Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 341

Chapter 341: A wooden ring
Ford was still reeling from the strange conversation with Seth. It had caught him entirely off guard. Anaisa told him he did well, but what did that mean?

What was the purpose?

He walked towards the horses, intending to help care for them as the group prepared for another day of climbing up the stair-stepped slopes of the white cliffs.

“Ford, did you drop some–” Anaisa’s voice floated to him softly and then cut off abruptly. He turned to see her holding a small object, staring at it with an unreadable expression.

“This isn’t yours–is it?” She asked with horror creeping into her voice.

Ford moved closer, Seth beside him in obvious curiosity. Anaisa held his mother’s ring as if it was diseased. As if she were disgusted by it.

He snatched it from her hand, wounded.

“Are all of your countrymen the same?” He snapped despite his resolve to stay level-headed. “Yes, my family was poor. I’ve told you that. You don’t have to look so taken aback by my mother’s ring.”

At least she wasn’t laughing at it, he supposed, like Denholm had. Mia was the only one who’d shown no reaction to the poor jewelry.

“Your mother’s.” Anaisa repeated dully, staring into his face. “Ford, how old are you?”

“What?” The bizarrely out of place question caught him off guard.

“How old are you?” She repeated, strained.

“Eighteen.” He responded automatically.

Anaisa closed her eyes and furrowed her brow, her fingers twitching as if she were solving a complicated riddle.

“Anaisa?” Seth interrupted. “What’s wrong?”

“Hush, I’m not good at arithmetic,” She held up one hand. The fingers of her other continued their strange movements, each touching her thumb in turn.

“Arithmetic?” Ford blinked. What sort of calculation was she doing with his age? A pit formed in his stomach. Whatever it was, he doubted it was anything good.

“Your parents, Ford,” She demanded, eyes still closed. “Remind me about your parents.”

“His mother died when he was young. He never knew his father,” Seth provided, making Ford duck his head.

“What’s going on?” Daniel skipped over, having woken for the day. Ford looked around. Mia sat up in her bedroll, staring, while Grandpa scratched his head and yawned nearby. They were all staring at him now.

“I don’t know,” Ford told the boy, his face burning. Anaisa’s eyes snapped open, and she took a step closer to Ford to look into his face rather boldly.

He shrank back from her scrutiny even as he held her gaze. The redheaded woman peered into his eyes, searching for something.

“Seth, you remember my sister, Katia?” Anaisa asked quietly. “Isn’t her hair the same color?”

“I guess?” The man answered. “Black hair is black hair, to me.”

“Please tell me what’s going on,” Ford’s anxiety was rising as he bore the countess’s examination.

“That ring,” Anaisa pointed at Ford’s hand, and he shoved it into his pocket, embarrassed to let it be seen. “Your father gave it to your mother?”

“Yes,” Ford raised his chin. “It was simple because he was poor. He was going to go off and make his fortune and then come back and marry her.”

Anaisa lifted a hand to cover her mouth. Her eyes suddenly looked much older than the rest of her youthful face. Inexplicable tears filled them, and Ford’s own indignation faded in the face of her emotional reaction.

Had he said something wrong?

“I’m so, so sorry, Ford, but he wasn’t,” She whispered. “He was never going to come back for her.”

The words confused him, and he resisted the urge to step away from her.

“What do you mean?”

He was already an illegitimate child, but Anaisa seemed to be implying something worse than he knew.

“I’ve seen rings just like that one before,” Anaisa swallowed. “My… my father, and his cousin used them to seduce innocent Foundrel women and then leave them.”

Ford reeled. He felt a hand on his arm, but did not look down.

“You asked my age.” He responded blankly, his mind trying to digest what Anaisa seemed to be suggesting. She knew who his father was.

“The timing fits with one of their journeys to Foundrel,” She grimaced. “Did… do you have a name for the man who fathered you? Not that that is informative, as they talked of always giving fake names.”

“Harrison,” Ford swallowed, choking on the name his uncle had cursed more than once.

“My father’s name was Hector. His cousin was Barnabas.”

“The evil Count who started all this?” Mia asked from his side as Ford absorbed that it must be her hand on his arm.

“What does that make me?” He asked. He felt as if his legs had been kicked out from under him. After all this time, it shouldn’t matter who his father was, and yet, the fact that his mother had been treated so poorly, used so abominably!

He wanted to vomit. Thought he might. Barely contained it.

“That makes you either Denholm’s brother… or mine,” Anaisa’s eyes overflowed with tears. “I’m sorry for all you went through because of those evil men.”

The realization finally, fully set in. He should be relieved. He had an identity. If he was an illegitimate child, at least he was the illegitimate son of a Count? On the other hand, the vile behavior…

“Did they know about me?” He asked vaguely. Had only his mother been abandoned, or had his father known about him? His mother had never told him, but maybe Anaisa–

“I doubt it,” She looked down. “Their journeys would last a few months, and that probably wasn’t enough time for your mother to be certain, and to tell him, whichever man it was.”

Ford nodded dully. “I have siblings?”

The information was strange to his ears, even as he said it out loud.

“Whether you are my brother or cousin, you are very much welcome in my family,” Anaisa smiled shakily through her tears. She opened her arms, and Ford’s jaw quivered for a moment before he turned and ran.