To Save a Heart

Chapter 4

Never before had I felt so useless in my life. I was in a strange village surrounded by strangers. Lori was extremely kind. She flited around the house tidying up here and there then she was back at the stove preparing some sort of delicious dish. She chatted the entire time as her two daughters ran back and forth retrieving her this and that. I soon learned that their names were Rebecca and Susan. Susan was the younger one who had sat on my bed eating her toast.

As if sensing my mood Lori passed me a bowl of some sort of grain then a smooth piece of wood. I held the bowl in my lap and the piece of wood in my hands looking at it. I looked at the bowl for a few seconds then glanced up to Lori who was looking at me with a strange expression. She then gestured for me to grind the grain. My face flushed and I attempted to imitate her actions.

"It's like you've never seen grain before." She commented softly.

There was more truth to that statement than she knew. As cooking and housekeeping went I was utterly and severely hopeless. I had always had a maid, cook, and housekeeper there was no reason for me to learn those things. Today as I gave my sad attempt at grinding the grain I wished that maybe I had tried to learn those things. It would have been frowned on by it would have been nice to know.

Lori walked over to inspect my efforts. She nodded at the grain that had been turned into a powder. She took the bowl away from me then poured more grain in. I set to work obediently grinding it into powder.

"Your hands are so soft." She commented looking at her own which were rough and strong from years of baking and doing dishes. Her nails were short and cracked and there was a bit of dirt under the nail of her thumb which she cleaned out. "What did you do in your village?"

"I uh.." I couldn't exactly say that I was a princess. "I was a seamstress." I lied smoothly. It wasn't a complete and total lie. I had had some experience with a needle and thread. Isabella had taught me a few things in secret after I insisted on learning.

"A seamstress really?" She asked in excitement as she looked around the room. "Perhaps you could help me." She said. She bounded off into the other room while I sat there and waited for her to return. She came back into the room with a large piece of fabric. It was a light brown with speckles of pink flowers. "I've been meaning to make dresses for the girls. But I've been so busy lately."

"I'll help if I can." I said questioning why I had claimed to be a seamstress.

"Thank you!" she practically cheered. The front door burst open and she promptly hid the fabric behind her apron as Susan and Rebecca entered.

"Rylan will be back soon." Said Rebecca with a wrinkled nose. "He's bringing Celia with him." The name Celia dripped off her tongue like venom.

"Rebecca." Lori warned. Rebecca simply shrugged and walked into hers and Susan's shared room. Their quiet chatter started up within a few seconds.

"She doesn't like Celia?" I asked. Lori took the grain bowl from me then placed another bowl in front of me full of peas in a pod. I began shelling the peas into a different smaller bowl.

"Nobody does." Lori said returning to the stove. "Forget I said that. It wasn't kind." She said picking up the wooden spoon her cheeks blooming red to show her embarrassment.

"It's true though!" Rebecca piped up from the other room. Lori and I chuckled together at her words as the front door opened.

"Hello!" Celia practically shouted at us. Her cheeks were bright pink looking as though she was either sunburnt or had gone running up a mountain. Her hand fastened on Rylan's bicep like a vice grip and she bumped into him as she walked.