The throng of the city was set at a steady bustle, as late winter sunshine flooded the streets with hope. The air, though chilly, could not boast of winter's bite, the pavers and cobblestones clad in muck with thick puddles coagulating in the dips and crevices.
The twins settled for their mid-morning nap, Sianna had wasted no time in digging her doeskin boots out from the closet. She needed a good stretch of the legs and planned on getting one. The flimsy shoes she'd worn in her late pregnancy had been fine for being a chauffeured passenger only.
Sianna had insisted on walking, and on doing so alone. When questioned, her reasonings had been outlined, in triplicate, before the adults were resigned to the fact that she was not going to change her mind. While they attempted to be coy and discreet about it, they could not hide the fact that they were circling the wagons about her. They were protective and overly so, reluctant to let her do much of anything on her own. Matty saw to all the cleaning and meals with exact precision, Henderson to the buildings and their upkeep as well as all errands, and then there was Katarina. When she wasn't at the theater or with Locke, she was at Sianna's side, poised at the ready to rock one of her cousins, see to the dogs or any other number of things. On top of which, she seemed to feel as if she owed rent and actually tried to convince Sianna of it.
Up until now, Sianna had chalked up their actions to their desire to be helpful with the arrival of the children. Yet, oddly enough, it felt as if things were growing tighter. She was healthy, wasn't she? Eva came three times a week now and seemed more than pleased with her health and saw to her medication. The twins were thriving and growing, their personalities emerging more and more each day. No, the motive driving them was Johnny and Sianna knew it. His absence was the the elephant in the room that no one spoke of, yet everyone thought of constantly. Conversations deftly tiptoed around him for her sake, no one being insensitive enough to bring it up and risk the balance of her emotional condition. And she, just as cowardly, refused to ask for fear of hearing something she did not want to believe.
Suitably layered for the day's weather, she'd walked up and down every row of stalls and stopped in nearly every shop, if for no other reason than to see what was offered and to feel out among the living again. Over and over again, she had to stop and take a deep breath, willing her mind to focus on what was in front of her instead of looping in rabbit holes of suspicion and supposition.
Murmuring her thanks to the latest shopkeeper kind enough to show her all that she had asked to inspect and still invite her back again when she left without a purchase, Sianna stepped back out into the street and turned east. Up ahead, sunlight gleaming off two banks of white caught her attention. They flanked the front of a building that sat on an alley, the sign ahead faded and unreadable at such a distance. Moving through the other shoppers, what first had seemed to be piles of snow was in essence two large stone troughs planted with early spring flowers. Snowdrops.
Sianna crouched low to admire the tender green shoots, the white bell blossoms dancing as a breeze whistled around the building. The creak of chain and wood drew her attention up to the sign, a smile blooming as she read it.
The bell above the door chimed as if perfectly orchestrated, when Sianna entered the fabric shop, into the chatter of feminine voices and the sounds of spindle and shuttle. The weavers were at their work.
The twins settled for their mid-morning nap, Sianna had wasted no time in digging her doeskin boots out from the closet. She needed a good stretch of the legs and planned on getting one. The flimsy shoes she'd worn in her late pregnancy had been fine for being a chauffeured passenger only.
Sianna had insisted on walking, and on doing so alone. When questioned, her reasonings had been outlined, in triplicate, before the adults were resigned to the fact that she was not going to change her mind. While they attempted to be coy and discreet about it, they could not hide the fact that they were circling the wagons about her. They were protective and overly so, reluctant to let her do much of anything on her own. Matty saw to all the cleaning and meals with exact precision, Henderson to the buildings and their upkeep as well as all errands, and then there was Katarina. When she wasn't at the theater or with Locke, she was at Sianna's side, poised at the ready to rock one of her cousins, see to the dogs or any other number of things. On top of which, she seemed to feel as if she owed rent and actually tried to convince Sianna of it.
Up until now, Sianna had chalked up their actions to their desire to be helpful with the arrival of the children. Yet, oddly enough, it felt as if things were growing tighter. She was healthy, wasn't she? Eva came three times a week now and seemed more than pleased with her health and saw to her medication. The twins were thriving and growing, their personalities emerging more and more each day. No, the motive driving them was Johnny and Sianna knew it. His absence was the the elephant in the room that no one spoke of, yet everyone thought of constantly. Conversations deftly tiptoed around him for her sake, no one being insensitive enough to bring it up and risk the balance of her emotional condition. And she, just as cowardly, refused to ask for fear of hearing something she did not want to believe.
Suitably layered for the day's weather, she'd walked up and down every row of stalls and stopped in nearly every shop, if for no other reason than to see what was offered and to feel out among the living again. Over and over again, she had to stop and take a deep breath, willing her mind to focus on what was in front of her instead of looping in rabbit holes of suspicion and supposition.
Murmuring her thanks to the latest shopkeeper kind enough to show her all that she had asked to inspect and still invite her back again when she left without a purchase, Sianna stepped back out into the street and turned east. Up ahead, sunlight gleaming off two banks of white caught her attention. They flanked the front of a building that sat on an alley, the sign ahead faded and unreadable at such a distance. Moving through the other shoppers, what first had seemed to be piles of snow was in essence two large stone troughs planted with early spring flowers. Snowdrops.
Sianna crouched low to admire the tender green shoots, the white bell blossoms dancing as a breeze whistled around the building. The creak of chain and wood drew her attention up to the sign, a smile blooming as she read it.
The bell above the door chimed as if perfectly orchestrated, when Sianna entered the fabric shop, into the chatter of feminine voices and the sounds of spindle and shuttle. The weavers were at their work.