Chapter Twenty-Two

Now that it was sunny, David had taken to showing Elena new parts of the estate every day, which meant lots of walking for him and Goliath, who often joined them. At first, she protested that it was too much for both of them, but David could be stubborn when he wanted to be. And he was more energetic and full of life in the country air, so how could she deny him? He said he was accepting his body as it was now, so she ought to trust him to know himself and his abilities.

One afternoon, she found herself out walking with the both of them. David had promised her some kind of a surprise, but he was being very intentionally mysterious about it.

"What is this plant? I have never seen it before." She bent to examine a bright yellow flower that opened before her eyes, briefly distracting her from this so-called mystery.

"That's the evening primrose. They usually only open at twilight, so either it's a little early today or later than I thought." David looked up at the sun in the sky and checked the shadows on the ground. Once he looked to be satisfied, he went on, "It's not native to the area. It was brought here from the Americas several hundred years ago. It took some time, but eventually, it put down roots, and now it thrives across the countryside." He plucked one flower and placed it behind her ear as she rose.

Elena touched the flower at her ear and looked up at him. "And how did that happen?"

"Good soil, nutrients, sun. A safe and welcoming environment allowed it to put down roots, stay, and thrive."

"An environment can do that, I suppose," she conceded, then went on. "But it's difficult to know if the environment will reject a plant, whether it will be ripped out by the roots again."

"I'm no horticulturist, but I've noticed that strong and resilient plants thrive in most places."

"You think I'm strong and resilient?"

"Ahh, you noticed my obvious metaphor." He chuckled.

She swatted him gently on the arm. "I always spot your metaphors, Husband. But you did not answer my question."

They had been strolling leisurely, but he rounded on her just then, forcing her to stop. "Of course I think you are strong and resilient." He brushed the flower lightly with his thumb. "Honestly, it was part of what drew me to you. You didn't give up on yourself despite everything that happened to you. And you didn't give up on me, even though I had given up on myself."

Elena's throat went dry, and she felt unsure what to say next. Fortunately, Goliath chose that moment to speed past them, clearly on the hunt for his quarry. David looked after him, a worried expression on his face. Against her will, Elena's heart melted. Her shields were growing perilously low these days. With David, she was finally realizing that perhaps she did not need any shields at all.

"He will come back when I call. I know he will," she reassured him, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from giving away how much his concern for Goliath touched her heart.

"That's because I trained him so well." David's worried expression quickly morphed into something like smug satisfaction.

"You? I was the one that saved him," Elena squeaked in mock indignation.

"I carried his mangled body back to our townhouse."

"This is silly. We both saved him. And Irene. And I know he will save us, too, in his own way."

"Well, he won't save that rabbit." He put his hand around her shoulders, and they slowly began walking again.

"He is just giving chase. He won't kill it. He doesn't kill for sport."

"He is a dog, Elena. I don't think he is that philosophical."

She hadn't been paying attention to where they were walking when she saw something in the distance she knew she had seen before, but she could not quite place it.

"What are those structures?"

"Ah, the surprise. Those house the skeps for bees."

"Bees?"

"You know, small insects? Tend to sting when provoked?"

"I know what a bee is, but why are you keeping bees?"

"For honey, of course. I don't much fancy being stung."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, twirling her around. The reckless energy that their bantering had spun was infectious, and she found herself laughing for the sheer joy of it, as if all those heavy things, all those thoughts that weighed her down all the time, just dissipated in the clear, crisp air. As the spinning slowed, she tried to catch her breath and listen to what he was saying.

"I'm keeping bees to make honey so you can make baklava and teach us to make it." He seemed almost as breathless as she felt. "Then we can have it out here anytime you want." He looked down as if he was thinking through what he would say next but then looked back up at her and said simply. "We can't let the candle be snuffed out."

Something in Elena's heart cracked open at that moment, possibly the last shards of ice. That feeling that everything would slip through her fingers in a second fell away. She suddenly saw her husband more clearly than ever before, even as they were twirling in a very undignified fashion on this country lane. She drew him to her, hugging him tightly, and held on for dear life. He brought his head down and kissed her for several moments. Thank you , she tried to say with the kiss. Thank you for not letting me forget my home and proving that not all memories must have sorrow. I see you, you wonderful man, and I never want to let you go. As their kiss intensified, his hands roamed to her backside, and he lifted her up to kiss her more deeply while keeping his hands in place.

