I came to, later that day in my bed. My armor had been removed and I was bandaged up. Anabel was right beside me weeping. “I told you to be careful!” she cried.
“I’m okay, I think,” I said as I tried to get out of bed. No luck, I was too bruised.
“Just stay there and rest for now. Higgins and I will take care of you.”
“Oh, Anabel. You’re so loyal. Thank you.”
Just then there was a knock. “Come on in,” I called out.
It was Emily. She opened the door and came in with her hands clasped together downward in front of her, “Did something stupid, didn’t ya?” she asked.
“Haha, yeah,” I giggled, “got that eulogy ready?”
“Well, you’re not dead yet. But that can change if you’re not more careful about these things.”
Anabel interjected, “Higgins went out to get more medical supplies. Something called ass-par-end?”
Emily and I both laughed a little, “Aspirin,” I corrected.
“I think we should leave you alone to rest until he gets back,” she added.
“I’ll be okay. Really. Don’t worry yourself.”
“Just the same, I shall retire downstairs for the time being,” she curtsied and left the room.
Emily stayed and asked, “So, what the hell happened anyway?”
“Long story, but I was fighting some goblins and got surrounded,” I wanted to refrain from telling Emily and Anabel about Arduwan for the time being. No sense in them getting the wrong idea about us.
“So, when do you think you’ll go back?” she asked.
“If I can, I’ll try to go tomorrow.”
“Well, here’s your answer. You can’t. You need to recover at least a couple of days.
Nothing’s broken. But you lost a fair bit of blood and you’re pretty badly bruised.”
“Yeah, I can tell,” I said sarcastically, “alright, I won’t go for at least two or three more days.”
Emily stood up and said, “I’m gonna go downstairs with Anabel until Higgins gets back.” She kissed me on the forehead and left the room. That was…unexpected.
* * *
A little while later, Higgins came up to see me and give me some aspirin.
“Hey, Higgins, I know I’ve got some explaining to do and once again owe you an apology.”
“On the contrary, Master Noble,” he said, as he sat on a wooden chair that was beside my bed, “this time, I should apologize to you.”
“Apologize to me? What for?”
“For trying to stunt your growth. In the beginning of our training, it made sense for me to try and hold you back because of your lack of experience, but just as I did not pursue you when you went to Bristol, it wasn’t right of me to prevent you in finding your own way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your father and I had our own experiences that made us what we became. And though we wanted to pass on as much as we could to prepare you, it’s not right to totally shield you from molding yourself as a man.”
“I think I get what you’re saying. But I still shouldn’t have so much selective hearing with your words of wisdom. Let me ask you, do you think I should resume what I was doing in Callist when I’ve healed up, or should I scratch it for now and focus on something else?”
“That depends. Do you feel you were on the right track with your goal?”
My goal was to knock these Devils out as quickly as possible, and I was well on my way to taking another down.
“Yes, I feel as though I made progress in just the four days I was there.”
“Then you have your answer,” he stood up to leave the room and said, “you can tell me of your time in Callist tomorrow. Take the remainder of the evening to rest and heal your wounds. Thankfully they’re just cuts and bruises. You should be fine to leave in a couple of days.”
“Thanks, Higgins. And most of all, thanks for understanding.”
“Not a problem, Master Noble. It’s what I’m here for. The young ladies and I will see you are well taken care of.”
* * *
Right before bed, Anabel came by to wash up my wounds and change my bandages once again. She didn’t say much except, “if you need anything, you know my room is just down the hall. Simply call out and I’ll be here.”
A short time later, I went to sleep. But in the middle of the night, I heard a familiar voice I hadn’t heard in a while.
“Eric…Eric. Is everything all right?” the voice said.
It was Stephanie’s voice! As sure as I live and breathe, Stephanie came into my room. I was too weak to move, but she told me to just relax.
“Oh, Stephanie. I’ve missed you so much. You wouldn’t believe all the shit I’ve been going through.”
“It’s alright, Eric. Just let me caress away all your cares for the time being,” she said, as she gently stroked my face.
“Ah, that feels wonderful. I’m so glad to have you here.”
