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One last firm hug and the women parted, Thomas coming around the curve just as Brigid disappeared from sight.
“You are well?” Thomas asked, stopping beside her.
Reena was grateful for caring friends. “Aye, I am fine. It is Brigid who worries more than I.”
“She worries over you, though she need not, but then memories haunt her. Time will help heal her pain.”
“Love will help heal her pain.”
Thomas nodded, and a touch of sadness filled his voice. “Aye, she will find someone to love her, and she will be happy.” He raised a beefy fist. “And he best be good to her or else.”
Reena smiled. “Oh, I have a feeling that the man who captures her heart will treat her like a princess. Would you not treat her such?”
Thomas lowered his fist and his voice. “I would treat her like a queen and love her with all my heart and be forever grateful she was mine. And I would allow no one—no one—to hurt her.”
Reena had no time to comment, as a shout for Thomas’s help from the tower room had him fast turning around and rushing up the steps. She would make certain Brigid learned of how Thomas felt, and she continued down the steps to Magnus’s solar.
She did not go far when she ran into Brigid, who had tears streaming down her cheeks. “Thomas does care for me.”
“You heard,” Reena said with joy. It was better she heard from Thomas himself than from someone else. His own words would have more impact, and they certainly had.
Brigid wiped at her wet cheeks. “He cares for me, I cannot believe it.”
Reena shook her head. “He more than cares for you; he loves you. Did you not hear him say he would treat you like a queen and love you with all his heart?”
Footsteps on the stone staircase caught their attention, and they could detect from the raised voices that it was Magnus and Thomas who approached. A bark alerted them that Horace followed.
Brigid attempted to wipe away her tears, but she was not fast enough. Thomas immediately saw that she was upset and hurried to her side. Reena had to brace herself against the stone wall to allow the large man to pass by in a rush.
“What is wrong?” he asked, his arm going instinctively and protectively around her. Horace snuggled against her leg as if he understood she needed loving.
Brigid attempted a smile, and it settled naturally on her lovely face. “Nothing, I was merely concerned with Reena’s well-being.”
“She is fine,” Thomas assured her.
He looked to Reena to confirm his words and ease Brigid’s worry, and her heart went out to the large man with the many scars. He had a big heart, and he had given it to her dearest friend.
“I feel wonderful,” Reena said and threw her arms wide, though when she caught the look on Magnus’s face she wondered how long her wonderful feeling would last.
“I go to bring the food for the men,” Brigid said, her glance set on Thomas.
The couple left without a word to Reena or Magnus, Horace close behind, the wordfoodhaving caught his attention.
“Tell me,” Magnus said, walking over to Reena and bracing his hand on the wall beside her head. “Do you ever get to your destination without a challenge arising?”
She turned a smile on him that stunned his heart. “Challenges make life interesting.”
He pointed down the steps. “To my solar, where challenges will definitely prove to be interesting.”
She took the steps without trepidation. Magnus would tell her of his mother or he would not. The choice was his, though she knew that a secret long kept carried burdens that often needed lifting. He could trust her with any secret, for she would take it to her grave if he asked.
She went to the hearth, bright with flames, and reached her hands out to warm them. Magnus closed the door and walked up behind her. To her surprise, he slipped his arms around her waist.
He would touch her in ways that surprised and pleased her, a simple touch to her arm, holding her hand, a hug that brought them close, a gentle kiss, a brush of his cheek against hers and a kiss that stole her breath. And it had her growing all the more confused with him and her own emotions. What developed between them? Was this mix of confusing emotions love? Was the indecisiveness of how to handle it all part of love, or were her own doubts interfering? And was now the time to be thinking of such matters when she was eager to hear about his mother?
“Silence is not something I often find you practicing.”
“I wait for you to speak.” She placed a warm hand on his arm, more out of instinct, since of late she reached out to him without thought to her action. “Though I do offer my apologies for reading a page from your mother’s journal. Had I known it belonged to her I would have respected her privacy.”
