“What a horrible thing to say!”
She was truly horrified. How could he say something like that, worst of all to someone who had just lost their mother?How could he be so heartless, moments after offering wonderful comfort?
Haakon shook his head as if regretting his words.
“Forgive me, I didn’t mean it like that… I don’t know what I was thinking. Only, my mother’s parents died in a cart accident long before I was born, when she was a young girl. Their horse spooked, overturning the vehicle and them with it. From what she tells us, they had been very much in love. Though it was awful for their children to lose them both at the same time, at least it meant neither of them had to go through life without the other, like your father now has.”
Oh. Guilt flashed through Gytha’s chest because now she saw that he hadn’t meant to be heartless. Quite the opposite. He was saying that he’d rather take twice the amount of pain if it spared his mother or father some. And she understood what he meant because she had thought the same thing. Over the week, she had wished she could take some of her father’s pain away, even when her own world had collapsed.
As if the loss of her mother was not enough, she was now losing her best friend. Not losing, exactly, as Eadhild was only leaving to be with the man she loved, but it felt like that at the moment.
“I had better go,” she mumbled. She refused to cry in front of this man.
Haakon grabbed her by the wrist before she could move. The hold was tender, not restrictive. She felt it all the way to her bones and once again, it seemed to be exactly what she needed.
“Saxon, I truly am sorry.”
“Yes. I know.”
4
Gytha helped herself to another slice of bread. Opposite her, her father was unusually quiet. The last month had been hard, of course, but she sensed his silence had nothing to do with their terrible loss.
Knowing he would talk if he felt the need to, she waited. Finally, once the last of the stew had been consumed, he spoke.
“I thought you should know, Oswald came to see me this afternoon.”
Gytha’s heart sank. How had she not guessed this would be what was worrying him? “No need to ask you what he wanted.”
“No. I’m afraid he really is quite set on this union.”
“I know.”
Her eldest sister had gotten married a few months ago to Leofric, a young apprentice to the weaver next door. His brother, Oswald, had been struck by a mad idea the day of the wedding. He had decided there and then that a union to his new sister-in-law’s sister was just the thing he needed. He was so certain Gytha would agree to marry him that he’d left his village to come and live in town himself, in readiness for their wedding.
A wedding that would never happen.
Leofric was a good man, but Oswald was not. He was greedy, stubborn, arrogant and lazy. As if that weren’t enough to put her off, Gytha suspected him of harboring a violent streak that was waiting for an excuse to get out. In short, he was exactly the same kind of man as Eadhild’s father, and the last she would choose as a husband.
The problem was, he didn’t seem to understand that she was not interested, attributing her reluctance to meet with him to maidenly shyness. Fortunately, her father, who knew her, had understood that it was not the case.
“What did you tell him?”
“I said I would never go against my daughter’s wishes and if you hadn’t accepted his offer, then there was nothing I could do.” His voice went steely. “I want for my children happy marriages, like the one your mother and I had. Nothing else will do.”
“Thank you.” She swallowed, and took his hand in hers. That was what she wanted, too, which was why she was determined to wait until he was no longer reeve to start looking for a husband, in other words until she could be certain she was chosen for herself. “And what did he say?”
“He didn’t seem best pleased, and told me that he would find a way to make you change your mind.”
“This is what I feared. But I won’t. The more he insists, the more disagreeable he becomes. I will never marry a man who doesn’t take what I say, think or feel in consideration.”
A tall, blond Norseman suddenly replaced Oswald in her mind. He had taken her feelings in consideration when he had held her close and let her weep against his chest. It had been wonderful to be held thus.
With some effort, she brought her mind back to the conversation.
“No,” her father was saying, “and neither should you. Marriage is about love and happiness.”
Exactly. Or at least, it should be.
