Riverbreeze: Part 2 (61 page)

Robert grinned at her again. “I noticed.” He said suggestively, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Come here again and let me hold you for just a minute before you get dressed.”

“All right.” She agreed indulgently, rolling her eyes at him, but eagerly stepped between his spread legs and leaned into his warm body. She supposed she had a minute or two to linger, and their earlier embrace had gotten interrupted.

He was wearing a nightshirt, but it was bunched up around his hips and she could feel his slightly warmer privy parts against her stomach. She didn’t mind and relaxed into his strong arms, laying her head on his shoulder. He smelled slightly of the lavender water she had sprinkled the sheets with. His arms felt wonderful around her, so secure and solid, his big hands on her back. She was ever so grateful he was recovering. His wound could have become inflamed and he could have died. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. Even though her dream reassured her that they had a future together, there was always the tiniest seed of doubt in the back of her mind.

Quickly, she put that out of her mind. “Mmm…you smell good.” She whispered into his ear, closing her eyes and breathing deeply.

“And you feel good.” He said, tightening his hold. He turned his head to nuzzle her neck, then to kiss her ear, then her neck again. Elizabeth sighed and caressed the nape of his neck under his hair.

It had become rather quiet in the room and they both suspected that Robin was watching them from behind Robert’s back. Even so, Robert whispered in her ear. “What is he doing?”

Elizabeth very slowly opened her eyes and looked at Robin over Rob’s shoulder. “He’s watching us.” She whispered back, smiling affectionately at her stepson.

Robert let out a sigh. “Well, I guess we better dress for supper.”

“Yes, we should.” She stepped back, but instead of going to dress, she sat down on the edge of the bed close to Robert, but leaving enough room for Robin to join them. Robin deserved a little cuddling time too. “Come here, Robin, and give your
Maman
a hug and a kiss.”

“Hug. Kiss.” He said, crawling the short distance towards her with a happy smile.

She scooped him up and placed him on her lap, cuddling him. “You are such a good boy, Robin, not wetting the bed.” She praised him.

“Me good boy!” He repeated happily, clapping his hands.

“Yes, you are.” She said, then her voice softened to a murmur. “
Je t’aime, mon petite
canard
.” She kissed his soft cheek. Robin giggled. “I love you, Robin.”

“Love you, Mama.” Robin said. “Me kiss you.”

And Elizabeth lowered her face so Robin could kiss her on the cheek.

Robert asked. “What is a
petite canard
?”

Elizabeth was a little embarrassed to answer. She blushed. “A small duck. “Tis a term of affection. My governess would call Evelyn and me all kinds of little pet names:
mon chou, ma tourterelle, ma caille.”

“What do they all mean?”

Elizabeth blushed again. “My cabbage, my dove, my quail.”

Robert laughed. “My cabbage! I can understand my dove, but my cabbage! Would you like it if I called you my little cabbage?” He was still chuckling, highly amused.

She wanted to hide her face in Robin’s neck. She
would
like it if Robert called her
mon
petite chou
, only because it was a term of extreme affection. She decided to tell him the truth. “Yes.” She answered, very softly, lowering her eyes.

“You would?” He asked, totally surprised.

She nodded her head, still not daring to look at him. She was glad when Robin interrupted by asking, “Ca-bbage? We eat ca-bbage for suppah?”

“Yes, Robin, we are having cabbage for supper, along with turkey, duck, mashed turnips and carrots, peas in cream and butter…Mmmm.” She drew out the words to make them sound delicious. “And all this food will help you grow big and strong like your daddy.” She finally peeked up at Robert.

He was watching her with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Me big and strong like you, Daddy.” Robin said, raising his arms above his head and looking at his father.

Robert turned his attention to his son and grabbed him, raising him up so that his stomach was level with his mouth. “Yes, you are, son and plump enough to eat.” He said right before he pressed his lips into Robin’s soft belly and pretended to nibble him through his shirt. “Hmm…you don’t taste like a duck.” He teased Elizabeth, turning his head to the side and cocking an eyebrow at her as he lowered Robin to his lap.

