The Seventh Son

by Ashley York

  Darragh’s eyes widened. “‘Tis not true. She would return to me. I will allow her the choice.”

  The finality of the statement was quite impressive. Sean tipped his head to the man. “Fine. She has expressed her interest in accompanying us and I will let her ken she has yer consent.”

  Darragh smiled and stood. “Nae. I will address my wife myself and learn her preference. I will return anon.”

  “I will miss ye being by my side.”

  They were alone in their house but Darragh seemed ill at ease.

  Tisa smiled in the hopes of reassuring him. “Ye’re very kind, Darragh.”

  “We also have clan duties to the west so we will travel with ye. See ye have a safe arrival.”

  Darragh glanced toward the door, fidgeting.

  “Is aught amiss?”

  He came to stand in front of her, took the clothes out of her hands to lay aside on the chest, and held her hands in his. “I just want ye to ken how much ye mean to me.”

  The sentiment surprised her. “‘Tis kind of ye to say.”

  Darragh shook his head and glanced away before turning back to her. “My father seeks my counsel now.”

  The idea of asking him about his mother crossed her mind but she quickly dismissed it. “Ye’re a married man. Does that not always happen?”

  “Ye ken what I refer to, Tisa. I am not a lover of women and never have been. My most intimate desires are fulfilled by other men.”

  Tisa placed a hand to his cheek. “I ken that, Darragh. Ye are still my husband.”

  “Do ye not wish for more for yer life?”

  A warning bell sounded in her head. There was a look in his eye. The sudden need to tread lightly overwhelmed and she paused before speaking. “I have all that I need.”

  “Good. I would not give ye up lightly.”

  “Dunna fash yerself.”

  He let loose a breath she’d swear he’d been holding. “My thanks, sweet little Tisa.”

  She cringed at the endearment. “Have ye ever spoken of me to others?”

  Darragh averted his gaze. “I have no reason to.”

  “They dunna wonder how it is with us?”

  “There is nothing I would repeat to another about ye.”

  “Even yer lovers?”

  “Nae! They ken ye care for me. That is enough.”

  Not nearly enough but she smiled.

  “We will take ye to yer father and return by sowing time.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  ~

  TADHG TOOK A DEEP breath, savoring the smells of home. Despite the unexpected snowfall, he had made good time in his crossing. Brighit was happily wed to a good man and he need no longer be concerned for her well-being. He hoped Peter had been sincere when he offered that they may come for a visit. Mayhap after the child was born.

  The path leading home was a mix of snow, mud, and brown grass. It sucked at his feet, making passage difficult. The sound of children playing carried to him. The mother’s scolding tone was a boon to his ears.

  “Mildred!” Tadhg called to the woman by the thatched house closest to the forest.

  Her eyes widened and a smile burst like a sunrise across her face. “Tadhg! Ye’re home!”

  She ran to him, grabbing the hands of the wee blond girl beside her as she went.

  Tadhg accepted the heartfelt hug.

  “A sight for these tired eyes ye are.”

  “My thanks, Mildred. And I am happy to see ye as well.”

  “And how is our lovely Brighit?”

  “She is with child and happily wed.”

  Mildred lifted her hands in a prayerful gesture. “Thank the Lord for such a blessing.”

  “Aye.” Tadhg had not offered many prayers on his journey home. Instead, he’d spent his time with dark thoughts, trying to reconcile truth to pretense. He’d always considered his mother the epitome of all that was loyal, gentle and loving. He thought the same about Tisa. The truth was he was wrong.

  “How are things here?” He continued walking toward the main building, taking in the state of all around him. “‘Twas a rough winter?”

  “Aye, but we managed.” Mildred picked the child up into her arms. “Enough food in our bellies and warmth in our homes.”

  Tadhg caressed the little girl’s cheek. “Ye are growing so big! That is good to see.”

  “Well, back to work for me.” Mildred waved, encouraging the little girl to do the same.

