Page 28 of The Moonstone Hero
She had forgotten quite how splendidly big he was. Or how magnificent he looked when all cleaned up. No wonder Lady Dowling could not keep her hands off him.
“Ah, Imogen, I see you’ve found me a pushchair.” He had used his walking sticks to cross his room and seemed to be quickly tiring from the mere effort of standing.
“Yes, do sit before you fall.” Imogen steered the chair behind him, and he settled heavily into it with a grunt.
Elmer took his sticks and placed them back in their corner, then excused himself and dashed off to help the other workers settle the remaining patients.
Ella wheeled Caden outside while Imogen carried her basket that contained their picnic supplies. The hospital was built in a U-shape to give most rooms a view of the sea, and the ladies auxiliary had planted a garden in the courtyard that was at the center of the U.
Caden looked around, studying the dazzling array of plants and flowers with obvious interest. “I did not think the army cared for pretty things,” he muttered.
“They don’t,” Ella replied. “This garden was the idea of Aunt Phoebe and her sisters. Mostly Chloe, Fionn’s wife. It is designed not only for natural beauty, but for scents, as well. Inhale, Caden. What fragrances do you smell?”
He closed his eyes and inhaled as deeply as he dared. “Lavender. Roses, I think. Mint? Strawberries?”
“Yes, you have a good nose. We also have a small herb garden where we grow not only mint but sage and other herbs and spices.”
Caden looked up at her. “It is a good idea. Who tends to the garden?”
“The ladies auxiliary,” Imogen said. “We take turns making certain to weed and water the flowerbeds. Ella’s turn is next week. Mine is the week after that. It doesn’t take long, just an hour out of our day. We’ve also planted a few trees, mostly for shade, but they are also fruit bearing. Just watch out for falling apples,” she said with a laugh as Ella wheeled him into the shade of an apple tree. “Well, I’ll be off to help with the other soldiers. I’ll return when the recital is over.”
Ella was now left alone with Caden. “How do you feel? I hope the ride wasn’t too strenuous on your ribs.”
“I’ll survive it.” He leaned forward in his pushchair, his body almost too big for it. Indeed, he was built like a warrior and had the muscles to prove it. Sitting beside him was quite a heady experience, Ella was dismayed to discover.
Even wounded, this man was magnificent.
She sat on a stone bench beside him, both of them shaded by the large, leafy tree branches. “Take in the view, Caden. The tide is coming in. Can you hear the crash of waves as they strike the rocks below us?”
He closed his eyes and listened. “It must be quite something on stormy nights.”
“We’re up too high for there ever to be a risk of the hospital flooding. However, the incoming tide on one of those stormy days is something to watch. The waves are powerful and unforgiving. It is amazing how a gentle sea can turn into something so wrathful and filled with vengeance in a matter of minutes.”
“That is life, Ella. Wrathful and unforgiving,” he said with unreserved bitterness.
“At times,” she said with a nod. “But there is also beauty. It is in little moments like these. They are important, too.”
He grinned and took a slice of lemon cake off the plate she had set out. “I suppose life can also be delicious.”
She sensed he was saying this merely to be agreeable, for his eyes still had that dark, haunted look to them, a sign he was not letting go of the nightmare events that held him in a silent grip. Well, she was not going to cure his anguished rage with one picnic. “Don’t think too hard, Caden. Just enjoy the sun on your shoulders and the light breeze ruffling your hair. A warm lemon cake. Cool cider. Beautiful music.”
He raised his glass to her. “And good company.”
She liked watching him eat, for he had a healthy appetite and seemed able to scarf down those slices in the blink of an eye. As she finished her own slice of cake, the wind picked up slightly and drew a few of her curls out of place. She set aside her plate and hurriedly brushed the loose curls back.
Caden assisted her, his touch light as he tucked a curl behind her ear.
He then ran his knuckles along her cheek. “So soft. You always were a soft thing, Ella.”
“Is this not a nice moment, Caden?”
“It is, my pretty dove. You needn’t point it out to me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I am thinking of the poem you read to me. How can there not be love when we are surrounded by such beauty? You, first and foremost. But I also see how the sun shines like silver upon the water. Have you noticed the dolphins leaping in and out of the waves?”
She stood and scanned the water, hopping up and pointing when several suddenly leaped into the air and dove back under with a soft splash. “Yes! There they are. The birds will come out soon to forage for food. They hover over the water looking for fish swimming close to the surface.”
