husband is in the Briyan army, and he’s away for work more often than not.
Isla pushes away from me and Audun, and she takes her seat at the table again. I watch curiously, and still a bit nervously, as she flips over the paper with Audun’s family tree and begins writing something.
When she’s finished, she points to herself and the paper while looking back and forth between me and Audun. I lean over to take a look before he can, and I smile when I see she’s drawn twenty-four tally marks.
“I think she’s telling us how old she is,” I say to Audun. I’m honestly pretty relieved to discover she’s not younger. Time works relatively the same in most worlds, and seeing confirmation that Isla is twenty-four lets us know that years last roughly the same amount of time in her old world as they do here.
Even though I’m sure she can guess Audun’s age roughly based on the family tree, I still draw ninety-six tally marks and point to him, and then add six more and point to myself. Isla nods in understanding and flips the paper back over again.
She gestures to the entirety of the family tree and points at me with her eyebrows raised in question. I smile sadly and cover the majority of the drawing, until only the figures representing Audun and his parents are showing. Isla seems to realize I’m letting her know that I have no living family left, and she gives me a sympathetic look as she places her hand over mine.
Audun, Marieke, and Runa are speaking quietly again, but their voices are purely background noise to me. I stare down at Isla in absolute wonder, feeling surer with every passing second that I really am falling in love with her. She understood what I was telling her immediately—no words were needed at all.
“Maalik? Reule?” She asks in a soft voice. I know they won’t mind if I tell her anything about them or their pasts, so I shake my head sadly. Unlike me and Audun, Reule didn’t have a good upbringing. Maalik didn’t know his family at all.
I clear my throat and gesture to the family tree the same way Isla did, and raise my eyebrows at her. She hasn’t mentioned anyone other than Alistair or her ex-lover. But still, I’ll take any opportunity I can to learn more about this incredible woman.
Isla lowers her eyes and shakes her head quickly. I’d suspected as much, but my heart still aches for her at hearing she doesn’t have a family. I lean forward and wrap my arms around her small frame, nuzzling the top of her head affectionately.
“You have us now, Isla.”
“Have fun, and promise to visit again soon!” Runa says warmly as we pull our coats on by the front door.
I can tell Isla’s curious about where we’re going now, but I’m excited to be able to surprise her this time. Even though she doesn’t really need the help, I step forward to finish buttoning up her thick, winter coat and adjust her scarf.
“Thank you, Runa.” Audun ruffles Naren’s hair, making the child laugh and hide behind Runa’s legs. “We’ll be sure to bring Reule and Maalik with us next time.”
“Do you know which shop you’d like to visit first?” Marieke asks as she finishes tying her boots.
After we finished our tea and Isla spent a little while longer looking through Runa’s photo album, we asked Marieke if she would be interested in accompanying us to take Isla shopping. My brothers and I come down to the village often enough, but Marieke knows the shops and current fashions much better than we do. We also thought Isla might feel a little more comfortable shopping with another girl rather than with just us.
Marieke is positively beaming from excitement. I’m glad to see she’s taken to Isla so quickly. Runa agreed to stay home and watch Naren so Marieke would be able to come with us.
Isla giggles at me when I finish the last button on her coat. I smirk down at her just as Audun answers Marieke’s question, “We should probably start with undergarments.”
I snort in shock, not having expected him to say that. I know he probably didn’t mean anything by it—Isla does literally need to start from scratch with everything—but I’m still definitely going to make fun of him.
“Wow, Audun. I didn’t realize you were just as perverted as Reule.”
He glares daggers at me as he shoves his stupid-looking hat onto