Read Online The Falls of Erith by Kathryn Le Veque - Free Book Online Page B

enough for weeks.  ‘Twas a marvelous bit of luck for us when
you crossed his path at the falls of Erith.”
    Though
it was only mid-afternoon, the day had been long already. Gray was positive she
hadn’t slept a wink the night before. After sitting with Braxton by the fire
for hours, she had finally retired in the wee hours of the morn and only then
because she was absolutely exhausted.  Had she not known any better, she would
have suspected that Braxton did not want her to leave at all. Every time she
tried to leave, he’d start on another subject and they would become caught up
in conversation.  They ended up draining two pitchers of wine before the
evening was out.  But it was the most pleasant evening she could ever remember.
    “He
was very generous to us,” she agreed with her mother’s statement. “He seemed
like a kind enough man.”
    “Kind?”
Constance snorted. “He was wildly benevolent. No doubt the man respected our
station and showed appropriate homage.”
    Gray
didn’t reply immediately. She went back to the mending in her lap, an apron of
Brooke’s that the girl had torn.
    “He
was simply being pleasant,” she said after a moment. “In truth, I do not know
if his men even slept with all of the building going on. They were in the
forest before dawn selecting trees for the new portcullis, and those rotted
stairs were fully rebuilt before mid-morn. They worked like fiends and still
had a long march to Kendal when they were finished.”
    Braxton’s
army had been gone about an hour. Gray allowed herself to go back to that
moment when he bid her farewell, a strange gleam of warmth in his blue-green
eyes as he thanked her profusely for her hospitality.  It was she, in fact, who
should have thrown herself at his feet for what he had done for her and for
Erith.  He had left the place in far better standing than when he had found it. 
Frankly, it still puzzled her, no matter how much he had explained his
reasoning to her.
    “I
do hope they visit us again,” Constance pulled her familiar tattered shawl
about her shoulders. “Perhaps the next time they come, they will gift us with
something more useful, like fabric or notions. Would that not be lovely?”
    Gray
looked up at her mother, a scowl on her face. “What he did for us is quite
enough,” she said sternly. “I’ll not expect another thing from him.”
    “Do
not take that tone with me.”
    “Someone
needs to. Your selfishness is overwhelming.”
    Constance’s
thin face tightened. “One of us should be selfish since all you can manage to
do is be supplicant and acquiescent of our situation. Someone has to look out
for us because you do not have the courage to do so.”
    Gray
stood up.  “I do the best I can to keep our family together, which is more than
I can say for you. All you do is complain.”
    “I
complain about your lack of courage.”
    Something
very nasty teetered on Gray’s lips, but she refrained. Fighting with her mother
would not solve their problems. Fact was that Constance believed everything she
was saying.  Gray would take her mending elsewhere, away from her mother’s
attitude. Any more time spent with the woman might see them come to blows.
    Brooke
passed her mother just as Gray was leaving the solar. The young girl paused,
watching her mother mount the steps for the upper floors.
    “What
is wrong with Mother?” she asked.
    Constance
went over to her granddaughter. “Nothing, my love,” she put her arm around the
girl’s shoulders and pulled her into the room. “So? Did you speak to him as I
told you to?”
    Distracted
from her mother, Brooke nodded. “Aye.”
    “And
your mother did not see you speak to him?”
    “Nay.
I spoke to him before Mother came to say her farewells.”
    “And
what did he say?”
    “That
he would return as soon as he could.”
    “And
did you tell him that we very much appreciated his continued generosity?”
    “I
did. I told him we’d not had new garments in some time and