My Knight in Shinning Armour: Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A Safe Place to Sleep

    “We are almost there.” The man says. We have been walking for hours, and the man hasn’t taken any breaks. I start to feel discouraged as we keep walking. Finally I hear voices. They are faint, but they are there. I take off running. I have to find Eddie. I hear the man calling after me but I don’t stop. I start to see light coming from the trees up ahead. I run faster. Finally I am out of the woods. The camp is quaint, but I don’t see any other women around. There are about 20 tents. I stand watching as men plant seeds and harvest the ready crops in a field to the the left of the tents. To the right side there are horses tied to posts. I look around taking this all in. A man notices me.
“Oh look guys! A woman.”  He says calling the others over.” The others come and surround me.
“It’s rare we see a woman in these parts.” another man says.
“How bout you come see my tent.” All around me men flirt and harassed me.
“Leave!” A voice yelled out above all the others.” The men all stood back, and the tall man ho brought me stepped into the circle.  “She came with me. Now get back to work.” He demands. The men scatter.
“Where do we start?” I ask.
“I’ll give you a tour.” He says and starts walking. I jog to quickly catch up with him. He shows she the fields. He leads me through the mess of tents. He shows me the dinner tent in the middle, the kitchen tend beside it.
“We have one last comunity tent.” He tells me and heads off again. We walk to the very back of the camp. “This is the hospital tent. Anyone who is injured has to stay here till we get them proper treatment.” He pulls open the flaps of the tent. We walk inside. There are few men here but one catches my eye. He is sitting on one of the hospital beds writing in a little booklet. His face is dirty. His arm is in a sling. I look closer at him. It couldn’t be!
“Eddie?” I call to him. He looks up and I know its him. I run to him and hug him tight.
“Careful there tiger.” The man says as he eyes Eddie’s arm.
“Oh, right. Sorry.” I quickly apologize to Eddie. Eddie looks at the man.
“Thank you Harold.” He says.
“Wait you know him?” I ask.
“Oh yeah he found me out in the woods after the horse ran away.” Eddie explains.
“Well I’ll tell you this Eddie, Your wife Sarah thinks very highly of you.” Harold says. Eddie smiles at me clearly happy with my cover story. “I better get you guys a tent set up.” Harold says. Eddie and I nod. Harold leaves the tent. I sit down next to him.
“I was so worried about you.” Eddie says pulling me into another hug. Just then Harold returns.
“You forgot something.” He opens the tent flap and Tessie prances in. When she catches sight of Eddie she runs and starts licking him. Eddie laughs. I smile as I watch. When Tessie finally calms down, she comes to me and sits on my lap.  Harold leaves once again and i turn back to Eddie. I look at the booklet he had been writing in.
“What have you been writing about?” I ask curiously. Eddie looks down at it and blushes.
“Nothing really.” He mutters.
“I…uh...missed you.” I admit. Eddie smiles and we sit in silence.
“Bea,” Eddie starts. “I felt like nothing without you.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I promised I would protect you and then I lost you. I thought i would never see you again. I thought I would never love again.”
“Love?” I stutter. Eddie’s face turns red.
“Uh I mean, That’s not what I meant.” He turns away.
“Oh, okay.” We are silent again.
“Ok guys I have your tent set up. Sarah you can stay there alone until the doctors release Eddie. Sound good?” Harold says as he walks in.
“Uh yeah!” I say excited to sleep somewhere safe, and not on the ground. Harold motions to the tent flap and I kiss Eddie on the cheek, for show of course. I pick Tessie up and follow Harold to my tent. It’s dark outside and I’m tired.
“Here we are. Sleep tight Sarah.” Harold says and walks off. I go inside and see Harold has set everything up. He has laid down a couple blankets and lit a lantern. I lay down and Tessie lays at me feet. I quickly drift off to sleep.