Brenna nodded slowly, avoiding Heloise’s eyes. She could not agree with the other woman, yet surprisingly, the thought warmed her. Could that really be the reason for the startling change in Garrick since her illness? Could he have fallen in love with her?
Brenna was afraid to pursue such thoughts or speak of it further, so she quickly changed the subject. “My aunt. May I see her?”
“Of course. Ah, she comes now. I will take my leave, so you may speak privately.”
Brenna rose with Heloise just as Linnet reached them, but Brenna did not see her leave. Her eyes were on her aunt, and her tears fell as they embraced. All that Brenna had endured during the recent months came to her mind now that she finally had someone to confide in, but it did not seem half so bad in light of her aunt’s situation.
They sat down together, but Brenna would not release Linnet’s hands. She took in her aunt’s appearance with a critical eye, and saw that the older woman still did not look her age. In fact, her blue eyes sparkled with youth and vitality.
“You fared well, Aunt?”
“Heloise has made me feel as if I am part of her family,” Linnet confided easily. “Yea, I fared very well.”
“I am glad. So often I worried for you, but Garrick would not let me come here till now.”
“He is very possessive, I think, and would like to keep you close to his home. I have heard much of you, Brenna, from Heloise. I know that you were terribly stubborn in the beginning, but I knew you would be. I know that you ran away, and also were deathly ill. I was frantic at the time. But here you are, well and honored. I am so pleased.”
“Honored?”
“You are here as a guest, not as Garrick’s slave. Yea, he honors you in this.”
Brenna laughed dryly. “I know his reason, Aunt. I am here only to see to his needs.”
“Come now, Brenna,” Linnet reasoned. “There are many here who could do that. Also, he did not need to give you such beautiful gifts for what you imply. I was with Heloise when Garrick bid her make that gown for you. ‘It must be in the Viking fashion,’ he said, ‘for she is one of us now.’”
Brenna knitted her brows in thought. “I have given him no reason to believe I am happy here. He knows I will escape again if given the opportunity. Why would he say I am one of them?”
“You must have given him some cause to believe so. But truly, Brenna, you must not try to escape again. If you succeeded and Garrick could not find you, I would forever worry over you.”
“When I go, Aunt, ’twill be by sea, and I will take you with me,” Brenna said hastily, doubtful that she could ever accomplish such a feat. Though she had tried to put her aunt at ease, what she said seemed to sadden the older woman instead.
“Ah, Brenna. I thought surely, seeing you here this day, that you had finally outgrown your wild ways. A mature woman would accept the fates that brought her here. She would be thankful she is alive and adjust to her new life, knowing there is no longer an old life to return to.”
“As you have done?”
“Yea, as I have. ’Tis the only way, Brenna. If we mourn the freedom we lost, we will suffer unduly. In truth, my life has improved, so I cannot complain. I have a kind, dear friend in Heloise. She does not begrudge me Anselm’s occasional visits, and so I have a man too, who is quite kind in his way.”
“Cease! I wish to hear no more.”
“Be sensible, Brenna. Garrick cares for you, ’tis plain to see. Make your life with him something special.”
“By being his whore!” Brenna hissed, the heart of her unrest coming to the surface.
“Yea, I know he cannot offer you marriage, but you will be as a wife to Garrick. His splendid gifts are proof of that. ’Tis said a bastard can inherit from his father if there are no legitimate heirs. Mayhaps Garrick will never wed, but keep you as his only love. Your future with him would be just as secure, even without vows spoken. You may birth bastards, but they would have a place here.”
“My pride demands better. I once scorned marriage, yet that is the only way I could live with Garrick in peace.”
“But ’tis forbidden to marry a slave.”
“I know,” Brenna said softly.
She looked at Garrick across the room and smiled. She had said the words aloud. She would marry Garrick, yea, she would do so gladly. The thought of marriage to him, without the constant battle of wills, filled her with warmth. Yea, she did love him!
Brenna greeted this realization with laughter clear and joyous. She leaned over and hugged her aunt. “I love him. I did not know it until now, but ’tis truth. I love him. If he cares for me as you have said, as his own mother has said, then he will marry me. ’Tis the only way I can live with Garrick.”
“Brenna, you are surely Angus’s daughter. Stubborn beyond good sense. If you truly love Garrick, then you will take him as he is and not demand more of him.”
“And decency be damned? Nay, Aunt. ’Twill be my way, or not at all,” Brenna replied sternly and stood up. “Where is Della?”
