Whatever it was had to end. Not only because of Richard, but because of her vows before God.
“Will you pardon me? I forgot to ask Father Benedict something.”
She broke away from him before he could answer. She hated being rude or unkind but he was too dangerous. He tempted her to stare at his lips and wonder what it would be like to kiss him—at his hands and long, broad fingers and think about his callused palms running down her back.
She needed to get back to the shop and to work.
She needed to put Elias MacPherson out of her thoughts.
She needed a distraction until he left.
Chapter Three
“Aye, Brother,” said Richard the apothecary to Simon from his place at the long trestle table where he sat with eight other men, including Father Benedict and Osbert the reeve. After Osbert had spoken to Richard, he requested all the men in the village to meet at his home.
Richard invited his guests. No one complained.
“Marseille in Provence was the first place in France to be hit. They are calling it the Black Death.”
Elias closed his eyes and said another silent prayer for his French brothers.
Ivett, the reeve’s wife, tapped him on the shoulder, interrupting his prayers. “More wine, sir?”
He shook his head and let his gaze settle on Lily standing beside her husband’s chair.
“If word of this spreads,” Osbert warned, “people will grow terrified and everything will be worse. You men tell your wives the virus has been contained.”
“The truth of it is,” the reeve continued, passing them all a grave look. “Losses in Italy, France, and even Spain are too numerous to count. There is word that the sickness set down in the port cities, Genoa, Messina, and Marseille. Just to name a few. So no one knows where it came from. There is no sign, so far, that it has come to England.”
“But it most likely will,” said Norman, a baker and one of Osbert’s appointed officials, as he brought his shaking hands to his lips. “I have two little girls.”
Lily rested her hand on his shoulder and cast her husband a somber gaze.
“Is there a way to stop it?” Elias asked, thinking of his kin in Invergarry. How long until it reached the Highlands? “If there is a way, I will help.”
As always, Elias was the first to volunteer to take down any enemy. If there were no enemies in the Highlands, he’d find some in England.
Everyone turned to him and Richard smiled and nodded. “Kind of you, Elias.”
Richard looked around the room. “No one knows how ‘tis spread,” the apothecary continued, taking over, knowing more about this part of the sickness. “But so far, we have learned that symptoms are fever, expulsion of stomach matter, bleeding from the eyes, nose, or mouth, in some cases, blackening of flesh to the limbs and fingers, and in most cases, death. Once affected, death is usually very swift. One to three days.”
Lily followed Father Benedict and Simon when they made the sign of the cross.
“Ye say most cases,” Elias said. “What d’ye know aboot the ones who live?”
“Nothing,” Richard told him. “‘Tis happening too quickly. But I will do my best to find what we need to destroy this unseen enemy.”
Elias nodded and raised his cup with the others to Richard Bennett and all his endeavors. They all prayed silently for protection.
“London is a port city,” Martin Miller said. “Will the king not stop trade until this pestilence is gone?”
Osbert gave the miller a cynical look. “There is too much coin to be had in trade. Even if he does stop it, there are merchants here who would take bribes. If the pestilence is coming to England, nothing will stop it.”
“Thankfully, we are a small village in comparison to the other towns and cities,” Osbert told them. “We must not allow anyone in from the south, east, or west.” He eyed Elias and Simon. “You say you came from the north?”
“From the Highlands, “ Simon informed. “We have been nowhere east, west, or south of here.”
“Very well,” Osbert announced. “I will take you at your word because Father Benedict assures me you are a man of God. But no one else is to enter the village. If someone has a family anywhere below us, near any of the cities, they may not enter. Our neighbor may leave and go with them, but they shall not return. The messengers are due here tonight, so I suggest if any of you have letters you wish to send, begin writing them now. After tonight there will be no contact.”