Border Brides

by Kathryn Le Veque

  Before Creed could answer, Carington let go of her husband and moved to the priest. All attention was on her as she put her soft hands on his arm, her emerald eyes glittering. Now, she was composed and prepared to help her husband any way she could. They had a plan; they needed everyone’s cooperation to make it work. Massimo would have to be convinced.

  “Let me tell ye what kind of man Jory d’Eneas was and then if ye still wish to protest, I’ll not fight ye,” she glanced over her shoulder at her husband. “Finish yer plans, English. I will have a little talk with the priest on how Jory is doing posthumous penance for the sins he has committed against ye in life. I believe he will see our point of view.”

  Creed smiled as he watched her walk away with Massimo, her delicious figure as it swayed beneath the yellow gown. He had never loved her more than he did at that moment, his heart swelling with emotions and gratitude that he could never find the proper words to express.

  Not surprisingly, Massimo was eventually agreeable to the plans for Jory’s rotting flesh. Exhumed and sent to London with de La Londe, King John was not entirely convinced that it was Creed but rethought his position when the fifty men at arms that had witnessed most of the battle between de La Londe and de Reyne confirmed the story. No one had seen the death blow, that was true, but they had seen most of the battle. And it had been a brutal one.

  Therefore, Jory d’Eneas accomplished something in death that he would have never given consent to in life. He saved the man who killed him.

  He saved Creed.

  EPILOGUE

  1213 A.D.

  Throston Castle, Northumbria

  Carington’s foot was tapping with impatience; the wedding was two days away and they had to leave now or they would never make it in time. It was November in Northumberland and the weather could be fickle, and Creed was eager to leave while the weather was moderately calm. So she stood at the base of the stairs in the great keep of Throston Castle, ready to explode with annoyance. Arms crossed, she spoke with more patience than she felt.

  “Ladies?” she called up the steps. “Yer father is waiting and he’ll not wait much longer. If yer not down here this instant, I’ll send him up to retrieve ye.”

  There was a good deal of hissing and conversation going on upstairs; Carington could hear it. She could hear the sounds of running feet. But, so far, she had yet to see any one of her six young daughters who were, even now, sorely testing their father’s patience. Creed was a saint of tolerance when it came to the girls, but they were already an hour late in departing for Prudhoe. His patience was not infinite.

  Not that he would be cruel with the girls when angered; he was, in fact, quite the opposite. He was, as Sian Kerr so kindly put it, a rug beneath his daughters’ feet. The tears would come when Carington, far less patient than her husband, would explode and the girls would sob as if she had broken their hearts. Then they would turn to their father to pick up the pieces, which he would calmly and sweetly do. Carington reflected on the innumerable times such explosions had occurred over the past twelve years. And with the girls growing older, the incidents were only gaining in frequency.

  Carington sighed again, resisting the urge to run upstairs and begin swatting behinds.

  “Emma?” she called to her eldest. “Get the girls moving. I want everyone downstairs this instant.”

  She could hear Emma’s voice above the rest, sternly telling her sisters to do as their mother instructed. She could identify the voices who were opposing Emma’s instruction; strong-willed Cora and Gaira, at nine and seven years respectively, would not be pushed around. Annabella, their elder sister at eleven years of age, was calm like her father and tended to stay clear of controversy. Then she heard Moira, the five year old who knew everything, and Rossalyn who, at three years, apparently knew more than all of her sisters combined. Four out of the six were bred in the fiery image of their mother; Creed still laughed over that while Carington was close to pulling her hair out as the girls grew and their strong personalities developed.

  “Cora?” Carington yelled up the stairs. “Gaira? Stop arguing with Emma and get down here. If I have to come up there, I’ll take a stick to ye!”

  Annabella suddenly appeared, carrying her satchel with her. She was a lovely girl with her father’s dark hair and dusky blue eyes. She had his temperament, too. She smiled at her mother as the only obedient child in the lot. Carington touched her daughter’s cheek affectionately and indicated the open entry.

