“If I rest anymore, I will never move again,” she mumbles as she takes the seat next to me on the bed.
The other two women grin.
“Don’t mind her. Dag is driving her crazy,” Anastasia says as she leans forward and strokes Esmeralda’s baby bump.
“I wish it was only Dag. Did you know that Einar just offered to carry me here?” she says in irritation. “I swear I’m going to skip town and only come back when this kid is born.”
“You want to kill your man of heart failure?” Freya asks jokingly, then looking at me she continues, “One thing you can expect from the men is that they are overprotective. If your mate isn’t around then the others will make sure to keep you safe.” That has me thinking back to Tal and the way he kept on asking if I was fine and making sure that I had everything that I needed.
“Do you know who this woman above the bed is?” I see the three women look up at the painting and then at each other, which immediately has my jealousy rising. There is something about this woman, I just know there is.
“Well, umm…” Anastasia starts looking uncomfortable. “I’m not sure about the whole story, so you might have to ask Eirik for the details, but I believe that her name was Isabela, and she was his wife.”
“What?” To say that I am shocked is an understatement, and here I was starting to believe everything they were telling me about this whole mate thing. “I thought you said that they only mated once.”
“They do, that’s why I say that you need to ask Eirik about all the details,” Anastasia replies. “What I know is that he married her a couple of hundred years ago, but she died.”
“If she wasn’t his mate, then it doesn’t make sense that he married her, now does it?” I feel so hurt at the fact that he was married, and I don’t even know why. The thought that he loved that woman is blinding, and of course he loved her, or he wouldn’t still have her painting hanging above his bed. If he thinks that I am going to be with him as a substitute just because he can’t actually have the one he loves, then he has chosen the wrong woman.
“I’m not going to stay in this room,” I state, which has all three-women looking surprised.
“Maybe let him explain before you decide. Maybe it’s not what you think,” Freya says with a worried look on her face.
“You say he married her hundreds of years ago, and still he has a painting of her above his bed. What does that tell you?”
“She could take Garth’s room; he won’t mind, as he’s still in Qatar,” Esmeralda suggests.
I met Garth while in Qatar and even though he just greeted me as he spoke to Tal, he didn’t seem like the type that might be upset by me using his bed while he’s away.
“Eirik’s not going to like it,” Anastasia says.
“I don’t care what he likes, he might have saved me, but he doesn’t tell me what to do.” I sound more confident than I feel, but I will not be sharing Eirik with a memory of a dead wife.
“Can you walk there?” Freya asks as she looks me up and down. Something which I didn’t think about clearly.
“I will try.” Even If I have to crawl there but I won’t stay here with this painting hanging over my head.
“Where are you hurt, what happened?” Esmeralda asks as she places a hand over my hand, looking over at her I get the feeling that this woman isn’t a stranger to pain, and by placing her hand on mine she understands the horrors that I lived.
“They were experimenting on us. Just before Eirik found me they did something to my back which I am still recuperating from. Eirik says that Bion will come and examine me now that I am here, but it’s really frustrating, because to move it’s in slow motion as you see, and I can’t even see what they have done.”
“Would you like me to have a look and tell you?” Esmeralda asks, her eyes kind.
“Sure, but I will have to move forward first before you can see anything.” Just the thought is daunting when I think about needing to shuffle forward for her to be able to pick up the loose T-shirt that someone got for me to wear when I was in Qatar to look at my back.
“We will help,” Anastasia says as she comes around the bed to stand next to me. “Scream if we hurt you.”
“Trust me, I will.” I meant it as a joke, but I do think that I would scream if jolted. Anastasia places her hands under my arms, Freya slides her arms around my waist, her face flush with my side.
“Okay slowly, lets pull her forward,” Freya says.
“Ahhh,” I whimper as they pull, which has them stopping immediately.
“Nope, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Freya says in a concerned voice.
“Are you okay?” Esmeralda asks, a horrified look on her face. Am I? There is a slight pain which I didn’t have before, but otherwise it seems fine.
“Yes, I think its fine, but I don’t think I should try to move like that.” I start moving my leg to the side, it’s tiring but I’m able. “Maybe if I do it like this.”
“Sweetheart, not to be funny, but tonight you will still be trying to move off this bed at this speed,” Anastasia says as she starts to walk towards the door. “I’m going to get a prospect.”