Riverbreeze: Part 1 (13 page)

Robert just shrugged his shoulders. With a
little smile, he said, “What are big brothers for?”

Roger just shook his head at him. “Does he
realize how lucky he is?”

“He does.” Robert answered simply,
remembering how Jamie had practically kissed his feet when he had
offered to partially finance the purchase of the two horses. Owning
and keeping horses was a pure luxury and without Robert’s help,
Jamie would have had to wait at least two more years to start to
fill his stables.

“I’m glad to hear that because you did him a
great favor.” Roger said emphatically, making Robert chuckle to
himself. “Can you handle Robin or do you want me to carry him
inside for you?”

“Just let me stand up first and then I’ll
take him. And Roger…” He placed his hand on Roger’s shoulder.
“William will be fine.”

“Thank you, Rob.” Robert said with a nod of
gratitude.

* * *

Robert entered the back door straight into
the kitchen where he was hoping he wouldn’t meet up with any of the
guests. And just as he had expected there were only two people in
the room; Maureen, his sister-in-law, and the female servant,
Sally. Both of them were at the opposite side of the kitchen,
facing away from the door. Maureen was filling pewter mugs with ale
from a small keg on the sideboard and placing them on the tray that
Sally was holding.

The sight of the back of Maureen always
shocked Robert for a split second; she resembled his late wife so
much from that position. Both were petite, at least a foot shorter
than Robert, slim in the waist and curvy in the hips. The color of
their hair was almost identical, a rich dark brown; and Robert
remembered how much he used to love to bury his nose into
Kathleen’s hair right at the nape of her neck, right after she had
washed and dried it by the fire. It had smelled so fresh and clean
and…He had to stop thinking of that. Robert knew she was gone
forever, just as he knew Maureen would never replace Kathleen.
Maureen was his sister too and she was very much married with four
young children.

Nevertheless, caught off guard, the grief of
missing his wife washed over him as it had so many times before. It
wasn’t as bad as it used to be those first few months, but he
wondered if he would ever be able to remember her without feeling
some pain. Probably not, but it was good to see Maureen again
despite the memories she invoked in him.

He had always gotten along with her. When he
and Jamie had first arrived here as bedraggled youths she had
followed her father’s gentle ways and treated them like brothers.
There had been no jealousy or resentment, and Robert would always
be grateful to her for that.

“I’ll be right with you.” She said, over her
shoulder, but didn’t look back. Obviously she had heard the two
thumps from Robert’s stick as he had only taken two steps into the
room.

However, Sally did take a peek over her
shoulder. Her face lit up when she saw him and she opened her mouth
to say something, but he wanted to surprise Maureen so he quickly
put a finger in front of his lips to keep her quiet. She closed her
mouth, nodding a little so as not to alert Maureen. She turned back
to her duties, trying to suppress her smile.

Robert waited patiently, taking off his hat
and hanging it on a peg by the door before leaning against the
doorjamb to give his leg a rest while Maureen continued with her
task. Thankfully, Robin stayed quiet too, laying his head on
Robert’s shoulder, sucking his thumb.

And then she turned around and saw him. Her
eyes went wide and a broad smile bloomed on her face. He couldn’t
help but smile in return. It was so very good to see her again; he
didn’t know why he had stayed away so long.

She quickly ordered Sally to return to the
guests and then she moved towards him, her arms outstretched.

“Robert!” She shrieked. “I am ever so glad
you came! We’ve missed you terribly. Father will be quite pleased,
and look at little Robin.” She exclaimed. “He has gotten so
big!”

Robert felt an immediate surge of compassion
and concern for her. Even though her face was alight with pleasure
at the sight of him, her happiness could not hide the dark circles
of tiredness under her eyes or the wilting state of her hair-do.
But that didn’t slow her down. She reached up on her tiptoes to
kiss his clean-shaven cheek and he hugged her tight with his free
arm, saying, “I have missed you too, Maureen.” And then because he
hadn’t been here for so long, he said politely, “You’re looking
well.”

“Me?” She scoffed. “Liar! If you think I’m
looking well then I think you’ve been without a woman too long,
Robert.”

He stiffened, ready to defend himself.
Actually it hadn’t been that long, only a month, but she didn’t
know that.