  “Go to yer father,” she instructed. “Yer brothers and the nurses are already in the carriage.”

  “Can I hold Ramsey, Mama?” Annabella wanted to know. “Emma always gets to hold him and I want to hold him for a while. Please?”

  Ramsey Ryton de Reyne was three months old, a fair haired son that was beginning to look a good deal like his long-dead name sake. Carington nodded shortly, trying to hasten her daughter out the door.

  “Aye, of course,” she said hurriedly. “Now scoot.”

  Annabella disappeared out the entry as Carington turned back towards the stairs; one daughter down and five to go. She could hear her youngest daughter’s saucy voice, a child who she had personally dressed an hour ago. She had been ready to go then and Carington was at a loss to understand the delay. She hollered up the stairs again.

  “Rossalyn de Reyne!” she snapped. “Ye come down here this instant. If I have to go up and get ye, ye’ll be sorry!”

  Little Rossalyn appeared on the stairs as if by magic. The spitting image of her dark haired, green-eyed mother, she looked like a little porcelain doll. Her father was especially attached to her. . Rossalyn took the stairs timidly and Carington reached up to lift her off the last several steps. She gently set the child down.

  “What are yer sisters doing up there?” she asked.

  Rossalyn was as sassy as a jaybird. She lifted her shoulders disinterestedly. “I do not know,” she fidgeted. “Mama, can I have some cake?”

  “Not-a now,” Carington took the child’s hand and forced her to stand next to her. “Stand here with me and be a good lass.”

  As Carington and her squirming daughter waited for the next wave of girls to descend the stairs, a scream suddenly caught their attention. Carington looked to the keep entry in time to see her eighteen month old son Cormac burst through the door with his father hot on his heels. Creed grabbed the boy before he could run any further, swinging him up in the air and listening to him squeal. As he kissed the boy’s red cheeks and the baby shoved at him, trying to break free, Creed’s gaze fell on his wife and youngest daughter.

  “He got away from me,” he explained as Cormac tried to twist his way out of his father’s iron grip. “Where are the rest of the girls? Annabella is the only one in the carriage.”

  Carington nodded with limited patience. “I have been attempting to get them downstairs.” She raised her voice so that those upstairs would hear her. “I am about to go up there and blister backsides.”

  Creed knew she meant it. He handed Cormac over to his mother. “Let me see if I can impress upon them the importance of getting themselves down to the carriage before their mother lets loose.”

  Carington repressed a grin as Creed took the steps. “Dunna coddle them, Creed,” she said sternly. “They’ll only argue with ye.”

  Creed waved a patient hand at her as he maneuvered his enormous shoulders through the narrow stairwell. The first face he came into contact with was Emma; gorgeous, blond and blue eyed Emma was the image of her father, Stanton. But those years ago when Carrington had tended the newborn had seen the two irrevocably bonded. Stanton allowed Carington to take his infant daughter and raise her as her own, something Creed was not displeased with. She was such a sweet, delightful girl that Creed could not have loved her more had she been his own flesh. He smiled at her as she went to him for an affectionate hug.

  “Where are your sisters, Em?” he kissed her on the top of the head. “Your mother is about to have fits.”

  As if on cue
, Cora, Gaira and Moira emerged from their large, shared chamber with their arms full of bags and blankets. They began thrusting the items at their father, who held out his enormous arms to accommodate the clutter. They piled it on.

  “Dada, I want to wear Cora’s green traveling cloak but she will not let me,” Gaira complained. “Tell her that she must let me use it, please?”

  Creed shook his head. “If she does not want you to wear it then that is her choice,” he said evenly. “You have many other cloaks to choose from.”

  Gaira’s lip stuck out in a pout, much as her mother’s did in times of displeasure. She did, in fact, look a good deal like her fine-featured mother and Creed kissed the little girl on the forehead. “Your blue cloak is lovely, honey. Please wear that one; it would make me happy.”

  Gaira brightened, though only slightly. “Very well,” she said, turning for the chamber. She happened to pass Cora on the way in and she stuck her tongue out at her. “Selfish.”

