Immortal Love (16 page)

B
efore coming to
Godwin, Dominick’s life had been like a boat drifting on the tide
of war, but no more. He had difficulty sleeping. Tossing and
turning most of the night. He imagined making love to Eleanor,
softly, gently, but passionately. His rigid manhood ached, but he
refused to walk the battlements. He needed to be near her. The soft
whisper of her breathing was a soothing balm to his soul. Most of
his life he never knew what the upcoming days would bring, but as
he lay in the dark with his wife beside him, he knew exactly what
the next day would be like. Now he began to look forward to the
future. Planting crops and rebuilding the castle gave him a sense
of purpose. Each day as he plowed the fields, he felt more grounded
to Godwin, planting his own roots.

He felt Eleanor stir beside him. Looking over
he found her eyes were open and staring back at him. .

He smiled. “Good morning, my lady. I trust
you slept well?” He knew that, like him, she had tossed and turned
all night.

“I slept fine, and you?” she lied

“Very well, thank you,” he lied as she
had.

She threw the bed robes aside. Readying for
the day, she splashed water on her face and neck. Her corn silk
hair draped over one shoulder, and Dominick imagined his fingers
running through it. Gracefully she moved over to the wardrobe and
pulled out an old worn gown. She prepared for work inside the
castle. She froze for an instant, when he jumped out of bed to help
her with her lacings but he didn’t linger at the task, and moved
away. Her rigid body relaxed.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Turning around,
she flushed at the state of his undress and quickly busied herself
with restoring the fire in the hearth.

He couldn’t help smiling. “Do you need help
with that?”

“No, I have it. You go ahead and get dressed.
I’ll tend to the fire.” The blush still stained her cheeks.

In a matter of minutes he was fully clothed
and donning his boots. Eleanor’s posture grew more relaxed.

“Shall we go down and break our fast?"

“Most definitely,” she said with
enthusiasm.

He was sure she wanted to get out of the
close proximity of their chamber. As she was about to reach for the
door, his hand closed over hers. Curiosity crossed her face. “May I
exercise one husbandly right?”

Her eyes widened slightly with apprehension.
“What would that be?”

He tilted her chin as he slowly bent down and
kissed her. Deliberately, he kept the kiss soft and not
threatening, resisting the urge to devour her. It nourished his
spirit, and his heart grew lighter.

He pulled away slightly. When she didn’t
resist him, he was encouraged and kissed her more firmly, folding
her into his arms, feeding more to his soul. Surprisingly, she
responded by wrapping her arms around his waist. His heart
soared.

“Thank you,” he said intently.

Her eyes were filled with something he longed
for. Hope.

For a moment she didn’t speak, then smiled.
“You’re most welcome. We should get down stairs. There is so much
work to be done.”

She quickly turned and opened the chamber
door.

Was it possible the kiss had affected her as
deeply as it had affected him? His heart thumped an extra beat.
Winning her trust was slow in coming, but he was willing to take
whatever she offered no matter how slowly she offered it.

They broke their fast and headed out to the
field.

Much of the land had been cleared of stones
after the first tilling. Dominick started moving the soil for a
second time. Clumps of black dirt crumpled along the path of the
plow. The rich scent of freshly turned earth filled his nostrils.
He breathed in deep. Looking around, he took pride in the way he
had changed the landscape. With his own hands he had turned
scorched fields into fertile soil ready for wheat, beans, and
barley. He stopped when he noticed Eleanor walking toward him.

“It looks as though there are enough people
here to handle the rest of this field. I’m going to check on the
organization of the kitchen gardens.”

Dominick couldn’t keep the smile from his
face.

She looked at him, puzzled. “Why are you
smiling?”

His knuckles brushed her cheek. “I have never
met a lady of any castle who worked as hard as you do.”

“They didn’t have a father who let their land
fall into ruin.”

“Even still, they would faint dead away if
they had to put their hands in dirt.”

She squinted slightly. “Are you complimenting
me, my lord?”

“I most certainly am.”

