Alienor shook her head, not wanting to consider his success should he try to persuade her with his touch.“There is naught more to discuss.”She turned to watch the road rising before them as the magnitude of what she had done swept over her.
Had she truly made such a challenge to her husband?’Twas unlike her to speak rashly and now she had thrown the fat into the fire.
What had possessed her to give Dagobert an ultimatum?
She might have feared that she had cast aside the life she wanted more than anything else, but he had said naught to reassure her.He had not even vowed to try to meet her demand, much less to change.
Oh, she was a fool indeed, but she would not weep when Dagobert might see, lest he believe her resolve was weak.
She would have all or naught at all.
“All is well?”Iolande demanded in the wee hours of the morning.She rode beside Dagobert once more, for the road had widened again.
He spared her a tired smile.“Aye,” he lied.He adjusted the sleeping Alienor before him so that his mother might not see the truth in his eyes.The sound of their horses’ hoof beats filled the silence, and the sinking moon cast ethereal shadows along the deserted road.
They had not been pursued.They had seen no others and he dared to hope they truly would escape.
“Tis the babe, you know,” Iolande said finally.
Dagobert shot his mother a sidelong look and found her watching him.
“’Twas difficult not to overhear,” she confessed with a rueful smile.
“There is truth in what she says,” he admitted.Too much truth, to be sure.Dagobert stared down at his sleeping wife and his heart clenched at the sight of her.He meant to make amends, but it was clear he had far more ground to regain than he had realized earlier.Where should he begin?
What if she left him?The very prospect filled him with dread.
“Aye,” Iolande agreed, “but the growth of the babe feeds her emotions, makes her more volatile than usual.The midwives say ’tis so.”
Dagobert nodded, having the experience neither to confirm nor to deny this assertion.
“The malaise passes?”he asked, assuming he was expected to do so.He was not at all certain that Alienor’s dissatisfaction with him could be so easily attributed to her pregnancy.
He had been trained from the cradle to be suspicious of all others, and that had served him poorly in marriage.Perhaps his inclination and habit were made worse by his awareness of his wife and his dawning love for her.He felt vulnerable before such emotion, which made his reactions more vehement.
Though just as undeserved.
Would Alienor truly leave him to take the vows of the Catharparfaits?’Twas unimaginable that he should survive this last ordeal because of her efforts and yet be without her thereafter.His anger had flared and faded as she slept and he considered her words more thoughtfully.If theconsolamentumvows were truly what she desired, he would not stand in the way.
But could he possibly convince her to stay with him?
Again, he wondered at his future prospects, but had insufficient information to guess how bad they might be.
“Usually it passes once the babe is weaned,” Iolande continued.
Dagobert was so lost in his thoughts that the words took a moment to penetrate.
“Weaned?”he echoed in dismay, not appeased by his mother’s delighted chuckle.“’Tis more than a year hence.”
“Aye,” Iolande confirmed.“But she might choose a nursemaid.”
Aye, Alienor would if she meant to depart without the child.
He could lose more than his wife by the autumn.
But how could he prove himself worthy of her trust?He yearned to speak with her, but his mother would attend any conversation he and Alienor might have while they were travelling.He had to credit his mother’s assertion about Alienor’s emotional turmoil, too.And in truth, why should his wife believe any promise he made?Nay, he would show Alienor how he felt about her, letting his actions speak of the love in his heart.
He had four months to argue his case with his actions.
