Page 39 of A Fearless Heart
“I’m refining that medicine from before,” she explained. “A lower concentration is certainly safer.” She felt quite calm now, even with the unexpected presence of Gabe. Though on one level he activated all her senses, there was another level where he seemed to serve as bulwark to the other turmoil around her. Her so-called tutor in bravery was actually quite good at offering her reasons not to panic.
“All done?” he asked. “Good. Now, follow me. There’s something very important for you to see.”
She’d heardthatbefore. “What now?” she asked warily.
“Just come along. I promise it’s not far.”
Cady followed him out of the house and through the south gardens, curious about what Gabe was up to.
He kept going, passing by the now tidy green lawn and further. He led her down a thin dirt path that wound through a patch of woodland. Cady knew it well. She used to chase down it after Trevor, who even though he was younger, had much longer legs and always outpaced her.
“This goes to some outbuildings,” she said, remembering all at once. “It was a sort of very small farm. Just the cottage and a little barn and an icehouse for the dairy, I think.”
“Exactly.” Gabe looked back and gave her a wink.
“It hasn’t had a tenant for years! I can’t even remember the last time I was here. What’s this about?”
“It’s part of our agreement.”
“Our agreement…” She stopped short. “You haven’t found a nest of spiders there, have you?”
“Absolutely not,” he promised.
“Then what are you scaring me with?”
“I’m not scaring you, my lady. At least, that’s not the goal. Remember, I’m helping you get braver.”
“Yes, through terrorizing me!”
“The mouse was adorable, not terrifying. You said so yourself.”
“It was terrifying at first,” she muttered.
By then, they reached the place she’d been thinking of. Gabe pointed not to the cottage, where she expected he’d go, but to a round, domed building with no windows and a single door. The bottom of the building was stone, rising to about waist height. Above that, gently curving boards rose up to a central point. Though the building seemed quite large, she knew that the walls were at least three feet thick and insulated with straw to keep the interior reliably cold to store the ice that had been cut in winter.
“What’s inside the icehouse?” she asked.
“Almost nothing. But it is very dark.”
Cady quailed, realizing what he was up to. “Oh, no. I can’t, I couldn’t possibly.”
“You can,” he told her. “We’re going to walk in there together.”
“Or I could just stay outside.”
“That won’t help you be braver.”
“I’ve decided I don’t need to be brave after all. Thank you for everything, but I’ll go home now.”
As she turned, Gabe reached out and caught her hand in his. “Cady. Please try.”
It was the name that got her. Not just the overly familiar use of her given name, but a diminutive he had no right to use or even know. “You can’t call me that,” she objected, though weakly.
“Mr Addison did when he was here. I heard him say it. Would you walk into the icehouse if he asked you to?”
“He’d have the courtesy not to!” she said. “It’s like a tomb in there.”
“Have you ever been in a tomb?”
