by Conn, Phoebe
"But Mother, I love him," Berit began to wail, and when
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Grena attempted to pull her back inside, she reached out for Erik, desperately wanting to stay with him.
"Grena, please, this is not the tragedy you're making of it," Erik cdmly beseeched the hysterical woman. He took her daughter's hand and stepped close to her side before continuing. '*I want to marry Berit. She means everything to me."
"You're nothing but the bastard son of a slave," Grena replied venomously. "You're no fit husband for any woman, least of all my daughter."
Awakened by the sound of angry voices, Freya came rushing to the door. The cause of the heated argument was immediately obvious to her, but despite her shock, she refused to allow her sister to create a scene that would awaken every last person on the farm.
"Come inside at once," she ordered firmly, and when Grena did not immediately obey, she tried another approach. "If it is truly Berit's reputation that concerns you, then this matter must be discussed in private."
Grena shook her head, fearing there was nothing left of her daughter's reputation to salvage. "Did you know Berit was the one Erik planned to marry? Did you know?"
"No, I didn't," Freya assured her, and with a calm bom of years of experience in managing a large farm, she continued to encourage her sister to come with her to the hall, and finally succeeded in getting her there. She had hoped that, once seated, they could talk in a more reasonable manner, but that proved impossible when Grena continued to bemoan the terrible tragedy that had befallen her family. ,
"Yesterday my twins nearly drowned, and today I learn my daughter is ruined. Don't you understand what has happened? You have shown Haakon's bastard a true mother's love, and this is how he repays you. He has seduced your niece in your own home."
Dana came into the hall then, Grena's piercing shrieks having finally penetrated the depth of her slumber. She hung back, listening to her aunt sob and wail as her mother tried in vain to silence her bitter complaints. Berit was wrapped in Erik's embrace and weeping as pathetically as her moth-
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er. Dana easily guessed what had happened. When Erik shot her a pleading glance, she came forward and stood by his side.
"Grena," Dana began with a soothing sweetness. ''There's no need for you to carry on so. Berit and Erik love each other deeply, and will be very happy together."
"You knew about this?" Freya asked in dismay.
"I know they're in love," Dana replied, refusing to admit more.
"Love?" Grena cried. "How can you speak of love? If Erik loved Berit, he would never have touched her. He would have realized she was raised to be the bride of a man who would make her proud, and not for the likes of a slave's son."
Erik straightened his shoulders proudly, but he knew Berit had never thought of him in such humiliating terms, even if her mother always had. "I am my father's son as well," he pointed out shrewdly, although he knew Haakon would never help him win Berit for his wife. Displaying his usual confidence, he made a solemn demand. "Name what you want for Berit's bride-price, and you shall have it."
Enraged by what she saw as an arrogance he had no right to affect, Grena leapt to her feet and refused even to consider his request. "I'll see her dead before I'll give her to you."
Although blinded by tears, Berit couldn't believe her mother's ugly vow and fought to make her take it back. "I will marry no one else. Mother. Erik is the only man I'll ever take for a husband, so you'd be wise to let us marry now.'*
"Never!" Grena screamed. Then, searching her daughter's face for the truth, she thought she had guessed it. "What did you mean to do? Did you think if you were carrying his babe I would give you to him willingly? If so, you were not only incredibly stupid, but wrong as well."
Horribly embarrassed by her mother's hostile accusation, Berit shook her head as she battled a fresh torrent of tears. "It wasn't like that at all."
"Oh, really?" Grena responded sarcastically. "You're still a virgin then? Is that what you're saying? Well, speak
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up or rU satisfy my curiosity about the matter right here in front of everyone. It will take only a moment."
"That is enough, Grena," Freya conmianded sternly, as shocked by her sister's behavior as she was to discover Erik and Berit's romance. "I can understand your rage, but I will not allow you to behave in so shameful a manner in my home. I think we should all go back to bed and then meet to agree on some rational plan in the morning."
