"I was in the saddle most of the day. We stopped at this little village by the woods, the one everyone calls Oak's Village. There's only about forty people there. Lots of little kids. They've had trouble paying their taxes the last few years, and I wanted to find out why." She said, turning to snuggle into my arms.
I hugged her and kissed her hair. "And did you figure out the reason?"
She just hummed something and shook her head.
I went to look for her before noon. I couldn't stand it. I picked up a couple of guards on horseback and followed her like a dog on a scent. They all knew her, each one helpfully pointing in the direction they saw her go. She returned again to the village where she had spent the previous two days.
I spurred my horse into a gallop when I noticed the knight's horses grazing below the hillside.
I stopped the horses at one of the first buildings when I recognized James. He was perched on the roof, hammering in a new roof truss with another pair of soldiers.
"Where is she?" I barked at him angrily. I was sure I'd find her in the arms of another man. Fury overcame me. I would kill him and - no, I would take her back home and talk some sense into her.
James waved his hand somewhere behind him, "I think she'll be behind that house over there." He said and went back to his work.
I ignored his insolence and the fact that he was covering the roof of some mob instead of guarding her and spurred the horse into a trot.
We drove the wide road through the village, passed another soldier who was just driving the kids on one of the horses, and turned into one of the older houses. I dismounted and set off at a sharp trot for the yard door. It wasn't locked.
I didn't expect to see anything like this. Stephen was chopping wood with another man, but that didn't surprise me. There was a small field behind the yard.
And my wife was sitting on Inncana harnessed to a team, leading her through the field, leaving straight furrows behind her. Behind her, one of the soldiers was leaning on the plough, and two others behind them were breaking up large clods of dirt with spades.
I stood there as if scalded.
"God have mercy on you!" A woman rushed to my feet. I wanted to push her away, but it was the first time any of the poor people had looked at me with such eyes. With gratitude and love.
"She's an angel. Since my old man died, I've been on my own, she brought me a young girl and a boy to do all the work when my Dorca went to get married elsewhere. And the day before yesterday they brought some hens from the market, she gave us two! Two live hens!" By then the grandmother was crying, tears falling from her eyes and dripping from her wrinkled jaw.
I just nodded and walked around her with my eyes fixed on the field. I waved to my men to stay behind and started toward her. She just turned and looked up. She smiled brightly when she saw me, said something to the men behind her, who put down their spades and helped her dig the plow out of the rings on the hayloft.
She spurred the mare on and took off at a trot straight toward me, careful not to break Incanna's legs in the deep rows.
She swung her leg over the horse's back and dropped to the ground a few feet away from me so she could jump into my arms. I clasped her in my embrace and all frustration suddenly left me.
How much work did she have to do now that winter was over? She was gone every day. Just to offer help to villages that couldn't get back on their feet after this year's harsh winter, according to tax records.
"Don't be angry with me, dear. I wouldn't have had much to do during the day anyway, and I've been reading all winter..." She hummed as I pulled her tighter against me.
"You're happy. Why would I be angry?" I said softly and bent my head to kiss her hair.
"I was afraid you'd forbid it when you found out I was filling my time with labour." She laughed and rubbed her nose against my neck.
I leaned in more and brushed against her lips.
"We're not alone here Max." She whispered softly.
"What's wrong with a husband showing affection to his wife?" I asked slyly, but didn't force her. She pulled herself up on her tiptoes and kissed me.
Incanna poked me with her big head and bent down to last year's grass again.
"Would you wait for me? It's almost done. I need another hour or so." She said, looking back to the field where the three of them were breaking up the clods of dirt with their heads bowed.
I nodded and helped her up at Incanna. She bent down again until she was almost lying on her neck and kissed me once more. I slid my hand up her skirt and stroked her thigh.
"I love you Max!" She said loud with a smile and pulled the bridle to turn her mare around.
Fuck. I'm such an asshole.
How could she ever be unfaithful to me? She, who is hiding her naked body even from the eyes of her maids.