Lady Eadgith was happy to have reached the hall before her husband did.
“Children!” she cried as she ran for her husband’s nephew, and “Baldwin!” as she threw her arms around his neck.
“Auntie Eadgith!” he laughed. “Now this is the sort of welcome I had not dared to hope for!”
“Oh, you silly boy!” she laughed softly. “Your uncle means to bark and growl at you, but don’t let him frighten you. He had a good laugh when he was told what you had done, and drank to your boldness. And your happiness.”
“Son of a serpent!” Sir Baldwin cried.
“And Freya!” Eadgith sighed when she had a good look at the girl. “Don’t you look happy! Just when we thought you could not possibly be more beautiful!”
“I think marriage agrees with her,” Baldwin smiled. “Is my brother here?”
“He’s here, but he’s away with young Sigefrith today. Oh, Freya! You’re my niece now!”
“Did you ever think I would be?” Affrais asked as Eadgith embraced her.
“I’m certain I never thought I would be so lucky as to have Baldwin back at all! It’s all our family coming back together again!”
“Pardon me for interrupting this joyous reunion,” Leofric growled from the doorway. “Did you marry her?”
“Leof!” Eadgith gasped, startled to hear him there, and shocked to hear him suggest such a thing.
“Before God and witnesses,” Baldwin said.
“Come with me, runt,” Leofric said ominously.
“Oh, Leofric!” Eadgith cried. “Poor boy! You frighten him! What do you mean to do to him?”
“I mean to take him where there won’t be any witnesses. Now march!”
Baldwin winked at Eadgith as he followed his uncle out.
“He barks, but he doesn’t bite,” Eadgith assured Affrais. “Come with me, my dear. You look exhausted.”
“Do I?” Affrais asked anxiously. “Oh, Lady Eadgith, is everyone very angry at us?”
“You shall call me Aunt, dear, as your husband does. The men had their feathers ruffled, but you know that’s only because they must organize everything themselves, and they don’t like it when we take matters into our own hands. And they simply can’t see the romance in it.”
“And my uncle?”
“Hmm! Your uncle is not pleased, of course, but he will come around. And he married Lady Eada on Holyrood Day, so he has had that satisfaction. Just like the men! Now Sigefrith and your uncle have each spited the other, and I suppose they will be friends again soon enough. And you will see – the more the Baron loves his wife, the more Sigefrith will love you and Baldwin, just to get even with him.”
“Do you think?”
“Don’t I know men by now? Now come in here, my dear. This is your room! I told Leofric that no one should sleep here until you had. And do you see? All the drapery in green, in honor of your eyes and Baldwin’s. And your babies’, we suppose,” she added.
“Oh!” Affrais giggled shyly, just as Eadgith had hoped.
“Let’s get you undressed, once he’s done,” Eadgith said and waved at the servant who had come in to light a fire. “We shall have supper early for your precious sakes, but you shall lie down and rest a while first. You look all tired out.”
“Oh, no! Lady – Aunt Eadgith, what if…”
“What if what, dear? Oh!” Eadgith gasped, overcome. “So romantic!”
She could not help but embrace the girl again. She hadn’t been so delighted since her own husband had carried her away. Britmar’s wife Lady Judith was a lovely person, but she was a grown woman and a foreigner besides. A young and innocent English girl such as Affrais was just what Eadgith thought she would like to have around.
“Does Baldwin have any plans?” Eadgith asked her. “I hope he means to stay. Sigefrith will do something handsome for him, you shall see. But where have you been all this time, my girl? We’ve been so worried!”
“Oh!” Affrais cried, suddenly animated. “We’ve been to Hwaelnaess! Can you believe it?”
Lady Eadgith’s hands froze on the girl’s laces. She could not believe it.
“Baldwin wanted to see his mother. He hadn’t seen her in seven years. And he wanted her to meet his wife!”
“And did she?” Eadgith murmured.
“Of course! And I met his two sisters, and his little half-brothers and half-sisters, and so many people. And of course they all spoke French, and it was so funny – everyone called him Baudouin! And so now I do, too, because it makes him laugh.”
“I don’t know that you should do that here…”
“No? Well, I shall do it when we are alone,” Affrais said with a dreamy smile. “And do you know what he calls me? Bouton! Baudouin and Bouton! It means button, but it’s more romantic in French, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know. But, Freya…”
“And we saw the castle, but we didn’t go to meet the lord. Baldwin didn’t think we ought.”
“Oh, dear!”
“What?”
“But, Freya… Freya, that is Sigefrith’s own castle that he lost. Those are his own lands that he lost to the Normans. Oh, Freya!”
“But we didn’t say we came from Sigefrith! Baldwin told me I mustn’t say anything about where I’m from or who my friends are. We only said that I’m the orphaned daughter of a knight and a Welshwoman, which is the plain truth. And he told them that we were going to Denmark afterwards, so do you see? A good story. We would have gone anyway, if you were all too angry at us and wouldn’t have us.”
“But, Freya! Did you stay in his mother’s house?”
“Of course.”
“Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What will Leofric say when he hears of this?”
“Why?”
“Freya, that was Leofric’s house, too, where he was born. That was his father’s house, where his father was born, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather. Leofric was last there when his brother was buried. And Brit was only thirteen years old when he became lord, and only a few months later the Normans came and took everything, and he was too young to do anything about it. And Baldwin’s mother married the one of them right away.”
“He didn’t seem so terrible…”
“Oh, Freya!”
“But Baldwin must have known all of those things!” Affrais protested. “He knew what to do and say. I’m certain no one knows we are here. Surely you would not expect a son to deny his mother because she was forced to marry a Norman.”
“She was not forced,” Lady Eadgith said bitterly. In truth, she had a great store of bitterness against Lady Alix that had not been stirred up in many years. Now it clouded the entire affair in her eyes.
Then Affrais said the one thing that could have distracted her. The girl peered into the mirror and asked, “Aunt Eadgith, do you think I look very tired?”
“What, dear? Oh… I think you look exhausted. How far did he make you ride these last days? All the way from Hwaelnaess! Oh, dear!”
“Oh, dear!” Affrais echoed.
“We shall get you to lie down until supper.”
“But, do you think it would be a danger for… a baby…” Affrais blushed just as Eadgith thought a young, innocent English girl ought.
“A baby! Oh, you darling!” Eadgith cried and hugged her again.
“I never told Baldwin, for he was so eager to come home… And I wasn’t certain… and I didn’t know how long to wait to be certain…”
“You darling!”
Affrais smiled. “Githa told me some things before she died, when I was younger, but we weren’t thinking then of… everything… and so I’ve had to guess a few things…”
“You darling! I’m certain your baby will be fine, if only you lie down and let me fuss over you a while. And I shall tell you everything you want to know, and a good many things you never thought to wonder! Oh! So romantic!”
Yes, I use that banner for Leofric for that reason.
Chapters
Such a sweet story! But it was kind off bald of baldwin not to mention anything about the families history to his little wife.
Oh, and Baldwin, in flemish, it's Boudewijn. But you probably allready knew that, didn't you?