  That was the hardest part. Knowing there would be no children. His decision to continue alone had been a difficult one but the only way to protect himself from more pain. He didn’t need pain like he’d had these past few months. His mother’s betrayal. Tisa’s abandonment. No. He’d best be on his own and focusing on his responsibility.

  Sean trotted around the chapel, a smile on his face, before he noticed Tadhg.

  “I’ll get ye back,” a woman’s voice called to him just before a lovely creature came up from behind the building, wrapping her arms intimately around Sean’s naked chest.

  “What have we here?” Tadhg put his hands to his hips. “Are ye choosing the younger lasses for yerself now?”

  Sean narrowed his eyes. “Shh.”

  The auburn-haired woman peeked at Tadhg from around Sean’s torso. Her smile dropped and her eyes widened.

  “Tadhg, ye look like hell,” Sean said, pulling the woman beside him. “This is my wife, Thomasina.”

  Tadhg reeled back. “What? Wife?”

  Sean rolled his eyes and looked at the woman. “He’s such an arse.”

  “Is this Tadhg then?” She smiled up at him.

  He returned the smile and kissed the tip of her nose. “Aye. The same.”

  Sean pressed her closer and dragged his hand along her length, leaving no doubt of the intimacy of their relationship.

  “I canna believe ye were able to trick her into marrying ye.”

  “Close yer trap, Tadhg! Come, mo chroí go deo thú.” Sean and Thomasina walked back the way they’d come.

  “Hey, where are ye off to?”

  “None of yer concern.” Sean’s voice carried even after they’d disappeared behind the little, stone building.

  “I need to ken what I’ve missed.”

  “And I need to bed my wife. I’ll see ye at Vespers.”

  The thought that Sean had taken a wife took hold like the talons of a hawk biting into him. It prickled his mind, making him feel things he didn’t want to feel. It brought back his own desires for his future with the force of an ocean gale. Desires he wanted dead.

  He veered off the main road to the outbuilding he used as his own. The place had been looked after. New rushes, fresh herbs, water beside the glowing fire. It appeared the bed had been used as well. He pulled the covers over the straw-filled mattress. The scent drifted to him and his eyes closed. Like a punch to his gut he could see her again. Tisa. The gentle slope of her neck to the swell of her firm breasts to the length of her soft thighs to her tiny, bare feet. Desire flooded the length of him.

  Tightening his jaw, he opened his eyes. He’d thought he’d mastered this. There was no need to keep going over it. It was done. She was wed to another and he was incapable of settling for anyone else. Not even for carnal satisfaction. She was too ingrained in him. Too much a part of all he had desired his life to be.

  “Oh!”

  Tadhg swallowed, unable to move. The one sound had been so familiar. He’d come home to demons haunting his waking hours. He forced himself to turn toward the open door. His body tensed in preparation, his mind struggling to dismiss the burgeoning hope of seeing Tisa standing there in the doorway.

  “Tisa.”

  Her hair was pulled back, her eyes sparkling with life. A cluster of herbs overflowed a small basket she held to her breast. And her feet were bare.

  “What do ye here?” Tadhg asked.

  She dropped her head and walked past to put the basket on the only table in his small room. His room.

  “Why are y
e in my home?” His tone was hard.

  His gaze shifted to the pallet. It hadn’t been his own longings that left her scent in his bed. She’d lain there. Lain there as he’d dreamed of her laying there far too often. Had she lain there alone? He turned back to her.

  “Where is yer husband?”

  “He will be here anon. I was to wait for him with Thomasina and Sean.”

  Tadhg’s chest tightened. He couldn’t take a full breath. He strode to the door. “I will find another place.” He grabbed the small sack he’d dropped upon entering and left.

  “Nae. Please.” Tisa followed him out.

  Tadhg refused to turn toward her. He did not need to see her again. “‘Tis not a problem, Tisa. Ye and yer husband may continue to stay here. I will find another place.”

  “I have not—my husband dinna—”

  Tadhg whipped around to face her. “What? Yer husband dinna what? What do ye have to tell me? What pain do ye wish to inflict on me now?” His eyes dropped to her waist. All thoughts ceased save one. She could be with child. “There is no need for words here.”

