Topic: A Wise Man's Counsel

Marin · Date: 2012-04-16 08:22 EST

Evan had intended to go out right after breakfast to check the perimeter of the farm and scout around to see if any trace of Marin's intruders could be found and to see if they'd done any further damage, but one thing had led to another, and he hadn't gotten out there as early as he'd have liked. He wasn't complaining. He wasn't happy about leaving her alone at the house while he made his rounds, but he left her with his sixgun and a quick lesson in how to use it. It wasn't all that hard. It was already loaded. All she had to do was c*ck the hammer, point, and pull the trigger. At least, it seemed easy enough to him. He went off finally, the shotgun in one hand, his horse's reins in the other, mumbling not to worry, that he'd be back before lunch.

He should have been on his way back, at least, by this time. Worried about him, Marin had asked Bill, Jodie's husband, to keep an eye out for Evan when he took a walk around the farm and orchards. The older man had agreed easily enough, taking his own rifle with him as well as a cloth-wrapped packet of cold-cut sandwiches. He wasn't really paying all that much attention to the prospect of finding Evan - Bill was more concerned with the appalling state of the Brambles itself.

Evan made a full circle of the perimeter finding some obvious signs of trespassers - some broken fencing and a few old campfires. Someone was sure as hell trespassing on Marin's property, and it wasn't too difficult to figure out who. He made a mental note to come back after lunch and fix the fence, along with the front door, and had just started back toward the house when he spied a stranger wandering around the orchard with a rifle on his back, poking at this and that like he owned the place. Evan had no way of knowing whether the stranger was friend or foe, and it was always better to safe than sorry, especially given the events of the last few nights. As quietly as possible and shielded by trees, Evan slipped off his horse, patting his nose to tell him to keep quiet, and started on foot toward the orchard where the stranger was poking about.

Bill was supremely unconcerned about being found wandering, though. In fact, unaware of Evan's stealthy approach, the experienced farm manager put his rifle and the lunch packet down, drawing a slim knife from his belt to test the bark on the nearest tree. "....charlatans, fakes, and phonies," he was muttering to himself, reaching up to pick a handful of blossom from the branches over his head. "What have they done to you, lovely, hmm?"

Evan only heard bits and pieces of what Bill was saying and even if he had, he wouldn't have realized that this man was a friend of Marin's who was there to help until told so. Instead, worried for her safety, he lifted the shotgun to his shoulder and pointed it Bill's way. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?"

To his credit, Bill St.James didn't jump or go for his gun. He simply turned, his brows risen into the wayward flop of his greying hair as he took in the sight of a younger man squinting down the barrel of old Mr Richards' shotgun at him. "You'd be Evan Lassiter, then," he nodded mildly, dropping his handful of blossom. "Name's Bill St.James, used to work here. Marin sent out some lunch for you, since you didn't make it back in time." He pointed to the packet on the ground. "Me and the wife, we're moving back in to help out."

And Evan, being the somewhat paranoid, all-too-protective man that he was, didn't flinch either, the shotgun staying right where it was. His eyes flickered quickly to the packet on the ground then back to the man before him. "Moving back in?" Evan echoed, the wheels in his head turning. Marin had said something about hiring some old hands back. "You one of the hands?"

Bill chuckled lightly, the sound more reassuring than mocking as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You could say that," he agreed, looking rather pointedly at the gun pointed his way still. "Might call me the overseer or whatever - I used to work with her father. Known her since she was born, too. Uh ..." He cleared his throat. "I wouldn't recommend shooting me, lad. You might survive Marin's disappointment, but not Jodie's wrath."

Evan arched a single brow, not budging an inch just yet, thinking it over. Think before you shoot, but don't think too long or you might be dead. "What happened to him?" he asked, testing to see if the man came up with the same story Marin had told him. If he did, Evan judged the man was more than likely telling the truth.

Bill's expression tightened. "Silly sod tried to shore up a falling tree outside the house during a storm," he said in a rough voice, the shock of that loss still with him after all this time. "Him and Greg both. I would've been out there with them, but for the broken leg at the time. You can mend a crushed roof. You can't bring back the dead." He shook his head, seemingly still angry with his old friend and his son for being so stupid.