“Me not duck.” Robin said indignantly.

“Mama says you are.” Robert said, still smiling teasingly at Elizabeth. “And I’m going to eat you up.” And he started nibbling at Robin’s neck making the boy giggle and squirm.

Elizabeth smiled and laughed along with them. She loved hearing Robin laugh, especially now. He hadn’t laughed like this since he had gotten burned and it was a joy to see him having so much fun. She watched father and son play and laugh with an adoring smile, hoping this was a sign of better days ahead.

Soon the sound of their laughter was joined by those of Jamie and the servants entering the house along with the dogs. The dogs were barking like crazy, but soon quieted when Evelyn called to them and pacified them with bits of food.

Then they heard a loud pounding coming from the ceiling of the kitchen. Jamie had mostly likely used the fireplace poker to signal them. Then he yelled up the stairs. “Come on, you three! We’re starving!”

Elizabeth and Robert exchanged a look. They let out another laugh. “I guess we better hurry.” Elizabeth said.

“Yes, we mustn’t let poor Jamie starve.” Robert said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Now, now, be nice.” Elizabeth chided him.

They dressed quickly, Robert in an everyday shirt and breeches, Elizabeth in her best gown with the large Bertha collar that covered the suggestive embroidery—she would have loved to wear the gown unadorned but it wouldn’t be appropriate in front of the servants. She also slipped the beautiful emerald ring through one of the pink ribbons and Robert helped tie it around her neck. From behind her, as he tied the ribbon into a bow, he said gently, “You didn’t have to do this. You didn’t have to plan this special meal.”

“I wanted to!” She exclaimed, twisting her head to look back at him. “I’m just sorry we didn’t have any wheat flour to make pies with.”

“I promise next week when I’m healed more, I’ll take you to the mill at Flowerdew Hundred for some wheat flour and if they do not have any, we’ll go to the mill at Mathew’s place at Denbigh.”

“That would be wonderful!”

“I’m getting a little tired of corncakes and cornbread myself. Abigail can make a fairly decent loaf of wheat bread when she has the right ingredients.”

“Oh, can she?” She said archly.

“Yes, she can.” He said, patting her bottom and giving her a kiss on her cheek. “Come on, shall we go to supper, my little rutabaga?”

“Oh! You are so bad!” She said; nevertheless she smiled to herself.

He laughed delightedly. He scooped up Robin, held him with one arm and with his other arm around Elizabeth’s waist, the three of them went down to supper.

* * *

Jamie said grace before the meal. “Dear God, please bless this food we are about to eat. Allow it to give us the strength to persevere in all that You expect of us. And thank you, dear God, for this beautiful day, for our home, for our friends and family, and especially for the lives of Robert and Robin. Thank you for everything Thy goodness sends. Amen.”

“Thank you, Jamie.” Robert said, genuinely touched.

Everyone else approved of the prayer and commented briefly. And then Jamie stood up and carved the turkey—Elizabeth gave him the honors since he had shot it—while everyone looked on with salivating mouths. The bird looked splendid, as did the ducks in a sauce of drippings and onions, and the peas in cream and butter, and the mashed carrots and turnips, and the boiled cabbage with chunks of ham. There were the ubiquitous corncakes with honey, and plenty of cider and ale, and actual cold cow’s milk for Robin to drink. The cow had been milked that morning and the crock of milk had been set in a larger tub of cold river water and placed in the root cellar. The meal was just perfect, everyone was in a good mood and Elizabeth couldn’t have been happier.

There wasn’t much conversation at first as they passed bowls and platters to each other and piled up their plates with the delicious fare. Then they ate and ate and ate until they thought they couldn’t eat any more. They made so many appreciative noises they finally laughed at each other. But nobody cared because they were in such a festive mood.

