The dessert dishes were cleared away. “I’d like to go sit with Annalea for a while,” Alec said, and edged his chair back from the table.
“Don't spend all night with her Alec,” Leah leaned over and quietly told him. “You need some sleep too. You've earned the right to rest. I'm going to bed now.” They each gave thanks for the hospitality of the house, and left the dining room.
Alec went upstairs and entered Annalea's room. He dismissed the servant who sat with her, and took the bedside seat, then replaced the cool damp cloths that swathed her head. He looked at her intently with his health vision. Her lungs were already clearing, her nervous system had lost some inflammation, and her blood was beginning to grow free of the infection that had polluted it. A spot of darkness caught his eye then, and he felt his heart drop. Her reproductive system had suffered irreparable harm. This girl who had taken a pilgrimage to a spring in order to help her have a baby would never be able to conceive. The irony of such a result felt like a spiteful dagger in his soul.
He removed the cloths from her head and looked at her, great anguish in his heart. He clasped one of her hands in both of his and bowed his head, silently praying that she find peace and contentment. He felt tears running down his cheeks as he imagined the bitterness she would feel at some future date. He replaced the cloths with fresh cool ones. Her eyelids fluttered, then opened, and slowly focused on his face, motionless above hers.
“I wondered what an angel would look like,” she murmured. “You’re more handsome than I imagined.”
“Go back to sleep, Annalea. You haven't seen an angel yet. God has many good plans for you here on Earth before he calls you home to see angels. Go to sleep now and awaken in the morning,” he whispered with emotion, cupping his hand around her cheek.
She closed her eyes and resumed her even, gentle breathing.
“She did see an angel just now. We all have tonight,” Helen's voice gently sounded from the doorway. “You show up from nowhere, with no story and no history. You perform a miracle with ease, and you try to slip away unnoticed. You ask for nothing in return for your service. If you're not an angel you're the closest thing I've ever seen.” Tears began to run down her cheeks as she spoke.
“You're very kind milady. I feel privileged that I was able to help,” Alec said, searching for the polite response his heart told him was due a great lady like Helen.
“Angel,” Helen replied, echoing Annalea’s word, “let me help you. I can tell that you and Leah have some past you don't want to talk about, and I won't press you. At dinner you said you want to set up shop. If that's true, let my husband stake you to whatever you need. He's on his way here, expecting to attend his daughter's funeral. The Duke's own surgeon among others told us to expect nothing more.”
“You're very generous, thank you,” Alec replied gratefully. “Such an offer is not needed.”
“Not needed for you, perhaps,” Helen quietly said as she placed her hands on his shoulders. “But we would be callous wretches if we did anything less to say thank you for this,” and her right hand lifted to gesture at the resting figure in the bed.
“Let me talk to Leah tomorrow so that we can discuss what to do,” Alec replied.
“Take your time, there is no hurry,” Helen said. “Please stay here as long as you wish, or come to Natha and my home. You needn’t go anywhere else,” she began to walk to the doorway. “Goodnight Alec. You be sure to get some sleep too. I'll send a servant to relieve you momentarily.”
Alec nodded his assent, and Helen went down the hallway. Soon a servant arrived, and after giving instructions for his patient’s care again, Alec left the room and went up to the third floor. He paused outside the door to his room, and then decided to turn and look in on Leah.
Moonlight through the window showed her lower body under the sheets, her pregnant figure outlined in the silvery light, but her shoulders and face were invisible in the darkness. She'll be delighted at the offer to set up our shop in town, Alec thought.
“I see you standing there Alec. Come lie in bed with me. This bed is wonderful, like nothing I'd ever experienced, but I don't want to be alone with so much happening. Just lie here with me and hold me and tell me we’re really safe,” Leah said with a sleepy drawl.
Alec sat on the bed, then lay down. With his arms around Leah he too felt comforted, and before he realized it, he fell asleep.
Chapter 13 – The Shop on Bakers Street
When Alec awoke the next morning the sun was bright and Leah was gone. He crossed the hall to his own room to put on clean clothes and freshened up, then walked downstairs. He went to Annalea's room, which he found unexpectedly packed with people.
Annalea was awake and sitting up in bed, being spoon-fed the broth Alec had prepared last night. Sitting on the foot of the bed was Rand, while Amiel and two men he didn't know stood by.
In the process of swallowing a spoonful of medicine given by her mother, Annalea’s eyes were drawn to Alec's entrance. She coughed and sputtered, pointed at him, then coughed more as she sat upright. “There's the angel I saw last night! He walks among us!”
The two strange men stared in confusion, while Rand, Helen, and Amiel smiled.
“Angel, why have you come to see me?” Annalea asked as she sat upright.
Alec walked to her bedside and gently pressed her back among the pillow. “I'm no angel. I'm a healer. I was here tending you last night when you awoke, and we talked. My name is Alec, and I'm glad to have the chance to meet you at last, Annie,” he explained.
“This boy?” The two strange men exclaimed, while Annalea just smiled up at him, looking like she still believed he really was an angel.