She gave him a glowing smile that warmed his
heart. Crooking her finger in a come close gesture, she waited for
him to bend down to her and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
“Thank you.” Turning before he could respond, she headed toward the
west gate.

Dominick felt a renewed
energy and signaled the oxen to move forward. It was good to be
home.

E
leanor couldn’t help
the humming of her heart as she walked toward the castle. She
wondered at the ease she was feeling toward Dominick. Never would
she have imagined herself comfortable around any man, but Randolf
and his friend Erik showed the utmost kindness toward her. Forced
to challenge her belief that all nobles were self-centered,
self-absorbed men who treated women like livestock, she had to
rethink her assumptions.

She pushed her confused thoughts aside and
decided to put her energy into the kitchen gardens. They were on
the south side of the castle. Zenon told her it was going to be
tilled that morning. By the afternoon, the ground was ready for
planting and Eleanor spent the remainder of the afternoon on her
hands and knees planting tender seedlings into the soft earth.
Eleanor spent the remainder of the afternoon on her hands and knees
placing the tender seedlings into the soft earth. She used a small
stick to poke holes in the cool black soil for the fragile plants,
then tenderly covered up their bases and patted the ground around
them, offering stability to their stems.

Throughout the process, despite her intention
to push her troubled thoughts aside, Eleanor kept thinking about
her relationship with Dominick. Certainly, it hadn’t been what she
expected. There were so many facets to his personality, each
pulling on a different emotion from her. The rage she had seen in
him frightened her to the bone. But he was also tender and playful.
She remembered him playing with the children. He had more fun than
they did, tickling them and telling stories. Eleanor chuckled out
loud.

Then there was the passionate side, deeper,
and darker, and more mysterious than the others. His passion
frightened her more than the other facets to his personality. It
was the one she responded to. With every touch a spark of desire
shot through her and settled as a small ember in the pit of her
stomach. By the time he finished undressing and came to bed, the
night before the passionate fire that roared threatened to consume
her. These strange feelings were difficult for her to understand.
Did her mother have the same feelings with her father?

The thought of her mother brought her to an
abrupt halt. She had avoided thinking of her since the night
Dominick told her he saw her spirit. It weighed heavy on her
shoulders that she hadn’t moved on and that Eleanor was the only
thing keeping her close. “Mother, please let go of me and go where
you’re supposed to be. Dominick will take care of me. Trust him,
please.” She hoped her mother had heard her and had gone to a
better place at long last. She didn’t deserve to be stuck in a
world that held so many horrible memories.

Her thoughts returned to the man who had held
her tight to keep her safe during the fury of her emotions. The
gentle caresses that wiped away her tears and stroked her hair
until she fell asleep. Cradled in his arms, she never felt safer.
He was her protector.

When she planted her last seedling, Eleanor
stood to look at her handiwork. Tiny little green leaves stuck out
of the ground in neat little rows. She looked at the job she’d done
with satisfaction. A low fence made of twigs and grapevine bordered
the garden, keeping small animals from devouring the tender young
plants. The scent of rosemary, basil, and freshly turned earth
touched her senses, filling her with delight.

A breeze rose off the ocean. Drawn to the
sudden change in winds, she left the garden via the east gate and
went to the cliffs. There, she found Dominick standing near the
edge, looking out to the horizon.

He turned toward her as she approached. “It
looks like we are in for a storm.”

A line of black clouds moved inland quickly.
A bolt of lightning shot out from the dark mass, and the roll of
thunder drifted toward them. Eleanor’s heart began to race. It was
going to be a fierce one.

Dominick grabbed her hand. “Come, we must get
everyone inside the castle before this storm’s wrath falls on our
heads.” Together they ran to the gates.

Once inside, Dominick shouted to the masons
and carpenters working on the castle walls to secure whatever was
loose, and come down into the great hall.

Eleanor continued to run outside the west
gate to call the workers out of the fields and inside the castle.
Like a moving wall, the rain crossed the field and quickly engulfed
her. She saw the oxen balk as a young boy tried to unhitch them
from the plow. He was nearly trampled when a large clap of thunder
broke through the roar of the growing wind.

