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told Githa, who told her that Tolan would return this day. She laughed at the convoluted way that she’d learned of it as she cleaned out her hearth and arranged a new pile of wood and kindling for the fire.
    Tolan would return this day.
    As much as she was content with her life as it was,Thea could not lie to herself as easily as she could to others—she liked having Tolan in her life too much. She liked his attentions and his concern about her. She could imagine . . . nay, not that, but she could almost imagine being at ease with him at the end of each day.
    Shocked by even that admission, she shook her head and laughed. How far she’d fallen from the vows she’d made to herself when Jasper died. Never would she allow another man to be close to her, close enough to hurt her as her husband had. Never again would she allow a man to determine the breadth of her life. Never again would a man limit her work. And here she was, just three years later, contemplating breaking every one of those hard-won promises.
    Thea moved the pot on the hook over the flames and poured water into it from the bucket beside the hearth. Once it was heated, she washed with it, then ate and dressed. Gathering her satchel and basket, she prepared for the day ahead. Banking the fire, she wrapped her cloak around her and walked out onto the porch in front of her cottage. Without a thought, she faced the rising sun and closed her eyes, allowing its growing strength to seep into the coldness of her body.
    She remembered not when she’d begun the custom, but it served well as a beginning to her path of healing and helping each day. Though it was still low in the sky, she could feel the increase of heat and light each day. Mayhap her family descended from those ancient priests who charted the sun’s progress through the sky? She knew not, but the practice seemed to give her some comfort as she began her day.
    Each year, during the darker days of winter, she found herself stopping anytime the sun’s light broke through the clouds to take and savor that moment. Then, some months later, as summer approached, the sun stayed up longer and higher, its light and heat and strength would surround her for many hours each day.
    The day passed slowly, for she found herself thinking more and more about Tolan than she usually did. Mayhap his absence had brought this need for him to a sharpness she’d not felt before? Oh, she did need him. Not just for the passion they shared, but also for the companionship and commonality of their duties to the people here.
    For a widow, sharing a bed was not a scandalous thing and Thea liked the pattern that they’d fallen into over the last year. They each had their daily lives and their own responsibilities, but they spent their nights, many nights, together.
    There were no demands, no duty owed, and no ownership of her life and soul. She shivered then, not from a lack of warmth but from the memories of the time when Jasper had owned her body and soul.
    Never again. Never. Again.
    Not that Tolan would ever . . .
    She shook off this path of thinking and walked briskly along the lane to her next stop. The new babe was thriving and, even after a rough beginning, showed no signs of slowing. Linne was healing well and was taking care of her child with only a little help from Rolfe’s mother.
    A broken leg that needed tending. Cuts and burns.Scrapes. A fever. Arranging for the planting of the new herbs in the shared garden. All these took her attention for several hours and it was only as the sun began its slide to setting in the west that she finally realized she’d not thought on Tolan since earlier in the day.
    After eating a simple meal by herself, Thea found some garments that needed repairs and realized the repetitions eased her nervousness. Well, not nervousness but eagerness for him to arrive. It was long after dark when the sound of soft footsteps outside gained her