Alec looked at her intently, pleased with her health. “Finish your medicine, dear, and rest this morning. If you'd like to have something light for lunch, some soup, go ahead. But don't press yourself too fast.”
“He sounds like a doctor to me,” the stouter built of the two men said.
“I told you dear, he is a great doctor,” Helen responded affectionately. “Would you like some breakfast, Alec?”
Amiel stayed to finish serving Annalea, while the others bid her good morning and went down to breakfast. Leah was sitting alone at the table, eyes downcast. She looked at Alec with an expression he could not fathom as he took a seat next to her.
While food was served, introductions were made.
As Alec had surmised, the stout man was Annalea's father, introduced as Natha. His companion was a physician brought from the King’s own court, named Areley.
“Thank you healer, for what you've done for Annalea,” Natha said. “I brought Areley all the way from Oyster Bay out of desperation after reading my wife's note.”
“How did you treat what all the great doctors of Goldenfields missed?” Areley asked. “Based on the description of symptoms as related to me, I didn't know what to treat.”
Alec chewed a breakfast roll and tried to figure out how to answer without explaining his extraordinary skills and the manner in which he had acquired them. “The red spot on her leg was the first clue, showing the spider bite. All the pain she was in made me suspect something was at work on her nervous system, and her congested lungs were the third item. Then it was just a matter of asking questions to determine what different causes had combined, and that let me try to cure the various ailments, and we've been blessed that I got them right. That plus a lot of prayers.”
Areley raised his eyebrows. “Not many trained physicians use prayer as part of their treatment,” he commented.
“Perhaps they should,” Alec quietly suggested, remembering the feeling of great power and compassion he had sensed in the mountain cave.
“I've asked our guest to stay here a few days to confirm Annie's recovery,” Helen interjected. “After breakfast we can discuss some matters and plan for Natha and I to move back to our own house, now that Annalea is out of danger and we don't need to help nurse her.”
“Natha, our guests have heard
nothing of the Walnut Creek matter that is such news in Goldenfields,” Rand said. “What news is there in the Kings’ court about the topic?”
Natha and Areley looked at one another. “We talked about this Walnut Creek on our way here,” Natha began. “Areley knows more about the inside the court thinking. I know the gossip among merchants I heard was that it was assumed it was all a fraud, and nothing to be concerned about.”
Alec and Leah exchanged a brief glance.
“In the court, folks do take it more seriously,” Areley said. “And the more in-the-know they are or the closer to the ingenairii they are, the more seriously they consider it. The ingenairii have counseled twice in the past week, and they usually only do so once a year. They believe something has happened, and they desperately want to know more. When they found out I was coming here they engaged me to find out as much as possible and to bring some witnesses to them if possible. I know that the Stronghold clan member and I will return together. Since you've done my work with Natha’s daughter, I'll have more time to try to get the facts around Walnut Creek, so I thank you.”
As they arose from the meal, Natha asked Alec to meet him midmorning in the garden at the back of the house.
Alec and Leah returned upstairs to their room.
“Leah, we need to talk,” Alec began enthusiastically.
“Yes, we do,” Leah replied heavily.
“Last night Helen said that Natha would provide the stake we need to start a shop!” Alec said. “Maybe this afternoon or tomorrow we can go out to find a spot to start our practice. We could go back to the wharf to check on Gim and retrieve our goods and be started in just a few days. I never thought everything would go so well.”
“There's something else we need to talk about,” Leah said carefully. “This morning a maid came to check on us and saw the two of us together in bed.”
Alec instantly felt Leah’s tension fill the room.
“I had two thorough lashings from Amiel and Helen about the difference in our ages and how scandalous my behavior with you is, especially given their assumptions about my pregnancy,” she continued. “Alec, they are clearly wrong, and you and I know it, but they are right in some ways too. At many times my heart has held concerns about being so close to you when we’re so far apart in ages, and this baby is not yours and you have your search for Natalie and so much else to look forward to in life, and I am just so upset I don't know what to do right now.”
Alec was speechless. He could tell that the stresses of pregnancy were making Leah emotional, and he realized that he too had known in his heart the topic at hand was one that they needed to come to terms with, but he didn’t know what to say. He moved beside her and held her, feeling her grasp him tightly and cling to him, sobs starting to shake her body.
“Leah, we have been together for weeks now, and I wouldn't want to be with anyone else. I don't have another friend in the world except the two who are missing. We will stay together and figure out what is best for us,” he reassured her. “We both know that we’ve done nothing improper.” They said nothing more, but sat together in a comforting hug.
“Thank you Alec, It means a great deal to hear you say that,” she said a minute later, and she released her grasp on him. “I don't know what's right to do, but we’ll figure something out.”
Alec stood up and took Leah's hand. “Let's go talk to Natha.”
They went to the garden, which they had not seen before, and sat on a bench under an arbor, admiring the flowers around them.
Alec and Leah stood as Natha and Helen entered the garden several minutes later and joined them at the benches under the arbor.
"I cannot easily bring myself to say 'doctor' to one so young Alec, but you have performed a miracle and given us back our daughter, and we are grateful beyond words," Natha began. "Helen and I want to talk to you about how we show our gratitude."