Evan frowned, relating to the man's pain though he said nothing of it, and judging him to be telling the truth. It was either that or he was a very good liar, and Evan decided to take him at his word. He lowered the shotgun to rest at his side, offering a gloved hand to the man. "Apologies. There's been some trespassers about and you can't be too careful." The man already knew his name, it seemed, but it was polite to offer it again himself. "Evan Lassiter."

"Bill St.James," Bill returned the courtesy with a firm handshake, stooping to catch up the little packet Marin had insisted he take with him. "And I've heard about the troubles up here. Came as soon as it got back to us that Dobson's been nosin' around up here. Got a nasty streak, that one." He waved the lunch packet toward Evan. "Heard you got a fever. Eat up, or the girl'll have my head."

Marin · Date: 2012-04-16 08:26 EST

"Much obliged," Evan returned the handshake before reaching for the lunch packet, his stomach grumbling a little betraying his hunger. "Dobson. That the one that was here last night?" he asked, setting his rifle to lean against a tree while he unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. "Bastard scared the hell outta her. Lucky I didn't put a hole in his forehead."

Bill moved into a comfortable crouch beneath the tree he'd been talking to, his fingers playing disgustedly with the knee deep meadow grass that grew wild beneath the branches. "Bastard's a good word for him," he agreed. "Lucky you were here. He does Rogier's dirty work, but he makes sure he enjoys himself, too. Don't reckon Marin'd have much chance against him, and o'course, she'd have to do what Rogier wanted to make him call Dobson off."

There went that eyebrow again, lowering the sandwich a moment to regard the man. "Which is what? Son of a bitch so much as touches her and I'm gonna kill him." And he meant it, too. He'd killed one man already for hurting someone he loved. He reckoned it would be easier the second time around.

"Ah, Rogier's been saying he's got some agreement writ down and signed by her ma to say Marin'd marry him if Louise died and the debt couldn't be paid," Bill shrugged, shaking his head with a frown. "Can't see his mistress liking that, but he's got her so whipped she won't have a say in it anyways. Bet he wasn't expecting her to come back wed." The older man's grin was wide and proud. "Where'd she find you, anyways" I thought she went back to the 1990s, not the 1890s."

Evan gobbled up half the sandwich while the man related all this, frowning a little at the white lie he'd told. He wasn't ashamed to have lied about being married to her, but he was worried if Rogier found out the truth, he might make further trouble for Marin. "We ain't really married," he confessed solemnly. "I told him that so he'd leave her be."

Bill's frown deepened for a moment. "No, that don't make sense," he pointed out firmly. "Unless you're planning on marrying her pretty quick. No woman lights up like she does when you're mentioned 'less there's love there."

"Didn't say I didn't love her. Just said we ain't married." He finished off the sandwich, seeming a little anxious about the change of subject. "I'm fixing to marry her, soon as I get a chance."

"Don't need banns out here," Bill offered helpfully. "And I wasn't talking about you loving her." His grin made an appearance, the expression warm and rather endearing. "She's mad for you, I'd say. And I've known her all her life, so that's an informed opinion." He rose to his feet, stretching lightly. "You coming back to the house, or are you waiting for her to put more ladylike clothes on first?"

Evan was still frowning, crumpling the packet the sandwich had come in into a ball and shoving it into a pocket to dispose of later. His face was a little flushed with fever and the heat of the morning's activities. "She deserves a proper wedding."

"Asked her what she wants?" The older man scooped his rifle up, hanging it over his shoulder once again. "She knows her own mind, that girl. Could be that she doesn't want this proper wedding you're so sure of. Could be all she wants is you." He paused, looking Evan over for a moment. "Been practising for the wedding night already, I hope" Ain't healthy to be living in with your girl and not allowed to touch."

Evan reached for his shotgun, chucking it over a shoulder, arching a slightly surprised brow. He had expected more of a lecture from the man, seeing as he seemed to be something of a father figure to her. His flush deepened just a little at the question, and he decided to change the subject. "You know what happened to her ma?" He started back toward the house, but had to make a detour to fetch his horse.

