Alis goggled.
Gwenn forced a smile. ‘I don’t want to quarrel with you, Aunt, but I warn you it is no empty threat. If you cannot accept me and my husband, we shall have to go.’
‘And the children, Gwenn? What of them?’ Alis’s gentle eyes strayed hungrily to Katarin and Philippe, and her undisguised longing squeezed Gwenn’s heart.
‘They would come with us, of course,’ Gwenn said, ruthlessly. She must suppress any sympathy she might feel for Sir Gregor’s childless wife, because if she did not make her views felt now, at the beginning, matters would only deteriorate. ‘I could not leave them. What would become of Katarin if I abandoned her?’
Alis stared at the children, her hand crept to her breast. ‘No. Not the children. Please,’ she whispered through lips that hardly moved. ‘For years I have prayed for children, and though I have come to accept that the good Lord has decided I shall not have little ones of my own, I thought...I thought...’
Weakening, Gwenn touched the older woman’s hand and completed her sentence. ‘You thought that He had sent you these.’ She gestured at her siblings.
A small movement of Alis’s veil indicated assent. ‘I thought my prayers had been heeded. I thought my autumn years were to be brightened by their presence. I would cherish your brother and sister, Gwenn. I want to love them. But if you go,’ the gentle blue eyes closed as if that thought was too horrible to contemplate, ‘if you go, what a torment I will feel. Already I am fond of them, already I have become used to them. If you go, Gwenn, my life will seem emptier than it did before.’
‘Aunt, don’t say that. Oh, God, this is dreadful. I don’t like using the children as a weapon, but you must understand my loyalty to Ned. Unless you accept him, unreservedly, I cannot stay. And how can I leave the children?’
Alis lifted swimming eyes to Gwenn’s. ‘You really feel loyalty to that...that...young man?’
Gwenn sensed that the older woman had been about to use a less favourable adjective to describe Ned, but let it pass. ‘I am Ned’s wife, and I intend to remain his wife.’ Hard though it might be for her, maybe it would be best for the children if she left them here and went away with Ned to make a future elsewhere. They could go to the King’s joust. Ned’s experience as a soldier and his enthusiasm would ensure he found a patron and...and...they would see Alan, too. Not that that last must affect her decision. If she and Ned left the children in Alis’s care, there would be no confusing conflict of interests, and they would be safe.
Alis’s gaze was drawn to the group by the shoreline. She straightened her shoulders and smiled, bringing dimples to either side of her mouth. ‘You drive a hard bargain,’ she said, and Gwenn knew by her tone that she had won. They could stay, all of them. She would not have to abandon the children and Ned would be accepted.
‘Will it be so hard, Aunt, to think the better of my husband?’ she asked, sadly.
‘I...I... No, of course not.’ Alis put a brave face on it. She may have been forced to bow to Gwenn’s will, but she would try and like the mercenary who had married her niece. How else could she keep the children?
‘It’s not such a bad marriage, Aunt, when you look at it dispassionately.’
‘You could have had a knight, or a merchant,’ Alis said wistfully.
‘Aunt, you’re forgetting, I’m not legitimate. I am only a bast–’
‘Hush, Gwenn!’ Alis flung a shocked glance in the direction of the children. ‘Katarin might hear you.’
‘Oh, Aunt Alis,’ Gwenn said, thanking God that her aunt had been blessed with a heart of gold, for she had a narrow bigot’s mind, and it was her only warm heart that redeemed her. ‘Katarin is a bastard too, and one day she is bound to discover it.’
‘Not if I can help it,’ Alis said, stoutly.
Gwenn bit her tongue and held down a sigh. To her mind such matters were best out in the open, but she did not think it was prudent to air that particular view today. She would have to proceed one step at a time. Today, she had made a stride, and she would save other strides for other days. ‘Aunt?’
‘Aye?’ The smile Alis bent on Gwenn bore no trace of ill will. Not only was her aunt blessed with a loving heart, she had a generous nature too. Truly they had come to the right place.
‘You will make arrangements for Ned and me to be housed together?’
‘Everything shall be as you wish it, my dear. Your Ned can shift his belongings to the family apartments.’
‘Up to the solar?’ Gwenn had not expected so complete a victory and knew how much it had must cost Alis to suggest it. ‘There’s no need to go to such lengths. We shall be perfectly happy lodged in the hall with the other families.’
‘But the children,’ the older woman objected immediately. ‘I do so love having them at hand.’
‘The children may stay in the solar. Katarin has slept like a log every night since we arrived, and as long as she knows where I am, she will not fret. She likes you Aunt Alis.’
‘Oh, do you think so?’
‘Indeed.’ Gwenn heard a horse pounding along the shrub-lined path which wound from the manor to the tip of the peninsular. Glancing up the beach, she saw Ned charge out of the bushes, mounted on one of Sir Gregor’s mares. His flaxen hair was wind-swept, he had Dancer on a leading rein, and he had apparently been searching for her, for when he saw her, he was out of the saddle, slinging both horses’ reins over a branch. Gwenn’s heart twisted. Purposefully, Ned stalked towards them. ‘It’s N...my husband,’ Gwenn said, unnecessarily, for she could see that her aunt had seen him. Alis was watching Ned warily, as though he were a poisonous snake that might strike at any moment. If only she knew, Gwenn thought, he is softer than she is herself. Ned wouldn’t hurt a soul.
‘Good morning, Lady Wymark,’ Ned said briskly, holding one of his solid, dependable hands out to Gwenn. Gwenn took an astonished look at the savage determination on his face and rose without a word. She placed her fingers in his. Ned did not look soft this morning. He looked as though he had come to the end of his tether; and his crushing grip told her that she had resolved the matter of her marriage not a moment too soon.
‘I wonder if you could spare Gwenn for a couple of hours, Lady Wymark,’ Ned went on, courteous but firm. ‘Her mare needs exercising, and it’s best if Gwenn rides her. She’s a fine beast, and I’d not want her to lose her stamina.’
‘N...no, I d...don’t mind. The mare must be exercised,’ Alis answered, obviously alarmed by Ned’s bearing. Gwenn couldn’t bring herself to meet her eyes. Ned was unwittingly confirming her prejudices. Absurdly, a giggle rose in Gwenn’s throat. Perhaps it would do no harm to let her aunt go on thinking that Ned was fierce – for a little while at least.
Concealing her amusement she asked, ‘Are you content to stay with the children, Aunt?’
‘What? Oh, yes, I’d be delighted to look after them.’
‘Shall I send for one of the women?’
‘N...no. No.’ Her aunt was rallying. ‘I can manage. Run along, my dear. I’ll bring them back to the solar when they’ve had their fill of the beach.’
‘Thank you, Aunt.’ Gwenn snatched up her veil, tucked it into her girdle, and let Ned lead her to Dancer. ‘I’m glad you found me, Ned,’ she opened, ‘for I’ve been talking to my aunt...’
***
Conan was caught just when he was beginning to think that there might be a God in Heaven. He should have known better, he thought resentfully, when the pain had eased enough for him to think once more. He should have known that life was not meant to be easy. If only he had not kept the merchant’s wallet. But it had been too good to discard, and he had been fascinated by the outlandish design stamped on the leather. Fool. He was a fool. And to think that he had got so near...