Page 101 of Truly, Madly Viking

Leaning close to his brother's ear, he said, "One of the pay-shuns is a sex addict. One thinks he is Moses, on the days when he is not Charlemagne. Still another cannot get his cock to rise. One wench sings all day long. And there is Norse there named Glad-ass. Is that not amazing, Rolf?"

Bursting out with a short laugh, Rolf punch him in the arm. "You are making all this up."

"I am not. 'Tis true. Really." He called up " "Mag-he who was walking beside Roll's wife, and conversing softly with her. "Mag-he, tell the truth. Do you and I not work in a medhouse?"

She reddened at his words. "We work in a mental-health facility," she said, making a point of the distinction in wordng. The word madhouse is not used any more, Joe."

"Madhouse, mental-health facility 'tis the same titling—" he whispered to Rolf, but to Mag-he said, "Wha-te'er you say, dearling," repeating his brother's response to his wife. A fine response it was, too. It was always best to let women think they had the upper hand.

"Why does she call you Joe?"

Jorund shrugged. "'Tis a nicking name."

Rolf burst out with a chuckle. "Joe the Viking?"

Jorund rolled his shoulders in a gesture meant to convey, What could I do?

But then Roll smiled at him, hooking an arm around his neck and yanking him close. " 'Twould seem that you and I have much to discuss, brother."

That was the version of an understatement.

They were sittings, at the high table in Rolls great hall, the men sipping mead and the women tea. It was like stepping back in time, right down to the primitive weapons on the walls. During their tourist season, there were even rushes on the floor, which Meredith claimed were a pain in the neck to keep clean.

Lunch had been over an hour ago, but Maggie was still in a state of shock. She'd sent Suzy and Beth out with some of the older kids, including a girl named Thea, who'd come up with extra ice skates for them, along with gloves, knit caps, and warmer jackets. Maggie had been assured the ice was very thick and completely safe.

She liked Rolf and his wife... a lot. Right now Meredith was discreetly nursing her three month-old baby under a receiving blanket thrown over her shoulder.

Maggie couldn't help noticing the way Rolf's loving gaze kept going back to his wife, even as he spoke with Joe. And Meredith was equally enamored of her husband, which was evident in the pleasure she displayed over her husband's joy in being reunited with his brother. Whatever made him happy made her happy; that was obvious.

"Besotted, are you?" Joe teased his brother. Apparently he had observed the same bond between Rolf and Meredith.

"For a certainty," Rolf admitted without hesitation, leaning over to kiss his wife loudly on the mouth, then to give an equally loud smack to his now-sleeping daughter's cheek.

Both brothers had been talking rapidly ever since they'd come inside, catching up on all their news. Joe told Rolf everything that had happened to him since he'd arrived in Texas, and it was interesting to hear the spin he put on everything. All agreed that Joe's method of time travel, atop a killer whale, naked, was much more dramatic than Rolf's simple shipwreck. And all agreed, as well, that not one, but two brothers being time travelers was a remarkable coincidence.

As Joe and Rolf continued to reminisce, Maggie asked Meredith, "Didn't you find it hard to accept the concept of time travel?"

"Absolutely," Meredith said. "I still do."

Maggie nodded. It was the same with her. She accepted and did not accept at the same time.

"I'm a professor of medieval studies at Oxley College. My parents are professors. My grandfather was, too. All my life I was trained to believe in scientific, scholarly methods of research. I think that the only way I was able to reconcile logic with such a fantastic notion as time travel was that it was a miracle."

"That's amazing. I came to the same conclusion."

"I can't believe in time travel as a scientific concept..." Meredith started to explain.

"But you can accept a God with the power to do anything," Maggie finished for her.

"Right," Meredith agreed with a smile. "I really, really needed Rolf at the time when he arrived. I didn't realize it at first, of course, but in the end the things he brought to me... well, I can only describe him as a miracle."

Suzy and Beth burst into the great hall then, along with the other excited children. Thea, who was Meredith's fifteen-year-old niece, wrapped her arms around Rolf's neck from behind, hugging him tightly.

Her hair was purple, and she had five earrings in each ear and an eyebrow ring. Maggie imagined that she'd make an interesting Viking maiden during the tourist season. Her mother, Meredith's sister, was in London at the moment, trying to establish new markets for the reproduction Viking jewelry that was crafted at Rosestead.

Her daughters' faces were red. Snow dusted their bright caps and gloves. They were gloriously happy, as only children could be.

And where did they rush first? To Joe. Maggie wasn't offended, though. Instinctively she understood how important he'd become in their lives. He didn't supplant her; he supplemented her.