“That was before she found out the circumstances. She was fine later.”
“When you tell Serra they’re coming, ask her what she thinks about introducing them to Debra. She’s had a year to get to know them. We’ll go with whatever she thinks best.”
“They want to bring Tonnie with them and let her spend the weekend with Debra.”
“That’s fine. Did they say how long they want to stay?”
“They suggested going back Monday morning.”
Kevin nodded. “Tell them to be at Yani’s house Saturday morning around nine. Anything else?”
Chris shook his head. “I’ll let Serra know they’re coming.”
“While you’re down there, tell Cryslyn they’ll need a couple of rooms.”
“Serra’s her assistant. Isn’t telling her good enough?”
“Probably, but let’s err on the side of peace in the castle. Tell Cryslyn.”
~~~~
Chris found Serra in Cryslyn’s office where she and Cryslyn were busy sorting a stack of orders.
“Looks like my desk,” Chris commented as he walked through the door.
“Then you have my sympathy,” Cryslyn said as she waved her hand over the array of papers. “Orders. From all departments. We’re making a master list.” Then she leaned back and looked at Chris. “So what can we do for you?”
“I came by to let Serra know she doesn’t have to go to Ridgeville this weekend.”
Serra grinned. “Great, but why not?”
“Because your grandmothers have asked if they could come here instead, to see where you live, where you work, and meet the people you work with.”
Serra slowly shook her head. “Please tell me you told them no.”
Chris frowned. “Why would we do that?”
“Because I’m an employee and employees don’t have guests. I have one room, so they’d stay at the inn. And they’d have to eat their meals there, too. And if I’m here, I’ll be working so I won’t have time to see them. No, tell them to stay home. I’ll see them in Ridgeville.”
Chris shook his head. “Serra, we’ve already sent them a letter saying it would be fine, that someone would meet them at Yani’s house Saturday morning to pick them up.” At the stricken look on Serra’s face, Chris asked, “Why don’t you want them to come?”
Cryslyn had been watching Serra, too. “I’d like an answer to that, too. What are you worried about?”
“They don’t understand how much I love it here and how much I like my job. They want me to move to Ridgeville, and I know that’s what this is about. And while they’re here, they’ll try to drag all of you into it. It’ll be horrible!”
Cryslyn shook her head. “It’ll be fine. You worry too much.” Then she looked at Chris. “How many are we expecting?”
“According to the letter, just Serra’s two grandmothers. They didn’t say anything about Yani coming.” Then Chris turned back towards Serra. “And they’re bringing Tonnie so she can spend the weekend with Debra and Korman. Will you let Debra know?”
Serra nodded as she stared at the floor.
“How long will they be here?” Cryslyn asked.
“Until Monday morning.”
“Monday morning?!” Serra asked. “Why so long? Why can’t they go back first thing Sunday morning?”
Chris shrugged. “Because they asked to stay until Monday?”
Serra’s shoulders slumped and her head dropped.
“And they said something about wanting to meet Debra, but Myron said to leave that up to you, that you know them.”
Serra shook her head. “Just keeps getting better and better.” Then she looked at Cryslyn. “I don’t suppose there’s some errand you could send me on, one that would require me to leave Friday and be gone through Monday afternoon, is there?”
Cryslyn laughed and shook her head. “You’ll get through it.”
Chris grinned at Serra and whispered, “If we can survive a visit from Dara, we can survive this. Stop worrying.”
After Chris left, Cryslyn got up and shut the door. “All right. Tell me. What’s the problem?”
Serra sighed. “They think I’m seeing Darrell.”
“Cpt. Darrell? Why?”
“Because they kept trying to set me up with different men in Ridgeville. It was embarrassing the way they invited them to dinner and then suggested they show me around town, take me to the tavern for scog, and escort me home. They want me married, so I told them I was interested in someone down here, which was fine, but then they wanted details. So, since there was no way he’d ever find out, I used Darrell.”
Cryslyn swallowed her laughter but couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face.
“It’s not funny,” Serra said. “This is horrible. They’ll want to meet him, get to know him. What am I going to do?”
“Talk to him,” Cryslyn suggested.
“I can’t,” Serra said. “What would I say?”
“What you told me. He’ll understand.”
Serra shook her head. “I can’t. He’ll laugh at me.”
“I imagine he will, but you still need to talk to him. And if I were you, I’d do it now. The sooner you get it over with, the sooner we can get back to work.”
“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to do it for me?” Serra pleaded.
Cryslyn laughed as she shook her head. “No, this one’s all yours, and if you go now, you can probably catch him between training and lunch.”
~~~~
Darrell was finishing up his last morning training session when Serra got to the practice area. She waited until most of the guards were gone, and then asked Darrell if she could see him for a minute.
“Sure.” Darrell started packing the throwing knives in their satchel. “What can I do for you?”
Serra hesitated. “Could we talk somewhere else? Somewhere private?”
“Sounds serious.” Darrell tied the twine around the satchel. “Let me put this in the shed and we’ll take a walk.”
Fifteen minutes later they’d walked down to the bank of the river. Darrell leaned back against a tree and asked, “What’s going on?”
