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.It was only as she set her foot down in midair that sherecalled she was standing on stairs.In the next moment, she found herself tumbling down the church stepsto the accompaniment of several alarmed and startled shouts and shrieks.Chapter SevenGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlEva put her sewing down with a little sigh, then raised her face to the sunlight and closed her eyes.It wasvery peaceful here in the gardens and she was glad Glynis had insisted that she come out and sit on a furin the sun to sew.The maid had proven herself to be a treasure and without her cheerful chatter and care,Eva didn't think she could have maintained her wits this last week since the wedding.A pained expression flickered across her face at the thought of her wedding day.The ceremony hadbeen beautiful, and the feast splendid, Effie had as expected outdone herself.Unfortunately, Eva onlyknew this from what others had told her, she herself hadn't been in attendance at the wedding feast, she'dbeen unconscious in bed having several new scrapes and bruises gained from her tumble down thechapel steps tended to by Magaidh and Aileen.Heaving a sigh, Eva opened her eyes again and glanced down at the dress that lay on her lap.Her gazeautomatically moved from there to consider each of her injuries to date.Her hand was much healed fromthe dog bite and a scab was all that was left, so she'd taken the bandages off the day before yesterday toallow it to dry and heal.Her arms were a patchwork of varying shades of bruises, from a dull blue toyellow, though the scrapes there were healed.Her legs looked much the same, she knew, but at least her ankle, which she had wrenched again in thefall, was almost as good as new again, twingeing only when she forgot it and turned too quickly.Evaknew she'd been lucky that she hadn't broken anything in that fall, but the injuries she'd had were enoughin her mind, as they had seen her wedding night put off yet again.To Eva, it was rather like putting off atooth-pulling, the anticipation was an agony to suffer.She would rather have the deed done.That would happen soon enough, she supposed.There had been no further accidents since the weddingto hamper her recovery, and physically she was almost back to normal.Otherwise, however, she was amess.Eva felt as if she had ruined everything.Oh, everyone here was still as kind to her as could be, butthey now treated her either like fragile glass& or an idiot.She was not allowed to lift anything above theweight of a thimble, and was not allowed to carry anything at all when she walked.These were herhusband's orders.He had also ordered that two men were to accompany her at all times to ensure thatthe orders were carried out.Eva felt the usual indignation rise up in her at the thought that she hadwatchers& like the veriest of children who could not be trusted to play without setting themselves indanger's way.Her resentful gaze shifted to her present watchers and away again; Donaidh and Geordan were relaxingagainst the garden wall, talking idly.They would remain there so long as she remained where she wassitting, but if Eva shifted the dress from her lap and start to rise, they would be on either side of her,taking an arm to help her up lest she stumble and fall and hurt herself again.Aye, she was now the village idiot.Her gaze slid back to the dress she had been working on.A confection in blues, it was another of thenew gowns for her fine new wardrobe.Magaidh and Connall had insisted she should have several, andhalf a dozen maids had been set to the task of creating them.Eva was helping, or supposed to be helping,by hemming the skirt of the gown across her lap, but she wasn't really in the mood for sewing thisafternoon.Instead, she thought she might prefer a good cry, but of course, that was impossible withDonaidh and Geordan hovering nearby.Eva heaved another sigh as her gaze wandered to the two men who were acting as her guards today.Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlThey would remain with her until the sun set and her husband arrived for his supper.She had learned alot more about the workings of the castle during the past week.The men were not always discreet whenshe was about and she often overheard their conversations, enough to know that her husband was not offattending to business during the day as she had first been told, but that he was resting away from the sun.His sun reaction made it so that he avoided attending to clan business during the day and left that inEwan's capable hands.Connall took over the chore from the moment the sun set until it rose again in themorning.Eva had at first thought that Ewan must then have the heavier burden when it came to running the keep,but had since come to the conclusion that this was not so.It seemed Connall and his sister weren't theonly MacAdies troubled with a negative reaction to the sun.By her estimate, at least half the people herewere and they too rested during the day, coming out at night to accomplish what most would do duringthe day in any other castle, which meant MacAdie was as busy, if not busier at night than it was duringthe day.Eva had also learned that her husband led raiding parties at night, though she had endeavored to ignorethis information and had stopped listening to that particular conversation once she'd understood what themen were talking about.Such things as night raids on neighbors were frowned on by the English, thoughshe knew 'twas common enough in Scotland.Not approving of her husband's activities, Eva simply didn'twish to know about them, so closed off her attention when the men spoke about such things, but she hadlearned enough to know that Connall was kept busy from dusk till dawn.Well, not the entire time, she supposed.The men stopped watching her when Connall made hisappearance, because he took over the task himself.The man who had been absent for the first severaldays after her arrival, had taken to spending time with Eva now that they were wed.He joined her to sitat the trestle table for supper, though he often got distracted with the reports the men were giving anddidn't eat as much as she felt he should.Sometimes there was business that needed tending to right away;if it was something that took him out of the keep, he would set two men to guard her until he could return.If it was simply a meeting he needed to have, he would suggest she sit by the fire and he would join herthere shortly [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]