"Meet with him?” Sigimor looked at Roger. “Ye had doubts about his guilt?"
"Nay,” replied Roger, “but he was my blood kin. I felt it only right that he hear the accusations against him and be allowed to respond to them."
"His response would have been to try and kill ye and all your men."
Roger nodded. “I have ne'er trusted him and was prepared for treachery. Once I dealt with him, I intended to find you for Old Thomas told me who Jolene and Reynard had fled with."
"Ye had no fear of all the grand allies Harold claimed as his?"
"Nay, for I have grander ones. Harold ne'er considered me more than a minor baron, my holding small, and my wife but the daughter of a knight. He ne'er looked further and that was his folly. My wife's line winds all the way to the king and she is much loved by near all of them. My mother's line is nearly as rich in blood and power. I quickly gained the right to be guardian to Reynard from the king himself. I requested it the moment one of Peter's servants arrived to tell me what was happening at Drumwich, but hours after Peter's death. I arrived at Drumwich but a day after Harold left to hunt you down."
"So close. Of course, if we had waited, me and my men would have been rotting on the gallows when ye rode in.” Sigimor saw Jolene pale and nodded, silently pleased at her reaction to that image. “Harold didnae ken ye were named guardian, did he?"
"Nay, ‘tis why I wished to parley. I felt he should know he had already lost all chance of holding Drumwich, that there was no gain to be had in hurting Jolene or Reynard. Then I was to take him to the king for judging."
"Will it cause trouble when your king hears that Harold met with justice here?"
Roger shook his head. “Nay. Though few doubted his guilt, there was no blood on his sword, so to speak. He would have been judged, but it would have been a complicated matter. Harold's allies may not have been equal to mine, but they are powerful enough that the king would have had to tread a very delicate path. He will be relieved to be excused from that dance. Few will argue with your right to kill the man. He threatened you and yours and he took your wife. As Reynard's guardian, I am the only one who can say why Reynard was here and, e'en as I set out, I began to spread the tale that it was of no consequence. Nay, this trouble has ended here."
Sigimor nodded, then looked at Jolene. “Ye didnae come here just to give the lad into his arms, did ye. Ye didnae ken that he was named guardian, either. So, ye crept away from your lawful husband like a cowardly thief. Ye didnae think I might like to ken that I was about to lose my wife?"
Jolene inwardly grimaced. The cowardly remark stung, but she accepted it as her due, for she had been just that. She had not wanted to face him squarely and tell him her plans. She had feared he could make her stay when duty forced her to leave and equally afraid that he would not even try to make her stay. A part of her had hoped he would chase her down as he had, but she had not thought it would change what she had to do. Instead, she had changed her mind, had realized she could not leave him. It was not something she wished to discuss now, however, in front of so many men.
"I intended to send you word when I reached Drumwich,” she said.
"Och, how kind of ye.” He grunted with satisfaction when she winced. “Just what did ye plan to do about me, about our marriage? Our weel consummated, priestly blessed marriage?"
"Well, since I am the daughter of an English earl and you are a Scottish lord, and we had gained permission from none of my kinsmen, or my king—"
"Ye would have our marriage annulled. Aye, I have heard how that would work many times. Did ye ne'er consider that, e'en now, ye might be carrying my bairn? That an annulment would mark that child a bastard?"
Not until Sigimor had mentioned it, but Jolene was not about to confess to that. “I would have waited to be sure there was no child ere I acted on it.” She wondered why he looked so ill-pleased by her words.
Sigimor wanted to shake her until her bones rattled, even though he knew he could never bring himself to cause her any harm. Every word she spoke struck him like a knotted whip on bare flesh. He was not quite sure what he wanted her to say, but it was not this calm recitation of her plans to cast him aside. She had not even given him any true indication that she had changed her mind. He and Jolene needed to have a serious talk, perhaps even a rousing argument or two to clear the air between them. However, he glanced around at all the men in the clearing, his and Roger's, and knew this was not the place for such a talk. The problem was, he needed to know what she had decided. He rubbed his chin as he tried to think of a way to ask if she intended to stay with him without exposing his own confused and intense emotions.
