Chapter 7  : The proposal- Part 1

Heidi stood still, holding the stick in the flowing water which had the mesh made wire at the end of it. Every once in a while Howard, the coachman of the Curtis’ family and Heidi went to the river stream to catch freshwater fish and today was one of those days.

Her Uncle Raymond Curtis was visiting them with his wife in the evening and her father had asked her to prepare fish for dinner as it was his brother’s favored meat. It wasn’t that the market didn’t have them. The market of their town had plenty of them, which was sold to their townsfolk as well as to the next nearby town. Howard and Heidi, instead of spending the money which was given to them to buy the fish, they saved it. Rather Howard gave it to her saying he was getting old for saving anything in his age.

Her feet were immersed in the cold water as it sped towards them while they were surrounded by the calm sound of the water that flowed at the same ever-changing pace.

“The fish count has decreased,” she noted. It had been nearly a month since they had last visited the stream and the amount of fish that swam down their town had definitely reduced.

Howard who had successfully caught two fish with a chiseled stick spoke with his deep voice as he got out of the stream, “It might be because the stream first passed the town before us. They must be catching them for their own or to send it to the main city of Woville,” after placing the fish in the basket, “How many do you have there?” he asked her.

“Three of them,” Heidi grinned making the middle-aged man smile.

“Of course,” he said across the bank of the water.

After months of experience, the young woman was getting better at catching the fish. He saw her lift the stick in concentration, the net dipping in and out along with the movements of her hand. She almost caught the fish before it jumped out, escaping from the trap she had set.

“Looks like we have company,” she heard Howard speak and she turned around to see a blonde man walking towards the river stream along with the sheep that had begun to scatter around. It was Noah Arendel. His golden hair radiated like the sun’s rays, his walk not slow or quick but paced normally as he kept a look at his sheep. Seeing Heidi he gave her a surprised look before waving at her with a wide smile.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Heidi,” Noah greeted her and then bowed at Howard which the man returned.

“Good afternoon,” she responded back politely.

“You are quite talented, aren’t you Ms. Heidi,” he complimented her seeing what she was doing, “You know to catch a fish and also have a strong arm when it comes to carrying multiple things in your arms.”

“It isn’t that hard. There are many women who carry heavier objects than I do,” she replied bashfully turning her head to the side so that the young man couldn’t see her cheeks turning red with the compliment.

“It’s hard to believe though,” he said rubbing the head of the lamb near him.

It was hard for Heidi to believe that her towns popular male was complimenting her whilst talking to her. He was handsome enough to skip any town girls heart but here he was polite enough to come to talk to her. His pale eyes shined when he smiled as they made little talks. Her sister Nora was gorgeous from head to toe and men like him usually sought girls with those looks to suit them.

“You have a bell on him. How old is he?” Heidi asked seeing him pet the lamb’s head. She noticed the bronze bell tinkling around its neck when it bent down.

“This little fellow is less than three weeks old,” she heard him reply as the lamb walked towards the water to quench its thirst, “He is the baby of the herd and we don’t want him getting lost. With the number of wolves that have been attacking the cattle’s and a herd of sheep and goats, the bell makes it easier to find them,” he sighed.

Now that she looked from where she stood at the other sheep’s that were scattered around the bank, she could hear the tinkling of bells above the sound of water. As she looked at the little lamb she felt her heart meltdown at just the sight of it. So innocent, she thought to herself and at the same time, she felt guilty for being one of the humans to have it killed and to eat it. Both Nora and Heidi didn’t like to see the sight of it being killed, therefore it was always Howard who bought meat from the market which was one of the reasons why they didn’t have a single sheep or cow in their backyard. Tearing her eyes away from it she decided to catch another fish.

Heidi who had her feet in the water for a long time now suddenly felt a searing pain in one of her feet and she bent down to take her feet in both her hands.

“Argh!” she exclaimed in discomfort.

“Ms. Heidi!” Howard exclaimed.

“Are you alright?” Noah stepped into the water to see if something had bit her.

“My feet...it hurts too much,” she flinched as the muscles in her feet grew tighter in pain. She hadn’t moved her feet and she didn’t know why her feet suddenly began hurting so much. Even taking a single step was painful.

“Let me see it,” the young man said with a frown bending down while she clutched her feet with both her hands. Two of her toes had begun to overlap with another one. He took her feet in hands and began rubbing the top of her feet steadily, “How long have you been in the water today? The muscles have twisted itself.”

“Can it happen?” Howard asked with a surprised look on his face.

“The muscles have a tendency to twist sometimes without reason but in your case, you stayed in the water for a far too long time. ,” Noah said it to Heidi, “You need to be careful when you step into places like these. Better now?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you,” she thanked him with a smile feeling her tense muscles relax. Standing up straight she stepped out of the water right away, not wanting the pain to come back.

“We have enough fish for tonight. Shall we call it a day, Ms. Heidi?” Howard asked and saw the young miss nod her head. Giving his thanks to the young man and bidding him a good day, both Heidi and he headed back to the house.