Hi! Sorry for the delay!
I didn't have much time, as I was studying for my exams...
Still! here it is:
Chapter Fifteen: Scotland
We rode much slower the next day. He said that we had to hurry now, as we were detected at Martha’s home and she was still alive to tell. He also mentioned that we wouldn’t be stopping anywhere else but the woods for the night until we were in Scotland. He set up a long list of rules, which had to be obeyed. By me, of course, but he also followed them. One of them said that I was to stay in his line of vision at all times. When I asked him about bathroom times, he said “even then” and that got me furious. I didn’t talk to him for ages, until he caved in. He apologised and granted me this one freedom of being alone during “potty breaks.”
Apart from that, I was exhausted. We had been riding forever, making no stops whatsoever, not even for water.
“Nathaniel.” I said, fatigue now numbing my tongue, restricting my speech. “I need to take a break. Maybe it’s time to rest now.”
“Miss Moore, I am afraid we cannot do that under any circumstances.” He said, looking at me now, his face a mess from the overgrown stubble and his hair a fuzzy mess. His vibrant green eyes were now dull and overtired, he needed rest too.
“Suit yourself Mr. Greene” I declared, stopping on my horse, “But I am in need of rest and I am planning to get some.”
I dismounted and tied the horse to a nearby tree. I heard him stop a few feet away from me. Finally, with much hesitation he got off the horse, and came to my side.
“At least let me choose a concealed place.” He said, towering over me.
“Fine.” I muttered, “Can we walk?”
In response, he took the reins of his horse and started to walk; I took my own and walked with him.
He led me to a small, undefined clearing, hidden from the eye.
“How do you do that?” I asked, sleepily.
“Do what?”
“Find places like this.”
He hesitated, “Experience.” He said after a bit.
The war. I should have guessed. This was a sensitive subject for him.
He said that we would rest until dawn, and then, we had to move again. I didn’t argue, at least we were getting some rest.
“Goodnight Nathaniel.” I whispered when I had settled on the ground, wrapped in the quilt.
He snored in response and I slept.
The next morning he woke me up by dripping drops of icy water on my face. I stirred, trying to sleep, but he didn’t stop.
My eyes flew open and my eyes narrowed, I smiled and leapt.
He didn’t expect this, jumping back from me he took a few steps back, weighing his options. I stood on the quilt, now the morning chill drilling through my skin.
Then with one quick motion, I lunged at him, diving through the air. He dodged and broke into a fast run. I ran after. Running in my skirt was not easy, so I pulled them up, unaware of how that might look, but not caring whatsoever. I ran after him, my heartbeat speeding up. Some distant, alien emotion took over me and I started laughing.
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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