“So I can keep you safe. So no one can snatch you away from me. So I do not lose my mind wondering and worrying what may happen to you. So, wife, you will obey me on this!” Torin ordered firmly.
“You would lose your mind worrying about me?” she asked, that part of his remark surprising her and poking at her heart.
Torin went to snap at her that she was his wife, and it was his duty to protect her when he realized that it was not the whole of it. It was two weeks since they had been wed, yet the thought that she would be taken away from him tore at his heart. That this chatty woman could have somehow worked her way into his heart shocked him.
“You are my wife, and it is my duty to protect you,” he said, thinking, though he could not reason why, that he needed to defend himself.
“Aye, of course,” Flora said but the confusing look in his dark eyes made her wonder if that was not quite true. “Let us go see Iona, then I will return to the keep.”
“You will rest the remainder of the day,” Torin ordered.
“I instruct the servants, not a burdensome task, and I do not want to delay us from taking residence in the keep.”
Torin went to argue and stopped. He was eager for them to take up residence in their bedchamber. “You will rest when needed.”
She smiled softly. “Aye, I will now that your bed will be there for me to do so.”
Torin stared at her, an image of her sleeping in his bed—naked—taking hold in his mind. He did not realize she had hooked her arm around his before directing him along the bridge, the warriors following behind them.
“What do you think?” she asked as they neared Iona’s cottage.
Torin stared at her perplexed. He had not heard a word she had said, his mind having lingered on her in his bed and what they would be doing there once he joined her.
Luckily, his wife went right on talking. “I, myself, think there is some truth to Walsh’s tale, in the points I made to you, but I am not sure if the whole of it is true, which is why I think it would be wise to keep an eye on him.”
He got annoyed with himself for failing to pay attention to her, but at least now he understood what she had asked of him. “I thought the same and I have already ordered that Walsh is to be watched.”
“A wise decision, husband,” Flora praised.
That was something else he noticed his wife did frequently, offered praise when deserved, not simply to appease a person. She also complimented when deserved and he had seen how the servants were growing to admire her. But the thing he found he favored the most had been hearing her laughter at times in the keep and hearing the servants laugh as well. There had never been laughter when his da ruled and never a smile on the servants’ faces. Not so now. Ghost or not, smiles more than fear could be seen on those in the keep.
He had also seen how the servants and people gathered in concern for his wife when the incident happened. None in the clan had shed a tear when his mum had died or his da. His wife was here barely a week and already the people worried over her.
The words slipped out without thought. “You are a good woman, wife.”
“I try to be,” Flora said. “My da and mum taught me the importance of goodness but wisdom as well since they warned me of the balance of things, meaning if there is goodness there is also evil and where there is wisdom there is also ignorance.”
“And did they teach you how to combat evil and ignorance?” Torin asked, surprised he was finding his wife’s endless chatter enlightening at times.
“Knowledge. It is a mighty weapon,” Flora said proudly. My da taught me to wield such a powerful weapon with care and I attempt to do just that the as best I can.”
“You had a wise da,” Torin said with a bit of envy. “My da taught me little.”
“Nonsense. He taught you something particularly important,” she insisted.
Nothing she said could prove her words right, but he asked, “How so?”
“Your da’s example taught you how not to be a da, an important lesson for you will know how to be a good and loving da.”
Torin was shocked silent. He had never even considered that, but his wife was right. He would not be like his da to his children. He wanted more with them. He wanted to love them and have them love him and teach them what they needed to know to not only survive in this world but to have a good life.
He gazed at his wife, smiling as she extended her hand out to catch the falling snowflakes and at that moment realized just how perfect she was for him. She would not only teach their children much, but she would also teach him as well.
“My da laughed at me when I was very young as he watched me try to catch a snowflake. He thought to tease me, telling me if I could catch one, I could keep it.” Flora laughed. “He was surprised when I informed him that that was nonsense since a snowflake would melt when touched. That was the day he began to teach me how to read.”
“Your da sounds like he was an amazing man and a loving da.”
“He was,” she said and hugged his arm. “I think that is why the dreams I have of him and my mum disturb me so much.”