Page 111 of Truly, Madly Viking

As Mag-he lay, drowsily sated, he glanced through the wide windows and noticed a strange constellation of stars that resembled, of all things, a whale. He did not call the star shape to Mag-he's attention because he knew its significance.

It was a time omen.

Jorund wanted to make promises to his beloved Mag-he, who wept silent tears now, but he could not.

So he held her through the night, and as she slept, he kept saying over and over, in one form or another, "I may have to leave you, my love, but I also leave behind my heart, forevermore."

Two days later Joe was gone. And this time, Maggie feared, it was for good.

The girls had returned to school for the first time since holiday vacation, and Maggie had spent the morning and part of the afternoon at the hospital till some inner voice had told her to go home. This was not one of Joe's days for working out with the patients in the physical-fitness program, and he should have been at the house. Beth had conned him into helping her with her Keiko project. She was fascinated by what Joe had told her about whales and Viking sailors in the tenth century. Of course, Beth did not know that he knew of these legends firsthand. Beth had shown him how to speak into a tape player to record his tales, which she intended to incorporate into her Web Site at a later date.

The house was empty, as she had somehow known it would be. Rita snoozed complacently on her window-seat cushion. If Joe were at home, she would have been off harassing him, with hissing, or shedding, or whatever. She wondered with hysterical irrelevance if Rita would miss him as much as she would.

Even before Maggie entered the den and saw the evidence of Joe's departure, tears were streaming down her face. On the sofa Joe had piled all of the clothing he'd been given or purchased while here, even the running shoes and the cowboy boots that he'd never gotten used to. He must have worn the Viking clothing that his brother Rolf had given him at Rosestead.

On the desk were two audiocassettes with childlike block lettering on them. One said SUEZEE AND

BETH, and the other said MAG-HE. There was also a scattered pile of photographs... the ones they'd received in the mail from Rosestead yesterday.

He must have taken some with him. A cursory examination showed that two were missing: the one of him, her, Suzy, and Beth standing in front of the Rosestead archway, and the one of him and his brother, smiling for the camera, just before they'd left for the airport.

With a sigh, Maggie first listened to the tape intended for her daughters, who were going to be devastated when they got home to the empty house. And it was empty without Joe in it. How had they survived without him before?

"Sue-zee and Beth, daughters of my heart, do not be upset that I have gone. I must go. My father needs me more than you do. Do not think that you have done aught to send me away. In truth, you made my leaving all the harder. Please be strong. Your mother will need your loving support now. Someday, if I am able, I will come back. But if I cannot, go visit my brother Rolf and his family often.

I have told him to treat you as he would have my own precious daughters. I love you, dearlings."

Maggie was sobbing aloud by the time she finished the short message. Rewinding the tape, she turned to the other side of the desk. There was a huge pile of paper money. The jerk! Leaving me money like some paid mistress, or something.

Then she listened to the tape intended for her.

"Ah, heartling, what can I say? The time has come, and I must go. Do not be bristling over the money, as I know you are, for I have no use for it where I am going. Deep down, I know this is the right decision for me... my destiny... but it is so hard, Mag-he. So very, very hard. I ne'er thought I would love a woman as I do you. You make me a better man, and in essence that is why I must go now.

A better man heeds his responsibilities. I know how it feels to lose two children. I cannot let my father live out his life, never knowing that his two sons are safe and well. There is no other way. But, heart of my heart... my beloved... this is the hardest thing that I have ever done. Love me for all time, sweetling, as I will love you."

She noticed that Joe had made no promises to try to come back, as he had to her girls. And she knew why: he did not really think he would.

With a hand over her mouth, Maggie tried to stifle the silent sobs that were racking her. Soon she let loose and cried out her pain loudly.

The phone rang then and Maggie rushed for it, hoping beyond hope that it might be Joe, having second thoughts.

"Hello," she said, her voice cracking on even that one word.

"Mag-he? Is that you?" a male voice inquired. It wasn't Joe. "This is Rolf Ericsson."

"Yes."

"Is Jorund there?"

There was a long silence, and then she told him, "He's gone."

Rolf muttered a bunch of unintelligible words, which she assumed were Old Norse swear words. Finally he declared forcefully, "He'll be back."

"Did he tell you he would?" she asked hopefully.

"Nay, but I know him. He'll return when he comes to his senses. Should Merrydeath and I come to be with you and your daughters?"

"No. We need to be strong, by ourselves. It's what Joe wanted."