“The child your daughter died giving birth to was not even her husband’s child,” Scott roared. “It was her lover’s child!”
“I will kill you for saying such things!” Chris bellowed.
Will was having a hell of a time restraining his father because Scott would not be stopped. He had been stewing about the situation ever since he found out about it and to hear Chris put any onus on Will had him exploding in defense of his son.
“Do you deny that you allowed Marcellus to continue at Lily’s side even after you forced her to marry Will?” he shouted. “Do you deny that you sent Marcellus north with Lily and Will to Carlisle so that Lily would not be without her lover? You know this to be true, de Lohr, so you will not deny it. Cast blame on my son again for your failure and I will destroy everything you hold dear. Do you understand me? This is your fault!”
Chris was so enraged that he kicked at his sons to try and break their hold so he could get to Scott.
“Bastard!” he screamed. “I will kill you, de Wolfe! I will release my armies on the north and I will wipe you from this earth!”
Will was trying desperately to push his father into the second portion of the hall where he could shut the door and separate him from Chris, but Scott wasn’t having any part of it.
“No one defeats William de Wolfe in battle and especially not the sorry descendants of Christopher de Lohr,” he seethed. “You caused this situation with your greed and ambition, marrying your daughter to a man she didn’t love, yet you refuse to take any responsibility for it. Damn you to hell, de Lohr!”
Will managed to get his father through the open door into the second part of the small hall, slamming it behind him and bolting it. There was nowhere for Scott to go except a servant’s alcove and a smaller secondary access door to the inner ward. He pushed Scott so hard to get him away from the door that Scott nearly fell over the nearest table. Enraged, he straightened himself up and faced his son.
“I will not let that bastard accuse you of any wrongdoing,” he said through clenched teeth. “If he believes you are at fault here, I will kill him.”
Will, deeply concerned with the turn of events, put up his hands to try to ease his father. “Papa, I…”
“His daughter ruined your life!”
“Papa, I will not fight with you about this,” Will said, louder. “You are going to remain here and behave yourself, do you hear me?”
“I’ll not let him blame you!”
Will sighed sharply. “He’s upset,” he said. “He has just lost his daughter. How would you feel if you lost Sophia or Sorsha or Seraphina? Can you not relate to some of the man’s pain?”
Scott’s eyebrows flew up in outrage. “You defend him?”
Will shook his head. “I’m not defending him, but he’s mad with grief right now and you did not help matters,” he said. “Please… just stay here for a moment. Will you please?”
Scott waved him off and turned away, struggling to compose himself. Will eyed his father nervously for a few moments before daring to go back to the door he’d just bolted and return to the first section of the smaller hall. Just as he stepped through the door, he could see Becket and Morgen escorting their father from the hall.
“Wait,” Will called. “Wait, please.”
Becket and Morgen came to a halt, eyeing Will with some concern as he approached them. As Will drew closer, he could see that Chris had broken down into a flood of tears.
The man was shattered.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking at Chris with great sympathy. “My father… he’s quite distressed about everything. He loved Lily, you know. He did not know about Marcellus until recently.”
“What’s this about Marcellus?” Becket hissed, looking to Will. “What does it mean?”
Will held up a hand to silence him, at least for the moment. He was more concerned about Chris.
“Your father will tell you about Marcellus when his wits return,” he said, but his focus was on Chris. “My lord, I swear he did not mean what he said. He’s mad with grief and confusion. You see, I lost my mother many years ago and the grief of that loss drove my father into abandoning his family for a few years. He simply could not handle the anguish and guilt of my mother’s passing. I’m afraid that Lily’s death has brought about those memories he’s tried so hard to forget. Please forgive him.”
Chris was wiping the tears on his face. “I remember,” he said. “The fair Athena. I remember it all.”
“Then you know how badly it hurt him.”
Chris nodded, but the longer he looked at Will, the more his composure fractured. “I am sorry,” he whispered. “Your father is right. I wanted to keep my Lily happy, but it was at your expense. Everything was at your expense. Forgive me, Will.”
Will drew in a long breath, one of relief that the old men were calming down, glancing at Becket and Morgen, who seemed more confused than ever.
But he didn’t have the time to explain.
“It was not only my expense,” Will murmured. “Lily and Marcellus paid the price, too. But what is done cannot be undone, so there is no need for forgiveness. I never blamed you for anything, truthfully, except for forcing us to wed, but I understand why you did it. You wanted the de Wolfe marriage.”
Chris wiped at his face again. The tears wouldn’t seem to stop falling. “Where is your father?”
“Through that door. I told him to wait.”
“I will go to him.”
Will wasn’t so sure that was a good idea, but he stood aside. He and Becket and Morgen made a nervous trio as Chris went to the door, opened it, and went through. After that, the three knights were coiled, waiting for the first sound of a struggle.
But the chamber remained silent.
“What do we do?” Becket whispered. “Do we go in?”
Will kept listening, but he didn’t hear a thing. Gesturing for Becket and Morgen to remain where they were, he silently made his way over to the cracked-open door and peered inside. It was dim in the chamber and it took him a moment to see Chris and Scott, sitting over near the darkened hearth.