"Rational plan?" Grena scoffed. "I already have a plan. J0m will punish Erik for this disgrace. He'll make him pay for it with his life."
Pahng at so vile a threat, Freya found it difficult to catch her breath. Sinking down onto the nearest bench, she closed her eyes for a moment in an attempt to find the calm that had just eluded her. Frightened, Dana rushed to her mother's side and hugged her tightly.
"Must you be so hateful?" Dana asked her aunt. "Can't you see you're making your sister ill?"
"And who are you to tell me what to do?" Grena hissed at her niece. "You have been on Erik's side all along. Berit hasn't been out riding with you, has she? She's been meeting Erik while you were the one who appeared at my door to make me think she was passing the time with her cousin, not her lover."
"Oh, Dana, that isn't true, is it?" Freya searched her daughter's face, wanting to know the trudi, but she was devastated when she saw it in Dana's averted glance.
That her mother clearly thought her incapable of tricking her aunt so shamelessly pained Dana deeply, but rather than confess her guilt she looked to Erik for help.
Seeking to put an end to a scene even more wretched than the one he had once imagined, Erik tried again to soften the harshness of Grena's mood. "Let's leave J0m out of this, Grena. We are close friends and I don't want to fight him for any reason, especially not for loving his sister. Now I mean to have Berit for my wife. There's no disgrace in that desire, nor the fact we are in love. Name whatever price you want. We can come to terms and arrange for the wedding right now."
"Must I repeat myself endlessly before you will believe
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what I say? You will never marry Berit," Grena vowed through clenched teeth. 'Til not stay here a moment longer either. I'm taking Berit and my boys home.'*
"I won't go," Berit protested instantly.
That Dana had not immediately denied being involved in Erik and Berit's love affair had shocked Freya so deeply that she was not merely stunned, but physically ill as well. Now more readily understanding her sister's feelings of betrayal and sharing them, she had to force herself to speak. **I want you to go home with your mother, Berit. We are all too upset to make any decisions about your future now. Perhaps in a few days we can meet again and decide what is best for us all.'*
When Freya looked toward Erik, her disillusionment was so plain it broke his heart. She had always taken his part, even when no one else would, but it was clear she felt he had violated her trust and had been deeply hurt by it. He had hoped to win her approval for his marriage to Berit, but now he feared that might be impossible. If Freya did not approve, then she would not loan him the sum he would need, despite her promise to do so. Realizing the woman he loved was out of his reach for the time being, Erik released Berit and stepped back.
"Do as your mother says, Berit. Go home, and I'll set everything right as soon as I possibly can."^
''No, I don't want to leave you." The sorrow in Erik's eyes mirrored her own, but as Berit reached out for him, he brushed her hands aside and again stepped away.
"I think you better leave, Erik," Freya suggested in an attempt to separate the couple, and she was greatly relieve when the young man turned and left the hall. "Now, won't you please stay here until morning, Grena?"
"No," the distraught woman responded. "That's impossible after what's happened. We must go, and as long as Erik makes his home here, we won't ever come back."
Dana's glance followed Erik as he walked by, her heart going out to him, but when slie saw Soren standing in the shadows at the doorway her spirits sank even lower. He was clever enough to realize what Erik's absence the other day meant, but would he recall that Brendan had been gone for a
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while as well? The cold light in his eyes as he looked toward her told her that he did, and as Grena gathered her children to depart, Dana could do nothing but hope Soren would keep still until she had had a chance to convince him their mother had more than enough problems already without his adding to them by revealing what he knew about her daughter.
When Brendan awoke, he found Erik seated by the hearth. There was no fire burning, and the young man was merely staring into the ashes with the most sorrowful expression the Celt had ever seen. Fearing some calamity had occurred during the night, he rose from his bed and went to him.
"What's wrong?" he asked, the softness of his voice promising sympathy, whatever Erik's plight.