Not expecting a response, she immediately
reached for the little boy, cooing, “Come here my baby, come to
Auntie Mo. That’s it…Shhh…’tis all right.” She murmured when he
started to whimper. “Let us take him upstairs where he can nap with
my brood.” She said, after she had taken Robin into her capable
hands.

Now Robert did respond, becoming the younger
brother again. “I was only trying to be polite. To be honest, you
look a little tired. Are you all right?”

“That’s more like it.” She laughed, smiling
into his eyes. “I am tired, but I shall be fine, especially when
everyone goes home. But what about you?” She asked, noticing how he
winced when he put his full weight on his leg and that he was using
his cane. “Did you hurt your leg again?”

“’Tis probably nothing more than a sprain. I
twisted it last eve when I stepped into a rabbit hole.” He didn’t
mention anything about falling off the horse.

“Come upstairs and I’ll take a look at it…if
you can manage it.” She said with a teasing smile.

“I can manage it, and I can probably still
beat you too.”

She laughed gaily. He had taken the bait. “If
I wasn’t carrying Robin, I’d take you up on that…Is he weaned yet?”
She asked suddenly. Robin was still squirming and whimpering,
rubbing his face on Maureen’s shoulder, displeased with the
juggling and being passed from one person to another when all he
wanted to do was sleep. “I could feed him to settle him down, you
know. I have plenty of milk since my Thomas hasn’t nursed in over
three hours.”

“Ah…” Robert was a little startled by the
shift in conversation. “Not quite yet, but he seems to be losing
interest. Abby still nurses him before bedtime and again in the
morning. She spoils him, you know.”

“I doubt that. But I’ll give him a try; see
if he takes it.” She said, proceeding to climb the stairs, shushing
and comforting the little boy with pats on his back and soft,
soothing words in his ear.

Robert tried his damnedest to follow right
behind her, but he had to grit his teeth with every step on his bad
leg. Maureen was already at the top of the stairs when she turned
around to see him gripping the handrail with one hand and holding
the knob of his stick so tight with the other that his knuckles had
turned white. Even though she could see that he was in considerable
pain, she knew he wouldn’t want any sympathy. With an impish tilt
to her head, she called down, “I’m beating you.”

He looked up at her with a wry smile. “I’ll
give you this one. Next time though…go on, I’ll meet you in your
old room.”

“Are you sure?” She asked, concerned.

“I’m sure.” He said through his teeth. His
leg ached so badly now he could barely put any weight on it. And it
irked the hell out of him to be so lame again.

“All right.” She said, knowing his pride. And
she disappeared down the hall.

By the time Robert arrived, Maureen was
sitting on the edge of the massive paneled bed, Robert’s little boy
at her breast. He stopped short in the doorway; he didn’t think he
should watch, but he wanted to. He could just imagine how it would
have been if his wife had lived. They would have looked like this,
Kathleen and their baby, their son…he grieved again at what he had
missed.

Robin was lying on his side across her lap,
his legs curled around her body, almost looking too big to still be
nursing. She was humming a sweet song Robert didn’t know and she
was stroking his son’s blond curls. Her face was suffused with love
and contentment. He had never seen her so peaceful before. She was
fairly glowing as she watched her sister’s son, and with the
lightest of touches, she traced his fair eyebrows, his eyelashes,
his baby soft cheeks and then the delicate line of his small ear.
The little boy was so sleepy and content, he didn’t move at all,
except every few moments his blue eyes would open to try to focus
of Maureen’s face, so trusting and innocent; but then they would
close again as they grew heavier and heavier. His mouth was fused
tight around her nipple and at first he had suckled vigorously,
then slower and slower as her milk came in and he grew sleepier and
sleepier.

“Do come in, Robert.” Maureen said evenly,
without reproach.

He jerked as if spooked and his cheeks burned
with embarrassment. And he was more than grateful to her for not
lifting her gaze. She probably had known all along that he had been
watching but she had allowed him that private time to share in the
moment without shame or embarrassment. She kept her head down to
give him time to compose himself.

