“But you are a freewoman now,” Brenna protested. “You need not go back there.”
“I have many friends there.”
Brenna sighed. “And you miss Heloise?”
“Yea.”
“And Garrick’s father?”
“I am not ashamed that I share his bed on occasion, Brenna,” Linnet said defensively.
“I do not judge you, Aunt. If this is what you want, then who am I to tell you nay?”
“I know that Anselm’s one true love is Heloise, but he does care for me. And I love Heloise also. She has been a true and worthy friend.” Linnet laughed. “A strange relationship we have. Still, I am content with it.”
“You should have better.”
“Nay, Brenna, I am happy,” Linnet said. “I know you hate Anselm, but—”
“I do not hate him anymore, Aunt.” Brenna interrupted.
“When Anselm first held my son in his arms, I remembered the day he attacked our manor, the hatred and blood-lust on his face. Yet when he held his grandson, there was such love in his expression. He has done much for me that I am grateful for. I still do not know if I can ever completely forgive what he did, but there is no longer hate in me.”
“I am pleased,” Linnet smiled. “I think you have finally grown up, Brenna.”
Brenna returned to her little house the day before the first winter storm. When she trudged through the snow in search of game, she actually felt as if she had grown accustomed to this land and its harsh climate.
And so the time passed. Still Garrick did not come to see his son. After the winter solstice celebration, which Linnet attended without Brenna even though she had been invited too, Linnet returned to Anselm’s settlement. Brenna missed her, but she did not lack for company. Leala, the woman Heloise had found for Selig, still lived with her, having taken Elaine’s place. And Cordella came often to visit with little Athol.
Brenna returned home early from hunting, for she had quickly exhausted her supply of arrows. She was angry at herself for having missed one rabbit so many times before it finally got away. When she left the woods and saw the horse in her yard, Garrick’s horse, she was first filled with mixed feelings, but then her anger grew. How dare he come now, seven months after the birth of his son?
She entered her house quickly, but stopped short at the sight that met her eyes. Selig was sitting on his father’s lap by the fire, giggling and playing with the fastenings on Garrick’s cloak. Garrick was surprised to see her, but Brenna did not notice. She saw only her son and how happy he was. Her anger came to the surface again, knowing that Selig had been denied the pleasure of his father because of Garrick’s hate for her.
“Do you approve of the name I gave him?” Garrick asked awkwardly.
“I accepted it, since it was all his father would ever give him.”
Garrick put Selig down on the floor and both parents watched him crawl slowly across the rushes to a toy beneath the table. There he stopped to examine it with tiny fingers, unaware of the tension in the room.
Their eyes met for the first time. “I am sorry you found me here, Brenna. It will not happen again.”
“Why did you come?”
“To see my son.”
“Why now, after so long?” she demanded.
“Do you truly think I have not seen him before this? I have come here at least once a week since you returned, whenever you are off hunting. And when you stayed at my house, I saw him every day.”
“How?”
“Once he was fed, he was mine to hold before he was returned to you.”
Brenna’s eyes were wide with fury. “Why was this kept from me?”
“You thought I would hurt the boy, so I saw him only in secret. I did not want to upset you.”
Brenna turned to Leala, who was huddled in the corner away from the shouting voices she did not understand. “Why did you not tell me Selig’s father has come to see him here?”
