Chapter 10
The dawn greeted me, and I flipped my middle finger at it, rolled over, hid my head in Cy’s blanket, and pretended I was at home in my bed and Cy was on his way over, Elm right behind him with an apology, explanation, and promise to never do that shit to me ever again.
It was my alternate reality blanket world dream. I could think whatever the hell I liked.
A heavy knock sounded at the door some time later— I had no clue exactly how much later. Instead of answering it I rolled to my back and counted crack lines in the material that made up the ceiling. I’d just reached my twenty third one when a softer knock issued.
“Prudence? It’s Dorothy, Bia’s mama. He mentioned running into you yesterday and offering up his old place to you until you got on your feet.
I hope you don’t mind me dropping in. I was hoping to check your head wound, change the poultice if needed.
” When I didn’t immediately answer, hesitating, she added, “I’ve got a few things I thought you might like, not having anything with you when you come in and all. ”
She was being nice. Don’t be a jerk, Pru. Turning to roll to my feet, right out of the bed, I straightened my hoodie and adjusted Cy’s blanket around me so I looked more decent than the disheveled mess of before.
Opening the door a crack to peek through, I found her standing there by herself and it made me feel a little less uncomfortable standing here sans pants and underwear. Cy’s blanket covered me down past my knees but still.
Dorothy had a basket over each arm and some sort of heavy looking pot with a lid. The baskets appeared to be full to brimming with material and food items. The smell of fresh bread tickled my nose, and was that stew? I opened the door wider.
Dorothy smiled knowingly as she stepped inside. “My Bia said he was impressed with your fire starting skills.”
I shrugged off the compliment. It wasn’t really that big of a deal, not to me.
“It was a thing, a competitive thing between me and my dad. The days I had wilderness group, he’d bet me who could light the wood stove faster.
First person to get it lit didn’t have to take the trash out or wash the dishes that night.
” A small smile tugged at my lips. “He probably let me win sometimes but he was the one scrubbing meatloaf off plates in the end.”
Realizing I’d just blurted a bunch of random personal stuff at her, I took a seat alongside her at the small table she’d walked over and set her two baskets down atop. The heavy looking pot was set on a hook over the fire.
“Stew.” Her hand waved airily in the pot’s direction. Pulling items from the baskets, she took the time to explain each one to me and I quietly listened.
Personal care items, three different types of cheeses, bread, dried meat, long term storage vegetables and how to prepare them, were amongst the haul.
By the time she was done I had a few spare sets of clothes, dresslike tops and long pants, two sets of thick looking socks, a heavy, frilled nightgown I wouldn’t be caught dead in but I’d probably wear it beneath my hoodie to bed anyway so I didn’t shiver to death in my sleep, and enough food that according to her should get me started.
“Daisy’s caught wind of your existence so she’ll be by any time now, I’m sure.
” Dorothy smiled but it looked forced, wonky.
Not a real big fan of this Daisy person.
“She’s her own self appointed welcoming committee.
” That felt like friendly code for she’s a pain in the ass control freak but she smiles while she does it.
There was so much Dorothy was not saying, but her face said it all.
This Daisy didn’t exactly sound like my cup of tea. “Could anyone else do it?” I blurted without thought.
Dorothy laughed. “So you’ve heard of her then?
” Waving her comment away, she whispered like she was dishing secrets, “She’s not so bad.
She’s anxious. She can be a bit much at times but she means well.
Her heart is in the right place. Miss Daisy, she just wants to be helpful, thinks it’s her purpose in life.
” Tapping her lip in thought, she mumbled, “I’ve got too much going on at the moment to get you started off, I’m afraid, but I wonder…
I wonder if Carrie, my Dougie’s Carrie, that is, wouldn’t mind. ”
I’d heard the name Carrie before. Rek said she was friends with Dace, the woman who had given me her beanie.
A beanie I’d forgotten at Kehl’s. Ugh.
Would Dace be upset that I’d misplaced it so soon? The idea of going back to Kehl’s to retrieve it had my stomach knotting just thinking about it. No thanks. The idea of Dace thinking I’d ditched her generous gift was equally unpleasant.
I should just stay in here and hide. Yep. Sounded like a grand plan.
Me? Avoiding difficult situations and conflict? No way.
“Carrie is my Dougie’s mate. Elle is Carrie’s first mate.
Oh! Dougie is over the moon being a daddy!
You should see him with their Orrellie! Those cheeks!
She’s too precious for words. He’s always been good with babies.
I knew he’d be an exceptional daddy. Couldn’t be anymore proud of him than we already are. ”
“I met your grandbaby and her daddy my first day here,” I confided. “She was adorable. Her daddy was a very proud papa,” I agreed with a smile. Thinking about Kehl’s reaction to the idea of getting me pregnant, my smile slipped.
“Do you need anything? Anything else?” Dorothy inquired.
“Honestly? Time and space,” I admitted.
Dorothy nodded understandingly. “You’ve been through a lot. Let me just have a peek at your head and then I’ll be on my way.”
Still, despite her response, I felt like an ass. “Sorry,” I mumbled as she made short work of removing the poultice.
“Whatever do you have to be sorry for?” she murmured as she worked. Surprise lit her features as she put something smelly on a cloth and dabbed it over the spot. “Would you look at that? Must be those Lo denaii genes in you. Healed right up. Barely a scar.”
“Really?”
Dorothy smiled and nodded. It was as she smiled, nodded, and began cleaning up that she suddenly made an Ah-hah noise and pulled a small satchel from the basket she had her medicinal supplies in. “This was by the door when I walked up.”