Scott had his arm around Chris’ shoulders.
That was all Will needed to see. Making his way back to Becket and Morgen, he gestured to the keep entry.
“They do not need us,” he said quietly. “They are working it out between them. Now, let us go into the great hall. I’ll have food brought to you.”
“Will you tell us what Marcellus has to do with this?” Becket asked.
But Will shook his head. “That must come from your father,” he said. “He will tell you when he is ready.”
Without another word, the three knights slipped from the keep, out into the deepening morning.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Can I leave you alone with him?” The round, full-breasted wet nurse was gathering up swaddling clothes and blankets that had been hurriedly gathered for the infant. “I want to wash a few things out. Whatever goes against his little body should be clean. I will not be long.”
Adria waved the woman on. “I’ve spent time with all four of Lady de Wolfe’s children,” she said. “I know what to do.”
The woman nodded and collected the last of the items, heading from the alcove that had now become a nursery. Adria was seated next to the bed where the tiny infant lay sleeping on his back, tightly swaddled. The child’s birth may have been harrowing, but he was still alive and, in fact, seemingly thriving. He ate well and slept well, and both Tarraby and the midwife thought the child had a good chance of surviving.
Alec de Wolfe had a hopeful future.
It was the morning after the death of Lily and things still seemed strange and surreal, at least to Adria. After spending the night in the stables because she couldn’t bear to return to the keep, she awoke with thoughts of Lily on her mind and wept yet again for the loss of her friend. For a few minutes, she let the grief wash over her, but when it was finished, she sat up, wiped her face, and climbed down from the loft. Ad
ria had always been a woman of action and she knew that she would be needed today.
There was much to do with the arrival of a new baby.
Dawn was just breaking as she made her way back to the keep. The smell of baking bread was heavy in the air and her stomach rumbled, as she had missed the evening meal the night before. In fact, with everything that had gone on, she didn’t even know if there had been an evening meal. She doubted many people felt like eating. But she stopped at the kitchen yard on her way to the keep, collecting bread and cheese and part of a cold meat pie the cook had saved for her. Stuffing food into her mouth as she walked, she made it into the keep.
By the time she reached the great chamber, she could see that all traces of Lily had been removed. The bed had been stripped of the bloody linens and Lily’s body was gone. The chamber was quite warm, as the servants had stoked the fire, and she found Lady Warenton and the wet nurse in the alcove with the infant.
Neither one looked as if they’d slept all night.
Adria called to the servants and had them not only put fresh linens on Lily’s bed, but she had them move it to the far side of the chamber, closer to the hearth. That took some doing because the bed had four carved posts and wooden rods that connected them at the top, meant for curtains. Not only did the servants have to move that bed, but they had to reattach the rods because Adria had them put up the curtains that Lily had never liked. The object was to let Lady Warenton sleep there, in comfort and privacy, and Jordan was quite touched at Adria’s effort.
After a night tending a baby that seemed to have a strong will to live, she was ready for some sleep. She was an old woman, after all, and the stress of the past few days was catching up to her. Therefore, she took to the big bed and drifted off to sleep without much of a fuss.
With Jordan sleeping after her long and tense night, Adria changed out of her bloodstained dress, washed her face and arms and hands, brushed her hair and braided it, and changed into a fresh shift and a durable gown of undyed linen and an apron that made her waist look tiny. It was a new day, a new future, and even if she hadn’t approved of Lily’s deception, that didn’t dampen her sense of compassion and forgiveness. When she’d awoken this morning, all of that didn’t seem so important any longer.
Perhaps that’s what she needed to do most – forgive her friend.
With Jordan asleep and the wet nurse out doing wash, Adria pulled out the blue fabric in the wardrobe, the pieces she’d meant for Lady Jordan, and brought them back into the alcove to work on them. It helped her to focus on something Lily wanted, piecing together the kirtle for Lady Warenton at one end of the bed while the baby slept peacefully on the other. She kept looking over at little Alec, thinking that he really was a beautiful child.
She knew Lily would have been so proud of him.
“Are you well this morning, my lady?”
Will was standing in the doorway, his gaze on his son even though his words were meant for Adria. She looked at him, thinking that he looked absolutely exhausted. Setting down the blue pieces, she went to him, studying his stubbled face.
“I am well enough,” she said. “But you look as if you’ve not slept in weeks. Sit down and I will send for food and drink.”
He shook his head. “I have eaten,” he said. “I was just in the hall with our visitors.”
“We have visitors?”
He looked at her then. “Did you not see an army come through the gates a short time ago?”
She shook her head. “I have been here or in the kitchens,” she said. “Who came?”
“Lily’s father.”
Adria gasped softly. “Does he know?”
“He does.”
“The I’m so sorry for him. He was too late to see her.”
Will nodded faintly. “I know,” he said. “But my father has taken him down into the vault where we put Lily’s body, so he is visiting her now. I am sure he will want to see his newest grandson at some point. Is the child doing well?”
Adria looked over at the infant, sleeping between two fat pillows. “The wet nurse says that he is eating very well,” she said. “I’ve not spoken much about him with your grandmother, but he seems to be doing quite well.”
