Ch 1

"Lilly!" pounding on the door of her shop, "Lilly, its me, open up!" Lilly whipes her hands on the front of her dress to rid them of the white powder she was using to make her bread.

"Hold on Tom, Im coming, did you get it?" Lilly shouted through the door.
"Yes, and its bloody heavy, i wouldnt mind if you gave me a hand with this you know." Toms voice shouted through the door. For all his gruffness, Tom held a particular fondness for this little chit. He was fourty years her senior with a grey ponytail that used to be a vivid red, he was a heavy man, but his weight was not fat, but muscle from years of training and fighting. He had scars on his arms and face from battle, scars that he displayed proudly for there was a great heroic tale that accompenied each raised white line. The door was opened by a disheveled young woman and yet again he found himself admiring her beauty. Long silky black hair that reached to the gentle curves of her hips, tied, as always, back in a braid. She was a tiny little thing, but not lacking in strength, for she plucked the heavy stone grinder right out of his arms with a shake of her head.
"I swear Tom, you're getting weak. Why i remember when i first arrived, you could pick up a lame horse with one arm tied behind your back without breaking a sweat."
She set the grinder down with a soft thud and gave him a swift peck on the cheek with her full, lips. Those lips could have a man stairing for hours, tom thought with a shake of his head. They were too big for the fasion of the time, ladies these days liked small delicate lips, and they looked as if they could really do some pleasing if she so desired. Tom mentally slapped himself, his Lilly was not to be thought of in such a manner. At 19 years of age, she was ready to be married, but Tom knew that she wished to find herself a husband that will treat her right. After what she went through with that bloody uncle of hers... He shook his head, one must not dwell on that, for one might dig the bastard up and shoot his bloody body. He turned and saw Lilly looking at him quizically.
Its those eyes, those damn eyes that will render a man speachless everytime she looks at him. They were the eyes of the mother goddess, and unusual color. Purple, not the violet that many people claim to have, but a deep purple that haunts a man at night, no matter what company he keeps. It is impossable to be unaffected by those eyes, they were impossable to ignore, they took up a large portion of her face.
Lilly raised her delicately arched eyebrows. "Tom? you look exhausted, did you need some ail? Here, sit and ill get you a mug." She put her tiny hands on his shoulders and gently pressed him into a brass chair. Tom put his hands on the cool metal surface of the green table and watched his Lilly. Yes, he would protect her from anything. His dear Kate would have wated that, for she never bore any childeren of her own. Tom knew he would never love another after his Kate died, but then Lilly came along and brightened up his life. He never fell in love with Lilly, but it was impossable to love the little chit. He was her daughter, he had no care whose blood ran in her veins, he had claim, and he was sure that Lilly felt the same towards him.
She came back with a big mug of ail in her hands, thus improving her goddess like form. A man needed two things in life, Tom thought, ail and a good strong woman to keep him in check. "Ah thank you lass, this is just what i need on a rainy night like this. The rain seems to chill me from the inside out, so depressing it is."
Lilly laughed, "Why Tom, how different we are, for i would rather it be raining all the time. Its a beautiful thing, the rain. It cleans the streets, and it waters the crops for harvest. Yes, i do say rain in absolutely wonderful." She puntuated this with a smile and looked at Tom expectantly.
He knew what she wanted, it was tradition for him to share a story to the symphony of rain on the roof.
"Ah yes lass, I remember your grandma Kate loved the rain too. In fact, I asked for her hand in the soft drops. It was completely horrendous."
Lilly laughed, "How could you say that a proposal to Kate could be anything but magnificent?"
"But it was, dear girl! How marvelous the moment was! We walked along the streets of this little town, Katie some how had gotten rid of the nanny that flitted around us like a flea (how she ever did that, i will never know) and we had the streets to ourselvs. I tucked her gloved hand in the crook of my arm and we walked.
"I remember her asking if i was ill. "Why do you ask little one?" She responded with a wicked grin, "Why? Well you look positivly pale, and you have a sheen of sweat on your face." Of course i was nervous, how could i not be? My Katie was the bonniest lass of Scotland. No!" Tom contradicted, "She was the bonniest lass in the world! Rich red hair, shortly cropped as was fasion, and her eyes Lilly, her eyes were the clearest blue of the heavens."
Lilly got up to get bread and butter to go with their ail. "Then what happened? i assum as soon as you proposed, she swooned at your feet, for what poor maiden wouldnt swoon at such a pure profession onf love?"
"Katie hardly swooned," Tom said with a chuckle. "She laughed, for you see, i was so nervous, when i got on my knee, it very well dipped into a large puddle and i let out an oath that would have my dear nana curling her toes. Not my Katie though, she laughed. I then let out the profession, I told her that i would love her until the day i died. I complimented her beauty and told her her strengths. Kate looked as if she was about to swoon, but she let out an oath nearly compimentary to mine, opened her mouth and said, "If youre wanting me to say yes to your proposal, youre going to have to get more origional than that." She then turned on her heals and walked away.
"Well, i wasnt going to have any of that, so i ran after her, grabbed her by the arm and turned her to face me and said, "Katie, you are like salt. I would rather live without salt than be without you." Oh Lilly, you should have seen Kates face. Her eyes got huge in her head and she looked as if she were about to explode. "Why Tom, what kind of compairison is that? I have had men praise my beauty and compair it to jewls and fine linnen, but never salt. You, good sir, are in dire need of teaching. I will not marry you until you find a compliment that overshadows all compliments that any bonny man has paid me."
"I then said, "Kate, do me this one thing, go home and ask your cooks to make your nightly meal and to not add salt. I will be in the park tomorrow at the nooning hour awaiting your answer to my proposal." It was then my turn to walk away.
"When i returned the next day, my Kate was early to the park. She looked up at me shyly and said, "Tom, i did as you ask. I shall accept your proposal, because without you, my life would be as dull as a meal without salt." The rain started to fall and she threw her arms around me and i laughed with joy. I then gave her a bold kiss on her mouth and she blushed. Just a pretty blush my Kate had."
Lilly looked at the man that had become a father to her since he found her, three years ago begging for work and food. His eyes were far away, on memories of old. His story had brought tears to her eyes. She made an oath just then, she was going to find a husband just like her Tom. She wants what he and Kate had, true and committed love.