"David, not here, the bees!"

"Hmmm, should we risk it? I think it would be worth getting stung." He found that spot on her neck that somehow drove out all rational thought, but again, they were interrupted by Goliath, who had come running back to bark at the bees.

"I'm not worried about us so much, but him."

David looked up to regard the dog. "That is true. Poor beast has not yet learned the wisdom of self-preservation." He turned his gaze from Goliath back to her. "Now that we have discovered the music room and the library, mayhap we ought to sample the outdoors?" He nuzzled her neck, sending jolts of pleasure straight through her entire being.

"How about somewhere away from stinging insects?"

"Where is your sense of adventure, my lady?" He set her down but held her hand in his as they began to walk again, with Goliath running just ahead of them.

"I have had enough adventure for one lifetime. I think I am ready for a quiet life," she grumbled.

"Not too quiet, not so quiet that you can't be slightly scandalous with me."

"No, not quite that quiet," she admitted. He looked rather pleased with himself at her response and glanced over toward the bees.

"You know, my mother used to tell me that, in olden days, the bees were seen as sacred. To some, bees were the link between our world and the spirits. So, if you had a message for the dead, you could also tell the bees. I like it much more than sitting at a gravestone, actually."

Elena thought about what she would want to say to her family, then, with a pang, realized deep down that she was starting to think of them as truly dead and gone. A profound sorrow tinged with a lightness that made her feel guilty gripped her heart.

To distance herself from her turbulent thoughts, she turned her head up to look at her husband. "What would you tell them, your parents?"

"I think I would tell them how much Irene has grown. That I'm trying to do my best." He looked down, and she could see he was really considering this, that despite his light tone, their loss weighed heavily on him.

She tightened her hold on his hand. "The Orthodox have a saying at funerals: may their memory be eternal."

"I like that. Very much." He paused again as if to collect his thoughts. "I think I would also tell them that I went to war rather recklessly, but thankfully, I came back mostly one in piece. And I might mention the strange foreign woman I brought back, who cast some kind of spell on me, making me her eternal servant."

"She sounds quite demanding, this foreign mistress," Elena offered, holding back a smile. "Oh, she can be a cruel taskmaster, making me save stray dogs, and—"

"Husband, Goliath will hear you!" She playfully tried to grab her hand away from his. He grasped her hand more firmly and drew it up to his lips. She felt the customary spark this action brought on and started to count the hours until they could be together that evening in her head. Lost in her counting, she saw Goliath headbutt David out of the corner of her eye.

"Steady on, old boy."

David held her hand up to Goliath, allowing him to sniff it. "I'm trying to watch over her, same as you." He leaned his cane against his side to ruffle Goliath's fur. "He's very protective of you. That might be a good thing, but I don't fancy him attacking me whenever we're feeling amorous."

She considered Goliath, who had come to sit in front of them. "I think we can train him not to headbutt you, yes? Although he might have just heard you complaining about him." She gave him a mischievous grin.

As they bantered and walked along in the fading sunshine, Elena reflected that the countryside might not be so bad if she could spend more days like this. However, she couldn't shake an unease, a sense that she was just missing something in the corner of her eye that she had first felt in London. She tried to convince herself that the eyes she felt watching her belonged to the animals that Goliath chased, but she could not rid herself of an inexplicable chill entirely at odds with the warmth of the late afternoon sun.

****

Over time, she came to see that the tenants respected David's family because they saw them as not so far from them, perhaps because of their roots in the merchant class. His family was known throughout the area as generous and attentive landlords. This general goodwill eventually extended to Elena, negating her fears that she would be reviled as a foreign witch. They still stared occasionally, but almost everyone she met with was friendly, and Elena's worries eventually disappeared. As David predicted, most regarded him as good-natured but slightly eccentric, so marrying a strange, foreign woman was not so surprising. They seemed excited that the hospital would create new jobs, as well as new places to sell food and goods. Elena was happy she could help to contribute to David's community, perhaps in a way she would not have had the power to do so in her life before.