“My lord, you propose the murder of an innocent!” the priest cried, shocked.
“I will have my betrothed wife returned, Priest, and it matters not to me how it is done. I shall not be involved,” Sir Udolf said coldly.
“My lord, I believe you have gone mad with your lust for this woman. I shall pray you see the wrong before you allow it to be committed,” Father Peter declared.
“If he does not believe her dead,” Sir Udolf replied stubbornly, “he will seek her out and eventually he will come to Wulfborn. What I propose to have done is for both of their sakes. If he believes her dead, he will mourn her and move on with his life. If she knows he thinks her dead, she will reconcile herself to her fate as my wife. She will give me another son to replace the one who died.”
“Your son visited her almost every night of their marriage, yet she did not conceive,” the priest pointed out to his master. “Perhaps she is unable to conceive, my lord. Have you considered that her womb is a barren one? Her own mother bore but one child, and a female at that. Will you risk your immortal soul in this matter, knowing the murder of an innocent is to be committed so you may take this woman back? And do you think God will reward you with a son for it?” the priest wanted to know.
“Alix Givet is mine by all rights,” Sir Udolf responded. “It was God who brought her to us. It was God who gave me the idea to make her my wife after my son died. It is God who got me the dispensation from the archbishop at York. God will return Alix to me, and he will see I have another son on her body.”
The priest shook his head. Sir Udolf was mad. It was a madness that came from believing he was right and that God was on his side. But he was not right, and God would certainly punish the baron for what he was about to allow done so that he might regain Alix Givet. The wench was not worth it.But what can I do to stop my master?the priest asked himself. When an answer was not immediately forthcoming, he decided to pray. God would certainly give him a resolution to this problem if he prayed hard enough. He might have sent to the Laird of Dunglais warning him, but Father Peter did not. He might not approve of his master’s actions, but he would never betray him.
Chapter 10
The summer came, and at Lamastide Alix knew she was with child. Fenella confirmed it, smiling. The two women hugged each other and, seeing it, Iver asked Fenella afterwards, “Why were you embracing our mistress?”
“You will know soon enough,” Fenella chortled, “but first the laird must know.”
“Woman, you have as good told me our mistress is with child,” Iver said.
Fenella clapped her hands over her mouth, but then, removing them, said, “I have told you naught! And do not dare to say I did.”
The steward grinned at her. “I know how to keep a secret,” he replied. “You need not worry about me. It is the laird who will announce this happy news to all of Dunglais after she has told him. I will say nothing, and you had best stop being so smug because you have the confidence of our mistress.”
Alix sought for her husband and found him at the keep’s smithy talking with the blacksmith. He had recently found his cattle herd increased by several beasts, and they had no markings on them. He wanted them marked with the Dunglais D so if they wandered again he could find them. He had waited the summer long for someone to come and claim them, but no one had. She waited while he discussed the matter, and when he had finished he turned to her, smiling.
“Why have you sought me, lambkin?” he asked her, taking her hand and walking from the smithy. “Have you missed me this day?” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the palm tenderly.
“I have news I believe you would want to hear,” Alix told him almost shyly. “I am with child, Colm. Come late winter, with God’s blessing, I shall give you a child.”
The laird gave a joyous whoop, and picking Alix up, he swung her about. “A child!” he exclaimed happily. “We are to have a child!” Then he kissed her hard. “Thank you, my darling lambkin! Thank you!”
“You want a son,” Alix said as he set her down upon her feet again. “I hope it is, but it could also be a darling little girl like our Fiona.”
He sighed. “Aye, I find I am like other men after all,” he admitted. “I do want a son, but should it be another daughter I will be content, Wife.”
Alix glanced about the courtyard at the curious faces of the men-at-arms. “We must tell Fiona before you announce it to the hall,” she said.
“You are certain?” he asked her anxiously.
Alix nodded. “Aye, and Fenella concurs. I have had no show of blood since the end of May, my lord. And my breasts are growing fuller and I am suddenly always craving cheese.”
“You always loved cheese,” he noted.
“But not like this, my lord. I sat at the high board after you had left it this morning and ate cheese until Fenella finally took it away from me,” Alix told him. “She says there is no doubt I am with child.”
“Do you know when?”
“We think sometime in late February or early March,” Alix said.
They entered the house to seek out Fiona. They found her playing with her cat in the hall. Both the little girl and the creature were enjoying themselves as Fiona pulled a piece of yarn to which was tied a rag and the cat pounced and wrestled with the toy. She looked up as her father and stepmother came into her view. “Bannerette likes to play with me,” she announced to them. “She is more fun than her mother ever was.”
“Her mother is older, and older cats do not play as much,” Alix said. “Come, Fi, and sit with us. Your father and I have something to tell you.”
Fiona arose from the floor where she had been sitting and came to join them by the hearth. “Am I to be betrothed?” she asked. “Have you found a husband for me? Is he handsome? Is he rich? How old is he?”
The laird laughed. “Ever since you visited the king you have been fixated upon a match for yourself. Nay, lass, I am not of a mind to let you go yet. Perhaps when you are thirty or forty I may consider it.”
