The Raven

Chapter Fifteen: Scotland

Up ahead, he was still sprinting. Suddenly, he tripped on a root, landing on his face. I still laughed, now harder.

He turned, and I saw he was laughing too, distracted by this, my quick run ended by me landing on him. I heard him groan as my knees stabbed through his stomach, and his chest loudly collided with my head. Ouch.

Still, my laughs didn’t cease. I kept giggling uncontrollably. I rolled from him and lay on the ground, looking at the heights of the trees from this angle, my laughs retreating.

Now I could hear our shallow breathing and I looked over to Nathaniel, only to find him staring back at me. He had shaved and combed his hair which was now, yet again, full of soil. All the while when I slept he had been grooming. His eyes were beautiful. The way the light fell on his features was beyond any description, it was simple breathtaking, his smile even more so. I had to smile back.

“God, you’re beautiful.” He whispered; his green eyes boring into mine. I blushed, that was totally unexpected.

I fake coughed and stood up.

“We’ll be in Scotland by the end of the day.” He announced happily, hence the grooming.

“I hate being woken up!” I complained, looking down on him, feeling childishly superior, and smirked arrogantly at him.

He grinned attractively.

“Well, thanks to you I am now wide awake, we should get going. I am tired of living like this, in the woods like common thieves.”

“Let’s go.”

We were flying through the forest in no time. Tonight I would have a bed and I would get a decent night’s sleep in a proper bed.

Nathaniel didn’t say much on the way. By the afternoon though, we were exiting the woods.

“We already crossed the border.” Nathaniel said, when the trees started to turn to stumps.

“Do the Scottish have a tendency of cutting trees?” I asked in response.

He chuckled, “Apparently.”

I chuckled too.

“Where is your home?”

“Wait and see, we’re almost there.” he said, squeezing the sides of his horse and starting to go faster. I followed.

The ground here was damp and as dark as coal. The air was fresh, and colder. I decided that I liked Scotland. The mountains were wrapped in a blanket of mist, the barren trees sticking on the ground like oversized pins.

A small village came into the view. It looked very homey. The small cottages and a few houses were blending with the background. Most of the cottages were dirty shade of white, almost grey and the houses were woody brown. The sky overhead was a dull grey shade, threatening to rain any second.

Nathaniel looked over his shoulder and smiled at me.

This was his home. I smiled back. I would never have thought that a village like this would produce such an impressive individual.

Nathaniel made a right, and stopped. He dismounted and motioned me to follow. I directed his horse toward him, trailing humbly behind. I didn’t see this house from the hill. It was grey, built from stone, at least two stories high. There were four medium sized windows on the front, one of them shiny yellow from the light.

“Welcome to the Oakhill House” Nathaniel said.

I took in the simplistic majesty of the house. It looked so plain and yet so magnificent. I had a feeling I was going to love my stay in this house.

Nathaniel knocked on the wooden door and stood back, waiting. I grabbed his hand in mine and caressed it. He was shaking. In assurance, I smiled at him and nodded.

“It’s going to be okay.” I said.

He nodded as the door in front of us opened and a woman, much younger that I had expected took a step back when she saw us.

Her blue eyes widened and she sucked I her breath until her whole face collapsed in tears. She ran outside, flinging herself in Nathaniel’s embrace and sobbed. I saw Nate’s head buried in her shoulder. They were both crying.

“Nathaniel Lockwood Greene! You’re back to me, son! Thank heavens you’re back!” She cried, tears pouring from her eyes.

In time, they parted and the woman took Nate’s face in her hands, looking around his body, ensuring he was whole. I smiled at this, my mother had never done such a thing, ever. Once I fell from a tree, and she didn’t even get up from her seat to calm me from crying. She didn’t love me, ever. She was incapable of love.

“You’ve changed Nate” She said to her son, once again embracing him.

“How is father?” Nathaniel asked.

“He is your father. How do you think he will be?” They both chuckled at this, and then the woman’s attention focused on me. She smiled.

“You must be our new daughter.” She said, now coming towards me with open arms.

“Oh, no, no…” I started to explain, but before I could her arms had found me, and I hugged her back. She was comforting, and for the first time in my life I felt tenderness and the loving care of a mother, now radiating onto me.

Nathaniel coughed and we broke apart. His mother now turned to him.

“How did you fail to mention her in your letters?” She scolded, but also, smiled.

“No, Mam, you’re mistaken we aren’t married.”

She looked at him, puzzled and then at me. I looked away embarrassed.

Meanwhile, a tall man came out from the door. He was taken aback when he saw Nathaniel.

Now it was his turn to embrace Nate. And this sentimentality continued, until the three of them went inside, Nathaniel taking my hand to bring me in the house, smiling all the time. I had never seen anyone this happy. Ever.

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