Eadgith speaks of miracles

“Oh, Sigefrith, you waited for me!” Eadgith smiled. “That is so kind!”

She thought it kind! It was true he was exhausted, but it was not for reasons of kindness that he had waited up for his wife… whom he had not seen in ten days.

“My pleasure,” he smiled back at her.

“I wanted to wait to see what my father would name him.”

“Oh, did he then? What was it? Duck or Chicken?”

“Stop it!” she laughed. “It’s better than that. He decided that the baby came right before dawn, just at the hour when the raven army in the tower wakes and goes out, and so he named him Hraefen. Also because he is very dark.”

“Your father is the only man I know who thinks ravens are lucky.”

“That’s because they kindly let him build his castle here.”

“And promptly garrisoned themselves in it.”

“His people think it very fine that their lord, who died on the battlefield and came back to life, has a raven army for an ally. Anyway,” she sniffed as she wriggled out of her gown, “you named our son Dragon, so I don’t know why you think it’s so odd of my father to name his son Raven.”

“You’re right, as always, my dear.”

He smiled and watched her pull her shift off over her head. He would have bantered on with her a while, but he did not want to risk making her think of what she might name her next baby.

“Ah ah ah!” he scolded as she opened the chest to take out a nightgown.

“What did I do?” she asked.

“I haven’t seen my wife in ten days, and I shall not allow you to cover her right up again as soon as she is revealed to my eyes.”

“Oh, Sigefrith!” she laughed and blushed. But she closed the chest again.

“Didn’t you miss me?” he asked.

“More than anything! But aren’t you tired after that ride?”

“I’m more tired after listening to your father wailing all the night through. But not too tired for you.”

“But it was worth it! What a delicious brother I have, after all! I feel like the happiest woman in the world!” she sighed as she fell back onto the bed.

“Your mother might disagree, but if you like little brothers so much, I shan’t argue. To be honest, I would call myself the happiest man in the world just now if I could not think of at least two men who are quite convinced this morning that they are.”

“Whom?” she asked.

“Your father, for one. Care to guess who the second one may be?”

“Hmm.… Cenwulf?”

“Cenwulf? Why he?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps Edris will have another baby soon?”

“He may indeed. We shall consider him a candidate for the third.”

“Then… I don’t know. Egelric?”

“Honey,” he sighed and ran a hand all down her back. “On second thought, I don’t have the patience to play guessing games with you this morning. I am thinking of Alred.”

“Alred!”

“Here’s some lovely gossip for you: Alred will be getting married soon.”

Eadgith was speechless, which provided him an excellent opportunity to kiss her. But she quickly squirmed away.

“To whom?” she gasped.

“To Lady Hetty.”

“Lili’s sister?”

“I hope that the poor dear will soon be better known as Her Grace the Duchess Hedwige than merely as ‘Lili’s sister.’ She deserves an existence in her own right.”

“But…” she protested dazedly.

“I know! I had no idea. But Alred invited them all for Christmas, and I suppose that was enough time for a romantic such as he to fall in love.”

“But you don’t suppose she…”

“No, honey, I don’t suppose she is much like her sister in that respect. Nor do I think Alred is much like Egelric, to his credit.”

“But you didn’t like the idea of Lili for Alred.”

“As I said, Lili and Hetty are not very much alike. I think a sweet, quiet girl is just what the poor man needs. Matilda always was too much for him, though the Lord knows he was happy enough with her as long as she loved him.”

“You think sweet, quiet girls are what every man needs,” she teased, “ever since you got me.”

“Not every man. But it was good for your brother, and I think it will be good for Alred. And God knows it’s good for me!”

Sigefrith slipped her down his arm onto the bed and tried to kiss her again. Again she squirmed away and cried, “But I think you will soon be the happiest!”

“Honey, just as soon as I can put your pretty mouth to some other use than talking…”

“But no!” she laughed. “Don’t you even want to know why?”

“Show me, don’t tell me.”

“But don’t you want to know why I am the happiest woman?”

“Because you haven’t seen your poor husband in ten days, and now he’s here.”

“Not only!” she squealed and scooted up the bed and away from him.

“Good God’s blood!” he laughed in exasperation. “Eadie! You may be sweet, but you aren’t always quiet!”

“Because I shall soon be a mother!” she blurted and then laughed wildly.

Sigefrith stopped laughing at once. “Ah?”

“Yes!” she smiled, though there were tears in the corners of her eyes. “Do you remember?” she asked eagerly. “Saint Catherine’s Day?”

Sigefrith sat up and pulled her up with him.

“That evening I prayed and prayed that she would help me have a child,” she said dreamily, “and then you called me down to the yellow room, and there as if by some miracle I found the blessed relic of her own body, and I was permitted to kiss it. Do you remember?”

He nodded. He did not like the hushed reverence of her voice. He had heard it before on another’s, and the memory chilled him.

“And then we went up to our bed,” she said, shyly lowering her lashes. “Do you remember? I think it was that night. I think it must have been. I think Saint Catherine gave me a child,” she smiled, her voice no more than a whisper.

“Now, I think I might have had something to do with it, as well,” he said.

“I know, but I think it was a miracle, too. Don’t you?”

Her eyes seemed almost pleading. She wanted him to believe it too.

“I think every child is a miracle,” he said. He would admit no more than that.

“I know, but—”

He pushed her down onto the pillows again and stilled her lips with his.