Serra was so embarrassed she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. “I need to ask a big favor of you.”
“Sure. What is it?” When Serra didn’t answer, Darrell asked, “Who do you want me to beat up? Or kill?”
Serra looked at him like he’d lost his mind.
Darrell laughed. “Come on. Out with it. What do you need me to do?”
Serra took a deep breath. “I need you to pretend to be interested in me, to pretend to be secretly courting me. Could you do that? Just for one weekend?”
Darrell’s grin spread from ear to ear. “Are we going steady? Living together? Engaged? How much of a boyfriend am I?”
“What?” Serra’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. “What are you talking about?” Her face turned red and tears glimmered in her eyes. “I knew this was a bad idea. Forget I said anything. I’m sorry I ever mentioned it.”
As she turned to go, Darrell reached out and took her arm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I was teasing. Sure, I can court you, no problem.”
Serra studied Darrell’s face for a moment. “Really? You’d do that for me?”
“Of course, but can I ask why?”
“My grandmothers!” Serra told him about the dinner and the matchmaking. “I told them there was someone here I was interested in to get them to stop setting me up with men in Ridgeville, and being them, they wanted details. So I used you. I had no idea they’d come here to meet you. This is so embarrassing.”
“Sounds like it was a good plan to me. But I have a favor to ask in return. Would you pretend to be my girlfriend the next time Dara’s in town so I can get her off my case?”
Serra frowned. “If you’re asking if I’ll pretend you’re courting me when Dara’s around, the answer’s yes. I’d have done that anyway. That woman has half the staff running for the hills every time s
he comes.”
“Yeah, the male half,” Darrell said, laughing.
As they talked about the lengths some of the men went to in order to avoid Dara, Serra relaxed. Then Darrell said, “Okay. I need a few details. When are your grandmothers coming and what do we need to do?”
For the next half hour, they plotted their strategy for the weekend. When they were done, Darrell nodded. “This is going to be fun. Want to get a head start on the whole thing and have lunch with me? I’ve got another session in about an hour and I need to eat.”
“Oh, I don’t know if we should…” Serra answered.
“Why not? We did it all the time when we were building the playground. Besides, the staff needs to get used to seeing us together or someone might walk up and say something when we’re with your grandmothers.”
“All right. Let’s go to lunch.”
~~~~
Friday afternoons were generally calm around the castle, and somewhere between mid-afternoon and dinner, Serra usually managed to slip away for a few quiet minutes with her mother. Whenever she was in town, she went to Debra’s for Sunday lunch, but the rest of the family was there too, so there wasn’t much time for quiet conversations. Debra looked forward to those few minutes with Serra as much as Serra did.
Debra had the kettle on when Serra got there, and smiled as she heard the front door open. She set two cups on the counter ready for tea and turned to greet Serra. Before Serra even took her cloak off, Debra’s smile faded. “What’s wrong?”
“What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“Experience,” Debra answered as she poured the tea. “So?”
Serra explained that her grandmothers were coming for the weekend. “On the bright side, they’re bringing Tonnie so she can spend the weekend with you. She’ll be here tomorrow morning.”
“That’s nice. But I get the feeling there’s more to this story.”
“There is.” Serra told her mother about the matchmaking, her horrible evening, and her solution. “Now they want to meet Darrell.”
Debra had been holding back her laughter, but after Serra’s last comment she couldn’t keep it in any longer. “What are you going to do?” she asked between chuckles.
Serra told her about her conversation with Darrell and the plans they’d made.
“I don’t know him very well, but what I do know, I like. If someone had to play my future son-in-law, I can’t think of a better choice,” Debra said, still grinning.
“Mother! Don’t say things like that! Someone might get the wrong idea!”
“Serra, if you’re going to pretend to be interested in him, then I’m going to pretend he might be my son-in-law one day. And I’m sure Korman will be happy to play along with it, too.”
Serra closed her eyes and shook her head. “I want to crawl in a hole somewhere and pull the ground in after me.”
Debra continued laughing as she cut each of them a piece of the cake she’d baked that morning.
“You won’t be laughing when I tell you the rest of it. They want to meet you, too.”
Debra shrugged. “I’m not surprised. Bring them to lunch Sunday. That way they can meet the whole family.”
“Aren’t you afraid of what they might say?”
“Like what?”
“They could blame you for not finding them when we first got here.”
“You can’t find people when you have no idea who they are. If they can’t understand that, the fault’s with them. I have nothing to apologize for, and neither do you.”
“I was afraid you’d be worried.”
“No reason to be, and it’s a waste of time for you to worry about it.” Debra set a piece of cake in front of Serra. “Eat your cake.”
While they ate, Debra told Serra about Wanda’s visit.
“I’m not sure how the pages get chosen,” Serra said slowly. “I know the latest one, Petri, was bought in Glenarbour along with Tonnie and a few others. When Cryslyn asked him what he’d like to do, he said he wanted to be a page. So she talked to Karl and Myron, and Karl said he’d take him.” Serra shook her head. “I think that’s the way it was with the others.”
“So Wanda should talk to Cryslyn?”
