What else could she answer? He was thoughtful, generous and patient, undoubtedly. She should know. Another man would have pressured her into accepting what they both knew she felt by now, or at least tried to convince her that if she didn’t want him to become part of her life, at least she could allow him access to her body. He had done neither and she was grateful for it.
“How come he brought you to the village?” her friend asked, closing the door behind them. “I thought Steinar would have.”
“Apparently your husband ran into his brother as he was reaching the town gate and, as he wanted to get to the harbor to meet a Danish merchant, he asked him to bring me to you instead.”
“Mm. What was Sven doing in town that early in the morning, I wonder?”
Eahlswith busied herself with putting her bag into a corner of the hut to avoid having to answer—and hide her face, which had likely gone bright red. What would Cwenthryth think if she realized he’d spent two days repairing Osbert’s roof? She would, understandably, wonder what could have motivated him to help a man he didn’t know and who was connected to a woman he’d seen only once in passing.
“Now. Tell me what I can do to help,” she said, straightening her back. They had better get to the important part of this conversation and stop talking about Sven altogether. She was here to forget about him.
Cwenthryth let out a sigh. “Having someone to look after the girls while I get the sleep I need would be wonderful.”
“I will do much more than that. You are not to cook a thing or see to the animals or go into the forest while I’m here, do you hear?” Her friend did look exhausted, but hopefully, it wouldn’t take too long for her to recover if someone else did what needed to be done. “The only thing you’ll be allowed to do is feed Liv andgive Sanna motherly kisses when she needs them. This I cannot do for you.”
“Oh!” To her horror, since she had only meant the comment as light-hearted, Cwenthryth burst into sobs.
“What is it? What have I said?” Eahlswith asked, taking her into her arms. Panic flooded her chest. Was there something she should know about the girls? Liv was sleeping in her cot but she hadn’t seen little Sanna yet.
“You’ve always b-been here for me. You were there when I— When the— And now you’re here with me again, but this time I have two beautiful babes with me and though I’m t-tired, it’s too much joy f-for me to?—”
Unable to carry on, Cwenthryth tightened her embrace.
Eahlswith held her, understanding what she was referring to. Her own eyes filled with tears at the memory. Three years ago, Cwenthryth had lost her unborn babe. That this baby had been the product of a rape had not lessened the shock of it, and the loss of blood had endangered her life. Eahlswith had been the one to find her on her bloodied pallet and then help her to deal with the whole mess.
It had been awful and it did feel good to now be able to help her deal with the very real joy of having two healthy little girls.
“Hush, you’re exhausted and need to rest, that’s all. You will feel better after a nap, I promise. I’m here. I will always be here. After what you endured, I am delighted to help you look after your children.”
“Thank you. I’m so glad to have you here. I’ve missed living next to you.”
“Yes, me too.”
Though she knew Cwenthryth had found her place in the Norsemen village, it did mean that they didn’t see one another as often as she would have liked. A thought flashed through Eahlswith’s mind. Could she come live here also? She stilled. Ofcourse not. The only Saxons living here were the ones married to one of the inhabitants and she knew that would never be her, even if she did know a Norseman who might?—
Enough. She had come here to forget about him,notto think about marriage!
Just then there was a brief knock on the door. As if he’d sensed she was thinking about him, Sven entered the hut, bucket in hand. He froze when he saw the two women in the middle of the hut, hugging one another and crying.
“What happened?”
He was instantly on alert, placing the bucket down and scanning the hut for the source of their distress. Had he been wearing a sword at his belt, it would be in his hand right now. The image sent shivers all the way down to her toes. Sven with a sword at the ready and a look of thunder in his eyes… Heimdallr, god of war, indeed. The man had the body of a warrior, even if she guessed he did not have an aggressive bone in that chiseled body. He would, however, be the first to jump to his family’s defense when needed.
“Nothing happened, don’t worry,” Cwenthryth told him, wiping at her eyes. “I guess I’m just overwhelmed and need to sleep.”
He nodded, looking somewhat reassured. “You do, Steinar told me as much this morning. What can I do to help?”
“Nothing, you’ve done more than enough by bringing Eahlswith to me. Thank you.” She smiled at him. “And thank you for the water.”
“’Twas nothing.”
Eahlswith stole a glance at the bucket at his feet. As she’d guessed, floating on top of the water were shards of ice. Brr. A shiver went down her spine and she shuffled closer to the firepit. She hated the cold.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it then.”
Eahlswith inhaled when their gazes met, hers black as a moonless night, his clear as a sun-filled day.Until the morrow, he seemed to tell her.
Yes.
