The one side of the bed lay empty and the other side was swathed in shadow. He approached quietly, but when he could see the bed clearly he rushed to it, and glared at an empty bed.
Where was his wife?
He rushed out of the room and continued his search. Arran’s room was empty and Raven’s as well. He even went to his mum’s small solar where she had done her stitching and sought solitude from two rambunctious sons. It was cold and empty as it had been since his mum’s death.
Worry mixed with annoyance. Where could she have gone? He stopped at his bedchamber to fully dress for the day, slipping on his shirt beneath his plaid and covering his stump with the leather cuff.
He wasn’t surprised to see Bethany in the kitchen readying food for the morning meal.
“Have you see, Oria?” he asked.
“No, sir, I haven’t.” Worry had her asking, “Isn’t she in her bedchamber?”
Royden shook his head. “No. She was in the Great Hall not long ago.”
“Does Oria know a leper beds down in the woods?” Bethany asked, turning anxious eyes on Royden.
“Angus was here to collect the food for the leper?”
“Aye, he left only a short time ago,” she said.
Worry began to mount in him. If she had foolishly gone off into the woods, she would get a taste of not the grumpy, old man she had believed he’d become, but of the commanding husband she thought him to be.
“Any thought to where Oria would have gone off to?”
“You would know that better than me, sir,” Bethany said.
“The years and distance between us have changed us both.”
“Years and distance can’t change the love you two have for each other. You both just need to find the way back there, back to the depths of your hearts. Think back to then.”
Royden shook his head unable to go back there to that time and place where he and Oria had been so happy, so in love.
A memory rose up to jolt him. The shed by the oak tree. They had often slipped behind it to catch a few moments alone and steal a kiss or two.
He turned to leave and stopped, turning back to Bethany. “I owe you much.”
“We are family,” she said, an unshed tear lingering in one eye.
“Aye, we are family and I’m blessed to have you,” Royden said and hurried off pleased that his sense of home was beginning to return to him.
A glimpse of dawn could be detected on the horizon. He approached the shed with rushed steps and called out as he did, “Oria!”
His heart hammered in his chest when there was no response and he rushed around to the back of the shed.
She wasn’t there.
Chapter 9
Royden was ready to roar his wife’s name out. Where had she gone? He raced to the barn, thinking she had once liked going there to see the kittens with Raven. While he had seen cats around, he hadn’t seen any kittens lately, but it was worth a try.
He grew more agitated when he didn’t find her there. He headed into the village, the only place he hadn’t looked. Fear soared in him when he saw Penn rushing at him, worry so strong on his face that all color was gone from it. Was he looking for him to deliver bad news about Oria? His heart pounded viciously in his chest, his stomach clenched so tight, he thought he’d double over.
Please. Please, God, don’t let anything have happened to my wife.
“Mistress Oria—” he stopped out of breath from rushing and tossed his head back to catch his breath.
Royden almost reached out to grab him and shake the words out of him, but he regained his breath just in time.
“Mistress Oria sent me to tell you that she’s tending to my wife’s birth.” Penn shook his head. “It’s too early for the bairn to be born,”
Relief slammed into Royden and he sent silent gratitude to the heavens that his wife was safe. He did, however, feel for Penn, since he would have felt the same if it had been Oria delivering their bairn.
Royden laid a solid hand on Penn’s shoulder. “My wife will know what to do. She’ll get Emily through this.” He had heard women talk that Oria had delivered a few bairns that had been born while he was gone. He trusted that she would know what to do. “Let’s see if the women need anything, then we’ll keep busy while the women see to your wife.”
Sara, Angus’s wife, was about to enter Penn’s cottage when they approached it and Royden called out to her, “Sara, if Oria has a moment, I’d like to speak with her.”
“Aye, sir,” Sara said and entered the cottage.
Only a few minutes passed, agonizing ones for Penn, and Oria stepped outside.
Penn rushed to speak before Royden could. “How is Emily?”