"Jolene was but saying her farewells when you arrived,” Roger said, ignoring the sharp nudge of Jolene's elbow in his side. “The king will not be pleased that an English heiress was lost to a Scottish lord, but I will swear it was approved by her brother as I believe it would have been. After all, you have saved the lives of his sister and his only child, his heir. I will hold her lands in trust save for one small keep in Scotland left to her by a maternal aunt. That you can openly claim.” He smiled briefly at the surprise Sigimor was unable to hide. “Ere the king can devise a way to confiscate her fortune, I will send her goods and dowry to you by the same route I myself came here—passed safely from one of your friends or kinsmen to another. Or, if you prefer, I could send it to her Scottish keep and you may send men there to collect it."
Although Sigimor had suspected that Jolene was well dowered, he had not anticipated gaining any of it. This was a great boon he would be a fool to ignore. He also saw that a discussion with Roger concerning her dowry was a good way to avoid a discussion with her. She was returning to Dubheidland with him. That was enough for now.
"I think we need to talk ere ye leave,” he said to Roger and waved Liam to his side. “If we can find aught to write with, this lad is an excellent scribe with a neat and readable hand.” When Roger nodded, Sigimor looked at Jolene. “We will talk when we return to Dubheidland unless ye wish us to air all our thoughts before this lot.” When she shook her head, he nodded and went to join Liam and Roger.
Jolene watched the three men gather something to write with then sit together on some large stones at the opposite side of the clearing. She briefly brooded over how her dowry had so firmly caught her husband's attention, then soundly scolded herself for such foolishness. Sigimor's surpise had been heartfelt. He may not have married her out of love, but he certainly had not married her for gain. She also knew he would make good use of the riches she brought him. With so many kinsmen to provide for, there was a lot of good he could do. Jolene was also sure that each child they might be blessed with would be carefully provided for. One could not ask for a fairer use of her dowry. Harold and many another man would have just enriched themselves.
She turned her thoughts to what Sigimor might wish to talk about once they returned to Dubheidland. There would probably be a lecture to endure. Considering his tendency to refer to their passionate, private moments, she hoped the lecture would be private. It was appalling enough that Roger probably thought her some rabid succubus by now, as did most of his men, and anyone else within listening distance when Sigimor had first spoken to her and Roger. Jolene simply could not think of what he might wish to talk about, and did not want to. It would be easy to find herself hoping for, or even foolishly expecting, some words of affection. It would then break her heart if none were forthcoming and she would only have herself to blame.
A heavy sigh escaped her as she watched Fergus and Reynard walk toward her. Fergus still looked angry with her, an expression that made him look even more like Sigimor. Reynard looked lost and hurt which stirred to life her own grief. When he ran to her, she caught him up in her arms and held him close for a moment. When he rode away with Roger, she would see him rarely, if at all, and it made her heart clench with the pain of the loss.
It was such a difficult choice, yet she knew she had made the right one. Roger and Emma would give Reynard all the love and direction he needed. They also had the power to keep him and his heritage safe until he was of an age to take the reins. Although it galled her to admit it, Reynard and Drumwich needed a man to care for them and the only one she wanted could never rule over an English earldom, nor would he wish to.
"I need you to come home with me,” muttered Reynard as Jolene sat down on the ground and he crawled into her lap.
"She cannae,” said Fergus as he sat down facing them. “She is a wife now. Sigimor's wife. Wives have to stay with their husbands.” He scowled at her. “She just forgot that law for a wee bit."
"Mayhap I could stay too,” said Reynard.
"Weel, we wouldnae mind that, but ye cannae. Ye are a laird. Ye have to go to Drumwich and be an earl."
"Don’ wanna be an earl."
