Page 22 of The Outlaw and the Heir

Which left only one person, who, outside the few hours this week I’d allowed him to be away from my watch, still remained diligently working away at the most basic tasks. It wasn't a waste. Despite the ragged state I’d first seen him in, he found a wiry strength and quiet stamina daily. If he’d been anyone other than...well, who he was, I would have praised him as one of our better laborers. In terms of efficiency anyway, because the man could work. The downside was that his mouth also did a lot of work which was not my favorite thing about him...not that I had a favorite.

A throat cleared behind me, and I turned to see Hipolita standing under the shade of the canvas stretched over the worker's eating area. I blinked, staring at her in confusion as she watched me with a serene smile. Without thinking, I reached upto grab my hat as I approached, resting it against my hip before stopping before her.

"Is something wrong?" I asked in a low, quiet voice. It wasn't like her to leave the house. Whenever I'd brought that up, she'd always told me the home was where she belonged, which, while I'd believed it as a boy, had always sounded strange, considering how much she loved basking in sunlight and smelling fresh air. As a man, though, I believed she was avoiding the men working there. No one said anything in my hearing, but I wasn't stupid. I knew they saw her, her skin color and had their own thoughts and feelings on her presence. Sometimes, I wondered if she stayed in the house out of sight for her own peace of mind or because she didn't want me to hear anything.

"Don't you get yourself to worryin'," she said with a soft chuckle, and I frowned when I saw her hand flex as if to reach out to me before she tucked the offending hand back into her pocket. "Came out here because your daddy sent me to look for you, is all."

Which didn't make me feel good. At least, I knew from experience my father would never send Hipolita to find me if he was looking to give me a hard time. Despite how stern he could be and, at times, unforgiving, he hadneverhad a bad word to say about Hipolita. It was one of those things that always made me wonder if I really did know who my father was because too many things about him contradicted one another. And despite knowing I would never solve that particular puzzle, I still found myself trying to figure it out now and again, knowing it would drive me crazy every time I tried.

"Okay," I said, trying to quiet my annoyance at how reserved she felt she had to behave when she was out of the house. "Why you?"

"Probably because I was closest," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "Or maybe he had his own reasons. He usually does."

"An understatement," I muttered, glancing around. "I'm on watch at the moment."

"The funny bit...is that he figured you'd say that. Said the two you've got busy doin' their own thing are fine, seein' as they're under the watch of whoever you assigned to 'em."

"That's two of three covered."

"Mmm, and he said the third can accompany you to the house to see your daddy in his office."

Great, not only did I have to go to my father's office, a place where only the most serious business and concerns were discussed, but I had to bring my shadow with me. "Did he say when?"

"As soon as you can pull yourself away," she said. "His words, not mine."

Which meant immediately. "Great, this should be fun."

I turned to find where Samuel had gone. Lately, he’d been making a point of disappearing, something he found particularly amusing. The only thing good about his new trick was he had yet to go too far from where he was supposed to be. If he wasn't cleaning out a stall like he was supposed to, he was just outside a barn or in the tool shed. If he wasn't digging the new fence posts, he was probably lounging in the shade of a nearby building or behind a rock formation. I couldn't tell if that was just another one of his attempts at being lighthearted or if he was trying to wear me down until I finally gave up looking for him so that he couldreallydisappear.

I wasn't going to give him the pleasure of the first, and I sure as hell wasn't going to allow the second thing to happen on my watch.

Something brushed my side, and I jerked my head to the right, flinching when I saw Samuel looking at me curiously. I tried to stifle my surprise but instead glared at him. I hadn't heard anyone approaching, which was saying something,considering the amount of grit and rocks making it noisy to walk. It wasn't the first time he'd managed to sneak up on me, and while I normally accused him of doing it on purpose, I was starting to think he couldn't help himself. Which made it worse in my mind because what the hell was he capable of doing when he was trying?

"What are you doing?" I snapped, realizing his arm was pressed against mine and yanking it away.

He snorted. “Well, clearly something was going on. You had a look on your face. Not quite like someone had died, but maybe that someone is going to die if your mood keeps going like it is."

"You'll find that any time his daddy is involved, he gets that look on his face," Hipolita offered because,apparently,loyalty was in short supply around here, even from those you most expected it from.

"Reminds me of someone sucking on a lemon sometimes, but that's mostly when he's forced to talk to me for longer than it takes to bark orders," Samuel said with a grin.

I frowned at him. “A...lemon?"

His eyes swept over my face before shrugging. “It's a type of fruit. Kind of like an orange, but different."

"He's never had a fresh orange before," Hipolita told him. "Only dried ones, and only a few times."

"Oh," he said, frowning. "I'm not sure what to compare it to then."

"I'm sure you can come up with something. You sure do have a way with words."

"You seem to have had both. Why don't you tell him?"

She tilted her head, eyes looking around for a moment before speaking softly. "I was a very young girl when I had an orange. They weren't...for folks like me. If it hadn't been for my brother sneaking one out of a crate for me, I would have never had one. Idon't remember it much, but I remember how he laughed at the face I made."

I didn't miss the way her lips curled ever so slightly at the corners at the mention of her brother. Before I could stop him, Samuel spoke up. “Was he caught?"

"Not that time, but there were other things, things they said he did," she said with a small shrug. "It happened in the life I had before this one."

---