While only the previous afternoon Erik had despised Brendan thoroughly, he needed to confide in someone too badly to recall his feelings for the man now. He admitted nothing but that Grena had found him with Berit and in the terrible confrontation that had followed had vowed to see him dead. "I can't predict what J0m will do, but I'll not fight him if I have any choice. We've always been the best of friends."
The problem Erik had described was so much worse than anything Brendan had expected at first that he didn't know what to suggest. Then, taking a seat nearby, he oflfered what help he could. "I've never seen J0m fight, but I know from experience how tough an opponent you are. If you'll trust me with a sword, I'll help you prepare."
"A sword?" Erik asked, seemingly in a daze.
"Yes, a sword. Isn't that the weapon J0m will choose?"
"Probably. He's very good with a sword." Erik glanced toward the Celt. "But I've never even held one, let alone learned how to use one in a fight."
While Brendan found that diflRcult to believe, he soon grasped the reason why. "I suppose Haakon taught Svien and Soren how to defend themselves, but didn't bother to teach you?"
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Glancing back at the ashes which so closely resembled his dashed hopes, Erik nodded. ''Something like that."
'*Well, J0m isn't expected home for several weeks yet, and if you'll trust me not to hack you to bits, I can teach you to use a sword as well as you do your fists. In the meantime, what about Berit? Is her mother likely to beat her?"
The question made Erik wince, for he knew Grena had been angry enough to take out all her frustrations on the beautiful young woman he loved. "I'm afraid so/*
"Do you want to go and get her?"
"What do you mean? Just ride over to Grena's and bring Berit back here?"
"Why not? It doesn't sound like Grena can get any more infuriated with you than she already is.'^
"Probably not, but Freya wouldn't allow it, and I need her help too badly to make her angry with me too. Or more angry, I should say."
"Freya is mad at you too?"
"She expected better of me," Erik revealed with a sigh.
"Better than what? Did she think you incapable of love?"
As Erik glanced toward his companion, he was surprised by his sympathetic frown. "None of this concerns you, Brendan.'^
Insulted, Brendan resorted to his own tongue for a bitter oath to express himself before replying in words Erik could understand. "I belong to J0m, and yet I am here with you. If you two are going to battle to the death, then I'd say I'm right in the middle of it." That was a decidedly minor cause of his concern, but he knew Erik didn't want to hear him mention his regard for Dana as the reason for his keen interest in her half brother's plight.
"You're right. Periiaps I should send you back to Grena's now, before things get any more complicated/'
"No!" Brendan argued forcefully, but Erik easily guessed why he was so adamantly against leaving.
"You ought to know Dana is as miserable about this as I am. Both Grena and Freya know she lied to them to help me see Berit. I don't think Dana has ever lied to anyone until now, and naturally Freya is deeply disappointed in her."
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Bone weary, Erik closed his eyes for a moment, but instantly Bent's tear-streaked face filled his mind's eye. Tormented by her sorrow, he quickly blinked her image away.
"I fell in love with a woman I had no right to have, and not only have I made her suffer, but her family and mine as well. I would leave home today, but I'll not let anyone think I haven't the courage to face J0m."
"Leave? Have you lost your mind?" Brendan rose to his feet and, taking a firm grip on Erik, hauled him to his feet. Keeping his hands on his shoulders, he offered what he considered much needed advice. *'Grena is a selfish, conniving shrew, and from what I saw of J0m, he's no better than an arrogant fool. How can you even consider leaving Berit with them? What if she is carrying your child? Would you leave her to face that disgrace alone?"
Erik was already so unhappy Brendan's hostile questions didn't make him feel any worse. "No, I'll not leave her. My only hope is that eventually Grena will allow us to marry. I'll use whatever chance I have to convince her it's her only choice."
"That's better," Brendan assured him with an encouraging grin. "What you need is some sleep. Go to bed. We can return to your new house this afternoon."
"The new house?" Erik could barely recall the high spirits in which he had begun work on the home he had wanted to give Berit.
