Part 34 (2/2)
”You have a fine figure and look like you know how to eat.”
Sparrow looked stunned. ”I'm fat?”
”Of course not! It's good to see a healthy looking woman! Our people find meat and muscle attractive on a girl, especially one as lovely as you, but you won't stay lovely if you do not eat!”
”I'll be fine. Mita, thank you again for letting me stay with you.”
Mita waved her hand. ”Ilias's mother and I were great friends as children. He's a nice young man, but if you ask me, he's making a foolish decision by joining up with those pirates. A nasty lot, but I don't have to tell you that.”
Sparrow sighed and took a bite of bread, forcing herself to chew and swallow. Mita was right. Why should she starve herself, pining away over a man who'd chosen the life of a criminal over making a home with her?
”I know what's taken your appet.i.te.” Mita brushed a loose strand of wavy black hair behind her ear. ”It's that man you're running from. Don't deny it. I've felt the same way myself.”
”I'm just so frustrated because he can do so much better than the life he's chosen.”
”That's true of many people. This pirate of yours has to decide for himself that change is best. He has to want it for himself. Only then can he give you the sort of life you deserve.”
”That will never happen. Especially now. And even if he did decide to change, I'm not so sure I want him anymore.” Sparrow lifted her chin, suddenly feeling less weepy as anger took hold of her. Because of Lock, she'd been forced out of a home she loved, away from Shea-Ann, the only family she had left. She'd believed Lock when he said they'd marry and make a life. He'd come so far, had changed so much, and one taste of piracy was enough to make him toss it all away. She wasn't sure she could ever forgive him for ruining their relations.h.i.+p.
”Really?” Mita watched Sparrow through her lashes. ”So you're getting over the man already?”
”I think so. You know, Mita, this is the second time in my life a man has promised to marry me and backed away because he couldn't adjust to my manner of living.” Sparrow stood, her fists clenched, and paced in front of the fire, staring into the flames. ”You know what I say? To h.e.l.l with men! Who needs them? They're more trouble than they're worth.”
”Here, here!” Mita raised her wine mug.
”They're just overly-muscled, hairy, ignorant goats who think they should be in charge of the whole d.a.m.n mountain!”
Several of the other gypsy women, interested by Sparrow's angry speech, approached the fire.
One of them said, ”That sounds like my husband and my father!”
”Hey, woman!” the gypsy's husband snapped from where he sat with several of his friends, drinking wine.
”They think their word is law,” Sparrow continued. ”They think because they sleep with us we'll bow at their feet!”
”And most of the time they're lucky we even crawl into the hay with them!” shouted a heavyset, gray-haired woman with wrists adorned with heavy gold bracelets.
”Enough of this talk!” Mita's husband, leader of the gypsy clan approached. He glared at Sparrow, his hands on his hips. ”If I knew you were a trouble maker, I never would have agreed to let you stay here.”
”You keep silent!” Mita stood nose to nose with her husband. ”She's a friend of my dear cousin's son and welcome here, by the law of our people!”
”You sit down, woman!”
”You go join your friends or else they'll be no more fine meals prepared in this camp for the next week!” Mita patted her husband's slight pot belly. ”See how you like that!”
”Well if you women want to talk foolishness, do it quietly! Some of us want to relax. We have to be up early for hunting in the morning.”
”Which means it's up to us women to run the stalls at the market. Again. So leave us alone or maybe we won't divide the profit equally between the s.e.xes!”
”You wouldn't dare lie about money!”
”You watch me!”
Sparrow stepped back, suddenly feeling guilty. She murmured, ”I always did talk too much. Now I've started a fight between a perfectly happy couple.”
”Perfectly happy?” A slender, dark-haired girl who stood beside Sparrow laughed. ”If Mita and Prem don't have at least two good fights a day, we think one of them is ill.”
Sparrow released a breath of relief.
”I think you'll get along well in this camp. The women already like you.”
”The men probably want to cook me over a slow-burning fire.”
The girl laughed. ”Serves them right. What you said about them is often true.”
”What's your name?”
”Opal. Please excuse me, but I'm going to practice my dancing. I entertain at the village tavern.”
”You dance?” Sparrow remembered Lock's dance and her stomach tightened. He'd been so handsome, and now she'd never see him again.
”I learned from my mother and she learned from her mother. It's a family tradition, and you can earn a great deal of money at the tavern. Especially when some of the men get drunk. They just toss coins at my feet.”
”Would you teach me?”
Opal smiled. ”That's a wonderful idea! Come on. We can...” She stopped speaking as the entire camp focused their attention on a young man who'd just run into the village, dusty from the road.
”Rider approaching!” He panted. ”I think it's the pirate Ilias warned us about. The one looking for Sparrow.”
Sparrow's heart pounded. ”Lock! I have to run. I have to-”
”You're not running anywhere,” Mita said.
”But he'll-”
”The hairy goat will do nothing.” Opal winked. ”He won't even know you're here.”
”So what are we going to do?”
”Hide her under the wagon,” suggested a boy. ”We can tie her to the bottom. He'd never know she's there.”
”No, he'll find me,” Sparrow said. ”Lock's a pirate. If there's one thing they all know about is how to hide something.”
Mita narrowed her eyes. ”Obviously you know little about us. The man will not find you, Sparrow, and we're not going to hide you under a wagon. Ridiculous idea.”
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