Jamie spoke excitedly of staking out the boundaries of the house he would build, a house the same size as this one, but now that he had forgiven Robert he had decided to wait to build it. It would take months to order the bricks needed anyway and what was more urgent was expanding the stables to accommodate the newly acquired Apollo and Peasblossom. Unfortunately he admitted he would most likely have to sell Peasblossom’s foal even though he didn’t want to, but the new foal would bring good money, he estimated. And that would go towards the cost of the bricks for his and Evelyn’s new house.

Evelyn didn’t resent this plan. She was content to live with her twin as long as was needed. Elizabeth felt the same way.

Robert then spoke of Abigail’s plans, with her permission, to build a small house on a small piece of Robert’s property, which he was going to generously give to her. Elizabeth already knew of these plans because Robert had told her, but Jamie and Evelyn were surprised by the news, but not displeased. Jamie, especially, was pleased to hear that Abigail would finally have a life of her own after serving the brothers and Robin for two to three years. Of course he was grateful to her for that service, as was Robert, but she did need to move on as they would move on with their new wives and upcoming families.

The plan was to stake out her piece of property by the end of the month, then over the next several months clear the land of all trees and foliage. Robert would represent Abigail when it came time to hire the neighbors’ team of oxen to clear the stumps, then he would do the same when she needed to hire the Bolton brothers to hew the logs and build the cabin. Robert would also hire Nick Bannister to make all the nails, both rosehead board nails for siding and planishing nails for the floors, since there was a shortage of imported nails from England, making them very expensive. Unfortunately dishonest men were known to burn down abandoned houses just to retrieve the nails. Thomas Warren had done that when his sister’s cottage had burned, retrieving as many nails as he could find. He wasn’t being disrespectful to her home; it was just the practical thing to do. They would also hire Nick to make all the hardware for the doors and windows. The windows would have to be ordered from England since the original glass factory that had been built in 1609 had been shut down around 1624. There wasn’t any rush; Robert still needed to take care of his own business, but he and Abigail estimated that she would have a house to move into by the time he and Elizabeth had their first child.

Then as soon as everyone was ready for dessert, a lovely custard made with lots of eggs, cream and honey, there was a knock on the front door. The dogs started barking and ran to the front door. They had been trained to stay in the hallway during meals, where a blanket was kept on the floor by the back door for them. Robert sent Nathan to control the dogs while Dolnick went to answer the door.

“Who could be calling at this hour?” Elizabeth asked, annoyed at the interruption.

Robert just shrugged his shoulders, wiping his mouth, and then wiping his son’s mouth and fingers. (Robin had tried his best to feed himself with his spoon, but half the time he had used his fingers to eat. Both Robert and Elizabeth had helped him, but as with all children, he inevitably got food all over himself.)

Dolnick returned within two minutes, standing in the doorway and announcing, “Captain Andries Visser and Captain David de Vries wish to speak with you, Master Robert.”

“Thank you, Dolnick.” Robert said, making a slight face at being call master. “Captain Visser is the slave trader Yeardley spoke of, correct?” He asked Jamie.

“Slave trader!” Elizabeth interrupted, anxiously. “I told you, you needn’t acquire another house servant at this time.”

“Shh.” He hushed her gently, trying to calm her down. “I most likely will not purchase one, but I would like to see what he has to sell.” He said, placing his napkin on the table. He stood up, holding his left hand over his wound. He did that a lot now; it was almost automatic. He held out his right hand to her. “Let’s greet our guests, shall we? Jamie, are you coming?”

The four of them, Evelyn included, left the table to meet their guests. In the meantime, Nathan and Dolnick took the dogs outside at Robert’s orders. They would in all probability take the dogs back to their quarters, missing dessert.

Two average-looking men, one short and stocky, one tall and lean, stood in the hall. Both were clean, well-groomed and decently dressed, as one would expect when one went visiting or conducting business. The lean man was a little shabbier than the other and several years older, by the look of his wrinkled face and the gray streaks in his short brown hair.