He slowly limped to the foot of the large
bed. This was the bedchamber where Maureen and Kathleen had slept
when they were growing up. There was the large oak bedstead in the
center of the room that they had shared, the velvet bedclothes
still looking luxurious despite their age. There was a large
intricately carved, oak chest on the other wall, three modest
trunks that Robert didn’t recognize, a wash stand with bowl and
pitcher, one oak wainscot chair and a stool. There were velvet
curtains on the two dormer windows and two small woven rugs, one on
either side of the bed. Tyler had indulged his daughters as much as
he could when furnishing this room.

“I am sorry, Maureen. Forgive me for
staring.” He said softly.

She just smiled sadly, still cuddling the
boy, still stroking him. And then he saw a single tear appear at
the corner of her eye and slip unheeded down her cheek. She didn’t
brush it away; she welcomed the feel of it as she lamented, “I only
wish…”

She didn’t have to finish the sentence.
Robert swallowed a lump in his own throat, knowing exactly what she
wished. Hadn’t he wished for the same thing a hundred times before,
wished that his wife had never died, wished that she could have
held her son thusly, wished that she could have watched her son
grow? And then the anger returned and he pressed his lips together
and his hand clenched into a fist. And hadn’t he cursed God a
thousand times over for taking her away from him and her little
boy?

The lad had finally fallen completely asleep,
his mouth going slack, her wet nipple slipping from his foamy
milk-covered lips. Maureen efficiently covered herself with a towel
she kept handy at all times, saying, “Robert, take him please and
lay him down. He’s gotten so heavy.”

Robert was right there, lifting Robin easily
so Maureen could get up. She adjusted her bodice with her back
turned to Robert as he settled Robin on the bed next to Maureen’s
three-year-old boy.

She said, “Promise me you won’t keep him away
so long. I miss seeing him grow.”

“I promise.”

Three of her four children were napping in
the room, her five-year-old daughter, Martha, was sleeping on the
trundle bed while the two boys, three-year-old Phillip and
ten-month-old, Thomas, slept on this large bed in the middle of the
room. ‘
Tis a miracle they
haven’t woken up
, Robert thought. Maureen’s
seven-year-old daughter, Mary, he assumed was downstairs with the
female guests. “How did you manage to get them all to lie down at
once and actually go to sleep?” He asked with some wonderment in
his voice.

She chuckled. “Little Thomas fussed all last
night, keeping us all awake. He’s getting another tooth. Do come
and sit down now, Rob, and let me look at that leg.”

He knew he couldn’t stop her. She was the
kind of woman who took care of everyone else and received pleasure
from it. She was made for mothering, for serving a husband, for
managing a household and she was exceedingly good at it.

After he sat in the only chair, she sat on
the small stool, facing him. “How is father?” He asked.

She frowned, her fingers gone still in the
act of pulling Robert’s boot off. “He is not well at all.” Looking
up at him with sad eyes, she said softly, “I’m worried, Robert,
extremely worried.”

“Has he been sick for long? Have you sent for
anyone?” He asked, concern creasing his brow.

“Doctor Harris came yesterday.” Maureen
answered. “He treated him with an emetic, then bled him. And he
bled him again this morning, but it seems not to have revived
him.”

“He bled him twice!” Robert cried, outraged.
“That no-good, filthy idiot! You know how I feel about that!”

“Shh…you’ll wake the children.” Maureen
warned him, her voice hard. “And what does it matter how you feel,
you haven’t been here to care for him, have you?” She ended on a
cruel note.

Robert’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry,
Maureen. You’re right. I am sorry.” He repeated, lowering his
voice, looking over at the children to make sure they were still
sleeping. They were. In a more controlled voice, he asked, “Did the
doctor even say what he thinks it is?”

“He believes it is an ague, possibly the
nervous fever.” She answered. Then more contrite. “I’m sorry for
snapping at you, Rob, and I’m hugely glad you came today. ‘Tis just
that I am so afraid…”

“I know, I know.” Robert said, leaning
forward to squeeze Maureen’s hand. Then he sighed, saying, “I do
wish Mistress Warren hadn’t had that awful accident. Maybe she
could have helped. She saved my life, you know, when my leg was so
badly inflamed and I was delirious with fever.” Robert had always
respected Beatrice Warren with her gentle ways and her herbal
remedies. She would be sorely missed.