Donna Fletcher Short Story Collection Read Online Free PDF Page A

could
the lad feel?
    Eric put his son down to sleep for the night
in the cradle in their bedchamber, with a servant watching over
him, knowing it was useless to keep believing he’d have his night
of love with Faith. A quick visit to see how Faith was doing
confirmed that. She had ordered a second tub with fresh bath water,
the first far too dirty to continue scrubbing the lad.
    Faith told him not to wait supper that she
would eat along with Ian before she put him to bed.
    Resigned to a night alone Eric took supper
with Borg, his wife Bridget tending a few ailing villagers while
Faith tended to Ian. The night wore on with conversation finally
lagging between the two men and for good reason; they booth missed
their wives.
    Eric finally bid Borg good-night and left him
to wait for Bridget.
    He made his way to the bedchamber, not far
from theirs, where Faith had planted the lad. He planned on bidding
his wife good-night and seeing if by chance she would soon be
finished and perhaps then they could salvage part of the night.
    Eric was surprised to see his wife gone and
Ian all alone in the bed that looked much too big for his small
frame. No doubt his wife had been called to tend an ill villager,
one that needed more knowledge than Bridget had.
    Eric almost didn’t recognize him, he was so
clean. His hair was now light brown with traces of blond and his
skin had been scrubbed pink. His thin body still however quivered
even with two blankets covering him and a good fire heating the
room. And his eyes, that had remained the color of the rich earth
soil, hadn’t lost their fear.
    One step took him into the room and another
had him beside the bed. He sat though the lad’s rounded eyes wished
otherwise.
    “You are safe, Ian,” Eric said knowing how
important it was for the lad to believe him. He intended to
reiterate it as often as possible until the lad finally accepted
it.
    Ian didn’t respond, he continued to stare
though this time his lower lip began to quiver.
    Eric reached out to comfort the lad but when
he cringed clamping his eyes shut, Eric moved his hand away.
    “No harm will come to you here,” Eric said
reinforcing his wife’s earlier words.
    Ian opened one eye, though said nothing.
    Eric wondered if perhaps the lad did have
parents to return to and worried that he would be kept from them.
So he sought to ease any concerns.
    “If you have been separated from your parents
I can help you find them,” he offered.
    Tears fell as Ian opened his eyes. “I’m
alone.”
    His quivering words tore at Eric’s heart. No
child especially one so young should be alone and frightened.
    Eric reached out and even though Ian cringed
again, he scooped him up and plopped him down on his lap, wrapping
a firm arm around him. “You have me now. You will have shelter and
food, but more importantly you will have a family who will care for
you and love you. Never again will you be alone.”
    Tears streamed down the lad’s cheek and he
hesitantly asked, “You will be my da?”
    Eric did not hesitate. “If you want me, I
would be only too proud to be your da.”
    More tears ran down Ian’s face, though this
time the tears were joyful. “I want you to be my da.”
    “Good, then it is done. You are now the son
of the Irish Devil.”
    The lad’s eyes rounded wider than Eric had
ever seen them and he whispered, “My da’s the Irish Devil?”
    “That he is,” Eric confirmed with a grin.
    Suddenly Ian’s body stopped quaking and he
quivered no longer when he spoke, “I thank you, sir, for helping
me.”
    “Call me da and you are most welcome...
son.”
    Ian smiled, his tears stopped and his body
trembled no more.
    Eric tucked him back in bed. “Get some sleep.
You have a whole family to meet tomorrow.”
    With a kiss to the lad’s brow, Eric walked to
the door.
    “Da,” Ian said as if testing the name.
    Eric turned.
    “I’m sorry I scratched you.”
    “Don’t worry about that. You did what you had
to do to survive, the