The knowing grin on the older man's face probably didn't help Evan get his flush under control as Bill wandered in the direction of the tethered stallion with him. But the question of Louise Richards' death was a hotly disputed one, and a subject that brought a concerned frown to Bill's face. "Sounds like Dobson went too far to me," he told Evan. "Don't tell Marin. Louise was terrified of the dark, always hearing things and seeing things that weren't there. Wouldn't be surprised if Dobson pushed her so far she died of fright."

The look on Evan's face was pure hatred at this bit of news. He had guessed as much, but didn't want to assume the worst without proof. Still, there was something else that was bothering him. "Ain't there no law 'round these parts? Dobson said something about the Watch."

He was too new here and knew nothing much of Rhy'Din or Rhy'Din law. He reached for the horse's reins, unwinding them from around the tree and taking them in hand to lead the horse back toward the barn.

"There's law, there's the Watch, but they don't hold with enforcing outside the city," Bill explained. "Not enough men, not enough money, and too much violence inside the city walls for them to dare branch out here. Out here, it's our business what we do and what we don't, what we let folks like Rogier get away with. And if we'd known what was happening with Louise, we'd've been back like quick lime."

Marin · Date: 2012-04-16 08:29 EST

"It ain't good for her to be alone," Evan muttered quietly. Now that the hands were returning, he wondered where he fit into the picture, if he was still needed or not. "Lost someone else to someone like Rogier once. Don't reckon I'm gonna let that happen again."

"Good for you, lad." Bill reached out to clap Evan firmly on the shoulder, approving of the determination in the younger man's voice. "O'course, if you break her heart, I reserve the right to hunt you down and kill you in the most painful way I can think of, but that's gotta be said. Now it's out of the way ....which room are the pair of you in?"

He'd turned quiet again, as was his way, a little lost in thought, weighing the alternatives. Should he marry her now or wait' "What did you mean by we don't need banns out here" How do you get married if you don't need banns?" He was heading toward the barn to settle his horse in his stall, blinking out of his thoughts of marriage at the man's question. "I was in her brother's room."

"Good, so's Jodie knows which door to knock on when she rouses everyone in the morning," Bill told him honestly. He paused by the paddock as they passed it, clucking his tongue, and the Shires perked up, both cantering over to greet the older man enthusiastically without needing to go through the formality of being introduced.

"Don't need banns," he repeated. "I've been to weddings that no one knew was happening until that moment, not even the bride. Let me tell you, those are the ones I've seen last, too."

"Need a preacher or a justice of the peace, don't'cha?" Evan asked, leading the chestnut into his own stall. He set his shotgun aside and starting to remove the saddle and tack, taking his time like he did with most things. He had no idea what marriage customs were like here and if they differed from what he was accustomed to back home in his own time period.

"Preacher, justice, priestess, registrar," Bill rattled off the list, patting the Shires both heavily before moving to lean in the stable doorway, watching as Evan tended to his horse. He'd settle the work horses later himself. "Whatever takes your fancy. Doesn't have to be in church, neither."

"Don't reckon it's foolish to wanna marry a woman you met two days ago?" he asked the man, looking over at him a moment before turning back to finish off tending to his horse. He was working up a sweat again and was gonna smell like sweat and horse before the day was through.

The older man snorted lightly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Only if you reckon it's foolish to still be married to that woman twenty-three years later," he offered politely. He liked Evan; the quiet good manners, the concern over whether he was doing the right thing, the certainty that some things could not be tolerated. Yes, this was a man Bill could approve of marrying into the Richards' family. "I married Jodie the day we met. Didn't see the point of waiting when I knew she was the one."

That got a pointed look from Evan, those expressive gray-green eyes widening and brows arching upwards. "You married her the day you met her?" he echoed, stringing together an entire sentence, pronouns and all, for a change, sounding understandably surprised. "How'd you meet?"

