Page 106 of The Caged Viking

“Oh. We thought you didn’t care about us anymore and wanted to go home.”

“Of course I care about you. You’re like…you’re like my son,” she told him, and that was the truth, although she hadn’t realized it until this moment.

He nodded, as if he shared the feeling. Without invitation, he plopped down on the side of the mattress and began talking about Gisela, one of Jarl Ingolf’s daughters. He’d apparently developed a crush on her.

“Can you pull my cloak up here? I have a gift for you,” she said with a loud sneeze. “This is the kind of shirt a guy your age and size would wear in my time.” She took out a rolled up piece of fabric and shook it out to reveal a long-sleeved, black Grateful Dead T-shirt. At the same time, she pulled out a travel pack of tissues. Another thing she should have packed…more tissues.

His eyes went wide at first when he saw her gift, and then he laughed and pulled his tunic over his head and replaced it with the T-shirt. It was a perfect fit, maybe a little big, but that was okay.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“I don’t know. How do I look?”

“Here. Use this,” she said and handed him the open compact.

At first, he didn’t understand that it was a mirror, to reflect his image. When he did, he was more interested in how his face looked. He declined to take the shirt off when he left, carrying his tunic with him. He couldn’t wait to show Gisela. Kirstin had to insist he leave the mirror. She wished she had been able to bring him a pair of Nikes, which would have surely blown him away, but they would have been too heavy, on top of everything else she’d carted.

No sooner did Bjorn leave than Egil popped in. “Well, well, well,” he said. “And how long are ye gonna stay this time?”

“That depends on Hauk. He didn’t look pleased to see me.”

“And why should he be? Ye nigh broke his heart.”

“He told you that?”

“Hah! ’Tis not the kind of thing a man confides to another man. Nay, I know because I saw the pain he was in. Sick he was. Heart sick. I tol’ Frida she should make him some chicken slop, but she didn’t know how.”

“I was in pain, too, Egil. Absolute misery. Why do you think I came back?”

He shrugged. “I do not know. I thought…we thought that ye decided to go back to yer jelly man.”

“What? Who?”

“The master tol’ me ’bout yer former mate, the jelly man.”

“Oh, you mean JAM.” She recalled telling Hauk about him, when he’d asked if she had a man in the future. “Jacob Alvarez Mendoza, JAM, was never my mate. Just someone I…no, I didn’t go back to him. I mean I dated him once, but realized that we had no future.”

“Dating? Is that like tupping? So, ye let the JAM man swive ye and then decided my Lord Hauk was a better swiver. Ye should have known that from the start if ye ask me.”

“That’s not it, at all, Egil.” She inhaled and exhaled deeply for patience. Her head was starting to feel fuzzy, not just painful. She tried to look as sincere as possible before telling him, “Bottom line: I love Hauk.”

“Good luck with that!” He looked at her and quickly added, “Now, don’t be getting’ all teary-eyed. Mayhap ye’ll be able to melt that wall he’s put around hisself.”

‘Well, in case I’m not going to be here that long, I better give you your gift now.” Once again, she leaned forward and took one of the Ziplock bags out of the cloak.

“What is this?” Egil asked, taking the package she handed him.

“Oreo cookies. I know you have a sweet tooth, and these are a popular snack.”

“Hmmm,” he said doubtfully.

“Believe me, you’ll like them. Best way to eat them is by dunking in a cup of milk.”

“Milk!” he exclaimed as if she’d suggested some vile substance.

“Thank you for welcoming me back,” she said then, but the sarcasm passed over his head as he waved good-bye.

Kirstin didn’t bother to lie back down again, waiting to see if there were any more visitors. She wasn’t disappointed. In came Gorm, the little boy who’d been abused before Hauk’s return to Haukshire.