She smiled, knowing instinctually what he wanted, for she wanted it, too. “By making me your wife in between.”
He grinned at her and she could tell he was surprised at her boldness, and that he liked it.
“Ye would be my wife, Lily?”
“Aye, Elias, happily,” she told him and he kissed her again.
They decided not to have a celebration. It felt wrong to have one in the midst of so much death. They would speak their vows in private with Brother Simon and the children.
But first, they had the sick to see to.
Still, they kissed a little longer amidst the scented flora and laughed at silly, inconsequential things like frogs and fairies. They strolled up the path and Lily pointed to herbs and told him what they helped with and how to prepare them. She was acutely aware of every inch of him on their way back to the house. She liked his dominating size and the scent of him, the sound of him, and the heat from him. She wanted to douse herself in it. “Do all the men in your family’s stronghold look like you?” she asked with a teasing smile.
“Nae. They are handsome.”
“Sir,youare handsome,” she corrected with a flirtatious smile. “I would wager you are the most handsome of all.”
He laughed and leaned in closer to her. “We dinna have to go there. We can live here.”
She grew serious. “Do you mean it, Elias? Would you stay here? Oh no, I could not ask such a thing of you! You have a family! I do not. You—”
“Ye have a family, Lily,” he corrected. “A father and three half-sisters. Ye never told me of yer mother. Did she die when ye were younger?”
She nodded. “At my birth. I never knew her. I was the daughter of my father’s old age. The product of his new marriage after his first wife had died. He took care of me with the help of my older half-sisters. He loved me very much.”
Elias pulled her into his arms. “We will find them.”
She gleamed. She could feel happiness radiating off her. How did he do it? How did he always find a way to make her smile even in these dark days? “Do you think they still live? Our home was in Hastings.”
“I do not know, but we still live and we will find them.”
“Aye,” she agreed, feeling better than she had any right to while others around her suffered.
They returned to the house and Elias helped her prepare her teas. Brother Simon was awake and cooking when Lily and Elias entered the kitchen. Charlie passed a secret smile to Elias, and Annabelle sat at the table playing with one of her dolls.
Elias made the announcement that they wanted to wed and everyone was delighted and excited for them. Brother Simon wept tears of joy.
After a quick morning meal of porridge with fresh cranberries that Brother Simon had picked yesterday, they left for Alan Carpenter’s cottage. When they arrived, they discovered that the carpenter looked better. Was it her tea? Would it have helped Ivett? Thanks to Bertram she would never know.
They had to see to poor Ivett’s fire today. Who else? Who was next?
They soon discovered that Norman the new reeve’s daughter, Ava, had fallen ill. They went to her right away and tended to her. After spending time with her, they left to retrieve another mixture Lily had at the shop that would keep Ava’s fever down. They returned to Norman’s and stayed with Ava and her family, feeding her sips of tea and keeping a cloth dipped in Lily’s new mixture on her forehead and neck.
While they were preparing to leave, they reminded her parents to continue giving her the teas and to keep fresh cloths where they were now. And to keep their hands clean.
Before they left, Ava’s sister, Emma, stepped forward and tugged on Lily’s sleeve. “Did you go check on Clare and little Eddie?”
“Not yet,” Lily answered. “We are going there now.”
Emma shook her head. “I do not think they are at home.”
When Elias bent to the girl, Lily’s heart pumped a little faster. “Where do ye think they are, lass?”
“London I heard him say.”
Lily’s belly began to quake and she felt ill. “Him who? Who do you mean?”
“A man. There was blood on him. It frightened me to look at him.”