A Dishonorable Knight(84)

The young seamstress appeared a bit overwhelmed by Elena, but quickly stated that her name was Annie. Shaking out the blue cloth, she said, "Here is the dress I am making for my niece. I've only the hem left to finish."

Elena handed what was left of the honeyed roll to the young boy and inspected the sleeves, the seams, and the lacings up the back. "You do excellent work. How fast could you make my dress?" Elena quickly explained the style of dress she wanted, completely forgetting Gareth's presence as she discussed the cut, the position of the waistline, and the fullness of the sleeves.

Annie swallowed nervously. "How quickly do you need it?"

Elena turned to Gareth. "When are we leaving?"

Startled out of his daze, Gareth stared uncomprehendingly at Elena. She repeated her question and he said, "Three days."

Annie's eyes bulged but she nodded. "I can do it." She quoted a price and Elena accepted, not even checking with Gareth to see if he had that much money. "Shall I measure you right now?"

"Yes, that will be fine."

Annie gathered her measuring string and looked uncertainly from Gareth to Elena. "And your..."

Elena immediately understood. "My brother can occupy your son downstairs and head off your husband should he come back."

"Oh he won't--he's a carpenter and he's working on a ship that's preparing to sail. Here Oengus," she said, picking up one of the wooden toys and handing it to her son. "Show this gentleman how this toy works downstairs." Little Oengus grabbed the wooden horse in one sticky hand and headed for the door, shouting "Come on!" over his shoulder.

Gareth dumped the pile of cloth in Elena's outstretched arms and whispered, "Brother?"

"It just popped into my head," she responded with a wicked smile. Gareth rolled his eyes and followed the young boy out of the room.

Nearly an hour later, Elena left Annie who was already at work, measuring out the wool and planning to cut the many pieces. She entered the small downstairs room to discover Gareth rolling about the floor, wrestling with Oengus. The little boy squealed with delight as Gareth allowed himself to be pushed over and pinned as Oengus sat on his chest. "I won! I won!" he shouted.

Seeing Elena, Gareth plucked the child off his chest and quickly scrambled to his feet, his face flushed with exertion, his hair tumbled about his brow, the young boy clinging to his neck and shoulders like a vine.

"Are you finished?"

Elena nodded, surveying his rumpled appearance with amusement. "Are you?"

"I was just," Gareth cleared his throat. "I was just keeping young Oengus here occupied so he wouldn't disturb you."

Elena smiled wryly. "Thank you."

Tilting his head back so he could see Oengus's face, Gareth said, "Come, you young scalawag. Give Lady Elena a kiss goodbye."

Elena shook her head and frowned apprehensively. "No, no. That's alright," she began, but it was too late, for Gareth was holding out the little boy who leaned forward obediently and placed a wet and sticky kiss on her cheek. Elena rubbed at her cheek with the back of her hand as the youngster wriggled to be put down and then scampered up the stairs. Gareth straightened and looked sheepishly at Elena. "I guess I'm still a boy at heart."

Never comfortable with children of any age--even when she was one, Elena didn't know how to respond. She had spent her entire life trying to act as mature and regal as possible and the thought of wanting to be a child and romp around was foreign to her. On one hand, she thought it very silly of Gareth to roll around on the floor acting like a fool, and yet some part of her wondered what it would be like to abandon all pretensions and cares of adulthood and simply laugh until her stomach hurt, or tumble in a sweet grassy meadow, or run barefoot along the surf.

"What would you like to do today?" Gareth asked.

Run on the beach, play in a meadow. "It doesn't matter," she said.

"Why don't we explore the city? Da tells me there's a shop that has books around here somewhere."

"That would be fine.” All sense of adventure aside, however, Elena was interested in the bookseller for they were a rare and expensive commodity. Her father had indulged her literacy with many expensive books, but in Richard's court, books were not at all the thing for ladies-in-waiting. Another urge stifled, she thought, remembering those long, incredibly tedious winter nights that would have passed so pleasantly had she only had a book or two to read.