But then something felt off. The fingers on my face were caressing me from above. My head felt elevated. Slowly, I began to wake up. It was a dream! Stephanie wasn’t there at all. I looked up and saw Emily looking down at me. She was in a black nightgown, sitting where my pillows should be and my head was in her lap. She had been the one stroking my face! I leapt up, but ouch!!! My body was still aching from the bruising. I looked back at her and asked, “what are you doing in here?!”
She had a catlike grimace on her face and leaned forward seductively to say, “I’m just here to see that you are well taken care of, Master Noble.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Master Noble? What the hell? Why are you calling me that?”
She snickered, “sorry, did that remind you too much of Higgins? I assure you, that’s not the image I was trying to invoke.”
“Alright, I really think it’s time you went back to bed. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but…”
She started stroking my cheek again with her soft, cool hand, this time with me sitting level with her. Just as I started to get into it.
*CLICK*
The door started to open up. We both turned just in time to see Anabel. She was standing there in her white nightgown and asked, “just what is going on in here?”
“Anabel!” I said, “why are you here?”
“I was coming to check in on you. What is Emily doing here?”
“I was doing the same. Just heading back to my room now,” she said as she hopped off the bed.
Anabel nervously bid me goodnight and she headed off as well. I was a little bit hot and bothered by the whole thing, so it took me a few minutes to get back to sleep. The next day it became increasingly apparent that the two of them were doing everything they could to out baby me…
Anabel brought me breakfast… “Hope you like eggs and toast, Eric.”
Emily played a mystery board game with me… “So that’s what you were reminded of on our first case together!”
Anabel redressed my wounds…”good, all the bleedings stopped.”
Emily gave me a shoulder rub…”these hands can work wonders.”
The only break I got in all of it was an hour or so I spent telling Higgins about what had happened in Callist. It was almost too much…but I loved it just the same!
The second night came, and I was feeling a lot better. Still quite sore but I could at least get up and go to the bathroom easier than the day before. Higgins kept his distance after our talk. He didn’t want to drain me too much and he knew I’d just wanna spend my time at home discussing the next move. He also knew that the girls were one upping each other every couple of hours and he wanted no part of interfering in that.
* * *
In the kitchen, Higgins was cleaning up when Anabel came to ask him a question.
“Something bothering you, Miss Townsend?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, Higgins. I just came from seeing Eric,” she said despondently, “I confessed to him that I accidentally broke a few dishes while he was away. I apologized for damaging his family’s hard earned possessions. All he said was, ‘that’s okay, I’ve got enough money to replace them’.”
“I’m afraid I don’t follow,” Higgins replied, “what’s the problem?”
“Well, he didn’t even chastise me. I thought there would be punishment.”
“Now, now, Miss Townsend. Master Noble wouldn’t be upset with you over something so trivial,” he comforted.
“But I was expecting him to administer a maintenance spanking.”
“A what?!”
“Perhaps he really doesn’t think of me as a suitable wife,” she sighed.
“Miss Townsend, what exactly are you talking about?”
“I read about it in this book I found in the study. Miss Emily is always reading so I figured I should too.”
“May I see this book?” he asked.
She showed it to him. It was a large brown tome that read, ‘The Modern Housewife by P. Worrell Hall’.
“Miss Townsend, this book was written in 1950!”
“I know!” she said gleefully, “it was high time I brought myself up to date on the ways of post-industrial matrimony.”
“I hardly think this book will appropriately prepare you for modern courtship,” Higgins corrected, “it’s nearly three quarters of a century old.”
“Well, then what should I do, Higgins?”
* * *
Nightfall came and I was lying in bed, starting to fall asleep. Suddenly, the door creaked open. I was just awake enough to notice, but still too tired to react. Whoever it was closed the door behind them and snuck across the room. I felt them crawl up in the bed next to me but I was really out of it. They snuggled up their arm across my chest and nuzzled against my left side. A while later, I completely zoned out and no longer noticed them there.
A little later in the night, the door creaked open again and closed. Someone came sneaking up and crawled into bed with me. This was a little more subtle, but it snuggled up next to me. It had to be another dream, like the night before with Stephanie. I laid there for a moment and regained my lucidity. There was no one there! Just me in a pitch black room. But I needed to go to the bathroom, so I got up and went. When I came back my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and it looked like someone was in my bed! But who?!
I flicked on the light and to my surprise, Emily and Anabel were both asleep with their arms around each other. They had both mistaken each other for me. The flash of the light woke both of them up and they let out a scream.
