Incognito

14

Mia lifted Prosper out and set her on a hip while she stirred the potatoes. It wasn't even enough to fill the baby's belly. There weren't too many travelers in winter especially now with Richard's gang beating men to the brink of death. So far Mia had found four and alerted officials anonymously in Leeland, none of which as bad as the man who stared at her.

Self-consciously the mia played with Prosper's worn, too-small dress. It was unnerving for him to stare. She was thinking of saying something-anything= when he spoke.

"Please tell me you are married," he begged.

She looked up into his eyes. "I may be a thief, but that does not make me a liar."

Finally, he sank onto a log. "Jesus Christ Almighty, help me." He placed his head between his knees.

Prosper had calmed and the mia set her down. She teetered around. The young man watched her.

"You are a widow? She is your sister?"

Sighing, the mia picked a boiled potato out of the pot and began to smash it into a cup. Why did she bother with this? Everyone who discovered Prosper would assume she had committed the most shameful act of all.

"I did not touch a man!" She shouts angrily. "I am not some concubine or mistress. I adopted her as my own when she was orphaned just as God does for us. I do not have the time to deal with your criticism. You don't like it, then leave and take your snotty opinions out of my hospital presence." She broke into tears and smashed the potato. She could deal with this judgment. She wasn't emotionally strong enough.

She did not realize he had moved until he stood toe-to-toe with her. He had a soulful eyed Prosper in his arms but he shifted enough-awkwardly-to stretch out his hand.

"I am Zac and I admire you. Do you go by anything other than the mia?"

Tentatively she clasps her hand in his and stood. His bodily warmth hit her and she could help but look into his green eyes. She knew who he was.

It was suicidal, housing the handsome duke's son. It is not the duke's son, she chastised herself. All boys born around the same time as Lady Jinelle's were named either Brooks or Zacary.  He could be just one of many. But his eyes were familiar and she knew he was the drunk at her sister's coming-of-age party. Before everything changed.

"Mia." She managed to croak. "Mia is fine." She took Prosper from him just as she burped all over his clothes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . .

The smell of baby's regurgitation stung Zac's nose and his eyes. He suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed, shivering onto the cold ground. He fought the sleepiness pulling on his lids. He did not trust the mia. He did not trust himself. Every memory was fuzzy and he wondered if it was dream or hallucination and he was still almost-dead. He would never find out if he fell asleep again. The hooded figure came close and thumped him on the back of the head. Darkness overtook him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mia pushed the dark hair away from his brow. It was matted with blood. She cursed before glancing to see if Prosper heard her. When she struck him he had fallen atop of her, a dead-weight she had to lay off. The injury on his head was reopened by a rock and blood gushed from the knife wound at his side. She bit her lip in silent panic. She was losing him again. She was a thief and a runaway, not to mention a lousy excuse for a mother but she was not a murderer. She lay her head to his chest and waited. He was burned in the fire and wet from her water. He smiled of unclean human, the woods, and an enticing masculine scents. Underneath the distraction, she heard the faint beating of a heart.