“Go to the castle!” she said, to people
running in all direction. “Batten down your shutters and
doors.”

Blacksmiths covered anvils with oiled skins.
Steam rose out of their fiery pits, as coals were reduced to
mud.

Icy, needlelike drops pelted Eleanor’s skin.
She helped the young boy unhitch the frightened oxen. Each took one
animal and led it into the stables. The rain pounding on the roof
was nearly deafening. The boy shivered.

“Go inside,” she said. “I’m sure Martha is
boiling a cauldron of hot tea. Make sure you get some.”

What about you, my lady?”

“There are more animals that need tending
to.”

“I will do that. You must go in. It’s much
too dangerous for you,” he pleaded.

Alexander could not have been more than
fourteen. His concern touched her. “I will be fine. Martha could
use your help taking care of all the people inside.” She opened the
stable door, and saw the rain coming down in sheets. She pushed the
boy out the door. “Now go. Run as fast as you can.”

Her hair was plastered to her face. Her
clothes felt like a wet cold blanket, but there was more to do. She
heard the baying of the sheep. Inside the pen they began to trample
each other. Running to the fence, she opened the gate and herded
them out.

She found Dominick with Randolf and Erik
hammering boards for a make shift lean-to over the pigsty. All
things seemed under control.

She had started for the castle when something
caught her eye. Eleanor turned and saw Ruth run out the west gate.
The only reason the woman would leave safety in the middle of the
storm was for her children.

Fear put Eleanor’s feet into action, and she
started after Ruth.

“Ethan, Matthew, Abigail, where are you!”
Ruth shouted.

Eleanor caught up with her. “Where did you
see them last?”

“Oh, my lady!” Ruth’s voice cracked. “We were
working in the fields. Abigail was getting tired so I told Ethan
and Matthew to take her back home so she could take a nap, but when
I got to the cottage they were gone. I have no idea where they
could be,” she said with a sob.

Eleanor put her hand on the woman’s shoulder.
“We’ll find them. More than likely they went down to the
stream.”

Eleanor led the way down the steep hill. Her
heavy wet skirts wrapped themselves around her ankles with every
step, threatening to topple her. She and Ruth walked the banks
calling out the children’s names.

“Ethan! Matthew! Abigail,” Eleanor chanted.
Her feet were sucked up by the mud. Several times she had to grab a
tree limb to pull herself free.

Ruth called out again and again. Finally they
heard a faint response over the roaring of the storm.

“Mama! Mama!”

Eleanor could barely see them through the
darkness, but a brief moment of lightening made them more visible.
They were on the other side of the bank huddled underneath a
tree.

“Stay there! We’re coming to get you!”
Eleanore shouted.

She and Ruth picked their way across the
rising water.

The three children hugged their mother
tightly. They were wet, cold and frightened, but they were all
right.

“We have got to get them to the castle!”
Eleanor shouted over the roar of the storm “And get them warmed
up.”

Ruth picked up Abigail and carried her across
the stream with Ethan and Matthew hanging onto her skirts.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning hit a tree near Eleanor. The energy
knocked her to the ground, and air rushed out of her lungs in a
great whoosh.

Hearing the sound of splintering wood, she
looked up to see a tree falling on top of her. She didn’t have time
to do more than close her eyes and put her hands over her head.
Even the soggy ground shook from the impact.

Confused that she hadn’t been crushed and
wasn’t even in great pain, she tried to push herself up, but her
hands slid in the muck. She was trapped in the bent fork of a large
limb. The rain-saturated ground had kept her from being crushed,
but she was trapped underneath it, and the stream was becoming a
river.

Ethan was the first to reach her. “My lady,
we have to get you out.”

The small boy pushed futilely at the trunk.
Matthew stood next to him and both boys strained at the unmoving
tree. Ruth put Abigail down and tried as hard as she could with her
boys to free Eleanor, but it was no use.