"Ah, there's a regular festival beginning of May in these parts, Beltane," Bill explained, grinning at Evan's reaction to his light confession. "First time I went, saw this gorgeous redhead flashing her ankles and being a flirt, and I pretty much stalked her for the whole three days of the festival. Asked her to marry me before I knew her name, too. I think she agreed as a joke, but Jodie's never gone back on it."

Once he finished with the horse, he stowed the horse's saddle and tack in the proper place, got him some feed and made sure he had fresh water, all of this while listening to Bill relay his story. "May Day," Evan remarked, after hearing the man's description of the festival, though it was very different back home. "Love at first sight," he muttered to himself, having experienced that once in his lifetime already and wondering why he was so lucky to experience it again.

"If that's what you call it," the older man nodded cheerfully. "Fertility, sex, bonfires ....perfect time for a wedding, really. And I hear they've been setting up private tents and such around the Glen the last few years, so folks can welcome in the goddess or whoever with a little primal magic of their own, if you know what I mean."

Evan's jaw nearly dropped open. "Folks go to a festival to..." He was too polite to say it. "What in blazes for" Don't need a festival for that." Finished with the horse, he shoved a hand through his hair and took a lean against the stall. "Back home, we leave a basket of flowers outside someone's door, and if you get caught, you get a kiss." He smiled at the memory of one such incident, years ago, wondering what Marin would think if he did such a thing.

"Ah, it's all about, uh, bringing fertility back to the land, the coming of spring, that sort of thing," Bill explained cheerfully. "If you want the land to be fertile, you might as well test your woman's fertility too, or something like that. I don't know. It's damned erotic when your girl strips naked under the moon, let me tell you." Evan's reminiscence of a more innocent ritual made him smile, though. "That one's sweet."

"Strip naked under the moon?" Evan echoed, flabbergasted. "Why in tarnation would you wanna do that' Might catch a cold or something." He was suddenly experiencing a wave of culture shock, though there was plenty more of that to come. "Someone might see you!"

Marin · Date: 2012-04-16 08:32 EST

Bill laughed suddenly, slapping himself in the chest as he choked on his amusement. "There's a pool on this land, you know," he offered. "Little waterfall, surrounded by trees, real private. Sort of a tradition that folks head that way when they're getting in touch with nature and each other around here."

"What folks?" Evan asked with an arched brow. If he and Marin ended up there, he didn't want to draw a crowd. He pushed off the stall, deciding it was probably time they headed back to the house and checked in with the womenfolk.

"Richards folks," Bill assured him with a grin. "Family tradition, you don't get us hands up there."

A warm feminine voice interrupted the conversation as Marin leaned around the door of the stable to look in on them. "Whose hands up where?" she asked curiously, her face lighting up with a bright, tender smile as her eyes fell upon Evan.

His gaze flickered to Marin and his heart leaped into his throat, a look on his face that betrayed his growing feelings for this gentle flower of a woman. "Don't look at me," he said, lifting his hands to show he was doing nothing unsavory with them. "I'm innocent." He said it with such a straight face, it was hard to tell if he was serious or trying to make a joke.

Bill snorted, patting Marin on the shoulder. "If you took him up to the hay loft, I think he'd prove himself a liar there, love," he told the young woman, squeezing her shoulder before slipping out of the stable, heading for the house and his wife's company.

Marin flushed a little at the blunt comment, stepping into the stable as she smiled shyly to Evan. "Is everything all right?" she asked him quietly. "You were gone so long."

"Yeah." Evan watched as the man retreated, scowling a little at his abandoning him with Marin after making not so subtly suggesting a roll in the hay. Didn't he know hay is itchy'

His eyes slid back to Marin, shuffling his feet a little nervously, for some reason. He had so many things to say, but being a man of few words, was unsure how to say it. "Gotta mend the fence on the northeastern boundary." Instead of what he was thinking, that was what tumbled out of his mouth. His eyes couldn't help look her over, even as he tried to keep them focused on her face.

