Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 283

Chapter 283: Hello again
Mia’s job, now that cattails and other wild vegetables were gathered, was to start the cookfire, nice and large, so that there would be ample coals to roast the meat over, and smoke to dry out what they wouldn’t eat tonight.

Fresh meat sounded unbelievably delicious, and she was grateful that her father had been able to take the creature down before it disappeared into the tall grasses of these plains.

Mia closed her eyes with a sigh. The secondary pull was back almost constantly, not flickering like it had been thus far on their journey. Ford must have reached somewhere that he no longer felt the need to hide.

That was good. She wished him well.

There were thicker bushes and low trees closer to the river, which is where Mia had harvested most of the wood for the fire. The dead, dried out branches burned the most quickly, and she stoked the wan flames with a stick to provoke them.

The faster the fire, the sooner the meal.

Anaisa was off seeing if she could find a few more vegetables that would travel well, and Mia’s father had just taken the horses to drink at the river.

A rare moment of solitude.

Not long enough to process anything, of course. Not long enough to make any mental progress on rescuing her uncle. Perhaps just enough time to think of a little joke that might make her cousin smile.

She started a secondary fire after the first one; there would be far too much meat to cook to do it easily with so little space. Mia frowned, wondering how to most efficiently dry the meat that they would not eat immediately when she heard footsteps approaching.

Her eyes widened. The direction of the secondary pull had changed. It was now coming from—

She whirled so quickly that she fell from her kneeling position flat on her bottom on the ground.

Grandpa stood there, tilting his head curiously. “Did I startle you, Bug?”

“Oh,” Slightly flustered, Mia smiled shakily. “Yes, a little.”

Grandpa’s brows came together thoughtfully. “Hm.”

With that enigmatic reply, he began laying the meat across the metal grill Mia had set up over the fire.

“It’s not quite coals yet,” She warned.

“Flame grilled is sometimes better,” Grandpa winked. “Left alone, I think you’d be the slowest cook around, making sure it was all absolutely perfect. Sometimes ‘good enough’ is good enough.”

Mia rolled her eyes slightly but took the advice in stride. She’d had several days of cooking completely on her own while Denholm and Ford had been digging at the cave. She quickly discovered she wasn’t nearly as efficient as her mother and grandmother at such things.

“You didn’t even let me season the meat first,” She pursed her lips and turned her hand to quickly using some wild garlic, along with the salt she’d brought from home, to make sure the meat would be tasty when finished.

“It’ll be delicious,” Grandpa assured her. “After all, it’s the company that makes the meal.”

“Then it’ll be the same as every meal we’ve had for a week,” Mia smirked. “Does that seem right to you?”

“Are you sure?” Grandpa raised an eyebrow, and Mia watched him quizzically until he glanced over his shoulder.

She’d been confused about the secondary pull’s change in direction. When her grandfather first approached, she’d been sure that it was Ford coming up from behind her, but she’d been wrong.

Since then, their conversation had kept her mind from lingering on the anomaly, but now that he’d stopped speaking, she looked behind him with her heart in her throat.

Ford!

Looking very nearly as scruffy as the day she’d first laid eyes on him, hauling a second load of meat from the kill.

Her mouth fell open. She had so much to say to him, so many questions, and so little assurance that he would stay long enough to answer them.

After all, he’d simply ignored her and disappeared again when she’d caught him in the barn!

“Why are you here?” The words tumbled out sounding much more accusatory than she’d intended them to be.

Then again, didn’t she have every right to be accusatory?

“Grandpa invited me,” Ford looked around nervously. Checking for her father?

“To dinner? Or on this months-long journey across the known world?” Mia’s feelings were stirred at the sight of him, and she resorted to sarcasm to keep them contained.

Maybe a skill she’d picked up from him, she realized belatedly. She turned away and focused on turning the meat so it didn’t burn. Some of it she took off the flame to cut it into smaller strips that would cook more evenly and quickly.

“Um…” Ford’s voice wavered, “I suppose just dinner to start, but he didn’t really specify.”

“I see.” Mia snipped.

“If I’m not welcome…” Ford hedged, and Mia glanced at him. He seemed ready to run away with even the slightest excuse.

“I don’t think I’m the one you have to worry about most on that account,” Mia said evenly. She didn’t like him hiding all this time. She hadn’t liked him being away, but she had thought it was for the best.

Occasionally, she’d been on the verge of convincing herself that the blips of a secondary pull were other young single men that her gift thought might make a decent husband.

Now, that was dashed, but the inquiry remained. Was it him, particularly, or was he just the closest possibility? Since he’d been near the whole time, surely her magic hadn’t had the opportunity to attach to anyone else?

Ford looked around again, obviously nervous about seeing Seth.

“Papa’s by the river with the horses,” She explained, but the tension in his shoulders didn’t ease.

“I’ll head on down and let him know so that he doesn’t overreact when he comes back,” Grandpa offered with a knowing smile.

“Let me know what?” Seth pushed through the tall grass as he spoke. “I never over–”

His eyes landed on Ford.