Another chapter of the tale of mystery.

FAMILY SECRETS

A HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE FANFIC

Chapter 17

Over the next few days Howl stayed by my side constantly. He simply refused to leave me. He was unusually quiet and sedate. He didn't even change clothes or dye his hair. He didn't care. My health was all that mattered to him. It was really quite sweet. He must have been completely worn out. I know that he didn't really sleep. I could tell that when I finally woke up. There were huge bags around his eyes. His eyes were red and he hadn't saved in a couple of days. He looked absolutely exhausted.

"Howl." I reached out to him.

He grabbed my hand. "Hey, Sophie. How ya feeling?"

"Awful." I didn't have in me to lie.

"Well, just rest for a bit, okay? You'll feel better soon." His eyes betrayed how worried he was. Then again I was almost killed by the man in my dream. He had every right to be worried. I was! I was terrified! Howl seemed to pick up on this and cooed, "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

"But . . ."

"It will be alright." He interrupted me. "Now stop worrying and rest."

I wanted to argue with Howl. To tell him to that it wouldn't be alright. We needed to figure out what that vision meant. I wanted to tell him to rest. He looked like hell. I was worried about him. I worried that man would come after either him or Arthur next. I wanted to say all that and more, but I couldn't. I didn't have the strength to put it into words. Not that Howl didn't already know most of it. He knew me far too well not to. He was so very worried. Someone was coming after our family. Only he did not know who or why. That put Howl on edge. It made him extra short with me. Which was provably not what he intended. I was very weak at that point. He wanted to care for me, not to argue with me. I guess we are doomed to argue for the rest of our lives. We just didn't know any other way to be.

Howl, got up from the bed and started to leave. Before he could far I called out."Howl . . .?"

He turned back towards me. He couldn't hide the worry from his eyes. "What?" He asked.

"I'm sorry."

His face darkened. "For what Sophie? This isn't your fault! You didn't do anything wrong!" He tried to regain his composer. "Now, stop apologizing and rest. Don't worry about me, Arthur, or anything else. I'll take care of everything. Just rest. I'll be back later, okay?" I nodded then he left the room. Soon after I fell asleep.

I woke up a little later to find my sisters sitting with me. I was surprised that Howl wasn't there. I tried to ask about it but before I could say anything Lettie said, "He's sleeping in Michael's room. We had force him into bed. Poor thing. He's been worried sick about you. I almost didn't get him to cooperate either."

"Howl went along with it?" I finally managed to say.

She laughed. "Yes. We had to point out that he was getting too tired to protect you. He stayed up at least two days. Everyone else has gotten some sleep. Just not Howl. He was too stubborn to do that. He wanted to stay by your side!"

Martha chimed in, "Lettie, you left out the part where you threatened him."

Lettie waved her off, "You know that none of us are really strong enough to stop Howl from doing something if he puts his mind to it. He just gave up on his own. I think that he was just relieved that you were okay."

I couldn't help myself from chuckling. That was my Howl. He was the most powerful wizard that I have ever met. Yet he allows the women in his life to push him around. He could overpower them easily. He would never do that though. He always holds back. He's provably the only man that could handle me. That and calcifer. I am so glad that he is on my side.

"Oh Howl . . ."

Words can never express how much I love him. I would be nothing without him. It's nice to know that he feels the same way. One could even say that I stole the heart of Heartless Howl. At the same time he stole mine. Lettie was right all time ago. Howl would steal my heart. Now, I can't live without him.

"Lettie, Martha, thank you." They smiled at me. "Please take care of things for a little bit longer." They nodded. "Thanks." It was a huge relief to know that someone was forcing Howl to take care of himself. It allowed me to relax. Once I did that I started to fall asleep. I still needed a lot of rest.

The next time I woke up I found Howl back by my side. He had brought Arthur in with him to care for us at the same time. He clearly didn't want to leave my side if he didn't have to. Howl looked a little better, but he still looked like hell. At least he had shaved. That was a step in the right direction. As for Arthur, he looked just fine. I don't think he really understood what was going on or why mommie was in bed. He was just happy to see me. That's all that mattered. It really cheered me up to hold my son.

"Sorry Arthur, I haven't taken good care of you lately, have I?" I patted my son's head. "But don't worry. Mommie will get better soon then we'll play together, okay?"

I seemed to annoy Howl a lot. He told me that I should focus on taking care of myself first. He was one to talk. He looked like hell. Maybe he should practice what he preached? Oh well . . . I decided to ignore Howl's outburst. I honestly didn't have the energy to fight with him. Which provably put Howl even more on edge. He was used to me biting back. I was feeling a lot better but I was nowhere near strong enough to argue with my husband. He would have to wait for me to do that.

Instead, I asked Howl how he was feeling. Honestly, I didn't want to talk about how much everything hurt. Or that I hated being stuck in bed. I'd rather hear about someone else's troubles. Even if that person was my husband. It distracted me from the situation. Howl was reluctant to tell me very much of anything. He simply said that he was fine then left it at that. Leaving me to find a different topic of discussion. I figured that discussing the Soul Walk was a bad idea. So I asked about the shop. It had been closed for several days while I recuperated. It kind of made sense. That wasn't really Howl's thing. It was mine. He just made it possible. Howl was more comfortable with selling potions and spells over flowers. Ironically, that shop was also closed. He had too much on hands to sell much of anything.

Slowly I began to feel much better. I was able to sit up and eat the meal that Howl had made for me. It was sweet for him to make me dinner in bed. I even got to play with Arthur while Howl was cooking. It really helped distract me from the pain. I couldn't wait to be able to run around the house again. I hated being stuck in bed! It wasn't right! What could I do about it? I just had to grin and bear it.

After we ate Howl put Arthur to bed. Then we settled down for the night. It was so comforting to snuggle with the man that I loved. I felt safe and warm. It eased my pain. Either that or Howl was using a healing spell on me. I couldn't really tell. The fool provably was. He was far too exhausted to do things like that. He should really practice what he preached. Not that it really mattered for soon I was asleep once again. Which provably due to another sleeping spell. There was nothing I could do. Howl would always put himself at risk to help me. That was just the kind of man he was.

Next Chapter coming up!