Aliss concluded fast enough that the leg would need stitching. She would worry about fever and festering later. Right now, she needed to get the wound closed.
If it were not for Rogan’s help, the ordeal could have turned into a nightmare. He held the lad and talked to him though he cried and screamed. Anna and Tara held his leg while Aliss stitched as fast as she could.
Aliss was grateful when Daniel had cried himself to sleep from exhaustion. After making certain the lad was settled, she left him to his mother’s care. Anna insisted on remaining to help, chasing the newlyweds out to continue their celebration.
“Will he be all right?” Rogan asked when they stepped outside the cottage.
“There is festering and fever to worry about. I cannot say for sure. Only time will tell.”
Rogan took her hand as they walked. “What made you become a healer?”
“I can’t say for sure. It seemed a natural thing for me to do. My mother taught me a little about healing, the things most instinctive to women. When she grew ill there was little I could do to help ease her pain and it upset me. I wanted to learn more, understand more about healing. The more knowledge I gained the more I hungered for even more, and I have never stopped wanting to learn.”
“You can keep on learning as much as you want. Perhaps one day you will teach our daughter.”
Aliss stopped and glared wide-eyed at him.
“You have not given our children thought?” he asked.
“I—I—” She shook her head.
He took both of her hands in his and smiled. “Have you not thought of the consequences of our making love?”
She sighed while continuing to shake her head. “This is why I will not make a good wife. I do not think as a wife should think. I think only of my work and myself.”
“You never think of yourself, though thinking of your husband now and again would be good.”
“I think of you all the time.” She cringed as soon as her secret slipped out.
Rogan laughed. “Do you now?”
She shook her head. He was her husband now and she did not feel the need to hide the truth from him. She could share anything with him and not worry that he would judge her.
“I admit I do think of you.”
“Good, then I admit that I wish I could carry you off to my bed and make love to you for the rest of the day and throughout the night.”
His declaration tingled her flesh and she shivered in his arms.
He laughed softly as he hugged her tightly. “You will do more than shiver in my arms tonight.”
She raised her head and whispered, “I have known no man.”
“And will know no other but me,” he murmured and kissed her.
“Hey, hey, none of that until later,” Derek yelled as he approached them. “We have more celebrating to do before you two get to be alone.”
“I will do the same for you on your wedding day,” Rogan said.
Derek laughed loudly. “I worry not, since I have no plans to wed.”
“Careful,” Aliss warned with a shake of her finger. “I said the same myself and look at me now.”
The three laughed as they drifted back to join in the festivities. Every now and again Aliss slipped away to see how Daniel was doing and she was grateful to find he was crying and complaining. If he were unresponsive to his discomfort, it would worry Aliss more.
With the lad left in Anna’s capable hands and Anna herself convincing Aliss she was not needed for the rest of the night, Aliss left the cottage to find her husband waiting outside for her.
Dusk was fading to darkness, the celebration had ended and the final remnants of the festivities were being cleared away, and parents carried exhausted and overfed children to their beds.
Bed.
That is where Rogan intended to take her.
She liked the way he approached her with an outstretched hand, requesting her to join with him. She didn’t hesitate, she took his warm strong hand in hers, and when his fingers wrapped around hers she felt safe, as if she had finally come home.
They strolled in compatible silence to the cottage. No one disturbed them. This was their time to seal their vows and begin life as husband and wife.
Aliss entered his bedroom in his arms, he having scooped her up moments before. He carried her to the bed and gentle lowered her to the mattress.
The scent of lavender drifted off the bedding and she smiled at the thoughtfulness of the women who had freshened the linens for them. The only light in the room was a single flickering candle beside the bed; the hearth was not needed with summer’s warmth.
The lone window over the bed provided a night breeze along with a symphony of harmonious night sounds.
Her heart grew joyful and she cupped her husband’s face in her hands. “My body trembles with bliss.”