“I guess. Maybe.” Serra sipped her tea. “If Badec were still alive, I’d tell Laryn about the girl, but I don’t know Chris that well.”
“But you know Laryn,” Debra suggested. “Couldn’t you ask her who to talk to?”
“I hate to bother her. She’s got her hands full with the baby right now. Let me see what I can find out. When do you need to know?”
“Wanda said she’d check back with me in a week.”
Serra nodded. “I’ll let you know something by Monday.”
~~~~
While Serra was talking to Debra, Darrell was in Kevin’s office talking to Kevin and Chris. After he told them the spot Serra had gotten herself into and the plan they’d come up with to get her out of it, he said, “Don’t act surprised when you see us together. We’re hoping to get through the weekend without anyone asking questions.”
“Are you going to tell Joan and Karl?” Chris asked.
“Already done. And I’ve mentioned it to Steve. I don’t think any of my men would say anything. They’ll think we’re working on another project.”
Kevin nodded. “I doubt they’d question you anyway, at least not in public.”
“Well, that’s all I wanted,” Darrell said as he got up to go. “Keep your fingers crossed for us.”
After Darrell left, Chris started laughing. “This would make a great sit-com back at home.”
“I think I saw a movie like this once,” Kevin agreed.
“How did it end?”
“With the guy and girl getting engaged for real.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me if that happens here. Those two have been dancing around each other ever since they built that playground.”
Kevin nodded as Chris stood up to go. “Could get interesting.”
~~~~
When Serra got back to the castle, she stopped by Darrell’s office. Kurt looked up as she walked in the door. “Looking for Cpt. Darrell?”
Serra nodded. “Know where I might find him?”
“He’s outside working with Petri.”
“I’ll check out there.”
By the time Serra got to the practice area, Petri was gone and Darrell was throwing knives at one of the targets. As she walked up, he asked, “Looking for me?”
“If you’ve got a minute. If not I can see you later.”
“Now’s fine. I’m done for today. What’s up?”
“Is that your way of asking me what I want?”
Darrell nodded.
“I went to see Mother.”
“Did you tell her about this weekend?”
Serra nodded.
“What did she say?”
“That you’ll make a fine son-in-law.”
Darrell grinned. “Good to know.”
Serra rolled her eyes. “She found the whole thing funny.”
“It is,” Darrell said.
Serra shook her head. “Anyway, I’ve got a question. Mother had a visit from Wanda this week.”
“Wanda? Is she the woman with all the children?”
Serra laughed. “I can’t believe you know that, but yes, she has a lot of children and her oldest, Jenni, wants to be a page. Wanda wanted to know who she needed to talk to about it, so Mother asked me. In the past, I’d have gone to Laryn, but I don’t know Chris well enough to say anything to him. What should my mother tell Wanda to do?”
“Do you know anything about the girl?”
Serra shook her head. “All I know is she’s twelve.”
“Twelve sounds a bit young to me, but why don’t I mention it to Chris and see what he says?”
“I’d appreciate it. I told Mother I’d let her know something by Monday.”
Darrell nodded. “I’ll see him sometime this weekend.”
~~~~
Saturday morning Darrell stopped by the sorcerer’s office and asked Chris if he could see him for a moment before Serra’s grandmothers got there.
“Sure. Let’s use Kevin’s office.” Chris stood up and led the way.
After Chris shut the door, Darrell told him about Wanda’s daughter. “What do you want Serra to tell her mother?”
“Any idea how old the girl is? Or anything about her?”
“The only thing I know is she’s twelve.”
“Twelve,” Chris said thoughtfully. “Sort of young.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Chris paused. “Tell her to say something like there aren’t any vacancies right now, but we’ll keep her in mind if one comes up, like ‘her name’s on the list,’ but don’t imply she’s the only one.”
Darrell nodded. “Got it. I got the impression Wanda’s not counting on anything, but she wanted to be able to tell her daughter she’d checked into it.”
“Anything else?”
Darrell shook his head. “No, that’s it.”
“Okay,” Chris said as he opened the door. “Wish they were all that easy.”
~~~~
Serra was waiting in Kevin’s office when Kyra, Ester, and Tonnie arrived. After her grandmothers recovered from the trip, she introduced everyone and said, “Elin will show you to your rooms while I take Tonnie to Milhaven.”
“That will be fine, dear,” Ester said. After she and Kyra picked up their bags, she turned to Elin. “It’s lovely to meet you. After you show us our rooms, would you join us for tea?”
Elin looked at Chris and raised her eyebrows. When he nodded, she said, “I’d love to. Now, if you’ll come with me…”
Cryslyn had chosen two rooms on the back of the castle for Serra’s grandmothers, mainly for the view of the river and mountains. But the view they were interested in was much closer. Kyra pointed to a group of men sparring on the practice field. “Nice view.”
Ester grinned. “Very nice.” Then she motioned Elin over. “Who are those men?”
Elin glanced out the window. “They’re castle guards. The one standing in front is Darrell, the captain.”
“He’s a nice looking man,” Kyra said appreciatively.
Elin smiled. “I think so, too.”
“I bet a lot of the women think so,” Ester said. “Is he married?”
The Rambling Spy Page 36
