Edris wonders
“He is smacking me and smacking me with his little hand,” Edris giggled as baby Cynewulf pummeled her.
“He’s a brute, isn’t he?” Matilda laughed, but she cast an uneasy glance at Leila afterwards to make sure she had not been offended. Leila seemed unperturbed, but then she always did.
“Did I tell you how my father Cynewulf came to marry my mother, the Princess Gwynn?” Matilda asked. “He rode by on his horse as she came out of church, and he simply picked her up and rode away with her.”
Edris looked at her with wide eyes.
Matilda laughed. “He said she hated him for about three days, and thereafter she couldn’t be pried from his neck. You shall see it will be the same with my Cynewulf – he will be dreadful with you at first, and then you will love him so that I shall never manage to get him away from you.”
“Ach, I believe I am in love with him already,” Edris said.
“In that case we shall have to hope that you soon have a tiny baby of your own with whom we can distract you for a moment, and then steal Cynewulf back, shan’t we, Leila?” Matilda teased.
Leila laughed her pretty, low laugh.
“How would I know?” Edris asked softly.
“Know what?” Matilda asked.
“Whether I should soon have a baby?” she asked even more softly.
Intrigued, Matilda tried to peer up into her face, but Edris kept it carefully averted as she kissed and rekissed Cynewulf’s round cheek.
“Is that a blush I see on your face?” Matilda teased.
“Don’t you know how to tell, Edris?” Leila asked softly.
“I suppose I know,” Edris replied, clearly blushing now, “but I should like to know how long I should wait to be certain.”
“But you’ve only been married for a month, you sly thing!” Matilda protested.
“Hush, Matilda,” Leila said. “How long have you waited, Edris?”
“A fortnight.”
“That’s a long time unless you are often late,” Matilda said. “Are you?”
“No.”
“Well then!” Matilda clapped her hands. “That’s a bit of good news after all of the bad we’ve had lately.”
“You might wait before you tell Cenwulf, Edris,” Leila said.
“That’s right,” Matilda agreed. “Sometimes you are wrong, and that’s not a funny joke to play on a man, whether he’s pleased about it or not.”
“You might wait until you feel the baby move,” Leila suggested.
Edris closed her eyes and squeezed little Cynewulf against her at the thought.
“Oh, I never can!” Matilda laughed. “I played the poor joke on Alred a few times when we were first married, I’m afraid, but after that I have tried to hold my tongue at least until I start getting sick in the mornings. Oh, you have that to look forward to, Edris, so don’t stand there all blushing and rosy. In another month or two you will be quite green.”
“Do you think Cenwulf will be pleased about it?” Edris asked.
“Oh, of course he will be! Well, not about the getting sick part. You will know he loves you if he holds the basin for you.” Once again Matilda sent an uneasy glance at one of her friends, to see whether she had offended Edris this time.
Edris only seemed to be paying attention to Cynewulf’s tiny ear.
“Of course he will be happy, dear,” Matilda continued. “He looks like a lion, as my worthy Squire likes to say, but he’s a very loving man. I mean – ” Oh, she had done it again. “I mean, he loves children.” That wasn’t very adroit either. “You’ll see!” she concluded brightly.
“When would the baby come, then?” Leila asked.
Matilda sent Leila a grateful smile and said, “Let’s count… must be September, mustn’t it? And only married since Christmas! One will almost suspect Father Brandt of being a particularly heavy sleeper,” she teased. “Oh, Edris, you sly thing, you!”
“What has Edris been doing now?” Alred laughed as he pushed open the door.
“Oh, Alred!” Matilda scolded. “Don’t you men ever knock?”
“I beg your pardon,” he said, and he went back into the corridor, closed the door, and knocked.
“Come in, you ninny!” Matilda huffed. “You too, Cenwulf, I hear your chortling back there! Come here, Alred, and see whether you can’t pry that baby off of Edris’s neck. She’s been smitten.”
“Get your own,” Alred said gruffly as Edris willingly handed him the baby. Matilda could not help but giggle, and she saw that Edris could not help but blush.
“Do you mind riding home in the cold, Edris?” Cenwulf asked her. “I hadn’t meant to stay so late.”
“I don’t mind,” she said.
“Are you certain it isn’t too cold for you? Let me see your hands.”
Matilda looked up at Alred and lifted an eyebrow. They had both noticed that Cenwulf was remarkably solicitous of Edris’s hands. Indeed they had privately wondered whether it was the only part of her body he had ever touched. Now, Matilda thought with a smile, she had proof to the contrary. If only she could tell Alred! What a laugh they would have!
Alred winked at his wife and then said, “Never mind about her hands, old man. If she gets cold on the way home you can probably think of a way to warm her up once you get there.”
“I like mead for that,” Matilda giggled.
“That will do in a pinch,” Alred agreed solemnly.
