She kissed Eddie and he squealed with laughter, so she did it again and again.
With his hand on her belly, Elias looked amazed and laughed. “This one has a temper!”
The babe kicked against his hand and then stretched its leg and pressed its tiny foot to Lily’s belly. She told Elias what his bairn was doing and he chased Alan out, pulled her and Eddie to the back room, and lifted her skirts over her belly to see the outline of the babe’s foot.
Elias made a small sound in the back of his throat and then fell before her on his knees. He placed his hands on her bare belly, on the foot, and let her skirts fall back down over his arms.
“Good mornin’, babe,” he whispered close. “‘Tis I, yer father.”
Eddie squirmed in Lily’s arms and reached down, almost hanging upside-down, to touch her belly, too.
They fussed over both of their children and then continued on with the day.
No one had fallen ill with the pestilence again after Brother Simon had died. It was over. For them.
Elias’ cousin, Tristan, had returned a few months back and let them know that the plague was still rampaging through some cities. He’d killed the bishop, but Bertram had escaped him.
Tristan had vowed to hunt him down and kill him, and Elias promised to kill him the instant he showed his face here.
But he hadn’t shown up. Perhaps he had finally given up trying to ruin her life. She didn’t know, but she always carried her knives with her.
Elias straightened and dipped his head to kiss her. “Did ye sleep well, my love?”
“I would have if our babe had slept,” she told him with a little laugh.
“Good morning,” Eleanor called out from the front of the shop.
Lily hurried around to see her and they spoke about the children and about food, and sewing. Elias smiled every once in awhile when he caught her eyes.
He finished mashing up some coriander and put it into a square piece of cloth, then wrapped it up with twine. “Alan wanted this and I forgot to give it to him after my bairn interrupted me. I will go take it to him.”
Lily nodded and continued talking to Eleanor for another quarter of an hour. She didn’t see two mounted riders passing the other houses and coming toward the shop.
When she did, she grabbed Eddie and ran outside for Annabelle and Terrick.
“Pardon us,” said the first rider, an old man beneath a dark brown hood. He sat upon an older mare. The rider behind him also wore a hooded mantle but Lily could see a hint of a chestnut braid falling over a delicate shoulder.
“What do you want?” Lily didn’t care about being polite. She’d been through too much to trust anyone she didn’t know.
“We are looking for the village of Sevenoaks,” said the old man. “We received a letter several months ago claiming my daughter, Lily, lived here. I have not seen her in nine years.Please, Miss, if you know of her, tell me where I might find her. We have been traveling for a while now and I hope we are finally in the right place.”
Lily’s knees shook beneath her. Was it…? She drew in a deep gasp and took a step forward. She held her hand up to her brow for shade against the sun and gave the old man a more careful looking over. It was her father. Was it possible?
“Aye. You have the right place, Papa.”
The woman with him pulled back her hood and leaped from her saddle. “Lily?”
Her half-sister. “Sarah?”
They both began to cry but Lily reached for her father as he dismounted. She never dared to dream of seeing him again.
“Lily?” his weak voice called out as he pushed back his hood. “Is that you, my sweet Lily of the valley?”
“Papa, you are alive. ‘Tis you. ‘Tis you!” She fell into his arms and wept into his shoulder.
Then she stepped back and drew her half-sister in for a long, tearful embrace.
When she withdrew, she saw that Eleanor had been joined by Father Benedict, Norman and Hild. They had all come out of their homes to see who the riders were.