"I know that we should simply compensate you as generously as possible, and say no more about it," Helen continued. "But as I have seen you during these past few hours, I have seen what a wondrous person you are. I want to do more than just give money."
"She is so happy to be mother to Annie again she is ready to adopt two new children, I think," Natha chuckled.
"Maybe so, dear. But to be mother to these two would be a special thing," Helen said to her husband as though Alec and Leah were not present.
"You two are mysteries, and you seem to want to stay that way," Helen directed her attention back to the two curious guests. "I may have some suspicions about you, but will not be so impolite to guests as to ask any questions. At the same time, there are some things I must say to you for your own good.”
“As she sees it,” Natha said tonelessly.
Helen ignored him. "We want to help you. You want to start your lives anew here in Goldenfields," she said.
Alec and Leah both nodded.
"We will help you start those lives. But we, at least I, cannot just let this happen blindly. Alec, I told Leah this morning that I do not believe it is right for a boy as young as you to be married and about to become a father with a wife much older than you. It is not right for either of you. I can see by the set of your jaw that you do not agree with this meddling I am doing," Helen said firmly. “But I must tell you that in the years to come the difference in age will become a barrier to your happiness.”
"Leah told me that you felt it was wrong for us to be together. I thank you for your concern, but I know that we have been through so much together we’re closer than many people probably are after ten years of marriage," Alec replied. “However, as it happened, our relationship isn’t what you think. Leah and I are not man and wife and haven’t known one another in that manner. Her child is not my child.”
"Alec, I have been thinking," Leah interrupted him. "I haven't been able to make up my mind about what to do, but as I listened to Helen this morning, her words resonated in my heart.
“Helen, Natha, I cannot tell you everything that has happened to us before we got here. We have shared some things that bind us together in a special way,” he heard Leah begin to explain. “Please understand that we are strangers in a strange city, and being together is the only comfort we have.
“Alec is a very special person, Helen, just as you said. I know he seems only a boy, but you have seen the miracles he can perform. I want to be with this good person very much. I think I can be good for him, too, by being a friend,” she added. “And I will tell you, even though it may not be your business, that the child I carry comes from a man I believe is dead now. I do not view Alec in the way you suggest,” she continued, “I know that Alec’s heart is given to another young woman, a girl his own age who is a very fortunate girl. Besides being kind and talented, you are a good-looking
young man, Alec,” she said looking directly at him and offering advice as a friend, as though the others were not with them, “and the girl you choose to be your wife will be a very lucky and happy woman throughout her life.”
Alec blushed.
Helen spoke after a few moments of silence, “I have assumed more than I should have,” she said in a quiet voice, “but nothing out of the realm of possibility. Thank you for your comments.” She changed the subject then. “I know that you two are running from someone or something. I have not told Natha this yet, but I suspect that the shipload of Walnut Creek refugees were not the only survivors to reach Goldenfields; they were just the first. But I won’t ask you to tell us more than you want to.
“Our Annalea is sleeping upstairs right now because you have saved her,” Natha said. “That is all that is important, and that is why I wanted to talk to you. All these other matters,” he glanced sideways at his wife, “are less important than that.
“Helen told you that we would help you set up shop, and I would do nothing less than that under any circumstances. Tomorrow my bank will receive instructions to set up an account with twenty golds in it in Alec’s name. With that amount you should be able to secure quar
ters in a good part of town and stock it with the items you need to do business. You will also have our family and clan singing your praises throughout the city and up and down the rivers if you like, so that business should come flocking to your door. In the meantime, we hope that you will stay here in Rand and Annie’s home for at least long enough to make sure our daughter is well. We are moving out this afternoon to go back to our own home in the city. Please know that you will be welcome there anytime you wish to visit.”
“By noon tomorrow you should be able to go to the Traders Bank on the Great Riverfront Square, and enquire for an account established by Natha Millershome in the name of Alec Healer. Now, if you will excuse us, we have many things we need to do. I trust we will see you again very soon,” Natha said. He stood up, held out his hand and shook Alec’s firmly, then turned towards the house.
Helen took Leah’s hand and whispered something in her ear softly. She than came to Alec and hugged him tightly, her arms circling him, and whispered in his ear, “Angel, I will always be your friend in any circumstances. I don’t know what you are running from, but I will always help you,” and then she followed her husband.
Leah and Alec stood alone in the garden. “Alec, please promise you will tell me if I am doing anything wrong for you,” Leah said. “Helen now knows that I haven’t seduced you, but she still feels that it is not right for us to be a couple, and I don’t want to do the wrong thing for you.”
Alec felt out of his depth in such emotional waters, and knew that words would fail to explain his confusion. “Leah, I do not know anything to say but that you are the only friend I can find in the world now, and I want to
be with you,” leaving unspoken the questions that were rising in his heart about Natalie and Ari, and what he should do.
After lunch inside, Alec checked on Annalea, who was being fed broth by Amiel. Satisfied with her progress, he and Leah got directions to Bakers Street and Jewelers Street on the far side of the Riverfront Square and walked through the roads and alleys to reach their destination.
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