Chapter Five #3
In the white mists that were lingering so close to the ground, he swore he saw a ghost near the massive wall of the inner bailey.
It was a tiny white wisp, moving through the fog, and he focused on it, trying to make it out.
He could see legs and little feet. When a patch of fog lifted slightly, he could see that it was Lady Sophie heading straight for the stables and she was quite alone.
Another escape, he thought. Swiftly, he went in pursuit.
Cortez caught up to the child just as she reached the stable yard, enclosed with its big oak fence and smatterings of dried grass strewn about. The smell of animals was heavy in the dense fog. He reached out to gently grasp her, stopping her momentum.
“Good morn to you, little one,” he said. “Where do you go in such a hurry?”
Sophie turned to look at him, her sweet little face framed by the woolen cap. “To see General,” she told him what he already knew. “He is waiting for me.”
Cortez held out his hand to her, which she immediately snatched. “Where is your mother?”
Sophie shrugged and yanked on his hand, pulling him with her as she made her way towards the stables. Cortez, however, slowed his pace and gently but firmly pulled her to a stop.
“Sophie,” he said, more plainly. “Where is your mother?”
Sophie looked up at him. “Inside,” she told him. “She is speaking with Grandfather.”
Cortez wasn’t particularly concerned about a conversation between Diamantha and George, but he was unwilling to delay too much longer before departing. Already, the day was here and time was passing quickly. He tugged on the little girl’s hand.
“Let us go inside and get your mother,” he said. “I am sure she would like to see General, too.”
Sophie’s brow furrowed as she looked between Cortez and the stalls several feet away. She was far too close to General to be willingly taken away from him. After a moment, she shook her head.
“I want to see General now,” she told him.
Cortez could see a battle with a three-year-old coming on and, to be frank, nothing could intimidate him more.
He didn’t want to be on the child’s bad side now when he was just coming to know her, and perhaps love her just a little.
He didn’t want her to view him as anything other than a kind man who took interest in her pony.
It was selfish, he knew, but let the mother be the one she viewed as the disciplinarian.
He didn’t want any part of that role in her eyes.
“If I take you to see General first will you then go with me to retrieve your mother?” he bargained.
Sophie’s features brightened. “Aye.”
Resigned to the will of a toddler, and the fact that he was a coward, Cortez allowed her to lead him into the stable where the horses were being fed their morning meal by the stable servants.
The air smelled of dust and grass, and Sophie let go of Cortez’s hand as she scurried over to the stall where General was munching his grain.
She slipped right into the stall and began petting the pony as it ate.
Cortez leaned against the stall door, a faint smile on his lips as he watched the child hug and pet the pony, who was more interested in his food.
His thoughts turned from those of his cowardice to those of warmth and contentment.
This child belongs to me now, he thought as he watched her giggle.
It was an odd but wonderful sensation and one that made him feel whole in a manner he couldn’t begin to describe.
For the past three years he had been so alone, and now he had a wife and a child.
He was a knight, and an excellent one, and the true mark of a male by any standard.
But now… now, he felt like a man. He had dependents.
He had a family. He had what he had lost three years ago, something he had always wanted.
He couldn’t describe it any better than that.
As he stood there and pondered the course that his future had taken, he heard a soft voice come up beside him.
“So she dragged you in here, did she? I thought as much.”
Cortez turned to see Diamantha standing next to him, her gaze on her child as the girl fussed over her pony. “Indeed she did,” he replied. “Truth be told, I found her as she was running to the stables. Can I surmise that she escaped you again?”
Diamantha’s attention was still on her daughter. “You can,” she said. “She has always been that way, as soon as she learned to walk. If you turn your back on her, she will disappear before you know it.”
Cortez grinned. “Mayhap you should tie a bell around her neck so you will always be able to find her.”
Diamantha couldn’t help but smile. “I can just see her running around with a big bell around her neck, dragging her down. I do not think she would be a very happy child.”
Cortez laughed softly, watching Diamantha as she, in turn, watched her daughter.
