Maud lets something slip

Colban went whistling down the path to the garden, where he had been told he might find the King and Queen. He had already met his son at the castle, and the boy did not seem to feel anything but delight at the sight of his father and his twin brother. That was already reassuring. If Sigefrith knew, he had not said anything to Malcolm.

As he came closer to the pond, he could hear the laughter of a young boy. He knew it must be his godson, and he stopped whistling and smiled a little sadly. He found himself growing fonder of the child as he missed its father more and more.

He had not seen Malcolm for a year now, and he had not had word from him since the summer. Nor could he find anyone who had seen him since the autumn. Malcolm had always been a rather restless young man, but he had never been away for half a year without managing to send word. In his heart, Colban had begun to fear the worst. But he knew he was still years away from believing it.

He began whistling again as the pond came into sight, with the bench before it, and the two heads. He hoped that Sigefrith would turn around and see him before he was too close to react in time if a hearty welcome were not forthcoming.

But when the dark head turned, he saw only joy on its face, and he strode forth to meet him as Sigefrith leapt up from the bench.

“Gog!”

“My brother!” he cried, and crushed his friend in a hug.

Sigefrith was chattering away in his surprise and delight, but Colban was transfixed by the look on Maud’s face. She stared at him in terror, as if he were the devil himself.

“Colban!” she screamed suddenly. “Colban, come!” She might have cried the same if she saw a wolf crouching near her son.

“Maud…” Sigefrith cautioned.

The boy, who was running in the grass a little way off, stopped and turned to look back at her.

“Maud, this is our friend Colban,” Sigefrith explained patiently. “This is Cubby’s godfather, remember?”

Colban took a closer look at her. She was enormously pregnant, but that didn’t necessarily cause a woman to lose her mind.

The boy cried, “What, Mama?” and came running towards the three of them, but when he was close enough to see who was there, he forgot about his Mama and commanded in good Gaelic, “Take me for a ride.”

“You remember me, do you?” Colban laughed.

“Colban! Come!” Maud begged. She seemed too frightened to leave her seat on the bench, but she reached out her arms to the boy. He looked up at her, his eyebrows arched in that achingly familiar way – Colban could almost hear him asking himself, “Are you daft, woman?”

“Maud,” Sigefrith said gently. “Leave him be. Gog won’t hurt him. She’s not well,” he explained to Colban in an apologetic whisper.

“He shall not have him!” she hissed. “He shall never have him!”

“Maud, darling, I don’t believe Gog has come to take him away today. He has only come for a visit.”

“He shall not have him! He shall not go to his father!”

Colban gasped in spite of himself. Did Sigefrith know? He glanced over at him, but Sigefrith was only trying to calm his wife.

“His godfather, Maud. And we shall talk of this another time. It would not be for years yet. Your boy is still your boy.”

“Never!” she wailed. “Colban!” Still she held out her arms, and the boy finally decided he had better go to them.

“Take him inside, Maud, and we shall come see everyone later. Will you?”

She scuttled away, clutching Colban to her breast.

Colban eyed Sigefrith warily, but his friend only passed a hand over his face and sighed. “She’s not well. Have a seat.”

“I see that she is troubled.”

“She has been frightened – she was visiting the abbey in the hills last October, and it seems a man attacked her in the garden. She was more frightened than hurt, I believe, but she has not been the same in her mind since then. Still, she is getting better all the time.”

“How does the boy take it?”

“I believe it’s hardest on the little cubby. Caedwulf and Brit are old enough to understand a little, and Emmie is too young to understand at all, but Colban is at that age where he sees through a glass, darkly.”

“He knows in part.”

“Precisely. I am hoping that once she has her new baby to occupy her time, she will begin to settle.”

“When is it coming?”

“Only a few weeks.”

Colban sighed in disappointment. “I am come to fetch you home to Aed, but I doubt you will wish to follow now. I had no expected this.”

“Can you stay long?”

“I do no think it would be wise.”

“Let her get accustomed to you. She will be fine after a while.”

Colban shook his head. “I must go home.”

“Is it very important?”

It was important, but he was not certain it was urgent enough to require a man to leave his troubled wife only weeks before she gave birth. Still, it was clear that he himself could not stay here and wait around for it. The next time Maud spoke of Colban’s father, it might not be so easy to believe she had meant to say godfather.

“Aed has many things to say to you,” Colban said, “and you must have many things to say to Aed. But it is no hurry, though I can no stay. I have other duties at home, among which my own wife, which has two young Scots nipping at her heels even while she carries a third.”

“Only two? Did you bring young Colban? Oh, I hope it is not because you have bad news.”

“No, no, my children are all well, and Colban is with me. I find young Malcolm taller than his twin. What are you feeding him?”

“Raw meat and bone meal.”

“I shall try it.”

“You had better. Otherwise I shall win our little contest. What about Magog – will he be around to train up Cubby, or not?”

“I have had no word of Malcolm since the autumn.”

“Oh, no?”

“It troubles me.”

“Isn’t he the sort to disappear from time to time, and come home wagging his tail as if he had never been away?”

“Aye. Never so long.”

“Perhaps married life doesn’t agree with him at all,” Sigefrith chuckled. “I’m certain he will show up again, although he might be wise to have his tail between his legs this time.”