Page 274 of Historical Hotties
Curious, Darius stepped into the yard with the soldiers alongside. The girls at the fishpond noticed him. The one with her feet in the water, who was probably six or seven years of age, even waved to him, but the youngest one, who was no more than three, was still stuffing dead grass and dirt into her mouth.
“For I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last He will stand upon the earth,” the oldest girl was saying to the goats. “It is important to do the will of God, to know… know what he wants. He wants us to obey him. Like you will obey me when I tell you to do something.”
The goats kept eating. The girl tried to force a couple of them to look at her but they were more interested in their feed, so she moved her position so she would be in front of them. In doing so, she caught sight of Darius and the soldiers and, after a momentof surprise, followed by a little fear, curiosity took over and she walked over to them, focusing specifically on Darius.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“My name is Darius. Who are you?”
“I am Jane,” she said. “Darius, did you know that Christ loves us all?”
As Darius gazed down at the girl, who was quite pale and slender, he began to suspect who she was. She looked very much like a woman he’d traveled with recently, one with white hair and dark eyes who had married Thor. Truth be told, Darius only knew that Caledonia had children at Stafford because Nicola had told him, so he didn’t know much more than that.
He was fairly certain he had found them.
“I’ve heard that He does,” he said, gesturing to the pair around the small fishpond. “Friends of yours, my lady?”
Jane looked at the girls he was referring to. “My sisters,” she said with disinterest. Then she reached out and took Darius’ hand, pulling him with her. “They do not believe in God. They are not going to heaven. Come, and I will tell you about God.”
Darius found himself being dragged away by a small girl so he had to be gentle about refusing her because she seemed most ardent.
“My lady, I would like nothing better, but I have duties to attend,” he said. “Mayhap… mayhap another time.”
He tried to walk away, but Jane wouldn’t let go of his hand so he ended up pulling her with him. “Where must you go?” she asked. “Why are you here?”
Darius was forced to peel her hand off his, as carefully as he could. “I have come with the Earl and Countess of Tamworth and Stafford,” he said. “Your mother, I believe. Are you not the daughter of the Countess of Tamworth and Stafford?”
Jane looked at him as if she didn’t quite understand what he was asking. “Madam Madonna is my nurse,” she said. “I have no father or mother.”
Darius wasn’t quite sure why the child would say such a thing, but the truth was that the subject of Caledonia’s children had never really come up. The entire trip north had been spent supervising the army, and he’d spent little time with Nicola. When he did, the last thing he wanted to talk about was something other than the two of them, so the child’s response was strange.
He looked at the pair around the fishpond.
“Can you tell me their names?” he asked Jane. “And I do not think it is very good for the youngest child to be eating dirt. Mayhap we should stop her?”
Jane shrugged. “She always eats dirt.”
“Why?”
“Because Madam Madonna tells us we must suffer.”
That sounded quite strange to Darius. He didn’t know who this Madam Madonna was, but he was fairly certain that a young child shouldn’t be eating dirt. He began to look around.
“WhereisMadam Madonna?” he asked.
Jane shook her head. “I do not know,” she said. “Will you not come with me so I can teach you the word of God?”
Darius realized she had found his hand again and was holding on to him with a death grip. “Not now,” he said. “As I said, I have duties… Mayhap you should come with me so that we may find your mother. She has arrived.”
“No need, Darius.”
The voice came from the keep, and Darius looked over to see Caledonia standing in the doorway that led to the kitchen yard. But she was simply standing there, not moving, and although Jane looked at her, the child didn’t seem to care that her mother had returned. At least, she didn’t react as if her mother hadreturned. But she walked over to the doorway and gazed up at a woman she resembled a great deal.
“Would you like for me to teach you the word of God?” she asked.
At the sound of her eldest child’s voice, Caledonia’s eyes welled. It was such a magical moment, something she’d thought would never happen, but here it was. Hereshewas.
She still could hardly believe it.
