow, rather than she became a miserable crow because they didn’t like her. You see?” Cam held out his hands to make his point, earning a laugh from his wife.
“Still, a little kindness on our part might help her see she doesn’t need to be nasty with us. That she’s safe. Maybe once she realizes it, she’ll be nicer.”
“We have been forced to live here, so I’ll do my best not to cause you distress by fighting with the old crow. But I think you are setting yourself up for disappointment if you expect friendly conversations between me and the dowager. She hates me as much for where I’m from as for who I am.”