She held it out to me and I took it. Pulling the drawstrings on the silky looking pouch open, I peered in, found my beanie rolled up inside, alongside a pair of soft material I realized too late as I pulled them out and opened them up right there in front of Dorothy were a pair of purple panties and two pairs of black.
They were made nearly identical to the underwear Kehl had torn off of me.
Blushing a thousand shades of red, as seems to be my thing, I shoved the underwear back into the bag, walked to the bed as my skin heated, shoved them under the pillow on the bed, and put the beanie that had been returned to me back on my chilly head.
Dorothy’s lips twitched but she did not utter one single word about what she saw.
“I look forward to the lessons with Carrie, if she’s able,” I mumbled shortly.
Dorothy nodded as she settled the basket she wasn’t leaving behind over her arm. “It’s all settled then. I’ll go and talk with Carrie, and break the news to Daisy if I happen to pass her on the way.”
“Thank you. You know. For everything.”
“Think nothing of it. Glad I could help. It’s jarring, suddenly thrust into a new world.” Dorothy was at the door, her hand on the knob. She looked like she wanted to say something but was biting her tongue.
I supposed, after all that she was doing to help me out, I should hear her out.
“You want to say something,” I prompted.
Still, she hesitated.
The corner of my mouth tipped up in a lopsided smile. “Spit it out.”
Dorothy chuckled at my candor. “Now, it’s none of my business.
” She held a hand out to halt anything forthcoming from me.
Shaking her head, she pursed her lips. “I knew Kehl would be a hard sell but he’d seemed so interested in you, possessive even, I’d had the highest hopes for you two.
I really did. After bein’ run off stoppin’ by, you know, why I’d been so happy for you, honey, to this,” her hand lifted to gesture around us, “to this now in short order! Well, I just can’t imagine what goes through that boy’s mind! He’s a stubborn one, that’s for sure.”
My eyebrows winged upward at that one. He didn’t look younger than her. If anything I’d guess it was the other way around.
“I’m older than I look,” Dorothy admitted with a grin.
I didn’t even question it at this point. Too many things that shouldn’t make sense were— they just were.
“Sometimes things just don’t work out,” I said simply. Wanting to add something more without giving anything away, I murmured, “It’s probably for the best.”
“If you’re both serious about your separation, well, I’m sure we can find you a nice male around here-” she started to say, but I shook my head.
“I’d like to leave things as they are, hope the portal opens so I can get home to my people waiting for me back there.
I’m not interested in meeting anyone else, to be perfectly honest.” It was a stretch confidently assuming Cy would wait for me let alone look for me.
There was a very real possibility he might think I’d jilted him, skipped town, god knows what all.
Nevertheless, it was all I really had to hold on to and I was grabbing on to that hope with both hands.
“Your males back home.” Dorothy gave a short nod. “In that case, I’ll help you beat any beasts sniffing around off with a stick.”
My smile felt genuine. It hurt my cheeks. “I’d appreciate it.”
Dorothy laughed and said her good-byes. Right before she closed the door, she turned and pointed to the knob.
“Lock this thing behind you. Bia forgot to give you this,” rummaging in her basket, she produced a fat metal key and held it out to me.
“We added it after the door needed to be replaced.” She paused there as if debating before adding, “From time to time we get no-goods coming up, trying to sneak into the village. It’s been a minute since and I don’t want to scare you but there was a camp of Krampus stalking a woman here not so long ago.
It’s a long story. It got handled but believe you me they are a special kind of nasty you don’t want to tangle with. ”
“I’ll be careful,” I promised.
Krampus were the bad actors of the Lo denaii world.
Kehl had told me as much and Dorothy drove the point home.
I understood that but still. Kehlor was not bad.
Even in his Krampus form he was so careful with me it wasn’t even funny.
If Krampus were the assholes of Yetidom, Kehlor was the exception.
His Lo denaii side beat out any Krampus in him.
From what I could tell, the only hint of his sordid heritage was his sudden shift while we were intimate.
Kehl just needed to believe he was one of the good ones.
How I would or could convince him of that, I had no idea. If it was even possible. He seemed pretty set thinking he was some kind of monster.
“Are you alright?” Dorothy paused, eyeing me.
“Didn’t sleep well,” I muttered, then scrubbed a hand down my face.
“You look a little pale,” she admitted after some deliberation.
Frowning, she offered, “Why don’t you eat and rest up, and we’ll give it a few days.
Kehl came over this morning all fired up, asking Mosoau if I’d be willing to help you get acclimated to village life.
There was a lot of back and forth in their own tongue after that and that’s all I really caught.
My Mosoau asked if I’d come check in on you, and here I am. ”
“Thanks. Appreciated.” Running a hand down my face, the weight of the last few days really starting to creep in on me, I agreed, “I think I need a few days.”
“I know the circumstances of you coming here aren’t ideal and things aren’t the best right now but I do hope everything works out for you in the end,” she murmured kindly.
“I hope so too.” It felt impossible to return her smile as hopelessness began to creep in.
“How long has it been since the portal last closed and opened?”
Dorothy glanced away, her gaze drifting to a spot over my shoulder when it finally returned to me. She was going to lie to me, whatever she said. “You know, it’s been a minute since but I’m sure it’ll open again,” she rushed out.
“I’m sure it will,” I bullshitted right along with her. I must have proved convincing enough. She smiled my way one last time, said her good-byes, and left me to my thoughts.
My thoughts were awful. My ongoing inner monologue was frightful company.
Soon, so was my mood.