“What are you doing in here?!” Emily shouted.
“What are you doing in here?!” Anabel returned.
“Me? Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Was just checking in on Mast… umm, Eric. I’ll be on my way. Good night.”
Emily left the room in a hurry leaving Anabel just sitting there. I walked over to get back in bed as Anabel got up. I said, “I don’t know why you two are acting so crazy, but let’s work it out tomorrow.”
“Me? Acting crazy?! I was just coming to ensure Miss Emily wasn’t trying anything funny.
It is not proper to carry yourself the way she does, and I didn’t want it rubbing off on you.”
“Sure, whatever,” I dismissed.
She stood there for a moment and said, “alright. I confess. I was in fact seeking out your affection and it has become abundantly clear that Miss Emily is competition. I’m sorry I have to resort to this, but here it goes…”
I turned to look over at her standing at my bedside. She pulled the wooden chair over so it would be level with my upper body. She stopped for just a second, looked towards the door and placed her right foot on the chair next to me. Then she took in a deep breath, exhaled, and slowly lifted her nightgown to show me her knee as she faced away, avoiding eye contact and blushing.
“Anabel…what are you doing?” I asked, confused.
“I am trying to seduce you, Eric. I have abandoned the indirect approach in favor of Miss Emily’s tactics.”
“Anabel, have a seat for a minute. Let’s talk.”
She was beet red from blushing and she quickly lowered her nightgown and sat stiff as a board facing me.
“Anabel…what’s going on? I thought you and Emily were getting along fine when I left.”
“We were…I mean, we are. It’s just. I still don’t fully trust her, Eric,” her voice lowered to a whisper, “I heard something strange the second night after you left.”
“Something strange? What do you mean?” I inquired.
Her voice was still just above a whisper, and she said, “well, I was having trouble sleeping so I got up in the middle of the night to fetch a glass of warm milk. As you know, her room is directly across from mine. When I came into the hall, I heard the most peculiar sound. It was sort of like that contraption Higgins uses to trim the weeds after he mows the lawn, but quieter. It made a…not crunching sound. Oh, what’s the word? You know, the sound bees make only louder.”
“Buzzing?”
“Buzzing! Blast my lacking knowledge of modern english.”
It took a second for it to set in but I realized exactly what Anabel heard.
*BZZZZZZZZZZZ*
I quickly tried to change the subject, “Ah, yeah, you know, I’m sure it was nothing and if it was then Emily has it all under control and you shouldn’t worry about it. If you hear it again, definitely don’t go check on her,” I rambled.
Then suddenly, Anabel started crying, “that’s besides the point, Eric. It’s just…just…”
“Anabel, be honest with me, what’s bothering you?”
“Why don’t you like me? We have shared a kiss more than once and you brought me into this world with you. I’ve been trying really hard to learn the ways of a modern housewife and have given yield to your betrothed, but she is nowhere to be found! When you brought Emily back it felt as though I was given even more competition but worse, because she is here.”
Anabel bawled her eyes out and I leaned over to embrace her and said, “Anabel, I do like you. Emily isn’t competition for you. She’s got a few screws loose and that's something I’m gonna have to straighten out with her. But I assure you, she’s not a replacement for you. You’re both my friends.”
“But I want to be more than friends. Curse your lackadaisical and absent betrothed!”
“Ha! That’s pretty good. I kinda feel the same way. But you have to understand something. Stephanie and I have a lot of history together. A lot! And it may seem like she’s a bad person for leaving me and not being here, but I assure you, Stephanie is a good person and none of you, Higgins included, understands what’s between us. Now I may not be able to win Stephanie back, but she’ll always have a special place in my heart.”
Anabel started to calm down and said, “Okay…I will try to understand and respect your wishes.”
“That’s not all,” I said, “I’m going to have a talk with Emily tomorrow about her behavior and the two of you need to have a talk of your own. Listen to me when I say this…it may not be the way you want things to be, but you have my word that if I’m unsuccessful in winning back Stephanie within a reasonable time, there’s not a person in this world or any other that will have an opportunity with me before you do!”
“Do you really mean that, Eric?”
“Of course, I do. Just like it would be unfair to Stephanie for me to pursue you, it would be unfair to you for me to pursue someone else.”
She started to smile a little bit. The two of us hugged and then said our good nights as she returned to her room.