“That’s three questions.”
“Should I pick one?” she said with irritation staining her voice.
“It doesn’t matter. The answer will be the same for all. I don’t know why the brooch went to you. There may be no reason at all. But I do know the knights will find out it was you, and you will no doubt tell them it was me who stole the brooch. I will find you another way.” His smile was riddled with deceit. “I like a challenge. But there is a rule. You must go back exactly as you came. Nothing new in your hair or on your fingernails, else it will not bring you to the time you left.”
She nodded and he left. She sat alone in the solar for a little while wishing Nicholas was here. But he wasn’t. He stayed away and she grew angrier with him each day.
The next afternoon, Elia came for a visit, escorted by one of Nicholas’ soldiers. She brought news of Cook’s gratitude to her for a cartload filled with vegetables, spices, and some beef all the way from Scotland. All Kes’ friends were well and wished her well.
“Nicholas has been unbearable.” Elia let her know. “Walking around growling at everyone like a wounded bear. Even the king has left him alone.”
“It was his choice to go.”
“Because you are choosing to go, Kes. Why should he risk his heart and his life when he must return to battle?”
Kes lifted her hands to her mouth, but she still gasped. “Oh! He is returning to that horror.” She returned to a seat by the hearth. “I had put it out of my mind.”
“’Tis always difficult to see him leave,” Elia agreed.
“I can’t stay here, Elia,” Kes told her. “What would I do here?”
The pretty head maid smiled softly. “Hopefully, raise his children. From what I have seen, ’tis a difficult endeavor.”
Kes groaned. Oh, children. There weren’t any contraceptives back here. Nothing like morphine or whatever they give to delivering moms. “How do they do it?”
“I do not know how they do it anywhere else, but here, all the women come together as a family and help her deliver.”
“That sounds nice. Still painful though,” Kes sighed. “And my father—he probably thinks I’m dead or kidnapped. I’m all he had left, Elia. I don’t think he would want to go on anymore.”
“I’m sure he is stronger than you think.”
“He’s already lost my mother.” Kes hugged herself and stared into the flames of the hearth. “I miss him so much.”
“Why do you not tell me about him?” Elia said and sat in the chair opposite her. “It will help you remember him.”
“I don’t want to remember him,” Kes cried. “I want to see him.”
“There now, I’m sure you will. He sounds like a very strong, determined man to raise a daughter on his own.”
“He was. He is.” Kes let her know. “And patient.”
“Ah, a most important trait to possess.”
“Yes,” Kes agreed. She liked Elia. They got along well from the very beginning. “He is quite handsome, too, Elia. Perhaps a few years older than you.”
Kes told Elia about her father and her roommates. She didn’t remember much of her mother, just the memories her father had built for her over the years. She had learned to love those memories as they were all she had. Many times though, Elia had made her feel like a daughter.
“I will miss you, Elia.”
The maid’s hazel eyes filled with tears. “And I will miss you, Kes.”
They both smiled and wiped their eyes.
“Now, tell me. How badly is he suffering?”
Elia threw herself back into her chair and gave Kes an exhausted look. “He has never been this bad. I found a place for Reg and his family to live and they have been moving their things out. All the coming and going is driving him mad. He is somber and brooding all the time. The servants tell me he is awake all night walking the outer walls. I must tell you, Kes. I have never known him to be so affected by anyone.”
“He will forget me.”