  Cora stuck her tongue out in return but did not pause on her way out of the chamber. She went straight to her father. “Dada, how long are we staying at Prudhoe?”

  “For a few days,” he replied. “Until Gilbert’s wedding is complete. Are you ready to leave? We must hurry.”

  Cora was another fair-haired child in a family that was dominated by black hair. But she had brown eyes when no one else in the family did and was already quite the doe-eyed beauty. Fussing with the traveling cloak that her sister had so wanted to wear, she indicated to her father to help her secure it. He obeyed and fastened the ties.

  “Will there be dancing at the wedding feast?” Cora turned to him, adjusting her collar.

  Creed nodded. “I would expect so.”

  Cora cocked her head thoughtfully. “And plenty of young men?”

  This time, Creed’s composure took a hit. He puffed out his cheeks. “Good lord, lass; you are only nine years old. Why are you asking about young men?”

  Cora lifted her slender shoulders, thrusting her pert little nose up in the air. “Because Marion de Witt is already betrothed and she is only a year older than I am. I do not want to be an old maid, Dada.”

  Creed just looked at her and shook his head. “Marion de Witt is betrothed to Rory Burleson from Hexham because they are close neighbors. And I promise that you will not be an old maid.”

  Gaira came back out of the chamber she shared with her five other sisters, sneering as she fussed with the blue cloak on her shoulders. “And Romney Burleson has his sights set on Emma,” she taunted her sister. “She has the breasts of a woman and you are as flat as a board.”

  Cora turned red-faced. “I have so got breasts!” she thrust out her flat chest. “See? They are growing larger every day.”

  Creed put his hands over his ears. “Stop!” he roared, scaring the girls into silence. When he saw their wide-eyed expressions, he quickly regrouped. “Downstairs, ladies,” he said calmly. “Now, if you please.”

  “Dada, do you think I am as flat as a board?” Cora asked.

  Creed whistled loudly, pretending not to hear her. Receiving no answer from her father, Cora resumed sticking her tongue out at her sister but dutifully descended the stairs. Emma was right behind the battling pair while Moira, the five year old, was still fussing inside the large chamber. Creed stood in the door of the big, cluttered bower, watching his black-haired, blue-eyed daughter dig under her bed.

  “Moira, my love, we must go,” he hissed gently. “What are you doing?”

  Moira’s head came up. “My poppet, Dada. I cannot find her!”

  Creed set down the bags and cloaks in his arms and found himself on the floor, in full armor, searching under the bed for a doll.

  “If you cleaned some of the clutter out from under here, you might be able to find her more easily,” he told her.

  “Please, Dada!”

  Creed grunted as he was forced to stand up and move the bed aside in order to retrieve the doll. But Moira’s happy face soothed any irritation. He cupped her little head in his massive hands and kissed her cheek.

  “Happy?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Thank you, Dada,” she said sincerely.

  With his child in tow, Creed picked up the bags and cloaks once more and descended the stairs only to find the entry hall at the bottom empty. Holding Moira’s hand, he quit the keep and descended the exterior stairs into the bailey. There was an entire entourage of de Reyne soldiers waiting to escort the baron and his family to the nuptials of Sir Gilbert d’Umfraville. Oddly enough, the spoiled young lad had grown into a rather calm and handsome young man, so the nuptials were something of a joyous occasion.

  A soldier came running to him as he neared the entourage, taking the baggage from his arms and going to load it on one of the pack wagons. Creed approached the carriage that held his five daughters, two sons and two nurses and lifted Moira up into the cab. Making sure everyone was properly settled, he looked at Carington as she stood next to the carriage. Their eyes met and he smiled.

  “Ready?” he blew out his cheeks in a heavy sigh.

  She nodded wearily. “Finally.”

  “Do you want to ride with me for a little way?”

  She looked into the cab, already seeing that Cora and Gaira were not getting along. They tended to be the most aggressive pair and she shook her head sadly.