She was such an exquisite creature and the infatuation he had felt for her since nearly the moment he first saw her in George’s solar seemed to be growing by the second.
It made his heart skip a beat, the queasy, giddy feeling he was coming to associate with her.
Diamantha could feel Cortez’s eyes on her.
The liquid heat was palpable, reaching out to caress her with invisible fingers.
It made her uncomfortable and interested at the same time, this magnetism that she seemed to be unable to resist. After a moment, she turned to look at him, feeling a jolt when their eyes met.
“Actually, I am glad she found you,” she said quietly. “We must have the pony saddled for her.”
Cortez lifted a curious eyebrow. “Why?”
Diamantha made sure to look him in the eye when she spoke. “Because he is going with us,” she said. “So is Sophie.”
The warmth in Cortez’s eyes vanished. “What do you mean?”
Diamantha didn’t back down; truthfully, this was the best possible atmosphere in which to tell him something he would undoubtedly not want to hear.
She suspected he wouldn’t raise his voice or become too angry with Sophie just a few feet away.
It was all very calculated on her part. She saw the opportunity and she took it.
“I mean exactly what I just said,” she explained, her voice soft. “Sophie is coming with us on our quest north and since I know she will not leave General behind, he is coming with us, too.”
Cortez’s jaw flexed dangerously and the onyx eyes flashed. “Are you mad?” he hissed. “I am not taking a child over hundreds of miles of road, through situations that could possibly be dangerous or even deadly. I cannot believe I am hearing this from you, her own mother!”
He was doing a good job at keeping his voice down but Diamantha could see that he was positively furious and it was a struggle not to become intimidated by it. She looked back over at her daughter.
“Let me state this to you quite plainly,” she said evenly.
“As I am going with you to retrieve Robert’s body, I do not plan to be separated from my daughter for an unknown length of time.
It could be weeks or even months before I see her again, and I will not be kept from her for that long.
Therefore, it is the logical solution that she goes with us.
You will be able to protect both of us quite ably.
I have faith in you. Besides, Robert is her father – this is as much her questing as it is yours or mine.
In time, she will appreciate that we allowed her to go. It is her right.”
His cheeks were starting to turn red. “This is utter and complete lunacy,” he growled. “I forbid it.”
“You cannot. It is my decision, as she is my daughter.”
Cortez just looked at her. His eyes seemed to widen and his mouth worked as if he wanted to say something.
In truth, there was a good deal he wanted to say.
But instead, he abruptly turned and walked out of the stable.
Diamantha stood there a moment, wondering if she should follow, when she suddenly heard a loud and angry yell.
It reverberated off the stone walls and caused the animals to start, including General.
Even Diamantha jumped when she heard it, for it was most angry and primal.
But as soon as it ended, Cortez was back in the stable, taking a deep breath and looking a little more in control of himself.
He resumed his place against the stall door as he faced Diamantha.
It took her a moment to realize that he had been the one to release the furious roar.
“That,” he said quietly, “is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. Are you that careless of a mother that you would actually expose your child to such danger?”
Diamantha could have become incensed over what was a slanderous comment against her abilities as a parent but she did not. She remained calm.
“I am not careless at all,” she said. “I am thinking only of her. She was very close to her father and I feel strongly that she must go.”
“Your daughter is not going with us.”
Diamantha could have done one of two things at that point; she could have gone head to head with him, or she could try to soften him with a little honey.
She thought to attempt the latter just to see how well it would work.
It was manipulative, she knew, but she wasn’t beyond being a little manipulative to gain her wants.
Besides, she had married the man. It was time to find out just how far she could push him because, so far, his bark seemed to be worse than his bite.
Well, except for that primal roar, which had been quite frightening.
But it was time to find out if the man was all bark and no bite at all.
Reaching out, she put a soft hand on his arm.
“Please,” she begged softly. “It means so much to me. I could not be away from her for so long. And I feel as if this is her calling, too. Robert was her father, after all. Please let her go with us. I promise she will not be any trouble.”