Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 371

Chapter 371: Contemplations
Ford helped pack up the camp, lost in his own thoughts, absorbing everything Grandpa and Seth had told him.

Though he’d been initially alarmed with Seth’s interruption, the man had a lot of helpful advice. Not specifically on wooing Mia, per se, but on how being a good man translated to being a good husband.

Kindness, and thoughtfulness, putting others’ needs above your own. Being willing to lay down your life for others.

Both Grandpa and Seth praised him on the last front. It had come more naturally to Ford than he would have suspected to save Mia and the rest of the group at the cost of severe magic exhaustion and possible death.

If he’d expected derision, he was surprised. There was philosophical advice on bearing and sharing the load, as well as more practical directions about cleaning up after oneself and not being a ‘man-child’.

Grandpa more easily broached the topic of love, itself, than Seth did. No specific advice was given on how to win a woman’s affections, just on how to properly care for a woman once that was the case.

Being respectful of her time and efforts. Treating her well, appreciating her. Thanking her.

Ford’s head was swimming with information, not all of it well organized, but he’d made sure to thank the men sincerely for their time and wisdom.

That was what a man did, he remembered.

Grandpa hummed a tuneless song beside him, and Ford frowned for a moment.

“Grandpa?” He asked tentatively, cringing for needing to ask the question. “Would you consider me a man? Or, I mean, a good man?”

The whistling stopped, and Grandpa eyed him carefully.

“What makes a man good?”

The question wasn’t the response Ford expected. Was this a test?

“Putting others first, taking responsibility for his faults, and pulling his weight in the world as much as he’s able… I think.” Ford paused. “Right?”

“By that definition, do you fit?” Grandpa raised an eyebrow.

“I’m working at it,” Ford chewed the inside of his cheek.

“That’s the best any man can do, is keep working on it. None of us is perfect, Ford, but we wake up every day and try again. Be better than yesterday, and work to be even better tomorrow.”

Ford nodded just as Anaisa, Mia, and Daniel reentered the area. Anaisa’s eyes scanned the group, seeming satisfied that the discussion she’d walked out on had reached its conclusion.

Daniel had a perplexed expression, and Mia looked somewhere between thoughtful and embarrassed.

“Are you fit to travel?” Ford addressed Mia carefully. Was that respectful enough?

“I’m well enough, thank you,” She nodded. “We should get the horses up to grazing. We can take a rest then.”

“Are we so close to the top?” Ford glanced at the makeshift ceiling of their shelter.

“Yes, it isn’t far,” Mia took a deep breath. “From there, I’ll… look for Martin. And find a new path.”

“I was disappointed not to dream about Trace, myself,” Anaisa admitted, “but the new hope that Ford’s dream provided, and a beginning of a strategy, gives me confidence that we’ll succeed.”

“I wish I knew more about what it meant,” Ford told her. “I’m sorry I can’t remember all the details.”

Anaisa brushed off the apology with a wave of her hand. “I told you, it took me time to fully remember the dreams I had with Trace in them. I don’t hold it against you that you can’t recall every bit of things. I’m rather impressed you brought back as much information as you did.”

“He… touched my dreams once before,” Ford recalled with a shudder.

“Oh?” Anaisa seemed quietly interested, but he could guess that she was dying for any additional information about her husband.

“When Mia and I were running… He wanted me to bring her back, so he showed me terrible images to try to affect that outcome.”

“That’s not like him,” Anaisa frowned. “He must have been very worried about Mia. Well, of course he was. We all were. We didn’t know, then…”

“That I wasn’t a monster,” Ford flinched. “That’s reasonable.”

He mulled over the various lessons from Grandpa and Seth. Now that he knew them better, knew their views and their values, he could see just how vile his behavior could have been taken as.

How it could have ended if he had held the opposite of their values. If he were more like Denholm.

And why should they have cause to think well of him when he ran off with Mia in the very middle of the night? It was nothing short of a miracle that they had tolerated him after that mess.

“We know you’re not a monster,” Anaisa reached to pat his hand.

He smiled gratefully, and lifted his bag to take it to his horse.

“Are we walking or riding?” He directed the question to no one in particular, just wanting to deflect attention from himself.

“I explored a bit early this morning,” Seth told them, “I think the horses might do best if we walk them to the top of the cliff.”

“Or are you still a bit afraid of heights and don’t want to trust your position to an animal?” Grandpa smiled to soften the question.

“That, too. It’s a bit narrow for my taste, with no lip on the edge in places. Too easy to fall, and I trust my own feet more than a horse’s in a situation like that.”

The group went out to load the animals, who were eager to be on their way. Ford was sure Mia had been keeping a subtle watch for danger, despite the fact that she should be preserving her magic.

As he secured the saddle bags and checked the cinch to make sure the saddle wouldn’t slip, he felt something bump him from behind.

“Oh! I’m sorry!”

He turned to see Mia’s red face. Her back had obviously been to him as she worked on Harper’s saddle, but he smirked lightly anyway, ready to deliver a mildly sarcastic remark. Grandpa’s instructions held him back.

How was it he was supposed to talk to ladies again? Respectfully?