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“It is your choice to make, Angelica. Talk with the woman and then we will talk later,” Mother Abbess said.

“We will go to the healing cottage to talk, so I may tend to your arm,” Angelica said.

“I would like that,” Lady Elizabeth said, smiling softly.

Lord Drake went to follow them.

“I will speak to my grandmother alone and know now, I am not a woman who takes well to orders,” Angelica said, halting the man.

“Does she remind you of someone?” Noble whispered with a chuckle to his wife.

Leora jabbed him in the side with her elbow and winced.

“Her arm needs tending now,” Noble commanded of Mother Abbess.

“May I use your solar?” Mother Abbess asked. “It will give Leora and I time alone to talk since I am sure she must have questions for me.”

Leora answered for him, eager to speak with the Abbess… her mum. “My husband doesn’t mind.”

Noble was quick to disagree. “I do mind. I will see your wound tended to first, then you both may talk as long as you wish, though you will not miss today’s celebration. It seems there is more than one victory to celebrate today.”

* * *

Leora laysnug against her husband, her bandaged arm resting across his chest.

“You are not in pain?” he asked.

“Minor pain, no more, thanks to the brew Mother Abbess fixed for me.”

“Mother Abbess took a chance revealing her secret. She could be banished from the church due to her deceit and the part she played in helping other women.” He hugged her closely. “But I think it was more important to her that she let you know she was your mother, than worry about the church. I just wish she had told us sooner.”

“She told me she was not sure if she should reveal the truth. There was the abbey to consider since it would reveal what the nuns had done there. But as she had said, after a while it became apparent that she had no other choice.” She yawned again. “My heart broke when she spoke of my da. They loved each other so much and had only a short time together. I thought about you when she told me and how my heart would break if I had only a fleeting moment in time with you. It would devastate me.”

He kissed her brow. “I thought the same when I discovered you were gone. That pup,” —he nodded to Chief sleeping by the low burning hearth— “has good instinct and let me know you were in trouble. He will serve us well. But tell me how you feel about finding out Mother Abbess is your mum?”

“I don’t how to feel. My parents, the ones who raised me, are still my parents to me, but Mother Abbess loved me enough to give me away to good people and to protect me from being rejected by her family and called a bastard child. She did not speak of my da’s parents, but then I don’t believe she ever met them since my mum and da kept their love for each other a secret. In time perhaps she will tell me more.”

“You have time to get to know her, time to learn more about the past, about your da, about all she went through to keep you safe and loved.”

Leora yawned again. “Aye. She said the same, that there was time for us to talk and she is eager to hear about my life with my parents.” Another yawn slipped out. “I am annoyed. I had plans for us to make love—”

“You are too tired.”

“I am, which is what annoys me. I promised myself that I would survive and that we would make love tonight, but my arm hurts and my body aches and I feel exhausted,” she said, too tired to continue being annoyed.

“There is always tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that,” he said and kissed her brow again.”

“Promise?” she asked, sleep growing heavy in her eyes.

He had no chance to answer, her eyes closing in sleep, but he did anyway. “I promise, wife. We will love tomorrow and every day after, for I love you with all my heart and then some.”

“I love you more,” she said in barely a whisper.

He smiled and returned her whisper, “Impossible.”

“Is that a challenge?” she asked, struggling to remain awake while her eyes remained heavy with sleep.

“I would not make it one since I never lose a challenge.” He waited, wanting to hear the familiar words she had said repeatedly to him, and he had grown to favor since first meeting her.