  Her eyes never left his face but she did not reply.

  “Stay.” He held up his hand to stop her from following. “I will find another place.”

  Tadhg slammed into the longhouse, the children looking up from their chores of kneading bread, mending clothes, kirning milk, to stare at him with wide, fear-filled expressions. The adults working alongside them looked much the same.

  “Why are ye not in the kitchen with all this? Out!”

  “The kitchen was flooded by the storms,” young Moira said. The little boy at her side gathered his work into his little arms. He’d grown quite a lot.

  Tadhg just wanted them gone. “I need the hall.”

  He went to stoke up the fire, giving his back to the workers, and refused to turn around until they were gone. The door shutting was the signal for him to drop onto the bench, his head in his hands. He didn’t realize how hard this would be and he’d never expected to have to see Tisa.

  “Did it not go well with yer sister?”

  Tisa’s voice, as sweet as in his dreams, came to him. He set his jaw and raised his head but refused to face her. The sight of her would weaken his resolve. It would rip whatever was left of his heart right out of his chest.

  “Aye, it went fine. She is married to a Norman knight who holds her in high regard.”

  “Sean told us that much. Ye’re so angry, I wanted to ken if something else had happened. Did she lose the child?”

  Sean had told her all it seems. “Nae. She is hale and hearty. ‘Twill be an easy delivery like with our own moth—” He had a hard time referring to that adulterous woman with such endearments as mother. “Like with Moira.”

  “I’ve removed my things from yer house. Beg pardon for being in yer way.”

  “Did I say ye were in my way? I will no longer be staying there now regardless.”

  She shifted behind him. She was probably anxious to get back to whatever she was doing.

  “Ye need not stay. I prefer to be alone.”

  “Aye. I wanted ye to ken is all.”

  Tadhg would not speak again. He waited but didn’t hear her leave.

  “What are ye about?” Sean’s irritated tone forced Tadhg to turn around.

  “Where’s Tisa?”

  Sean shrugged, a frown on his face. Tadhg waited but he said no more.

  “Are ye done with yer lovely wife?”

  “Never done with her. I just gave her time to do other things. Did ye wish to hear what has happened during yer long absence?”

  The jab was not missed. He had been gone a long time. Too long. “Let us sit.”

  They moved to the table at the far side of the room.

  “The O’Brien followed through with his promise to provide food. We are well stocked and able to get through ‘til harvest. We’ve plans to plant along the riverbeds to the east which have been dry these five years past. The soil there is rich and good for growing. We should be fine for next winter, God willing.”

  Tadhg raised his brows. “God willing?”

  Sean didn’t smile. “Aye, God willing.”

  “Well, that’s a bit of a different tune ye’re whistling.”

  “Nae, ‘tis not a different tune. It’s just one I ken better than I did afore.”

  “Taking a wife change that for ye?”

  “That and her being with child.”

  Tadhg’s jaw dropped and quickly shifted into a smile. “Well done! Congratulations, my friend. How soon?”

  “Methinks she is at least two months along.”

  “And what does she think?”

  “She does not ken yet.”

  Tadhg looked askance, unsure if he’d heard his friend correctly. “Ye ken afore she does?”

  Sean grinned. “Aye, I ken when I am not able to take her because of her courses. She hasn’t noticed yet.”

  “That makes it a winter birthing.”

  “A mild winter. God willing.”

  Tadhg let the comment pass. “Why is Tisa here? And in my bed?”

  “There was no place else for her. She said she did not mind and preferred it to being with Thomasina and me.”

  “Aye, the scent of her in my bed? But she did not mind? Methinks ye’re an idiot, Sean. And who is this Thomasina?”

  “My wife.”

  “And that is all I ken.”

  Sean reached into his tunic and withdrew a silver object. He laid the intricately designed knife on the table. “Yer knife.”

  “Aye, I see that. How did it come to be in yer possession?”