Gazing up at him, she had the feeling that he hadn't said what he wanted to say, curious to know what was going on behind his beautiful eyes now. She stepped closer, not so shy of his proximity as perhaps she might have been a day or so before. "I was worried about you," she admitted faintly. "Actually ....I missed you. I really missed you, and you weren't even that far away."

He watched her silently a moment, debating whether to take her in his arms right then and there or wait until it was a more appropriate time. A faint smile appeared on his face at her admission. "I missed you, too." It went without saying that he was worried. His worries were what had prompted him to ride out and check the fence, among other things. "Don't like leaving you alone."

She smiled, a soft giggle almost escaping. "I nearly shot Bill when they arrived," she told him. "Well, I was aiming. I don't think I had the gun cocked properly, though." A look of utter bemusement crossed her face as she looked at his chest. "What is wrong with me, why am I making small talk?" Rolling her eyes, she reached up to draw Evan down to her, offering up the kiss that had been preying on her mind all day.

He didn't have much time to react to that as he found himself being pulled in for a kiss, no resistance from him at all. In fact, his eyes lit with amusement and warmth when she drew him in, reclaiming those lips that he longed to taste again and again. A gloved hand found her hip to rest lightly there, while he savored her lips, brooking no argument.

"Mmm ..." Her lips broke gently from his as she leaned into him. "I've been wanting to do that ever since you rode out of sight this morning," she confessed in a soft voice, pressing her forehead against his chest for a moment. The smoothing of her fingers over his sides brought her to another thought, and her hand stilled, hovering over the healing wound tenderly. "How are you feeling?"

He reluctantly parted from her lips, almost thinking maybe Bill had it right. There was so much that needed doing, but at that moment, all he wanted was to hold her in his arms and make slow passionate love to her. The tentative touch to his side broke his train of thought, along with her question, and he frowned a little, unable or unwilling to lie to her. "Sore," he admitted, quickly adding, so as not to worry her, "but I'll be all right."

Her blue eyes narrowed slightly as she eyed him, not entirely sure she believed him about being all right. "Evan, given the chance, you'd work yourself back into that fever, wouldn't you?" Marin accused him fondly, not giving him a chance to deny it. Her fingers found the buttons of his shirt and vest, drawing them open with the full intention of looking properly at the healing wound in his side.

He found himself tongue tied at her question, not to mention the fumbling she was doing with the buttons of his shirt, which unless she had mended it, probably still had a telltale tear in it where the bullet had ripped through. "The fence needs mending and the door. Horses need tending to. Orchard's overgrown." He hadn't been blind to what needed doing around the farm and had started to make a to-do list in his head starting with the front door, if it wasn't fixed already.

"Well, we have friends here to help out now," she told him firmly, opening up his shirt and bending a little to stroke her fingers over the pad, checking his skin for heat, the pad for discharge. She found none, thankfully, but he still seemed a little feverish to her. "I'm not going to let you make yourself ill, sweetheart," Marin assured him as she straightened, smoothing her hands over his ribs with affectionate intimacy.

Marin · Date: 2012-04-16 08:37 EST

One eyebrow ticked upwards at the term of endearment, which further stirred the blossoming feelings of love and affection inside him. He watched her with that steady gaze of his while she checked his wound. While still sore, he was mending. Common sense told him not to overdo it, but he wasn't the type to sit idle for too long. "Don't need coddling, Marin. I'll be fine." He argued no further though, as her fingers found his chest, stirring other more physical feelings.

"I don't care if you need coddling, everyone deserves it now and then," she countered with a playful smile, stepping closer. He was too tall for her to kiss as she spoke, but the sweet invitation in her smile might bring him down to her level for a moment or two. "Besides, it's a wife's preogative to coddle her husband from time to time, isn't it?"

There went that eyebrow again. It was hard not to catch the hint about marriage when she put it that way, but they weren't married yet. "I should probably officially propose first, don't you think?" He eyed her from his height, not bending forward to capture those all too alluring lips just yet. It was hard to tell with him if he was teasing or serious.

"I thought I already did that?" Marin asked, far more relaxed with him than he might have thought possible, knowing that old friends were waiting for them in the big house. Her small hands smoothed around to his back beneath his shirt as she leaned close, her hair falling back from her neck as she looked up at him. "Or should I have gotten down on one knee with a ring and everything?"

