Page 99 of The Caged Viking

“Sure,” Kirstin said, but her heart wasn’t in it. At least Angela wasn’t mentioning any hot guy dying to meet her. Meanwhile, for the rest of the morning, she worked in the den on her thesis. All of her experiences those months in the past were proving invaluable in tweaking her thesis. It was a hundred times better. Pleased with the revisions, she hoped to present the proposal to her advisor soon. After that, it would go to her doctoral committee for review. Several weeks after that, she would defend her dissertation. Probably not until January or February, at the earliest.

She returned late that afternoon with a loaded shopping bag. She and her siblings didn’t spend much on Christmas gifts, just small presents with some meaning. The latest Magnolia Table cookbook for Marie, a coffee table art book for Dagny, a Mead of the Month Club membership for her father, squirt guns for the kids, those kinds of things.

Angela was in the kitchen preparing dinner, a pot roast with mashed potatoes to satisfy her father’s manly appetite, Angela said. Kirstin had offered to help, but Angela demurred, preferring to work on her own. So, Kirstin was in the den again, but now watching a season of Outlander, the same one, for about the tenth time.

Her father came in and sat on the hassock at her feet. Taking both of her hands in his, after glancing with raised eyebrows at the same old television show he’d noticed her glomming, he said, “I think it’s time, don’t you, sweetling?”

She cocked her head to the side. “For what?”

“To decide what you’re going to do.”

Kirstin’s heart began to beat rapidly, especially at the somber expression on her father’s face. “What do you mean?”

“Go back, my dearling daughter.” He sighed deeply, and she could swear he had tears in his eyes. “It pains me deeply to lose you again, this time probably forever, but I think you need to go back to your husband.”

* * *

Dum, dum, dee, dum…

Hauk stood on the lower level, with his back to the high dais where Ingolf and his family, along with Bjorn and Egil, sat, waiting for the wedding ceremony and feast to begin. Thorkel and Signe in their wedding finery stood on either side of him close to the table.

“Hear ye, hear ye, all who gather here at Haukshire to witness the wedding of Thorkel Ivarsson and Signe Elsedottir.” His people thankfully went silent. Actually, he’d warned Frida not to send in any ale until the end of the ceremony to forestall any talking or ribald remarks.

First, Hauk took the goblet of wine into his hands and said, “Take ye this wine which represents the nectar of Odin’s Well of Knowledge. May ye have the wisdom to deal with each other with love tempered with patience.”

Each of them took a sip, Thorkel’s deeper than warranted, causing some men in the crowd to complain, “Hey, where’s ours?” Hauk placed the goblet back on the table, then picked up the hammer which he handed to Thorkel and directed him with a motion of his head to hit the rock which sat on the table, announcing aloud, “With this hammer of Thor, the mighty Mjollnir, will you, Thorkel, protect your wife and crush her enemies?”

Thorkel nodded and hit the stone. Much harder than needed, causing shards to fly everywhere.

Hauk just raised his eyebrows at his friend, whose eyes twinkled with mischief, and continued, “With these seeds may Frey, god of fertility and prosperity, bless your marriage with babes aplenty and much riches.” Without thinking, Hauk tossed the entire bowl of seeds at the two of them, causing Thorkel to spit out a few that landed in his mouth. But then, Thorkel grinned at Signe and murmured, “Making babes? I cannot wait.”

Signe blushed prettily and told Thorkel to hush.

Along the same theme, Hauk picked up Thorkel’s short sword and handed it to him, saying, “From this day forward, Thorkel, will your shield cover your wife, will her foe become your foe?”

“They will,” Thorkel said solemnly, sheathing his weapon to his side.

“Now, give me your hands,” Hauk directed, and, taking the small knife off the table, he made a slight slit on each of their wrists. As the blood beaded a line on their skin, he used the leather thong to tie their hands together loosely, wrist to wrist, and pronounced, “With this mingling of your blood, do you, Thorkel, pledge your troth to Signe as your wife?”

“I do,” Thorkel said, and winked at Signe.

“And do you, Signe, pledge your troth taking Thorkel as your wedded husband?”

“I do,” Signe said, catching Thorkel’s eyes with seriousness, which was more touching than any additional words they might have said.

“With my authority as jarl of Haukshire, and representative of the lawspeaker, I do pronounce you man and wife,” Hauk said then.

The couple smiled at one another, then kissed, to the cheering of the crowd. Pitchers of ale had been carried in during this final part of the ritual, and cups were raised with cheers and toasts of “Skol!” and “Good Wishes” and several bits of marital advice that caused women in the hall to blush and slap their mates.

Signe and Thorkel had agreed ahead of time not to do a bride-running in this confined space, despite Hauk’s attempt to do so with Kirstin that one time.

Of course, that prompted Hauk to think about his own wedding, which was much different than this one. No Norse rituals, or anything like that. Had Kirstin felt cheated by that lack of ceremony? Or had the lack of ritual given her an excuse to dismiss theirs as less than a real marriage? Is that why she found it so easy to leave?

Hauk shook his head to clear it and directed several housecarls to clear the table while Frida supervised the carrying in of a board the size of a door, holding the roasted half of a reindeer, including the head, two of the legs, and the tail. The crowd cheered. Efrim, Frida’s husband, raised a cleaver and large knife in the air and began to carve the roast. This marked the beginning of the marriage feast.

Meanwhile, platters holding slices and hunks of the other half of the deer were being carried by maids, first to the high table, and then laid out throughout the hall. The parade of maids and housecarls from kitchen to hall was continuous, back and forth, for almost an hour, with Frida calling out orders like a Viking chieftain. There were horseradish and mustard sauces for the venison, manchet bread, mashed turnips, beets, carrots, bitter greens, pickles, boiled hen and quail eggs, and sweet honey cakes.

Thorkel and Signe walked around the hall, exchanging words with men and women here and there, before going to the high dais where a place had been set for them in the center of the table. Ingolf and his family sat on their one side, with Hauk, Egil, and Bjorn on the other.