“Innocent?” Sin asked Draven. “Remember that time he shot the bear with an arrow?”
Draven snorted. “Remember it? I am still scarred from it. And what of the wolf?”
Sin snorted, then lowered his voice to a child’s falsetto. “Look, Draven and Sin, I found a puppy.”
“A puppy with an angry mother.”
“Oh wonderful,” Simon said sarcastically. “Now why on earth did I want to put the two of you together again? I recant my words. Go back to your sullenness. Both of you.”
Emily hugged Simon and squeezed his arm. “Poor Simon, ever the brunt of it.”
Shifting Jamie’s weight in his arms, Simon glanced at Callie and by the look on his face, she knew he was remembering her trick of tying him to the bed. “You’ve no idea, Em.”
Callie blushed furiously.
Emily reached out and took Callie’s hand. “Come inside and let us see to a bed for your brother and a hot meal and rest for you and your husband.”
There was an open and kind air about Emily of Ravenswood. One that made Callie feel instantly at home. Though she didn’t know the woman at all, she felt a kinship with her.
As soon as they were inside, the toddler kicked his father and demanded to be put down. “Hen, stay close.”
The boy ran to the hearth and gathered an armful of toys, then ran to Callie to show her each one of them. He garbled and cooed at her in rapid succession but she only caught a word or two of his speech.
“He’s telling you that his grandfather bought the horse at Ransock’s faire where he got to play with a monkey.”
Callie laughed. “Ah, that makes much more sense. How old is he?”
“A year and a half.”
“When is the next due?”
“Within a month, I think.”
Callie stared at Emily’s plump belly with a touch of envy, and she wondered if she might have already conceived from her wedding night. It would be wonderful to have a child growing inside her. To feel the small fluttering of the baby and know it was hers to love...
She couldn’t wait for the day.
Hen pulled at Callie’s sleeve, wanting into her lap. Without hesitation, she set him there and let him continue to show her his toys.
Sin watched the natural way Callie coddled the babe and his heart ached. He couldn’t count the times as a child he had done just as Hen did, only instead of a welcoming hug, he had been knocked aside for daring to reach out.
Breathing deeply, he looked around the great hall. It was so strange to be back after all these years.
He couldn’t remember the times he had been pinned before that same hearth while Harold maliciously beat him for any number of imagined reasons. In those days, the hall had been bleak and dark.
Now it was painted and welcoming. He barely recognized it. Even the dais with the lord’s table had been moved to a different wall.
Still, he knew this place. Felt the haunted memories of the past stirring. Painful, bitter memories he had spent his entire life trying to bury.
Draven placed a hand on his shoulder.
Instinctively, Sin started to knock it away, but forced himself to endure it. There was much about Draven that reminded him of Harold. The same dark hair, the same features and height. The only difference was in the eyes. Harold’s had been cruel and brown while Draven possessed the light blue, kind eyes of his mother.
“The ghosts of the past are hard to exorcize, aren’t they?”
Sin nodded at Draven’s question. “I’m amazed you can live here.”
“In truth, I only existed here until my wife forced herself upon me.”
