Page 61 of The Cruel Highlander's Healer
But now, her eyes were open and alert. They fixed onto Eliza, the deep blue grey of the Scottish sea on a blustery day.
“Hello there,” Eliza breathed, unable to stop the wide, ecstatic smile that tugged up the corners of her lips. “I’m Eliza. I’m the healer that’s been helpin’ ye. What’s yer name?”
“Ethel,” she muttered.
Ethel’s voice was raspy from disuse, but it was stronger than Eliza had expected. Her smile widened.
“It’s mighty nice to meet ye, Ethel,” Eliza beamed. “How are ye feelin’? Are ye feelin’ better?”
The girl nodded, bringing her hand to her face to hide a cough. Immediately, Eliza leaned forward, listening to the sound.
She lost herself in her work, allowing caring for the children to drive all thoughts of Conall and what had occurred the night before from her mind.
Time lost all meaning as she flicked from child to child. Some were better off than others. Some were even so healed that Eliza suspected she’d be able to send them home to their parents come morning.
Eliza had made it through a little over half the patients, listening to their coughs and their breathing, ensuring they had water and had eaten, when she was distracted by the opening of the door.
She stood at full height, whirling to see who had entered the hall. She hadn’t even realized the apprehensive that had spooled in her belly until it unclenched the moment her eyes landed on Kate.
Eliot was trailing not far behind her, and both of them gave Eliza a friendly wave.
“I’ve gotten yer maither all settled,” Kate explained the moment she was within earshot. “She’ll be in the rooms directly across from yers. I figured ye would want her close.”
“Thank ye,” Eliza said, sincerity filling each of her words. “From the bottom of me heart, I cannae thank ye enough. Nae just for me maither and gettin’ her settled, but for carin’ for the bairns while I’ve been gone. I ken ye’ve been workin’ yerself to the bone, and me bein’ gone couldnae have helped ye much.”
Kate waved a dismissive hand before her face.
“Ye daenae have to thank me,” she argued. “We should be thankin’ ye. If it hadnae been for ye, the bairns, well I hate to think what may have happened to them.”
The two women locked eyes, and it didn’t take much for Eliza to see the fear lingering in the depths of the woman’s gaze. It was a fear that she, herself, felt deep in her bones.
Had Conall waited even a few days more to find her, for so many of them it would have been too late. And even if she had made mistakes with the Laird, Eliza could at least be thankful for the lives that she’d been able to save while here.
“And ye kept them alive until I got here,” Eliza said, holding the girl’s stare. “There is a lot to thank ye for on that.”
Kate nodded, blinking quickly, and Eliza did not miss the tears that decorated the other woman’s lash line. Elia reached forward, gripping Kate’s hands in her own and giving them a grateful, affectionate squeeze.
Eliza’s eyes flicked over Kate’s shoulders. Eliot was standing a few paces behind the women. His brows were pressed together, eyes flickered between the two women as he tried to decipher what was happening.
“Now,” Kate said, giving Eliza’s hands a gentle squeeze and dropping them. “Let’s get to work, shall we?”
The two women turned and walked toward where Eliza had left off. They did not speak to each other, instead opting to focus on the children. But Eliza could feel the other woman’s presence the entire time, and she used it to keep her steady.
Other than Marissa, Eliza had never worked with another person to heal. And, once she was old enough, the overwhelming majority of her work had been solitary.
There had simply been too many people that needed healing and too few people who knew how to do it.
I should teach Kate how to heal. Along with Isabel from the village.
The thought was a comforting one. Visions of a future where not just Eliza and Marissa healed the villages that surrounded them. But an entire group of women who worked together.
They could lean on each other, support one another. It might be nice, to have a community of women who understood.
When the final child had been checked on, and given their cup of broth, Eliza stood and glanced around.
Kate was standing near the entrance of the hall once more, she and Eliot laughing as they spoke about one thing or another. Both of their eyes flicked in Eliza’s direction as she approached them.
“They should be settled for a while,” Eliza said.