  “I’d better not,” she said. “I canna leave the wolf pack alone for too long. They might eat each other.”

  “Can I at least take Rossalyn? She loves to ride with me.”

  Carington shook her head. “She stays with her sisters. I dunna like her on that snappish charger and ye know it. ’Tis no place for a young lady.”

  His looked disappointed, yet resigned, as he pulled her into his arms. His dusky blue eyes were soft on her. At thirty-one years of age, she had hardly a line on her face. She was still as beautiful as she had been when he had first met her at nineteen and there were no words strong enough to describe his adoration for her. He worshipped her.

  “I have said it before and I will say it again; the girls act just like you,” he murmured, bending down to kiss her tenderly. “You only have yourself to blame for their wild streak.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, her body filled with the fluid warmth she associated with her husband. Something about the man filled her, comforted her, like nothing else. He was her rock.

  “Then it is my duty to ride in the cab and keep the beasts at bay,” she murmured. “I’ll not be far away if ye need me.”

  His lips were on her ear. “I always need you.”

  She smiled, feeling him kiss her ear, her cheek. “Which is why we’ve had seven children in twelve years.”

  He pulled back, grinning, and released her. “Complaining?”

  She shook her head slowly, her emerald eyes filled with reverence. “Never.”

  He began to close up his helm in preparation for mounting his warhorse. Carington watched him proudly, gradually distracted by the squabbling in the cab. Forced to look away from her beloved husband, she glared at her tussling daughters.

  “Cora,” she snapped. “I am going to sit in that cab between ye and Gaira for the entire ride to Prudhoe and so help me, if either one of ye utter a harsh word, I’ll tan yer hides.”

  Cora and Gaira immediately shut their mouths, their eyes wide at both their mother and father. That lasted about two seconds until Moira decided she was chilly and yanked the traveling blanket off of Gaira. That started the avalanche all over again and Creed stuck his head into the cab.

  “Ladies, please,” he said softly, reaching out a massive mitt to still the tussling hands. “If you behave yourselves, I promise that when we arrive at Prudhoe, I will take you into town and buy you all something very pretty.”

  The girls squealed with excitement. “Me, too, Dada?” Annabella wanted to know. Being the only obedient girl in the bunch, she didn’t want to be left out of the bribe.

  He reached out and touched her dark head. “Of
course, honey. All of you.” He looked back at the three squabblers. “Agreed?”

  “Agreed, Dada,” they said in unison.

  Creed stood back from the cab and winked at his wife. He was not sure if he believed the girls but he had to try; he hated to see their mother punish them and he knew from experience that she would. Carington just pursed her lips at him in disapproval.

  “Ye spoil them, Creed,” she admonished softly.

  He took her elbow and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “I treat them like I treat you.”

  Carington had no snappy reply to that. She allowed her husband to help her into the cab, receiving a tender kiss from him as he departed. The last she saw of her husband was as he made his way back towards the head of the escort.

  Creed was smiling as he made his way to his warhorse. Life was good and there was no reason not to smile. Furthermore, he was thinking of Ryton this day, so many years after the man’s death at Hexham. Every time he returned to Prudhoe, he thought of his brother. He wished the man could see him now.

  A conversation lingered in his mind, one he had reviewed many times over the years as one daughter after another was born. He could just see Ryton’s reaction to six daughters; the mere thought always made him laugh. He knew what Ryton would have said.

  Creed, you’re a saint.

  He was not a saint. But he had certainly found heaven.

  * THE END *

  THE WARRIOR POET

  A Medieval Romance

  By Kathryn Le Veque

  FOREWORD

  By Bud Dietrich, Ph.D.

  From the earliest authenticated date of his writings until his death in 1306 A.D., Sir Christian St. John accumulated over fourteen volumes of text chronicling his life, teachings and speculations that, even now, continue to set precedence for the world of modern English Literature. The British Museum of Arts and Sciences has an entire exhibit dedicated to a collection of St. John works that continues to be scrutinized and revered by layman and scholars alike.