Colburga gives Wynna several ideas
“Wake up, sleepyhead!” Colburga cried as she sat herself on the floor before the couch where Wynna reclined.
“I wasn’t sleeping,” Wynna mumbled, though she suspected she had been. “What took you so long?”
“I had to stop to gossip with Alfred.”
“Oh, you like him now?”
“I suppose I have to. I’m starting to get the feeling my father wants me to marry him.”
“I told you so,” Wynna sniffed. Alfred was Colburga’s father’s apprentice. Everyone knew a good apprentice would be offered one of the master’s daughters.
“Shut up! It isn’t obvious.”
“It’s obvious.”
“Well, anyway!” Colburga huffed. “Get up! I want to talk to you.”
“What?” Wynna groaned.
“Did you ever wonder what it would be like if we were sisters?”
“I don’t know but I guess we practically are.”
“But what if we truly were?”
“What do you mean?” Wynna asked suspiciously.
“I mean, what if my father married your mother?”
“I don’t know,” Wynna shrugged in annoyance. The possibility was often suggested to her, and she often shrugged it off.
“I think he means to,” Colburga said eagerly, watching Wynna closely for her reaction.
“Everybody says that.”
“But I think he means it truly. I think he means to do it after my aunt leaves. Alfred said.”
Wynna lay silently.
“Come on, sit up and talk to me!” Colburga said. “Wouldn’t it be exciting? Then we would live together all the time!”
“I don’t think she would do it.”
“I think she might! She should. If she refuses my father, he’ll stop helping her so much, and then she’ll see just how much she needed a man! I think he should have let her see how it was a while before he started helping her, if you ask me.”
“That wouldn’t be very neighborly,” Wynna muttered as she sat up.
“I know. That’s why he didn’t do it. He’s too nice. What’s the matter, Wynn? Don’t you like my father?”
“Of course I do.”
“Wouldn’t you like to come live in our house after my aunt leaves? It’s so much nicer than yours.”
“My father built our house,” Wynna protested.
“I know. And Beddy would have it when he’s grown. I’m certain my father would let you and your brothers and sister keep everything that was your father’s. But wouldn’t it be fine, Wynn?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I shall like your mother as a stepmother, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t like my father as a stepfather.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t…”
“Anyway, you and I shall both be getting married soon, so what does it matter?”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Wynna groaned. Anson had a habit of spending everything he earned, and even though he often spent it on her, she sometimes thought she would have preferred to see him save some of it.
“You’re not still waiting for Anson, are you?”
“I don’t know…”
“You had better not! He was walking out with Ana anyway, and they were at the market together.”
“He’s just trying to make me jealous.”
“That’s what you think! Listen: Forget Anson. Gyth and I picked out just the man for you.”
“Who?” Wynna asked, interested in spite of herself, and came to sit on the floor before her friend.
“Oswald of the birch hill!”
“What?”
“Think about it! His sister married the King’s brother-in-law. That means sometimes he’ll be invited to his house – say for his sister’s baby’s christening. Then the King will probably come too, or at least the Queen. So whoever is Oswald’s wife will sit in the presence of the Queen and King!”
“Oh, that’s certainly a reason to marry a man!” Wynna said sarcastically.
“Just think about it. What that would mean for your children.”
“My brother will be a knight, too.”
“I don’t think the King will dine at your brother’s house.”
“Anyway, how old is he? Twelve?”
“He’s thirteen, almost fourteen. He’s only a few months younger than you. And he’s tall, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, if he’s tall…!” Wynna huffed and stood up again in annoyance.
“Don’t be stupid, Wynn!” Colburga cried and scrambled up after her. “How many thirteen-year-olds do you know with farms like the birch hill farm! There’s not another such a young man in all the valley. And he’s handsome, too. You had better start thinking about him, before all the other girls do. I’m just saying. He’s shy, but he won’t hide up on his hill forever.”
Wynna sighed. Nothing in life was coming together as she would have arranged it. Her father was gone, her brother had little time for them, Anson was not what she wanted him to be, that worthless cry-baby Iylaine had risen so high that she was no longer expected to nod at Wynna when she rode by with her precious ladies and princesses, and now her mother would be marrying Ethelmund Ashdown, and she and her family would be coming to live here. She thought that might be a little too much Colburga even for her.
“What’s the matter?” Colburga frowned. “You don’t like Oswald or you don’t like my father?”
“I didn’t say I don’t like anybody,” Wynna said wearily. “At least give me a chance to get used to the idea!”
