Her feet had no sooner touched the earth than he jumped down beside her. She was trembling as he pulled her into his arms. She clutched at him fiercely, desperately. “Hush, now,” he whispered as he stroked her head. “You’re safe now.” Judith’s trembling didn’t stop, and Gavin felt her knees give way. He lifted her into his arms, and carried her to a tree stump, where he sat and held her as if she were a child. He’d had little experience with women outside of bed and none with children, but he knew her fear was extraordinary.
He held Judith tightly, as tightly as he could without crushing her. He smoothed her hair away from her cheek where she’d begun to perspire, her face hot. He rocked her and held her even closer. Had someone told him that being only a few feet off the ground could cause such terror, he would have laughed, but now he didn’t find it amusing. Judith’s fear was very real and his heart went out to her, that she should suffer so. Her small body was shaking, her heart beating as wildly as a bird’s and he knew he must make her feel safe again. Gavin began to sing, quietly at first, not really paying attention to the words. His voice was rich and soothing. He sang a love song, of a man returning from the Crusades to find his true love waiting for him.
Gradually, he felt Judith begin to relax against him, the awful trembling subsiding. Her hold on him loosened, but Gavin didn’t release her. He smiled and kissed her temple as he hummed the tune. Her breathing became more even until she lifted her head from his shoulder. She pushed away, but he held her firmly, not wanting to release her. Judith’s need of him was oddly reassuring, although Gavin would have said he didn’t like clinging women.
“You will think that I’m a fool,” she said softly.
He didn’t answer.
“I don’t like high places,” Judith continued.
He smiled and hugged her to him. “I guessed that,” he laughed. “Though I would say that ‘like’ was a mild word. Why are you so afraid of high places?” He was laughing now, glad that she had recovered. Gavin was startled when she stiffened. “What have I said? Don’t be angry.”
“I’m not,” she said sadly, relaxing again, comfortable in his arms. “I don’t like to think of my father—that’s all.”
Gavin pushed her head back to his shoulder. “Tell me about it,” he said seriously.
Judith was quiet for a moment, then when she did speak, he could hardly hear her. “Actually, I remember little of it—only the fear remains with me. My maids told me of it many years later. I was three years old and something disturbed my sleep. I left the room and went to the great hall, which was alive with light and music. My father was there with his friends and all of them were drunk.” Her voice was cold, as if she told a story about someone else.
“When my father saw me, he seemed to think it a great joke. He called for a ladder and carried me, under his arm, to the top of it and set me on a high windowsill, well above the hall. As I said, I remember none of this. My father and his friends fell asleep, and in the morning the maids searched for me. It was a long time before they found me, though I must have heard them call. It seems I was too frightened to speak.”
Gavin stroked her hair and began to rock her again. The thought of a man setting a three-year-old child twenty feet above the floor, then leaving her all night, made his stomach turn over. He grabbed her shoulders and held Judith away from him. “But you are safe now. See, the ground is quite near.”
She gave him a tentative smile. “You have been good to me. Thank you.”
Her thanks did not please him. It saddened Gavin that she had been so harshly used in her short life that she felt her husband’s comforting was a gift. “You have not seen my woods. What do you say we stay here awhile?”
“But there is work—”
“You are a demon for work. Don’t you ever play?”
“I’m not sure I know how,” she responded honestly.
“Well, today you will learn. Today shall be for picking wildflowers and watching the birds mate.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and Judith gave a very un-Judith-like gig
gle. Gavin was enchanted. Her eyes were warm, her lips sweetly curved, and her beauty was an intoxicating sight. “Then come,” he said as he lifted her to set her on her feet. “There is a hillside nearby that is covered with flowers and some rather extraordinary birds.”
When Judith’s feet touched the ground, her left ankle buckled beneath her. She grabbed Gavin’s arm for support.
“You’re hurt,” he said as he knelt to look at her ankle. He turned and saw Judith bite her lip. “We’ll put it in the cold stream water. That should keep it from swelling.” He swept her into his arms.
“I can walk if you’ll help me a bit.”
“And have my knighthood taken from me? We are taught, you know, in the ways of courtly love. The rules are quite firm about beautiful ladies in distress. They must be carried whenever possible.”
“Then I am only a means to further your knightly status?” Judith asked seriously.
“Of course, since you are a great burden to tote about. You must weigh as much as my horse.”
“I do not!” she protested vehemently then saw his eyes were sparkling. “You’re teasing me!”
“Didn’t I say the day was for merriment?”
She smiled and leaned against his shoulder. It was pleasant to be held so close.
Gavin set her at the edge of the stream, then carefully removed her shoe. “The hose must go,” he smirked. He watched with delight as Judith raised the skirt of her long gown to reveal the top of her hose, tied with a garter just above the knee. “If you need assistance…” he leered as she rolled the silk tube off her leg.
Judith watched Gavin as he gently bathed her foot in the cold water. Who was this man who touched her so gently? He could not be the man who had slapped her, who had flaunted his mistress before her, who had raped her on their marriage night.