A Thorn In The Ice

Chapter 6: Thawed*

Dedicated to: jankbw and typical_Indiangirl

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"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."
-Winston Churchill

The waking period in Delilah's small, cozy cabin began to draw to close, Delilah and Simon had talked about everything they could for one evening, and he felt his eyes grow heavy.

They had come to find that they had a lot in common. They were both mountain children, raised in the peaks, although Simon had a considerably colder childhood.

He told her of his apprenticeship in the stables, and the shenanigans he and Chester used to get into.
In turn, Delilah told him about how the people of her kingdom thought she was a mountain witch, someone who cursed anyone who intruded on her privacy, and how she strung them along because it entertained her. Simon told of his sisters, and how he'd tease them. Delilah countered with the way she used to prank her father.

Also tired, Delilah stood from her chair at the bedside and grabbed a thick, but well worn cotton nightdress from where it hung on the wall.
Simon turned away so she could change, as rolling away from her was the only way to give any privacy in the one roomed abode.
In that moment he realized that in all their hours of talking, he had not once mentioned Adelaide, nor had the mountain woman asked about her.
Before he could dwell to much upon that, Simon felt the covers shift and Delilah crawl in right next to him.
Quickly he turned back around to look at her.

"Are you going to sleep here?"
He asked with wide eyes.
"Yes...?" She gave him a confused look.
"This is my home and my bed. Where do you expect me to sleep? On the floor?"

"No of course not..." he began,
"Wait," another thought struck him "have you been sleeping in bed with me the whole time I have been in your care?"

"Yes...?" Was another confused, oblivious reply he received.
"Even last night?"
He asked, still quite surprised.

"Yes. Don't you remember?"
She poised, before thinking back with a sudden realization.
"Oh wait. You were out long before I was finished scrubbing the dinner pan, and guess I was up long before you..." She paused for a second after her statement, her face scrunching up with even more naive confusement.
"Why do you ask such a thing?"

"Were you not afraid? To sleep in a bed with a man you knew nothing about?"
He poised, pulling his hands as close to his side's as he could, so as to take up as least space as possible.

The nature of his inquiry hit her with a sudden, humorous realization.
Her head tilted back into the pillow and she began to laugh, filling the cabin with that beautiful melody.

"You were as broken as an old axe handle when I found you. The only thing I had to fear from you was your snoring." She said though her laughter before turning her back to him and pulling the covers over her shoulders.

"What about now? Now that I'm a dull axe?" He poised.

"Well Simon," She tsked, "Years of chopping timber has made it so that I can handle any axe, in any size or condition. In fact, if anything, I'm not the one in this bed who has warrant to be cautious."
Though he couldn't see her face, her tone suggested her words were pouring through a teasing smirk.
"Goodnight, frozen man."
She wished, a smile on her face as she blew out the candle.

Simon awoke to find the sun shining through the small window, the rays passing him and illuminating the woman beside him, giving her an almost heavenly glow. As if in a trance, he gazed over Delilah's sleeping form, unable to stop himself from admiring her unusual, but intense beauty.