  “I took it from ye at the inn on the way to save Brighit. I used it to rent a horse. It ended up being Thomasina’s horse so I took her to wife.”

  Tadhg picked up the knife, traced the etched design with his thumb, and turned out the blade. “It is none the worse for yer care but yer story needs some details.”

  “It is enough to say I am well pleased with her as my wife and I believe she feels the same.”

  “Well then, I suppose that is enough.”

  The big man grinned at him. “We have only been here a short while with Tisa. Her husband has gone off with the chieftain and Leofrid—”

  Tadhg’s head jerked back. “Leofrid? As in Godwin?”

  “The same, although he was never introduced to me as such. My lovely wife recognized them. Leofrid and his lady. Before I came back to Eire, there was a Norman massacre at the inn in town. It seems to have come about at Leofrid Godwin’s command.”

  “Mort spoke of some trouble. He also said ye had been wed though I dinna put much stock in such stories.”

  “I was arrested for the massacre but Thomasina’s brother got word to Peter. He sent Mort forthwith to stay the executioner’s hand. I would do no less to save Peter and have sent word that Leofrid Godwin was responsible for the massacre of Normans in Black Poole and that he is in Inishowen making plans with a powerful, warring clan and we would send more information as we received it.”

  “And does the Meic Lochlainn have aught to do with any of it?”

  Sean shook his head. “I dunna ken for certain. They did allow me to escort Tisa to her father although they acted as her guard.”

  “What is amiss with Roland O’Brien?”

  “He is not well though much improved since seeing Tisa. She chose not to stay there.”

  Tadhg got to his feet. “My head is reeling. I need something to drink.”

  Sean refused when offered libations. Another first for the man. Tadhg poured himself a generous amount before sitting again.

  “Who is Tisa’s husband?”

  Tadhg would have preferred not to ken but it was better if he did.

  “She has married into the Meic Lochlainn Clan.”

  Quite impressive. Roland was able to work out an alliance with such a powerful clan and so quickly. No doubt the man she married was older, mayhap even infirmed and dried up, to be available for the match in such a sho
rt amount of time. Tisa’s life would be a hard one. She was a beautiful woman that deserved so much more.

  “It is unclear to me why O’Brien would have need of so many MacNaughton warriors when he had made such a treaty.”

  “Mayhap we are hired thugs now?”

  “Nae, a clan without enough food for winter. O’Brien demanded we come to him this spring or he would not provide food.”

  “And who is ‘we’? ‘Twill be difficult to prepare the soil and plant if ‘we’ are all at his disposal.”

  “A score of warriors to do his bidding. We were included by name.”

  Sean’s face tightened.

  “Mayhap if we go while he is still weak, he will release us from the agreement and ye can return to the arms of yer wife.”

  “‘Twould please me if it were so.”

  Tadhg shook his head in amazement. “I have never seen ye avoid fighting. Is this coddling?”

  His friend’s expression did not change. “We will bring Tisa as well. That is where they will come to collect her. No doubt ‘twould please ye to see her gone.”

  “‘Twould please me to not see her at all.”

  “Do ye wish to wait a few days?”

  Tadhg was exhausted. He’d been away for a long time but he would rest easier if Tisa were safely away and his time under the command of Roland O’Brien, a thing of the past.

  “Nae. We will leave at daybreak.”

  “I will let her ken.”

  “Did he raise his voice at ye?” Thomasina glanced up from her kneading, her forehead lined with worry. “Although I dunna ken the man, I had no thought he would behave so churlish.”

  “He may have cared for me once, but no more. He dinna want me there and especially not in his bed.” Tisa gazed off, again seeing Tadhg’s anger. “He looks like a bitter man. Dark. Foreboding. His intense anger surprised me.”

  Her own sleep had been sweet. Being in his bed, surrounded by the smell of him. She had dreamed of him each night. Of him taking her to wife. To a new life where she could be a whole woman, completely loved by the man she would never set aside. Tisa pounded down the loaf.

  “Lovely maidens.” Sean swaggered in, a smirk on his face at his own choice of words, no doubt.