"Go to sleep, Erik. Everything will look better when you awake." Brendan steered his weary companion toward his bed, and Erik was soon sleeping soundly while Brendan was wide awake and cursing the fact he would be unable to see Dana until she came to him. He wanted her to know he would do his best to help Erik, and he hoped she would understand he would do it to please her.
As he prepared his breakfast, Brendan couldn't help but think how lucky they had been that Dana had refused to meet him during the night. If her absence had been discovered during the row over Berit and Erik, then he knew he would be in even worse trouble than Erik. That Dana was sharing Berit's disgrace troubled him too, for he thought her loyalty to her half brother and cousin were commendable rather
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than shameful. He felt a twinge of guilt himself then, for he knew he had chided Erik for meekly accepting his fate rather than seeking to change it. Well, Erik had heeded his advice, with the worst of results, and rather than shoulder part of the blame, Brendan vowed to see the young man marry the woman he loved, although he had no idea how he would go about it.
When she retired to her sleeping chamber that night, Dana knew no matter how long she lived she could not possibly spend a worse day. She could not forget the ugly tilings her aunt had said to Erik. Knowing he did not deserve the abuse, she was glad the spiteful woman had vowed not to return as long as he lived tiiere. That did not lessen her fears for Bent, however, for she knew her cousin must be suffering terribly as a result of her mother's vile temper.
As for her own mother, Dana had hoped to make amends with her, but after Grena had left, the dear woman had retreated to her bedchamber and refused to speak with her all day. Soren had gone back to work on Erik's new house without telling her good-bye. Even though she suspected he was mad at her too, she was grateful he was keeping his reasons to himself.
That night Thora was again sharing their mother's bed, and Dana couldn't help but regret that she no longer had her sister's delightful innocence. Thora had known only that her mother was unhappy and had wanted to be with her. As a contributor to that unhappiness, Dana had not been allowed the same privilege. That she had secrets far more incriqji-nating than those concerning Erik and Berit only served to deepen her feelings of isolation.
Her one consolation was that Brendan could no longer tiireaten to go to Grena if she failed to meet him, but for a reason Dana couldn't begin to understand, she actually wanted to see him.
She had thought of him all day, wondering what he thought of Erik's plight, and if it had made him nK>re sympathetic to her own. The need to speak with him outweigh^ her fears, and certain her mother was too angry with her to seek her company in the middle of the night.
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when the house grew still, she left and rode her mare to the woods.
When Brendan reached the spot he now considered theirs, he was both surprised and delighted to find Dana akeady there. "I didn't mean to keep you waiting," he offered by way of apology. *'It was only that I didn't expect you to arrive so soon."
**Did Erik tell you what happened?" Dana whispered anxiously as he drew her into his arms. The warmth of his embrace was so soothing at the end of a long and troubled day that she relaxed against him without considering that he would misinterpret the gesture as a sign of surrender.
Drinking in the exotic fragrance of her long curls, Brendan pressed her closer still, adoring her supple body as much as her engaging spirit. "Have you forgotten? I said we would make love first and talk later."
*'But everything has changed."
Brendan slackened his hold so that he could see her face in the moonlight. '^Between us, the only difference is that I want you more."
Dana found it impossible to think clearly when the rich timbre of his voice was so enticing. He was smiling at her, a slow, sweet smile unlike any expression she had ever seen him wear. Unable to fight the attraction that she feared would destroy them both, she lay her head on his shoulder and sighed softly.
"You don't understand. My mother is so upset about Erik and Berit she will neither leave her room nor speak with me. If she discovered that I'd been with you—" Dana caught herself then as she realized too late she had just given Brendan the means to force her to come to him again.
Brendan felt her stiffen and was too clever not to understand why. "I wouldn't have gone to Grena, and I won't go to Freya either. I don't want you to be aft'aid of me, or what I might do to the people you love. All I want is for you to admit that you want me as badly as I want you."