Will stood over the infant, looking down at the sleeping face. “Poor little lad,” he said. “How close we came to losing him.”
Adria stood next to him, also looking at the infant. “This is what Lily wanted,” she said quietly. “She wanted her child to be saved. Her prayers were answered.”
She was still looking at the infant when Will looked at her. He was at least a foot taller than she was, probably more, so he was mostly looking at the top of her head. Much of what was on his mind last night had been Adria and to see her clean and groomed this morning did his heart good.
With Lily freshly gone, perhaps it still wasn’t the right time to let his attraction to Adria run wild, but given he’d not felt anything for Lily for a very long time, it was difficult to restrain the emotions that were starting to bubble up. It felt good to have his heart leap a little when he saw a woman.
He thought he’d lost that ability long ago.
“I am sorry that I caused you to run off last night,” he said quietly. “I did not mean to upset you.”
Adria looked up at him, realizing that he was quite close. She hadn’t really noticed until this moment and she found herself mesmerized by his gaze.
“It was not your fault,” she said, her cheeks growing hot because of his proximity. “It was only foolishness, really. I think the events of the day simply overwhelmed me.”
He scratched his head, moving over to the chair she’d been occupying and sitting heavily. “It could not be because of something I said?”
“What did you say?”
He kicked his big legs out, leaning back against the chair. “I was thinking about that,” he said. “You asked me if my loyalty to you would only be out of honor and I asked you what more could there be? Clearly, that upset you.”
Adria remembered the exchanges verbatim, but she was ashamed of her reaction. “Everything upset me yesterday,” she said, averting her gaze. “Pay no attention to me.”
“But I do,” he said. “I want to pay a great deal of attention to you if you’ll let me. I still want you to marry me, Adria. That has not changed. Has it changed for you?”
She looked at him then. “Nay,” she said honestly. “It has not, but we should not marry anytime soon. That would reflect poorly upon you to marry so recently after losing your wife.”
He sighed wearily, looking at the child on the bed. “I know,” he said. “Adria, may I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“What expectations do you have for this marriage?”
She was back to fussing with the blue strips of cloth. “Nothing more than the usual,” she said. “Being a wife, hopefully a mother, and living a respectable life.”
“Is that all?”
“What else is there?”
He paused. That’s what he had said to her yesterday when they spoke of loyalty in a marriage. There was something both defiant and harsh to that question, as if there were no room for options. He had a feeling he knew what might be bothering her, a young woman who more than likely hoped for something far more than a respectable life.
He was going to take a chance that maybe he was right.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Mayhap there is a good deal more that neither one of us knows about.”
“Like what?”
He sat back in the chair as he began to feel his fatigue, but he didn’t want to give up this moment with her. They had agreed to wait until Lily was gone before engaging in any kind of courtship and, right or wrong, he wasn’t going to wait. His interest in Adria was growing by the minute.
“I have sisters,” he said. “Three of them. I seem to recall that young women like dreams of handsome husbands and of falling in love. Is that something you hope for?”
Adria’s movements sl
owed. She had the blue strips laying side by side, but she couldn’t seem to focus on them. He was asking her an honest question and she only had two options at that point – either lie to him or tell him the truth. Since she wasn’t a liar by nature and she’d made quite a big deal out of Lily not being truthful, she wasn’t going to start masking the truth and hiding her feelings now. Will had already had one wife who hadn’t shown him any consideration or honesty.
She wasn’t going to do it, too.
Slowly, she lifted her head and looked at him.
“Not if you don’t.”
Will was looking at her when she spoke, feeling something radiating from those pale eyes. It was something that gave him hope that somewhere, deep inside, Adria had the potential to feel something for him.
He realized that he wanted her to.
“I do,” he murmured. “I very much do. I would like to have a wife who loves me.”
Adria began to feel quivery, giddy. It was not a familiar feeling, but she’d already experienced it with Will and was at least somewhat prepared. But his answer, which had been honest, fueled her bravery.
“And I would like to have a husband who loves me,” she said, sitting on the bed and facing him. “I am, if nothing else, truthful. You will always know what my thoughts and opinions are because those are things I have never been any good at concealing. I ran from you last night because your answer about loyalty – whether you would only be loyal to me out of honor – wasn’t the answer I was hoping for. I was hoping to hear you would be loyal to me because you wanted to be, not because your reputation was at stake. Will, you have had one cold marriage. I do not want this to be another one. I will be warm and kind and caring if you’ll let me. But I cannot be warm and kind and caring to a man who does not show me the same things in return.”
A smile played on his lips. “I appreciate your honesty,” he said. “I will give you more of the same. We had a delightful conversation the other day when Atticus was playing down by the river. That is more of a conversation than almost anything I’ve ever had with Lily and it made me realize that I want that kind of bond with my wife. With you. I want to be able to sit with you and talk to you, to share my hopes and concerns, and I want you to do the same with me. My parents have a marriage like that. I have always been quite envious of it.”
WolfeLord: de Wolfe Pack Generations Page 26