He cleared his throat, straightening his back a little when she wrapped her arms around him, not because he was not enjoying her close - just the opposite, in fact. She was having an obvious effect on him, and he was trying hard to be a gentleman. He continued to eye her closely, as if in thought, debating how he should react to her question and wondering once again if she was teasing or serious. "Reckon that's my line, ain't it' Ain't got no money for a ring right now though."

"I don't care about a ring, Evan," Marin shook her head, her smile fading a little. "It doesn't matter, it obviously makes you uncomfortable talking about this." She blushed lightly, feeling silly for bringing the subject up in the first place. There was the shyness he was used to seeing from her again as she made to step away, her hands retreating from his skin.

He caught her by the arm before she could get too far, pulling her back toward him as he got down on one knee in front of her, taking her hands in his. "I wasn't gonna do it this way, but Marin Richards, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

He looked up at her with a hopeful look on his face. The fear and reluctance of a short time ago seemed to have been replaced with hope and determination. Whatever fears he may have had about rushing things had been soothed not only by his growing feelings for her, but by Bill's reassuring speech about his own life story.

Whatever she had been expecting, it hadn't been an impromptu proposal in a stable. Drawn back to him, Marin stared down at Evan in utter amazement, blue eyes alight with the same tender hope and an obvious glow of pleasure at his unexpectedly firm decision about their future.

"Do you really think I'm going to say no?" she heard herself as through the slow growth of her smile, stroking her thumbs over his affectionately. "Of course I'll marry you, Evan. I'd marry you tonight if I could."

He smiled finally, gray-green eyes shining, this time not with fever but happiness and maybe even a sense of relief that he'd finally reached a decision. He knew it wouldn't be easy. There were things that needed to be worked out, but he was confident that if their love was strong, they'd endure. He even chuckled a little at her reply.

"Reckon tonight might be a bit soon. Bill mentioned something about a Beltane festival. That soon enough?" He was still on his knee, waiting expectantly for a decision to be made. He paused a moment, turning serious again, his voice uncharacteristically quieter than usual. "I love you, Marin. I want us to be together."

Her response might have been a little different to what he was expecting. "Oh, thank goodness," she exclaimed softly, her smile relaxing further until all it showed was tender affection. Her hands slid from his to caress over his jaw as she leaned down to him. "I love you, too. I just ....I thought it might be too soon to tell you." Ignoring the prickle of hay against her bare knees, she dropped down to kneel with him, brushing her lips to his gently. "Gods, I love you so much ..."

Whatever growing feelings were budding inside him, his heart exploded suddenly with full-blown love and affection for this sweet woman who'd suddenly and inexplicably come into his life, all his fears suddenly dissipating like sunshine breaking through the clouds on a rainy day at the heartfelt and honest declaration of love for him.

"Mare," he muttered, her name like the whisper of a prayer against his lips. He brushed a fiery strand of hair away from her face, so lovely to his eyes. There was nothing more to say really, leaning close to press his lips against hers and tell her wordlessly what his heart was feeling.

That nickname, something that meant so very much to hear even before she knew he loved her, all but melted the redhead in his arms into a deeply pliable puddle of goo. Marin couldn't believe her luck - that the man she'd fallen so fast, so hard for loved her in return; that he wanted to marry her; that Evan was staying in her life by choice, not out of a misplaced sense of duty. As his lips covered hers, she lifted a silent thank you to whoever was watching over them ....to Ellie, the woman who had held Evan's heart in trust for so long.

For all she knew, it might just be Ellie guiding Fate's hand from some other realm of existence, wanting her Evan to be happy and not live the rest of his life miserable and bitter and loveless. But they would more than likely never know whether that was true or not. As for his part, Evan returned Marin's kiss with equal passion, at last allowing his heart to heal and allowing himself to love again.

((Roll on Beltane! Thanks to Evan for this scene, although ....I'm wondering now how he really planned on proposing. :grin: ))