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“It is plain on your face for anyone to see.”
“No one looks as closely as you do.”
“More fools them.” Reena reached out and placed a gentle hand on her friend’s arm. “Tell me.”
Brigid looked around the great hall. Servants scurried about in preparation for the evening meal several hours away, while the Legend’s warriors wandered in and out to talk and drink. Those guarding the posts ate when time allowed. With the constant activity, there was little privacy.
“We could go to my bedchamber,” Reena suggested, realizing the reason for Brigid’s hesitation.
“Why not the tower room?” Brigid asked, and a slow smile warmed her face.
Reena had to agree. Brigid had worked hard to convert the empty, cold room into one of warmth and welcome. Magnus had even been stunned when he had first seen the results of Brigid’s efforts. The task had served her well, for it had kept her busy, leaving little time to think of Kilkern. Thomas had remained a constant at her side and had helped her with the work in the room.
Together, along with Horace, Reena and Brigid climbed the stairs to the tower room and settled in the comfortable wooden chairs with plush dark green velvet seats that were grouped in front of the small fireplace. Wooden chests, a table and chairs, tapestries covering the walls and windows to help block the cold, and a plethora of candles had turned the barren room into a comfortable sanctuary.
“Tell me,” Reena urged, eager to help set her friend’s mind at ease.
Horace gave one loud bark, then settled himself in front of the hearth, his attention on Brigid as though he waited to hear her words as well.
Brigid laughed and rubbed his head, then turned her glance on Reena. “I loved my husband very much.”
“Everyone knows that.”
Brigid rubbed her hands together in worry. “I thought with a love that strong I could never possibly love another.”
Reena suddenly realized what troubled Brigid. She remained silent, allowing her to voice her concerns.
“John invaded my every waking thought and often my sleep as well. I could think of nothing but him, the love we shared, the plans we had made, the children that I would never have, but recently—” She stopped and shook her head, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. “I have not thought of him; I think of another.”
“This is good,” Reena said, leaning forward to comfort and encourage her friend with a squeeze of her arm.
“Nay,” Brigid snapped. “How could it be good? If I truly loved my husband, how could I so soon love another?”
“Do you not see,” Reena said. “It is because you loved John so strongly that you can love another. You learned what true love really is and would not dare settle for anything less. You know it and feel it in your heart. John had a good, loving soul as you do, and two loving souls cannot help but love deeply. Thomas has a good, loving soul, and that is why you have fallen in love with him.”
Brigid gasped. “You know?”
Reena grinned. “I have watched you both fall in love in front of my eyes.”
“You think Thomas loves me?”
Reena looked at her oddly. “Has he not told you of his love?”
“Nay, he has made no mention of it. He has not even kissed me, though his touch is gentle, but that is only when he offers help. And then I think perhaps that is why I feel this way about him, he protects me and is good to me.”
“Like your husband was to you.”
Brigid smiled through her tears. “Thomas is actually more tolerant of me than John was. He bakes bread with me and enjoys it. John would never have helped with women’s work.” Tears ran down her face. “But that made no difference, for I loved John.”
“You loved him for who he was, and Thomas loves you for who you are, just as you love him for who he is.” She thought of the advice she offered her friend and thought it was good advice for herself in dealing with the Legend side of Magnus. If she was falling in love with Magnus, then she was falling in love with the Legend as well, and she would need to accept him for who he was.
“He is not big and ugly as some whisper,” Brigid said adamantly in defense of Thomas. She wiped at her tears and giggled. “I like that I can step behind him and no one can see me, and he lifts me with but one arm, yet he is gentle in his enormous strength.”
Reena sat back in her chair, bringing her legs up to tuck beneath her. “I am happy for you and Thomas. You are both good people and deserve to love.”
Brigid shook her head slowly. “But he has made no mention of love to me. I have only realized my feelings toward him and—”
Reena waited, knowing her friend had difficulties with her feelings because she felt she betrayed her dead husband.
