Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 101336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“I have received no word about Leora yet and Elsie is fine as is your da,” he said and set the small crock of honey on the table, then pulled the bench around to sit closer to her at the table.
“Then what is it? Your hesitance to tell me is causing me alarm.”
Sky’s worry made the decision for Slayer since lies would serve no good purpose here. She deserved to hear the truth.
“This is not easy news, Sky, but you have a right to know,” he said and began to explain. “News arrived from the Lowlands. Years ago, there was a group of Lowland women who offered help to women in trouble, women who gave birth to unwanted bairns for one reason or another. Homes were found for the bairns with families in the Highlands so they would be safe, and no one could find them. But the past has caught up to the deed and now someone is searching for a female bairn taken at birth and given away. It is believed that she belongs to a prominent aristocratic family from the Lowlands. Who searches for her and why is not yet known. Two varied reasons could be made for why the now-grown woman is of interest to someone. The most prominent reason would be fear of what she could inherit, a fortune perhaps, if she were discovered. Or the need to find her so someone can inherit a fortune.”
“What does this have to do with me?” Sky asked.
If she gave it thought, Slayer had no doubt she would have the answer for herself, though the disbelief or pain of such news might have her turning a blind eye to it.
He didn’t wait, he spoke the words that would bring everything she thought she knew about herself crashing down around her. “Your da and your mum took in three of those unwanted bairns and raised them as their own daughters.”
Sky’s eyes turned wide, and she slowly shook her head at the shocking news. “It is not true. It cannot be true.” She continued to argue against it. “It cannot be possible. It cannot be. My mum and da would never have kept something like that from me and my sisters. And Elsie and Leora are my sisters and my mum and da are my parents. Someone made a mistake.” Sky sat staring but seeing nothing, her mind scrambling to try and make sense of what she’d been told.
Slayer remained silent, letting her be, letting her think through the alarming news. And feeling an unusual need to comfort her, when he never offered comfort to anyone, he took her hand and gently applied honey to her raw blisters.
His touch was tender and oddly enough comforting to Sky and the shock began to slowly dissipate, leaving her to absorb the ramifications of what it all meant.
“This means I truly do not have a family. My parents are not my parents, and my sisters are not my sisters.” She shook her head. “Nay, my sisters will always be my sisters whether we share the same blood or not, and my parents as well. But this leaves me wondering who I truly am.”
Tears began to surface in her eyes. Women’s tears had once irritated Slayer, until he learned to ignore them, give them no credence, care nothing about them. Women either used tears to manipulate and get what they wanted or shed them out of weakness. Yet he thought neither of those when he saw the tears in Sky’s eyes. Her tears upset him and caused an ache in his chest, and he wanted to spare her the pain, take it from her, and stop her suffering.
She rested her hand on his arm as one tear slipped out and rolled down along her cheek. “I know I did not lose my parents or my sisters, but why does it feel as if I suffer their loss?”
He had no answer for her just as he had no answer as to why he hurt so much for her. Why did he want so desperately to stop her suffering? It overwhelmed him and forced him to respond without thought. He stood, scooped her up into his arms and walked to the bed with her to sit and cradle her in his lap, holding her tight against him as if somehow his body could take the pain from her.
Sky pressed her face against Slayer’s chest and let a few tears fall softly. She lingered there, feeling safe and comfortable and cared for, though Slayer would deny it. He was doing what he believed was his duty to her as a husband. But he would be wrong. She felt it in the way he kept her tucked close against him, in the way his arms restrained her not with force but with tender firmness, in the way he let her shed her tears on his shirt, and the way he rested his cheek on top of her head. He was there for her, trying to keep her pain at bay and letting her know she was not alone.