Chapter Ten
What Isabel hadn’t been expecting was for the wood to be as heavy as it was. She had no idea what a week’s worth of wood for the fireplace looked like. She tried to carry an armful first, but the logs were too heavy for her. Her limbs hurt, her back ached, and she walked slowly, sweating towards the back of the house with only a few at a time.
In the distance, she could hear Liam with the horses. He whistled, clucked his tongue, and called out to them as he worked. She couldn’t see him, so she didn’t know what he was doing exactly, but it was a sort of twisted comfort that he was there. Although she was getting more and more embarrassed by her slow progress.
It was just wood that she carried, and even this she couldn’t do quickly enough. She was worried about his lunch as well. She wanted to please him with a delicious hearty meal after his day spent doing hard manual labor. But she wasn’t sure what ingredients were available in the pantry for her to do this.
Isabel could feel herself dehydrating slowly, and then she remembered that she hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink since the previous night’s dinner. Also, she had barely slept. Her body felt like a bundle of rags that she was only dragging around the place.
Her arms felt sore, too sore to even lift up any of the wood anymore. She walked back to the pile of wood for the third time, feeling her breath catch in her throat. Her stomach felt empty and sore, as did her back. Isabel looked up towards the sun, trying to steady herself, but the bright light suddenly blinded her.
When she looked away, she could only see darkness everywhere and then the ground beneath her started to swing and shake. She heard herself gasp and then a weak scream escaped her lips and then the world became completely blank.
The next thing she knew, she was forcing her eyes open. She could feel a cold cotton cloth on her forehead and she was lying down. On Liam’s bed. She was in Liam’s bedroom. The curtains were pulled so the room was fairly dim and she could feel the gush of a breeze from somewhere beside her.
Isabel tried to sit up and two large hands appeared on her shoulders. She looked up. It was Liam pushing her back down on the bed. “Stay still for some time longer,” he said. She thought there was a change in his voice somehow. She also noticed he held a fan. Did people actually use those anymore? But now she knew where the cool breeze was coming from. He had been fanning her.
“What happened?” she tried to ask and realized that barely any sound came out from her lips.
“Here, drink this,” he said and held a glass of milky-looking liquid to her parched lips. “It’s glucose in water. Just drink it, Isabel,” he said a little more authoritatively.
She sipped from the glass, still in complete shock. Liam’s touch had been gentle, he had concern in his eyes. He looked like he was guilty.
“You fainted. I heard you shriek and then found you by the pile of chopped wood,” he said after she had drunk half the glass of glucose water. He placed it back on the table beside her and started fanning her again. Isabel felt her curls fly around her face, and the sweat on her forehead was evaporating fast. She suddenly felt a lot better, more like herself.
“When did you last eat? When did you last drink some water?” he asked her, almost like he was scolding his daughter.
Isabel hung her head down, she was ashamed of herself. “I forgot this morning,” she replied, her voice still cracked.
Liam shook his head and looked away from her. “I knew it from the moment I saw you. You’re not cut out for here, not for this ranch, not for this place,” he said, more to himself than to her.
“I’ve just been tired. I just got here. I need some time to get used to all this.” Isabel heard the pleading in her voice. She was feeling desperate again. She didn’t want him to turn her away, send her back. She wanted to please him, to convince him that she was worthy. She wanted him to make love to her.
She watched his piercing blue eyes turn to her again. His jaw was taut and strong, his hands still clutched the fan as he swung it. “You need some rest, Isabel. You need to sleep,” he said.
She bit down on her lip. “I just need some time to settle down, Liam,” she pleaded with him again and tried to sit up.
“Get some sleep. I’ll go fetch Sophie from school and make some lunch for all of us.” He stood up from his chair beside her and placed the fan on the table next to her.
“Liam,” she called out to him as he walked towards the door. She didn’t want him to leave, but why should he stay?
He stopped and looked at her. “Why are you so desperate to be here, Isabel? What are you running away from?” he asked.
Isabel gulped, swallowing her words. They stared at each other and then he walked out when she didn’t reply to his question.
She couldn’t bring herself to tell him. What would she even say? It was so petty, so silly. He would think she was a child. She would only give him more reason to turn her away, to think she was unsuitable for this ranch. To be a step mother to Sophie or be his wife.
But now that he had left the room, it gave Isabel some time to think about what Liam had done. How he fanned her as she slept. How he was caring for her.