Wynne smiled up happily at her husband and, taking his hand, turned to go back into the castle, innocent of the meaningful look that passed between Madoc and Nesta, who were both of one mind in the matter of Brys of Cai. He was beyond the pale and would ever be.
Chapter 10
Although Dewi returned to Gwernach with Father Drew several days following the wedding, Enid and Mair had consented to remain for the summer months. Nesta and Rhys would also remain for a few weeks. Word came from Coed and Llyn that Caitlin and Dilys had been delivered of sons in the same hour of the same day. Both were filled to overflowing with maternal pride.
Enid laughed. "Though Caitlin was not due to have her child until next month, she would not suffer Dilys to gain a march on her. How typical of my granddaughter, but at least the children are healthy."
To celebrate her wedding, Wynne had released Einion from his slavery. "You are free to remain in my service or return to your own homeland," she told him.
"I'll stay," he said shortly.
Wynne smiled mischievously. "I think you should have a wife, my old friend. A wife settles a man."
"Perhaps," Einion agreed, smiling slightly.
"Would my maidservant, Megan, suit you?" Wynne asked sweetly.
"If she's willing, I'm willing," Einion replied shortly.
"Marry you?" Megan exclaimed when brought into her mistress's presence. She glared balefully at Einion. "So you are willing if I'm willing, are you? What makes you think I want to marry a great, ungainly, gimp-legged oaf like you?"
"Because you love me," Einion said blandly.
"Love you?" Megan's voice was slightly higher than it had been a moment ago, and her cheeks were flushed scarlet.
"Aye, you love me," Einion repeated, "and besides, who else would have a freckled-nosed termagant like you to wife? You've frightened all the lads for five miles hereabouts, Meggie, my lass. I'm all that's left to you. It's me or spinsterhood," he finished, grinning wickedly.
"And?" she demanded, glaring at him furiously, her hands on her hips.
"And what?" He pretended to be puzzled.
"And?" she answered, equally firm and insistent.
"And I love you," he said finally, with a shrug.
"Well," Megan allowed, "I suppose I could get used to carrot-topped children."
Wynne burst out laughing. "You are the oddest pair of lovers I have ever known," she said, "but may I assume 'tis settled between you? You may wed whenever you please."
"Tomorrow," Einion replied.
"I can't be ready by tomorrow," Megan raged at him.
"You can," he countered. "Lasses are always ready to wed at a moment's notice, or so I am told."
"Tomorrow will be perfect," Wynne said, stemming the tide of protest she saw rising to Megan's lips. "I have a lovely tunic dress that I seem to have outgrown, and 'twill fit you with just the tiniest bit of alteration."
So Megan was wed the following day to Einion, with their lord and lady looking on happily.
"He's so perfect for her," Nesta said afterward. "He's every bit as strong-willed as she is, and her equal in all ways."
"I am so happy!" Wynne said, twirling about the hall dreamily. "I want everyone about me to be happy too. Einion deserved his freedom and would not have asked Megan to marry had he not been given it. She was absolutely beginning to pine for him. I had to do something." She pulled up her skirts and danced a few steps. "Is not love grand, sister?"
Nesta and Rhys took their leave and returned home to St. Bride's the following week.
"You will come to us in December, won't you?" Nesta begged. "I want you there when I have my baby."
"I will try," Wynne promised her, "but I may not be fit to travel myself at that point."
Nesta's eyes widened. "Are you…?" she began.
"Not yet," Wynne said, "but I pray daily for a child. I would give Madoc a son as quickly as possible."
Nesta smiled at her sister-in-law. "I know just how you feel," she admitted, "but I shall still hope that you can come."
"If I cannot, send for my grandmother. She is good at birthings and will be glad to come to be with you," Wynne replied.
"Would you, my lady Enid?" Nesta asked shyly.
"Of course, my child," Enid answered. "I shall enjoy a nice visit to St. Bride's, especially at the Christ's Mass feast, and I shall bring Dewi and Mair with me."
The summer passed. With the coming of the autumn, Enid and Mair returned home to Gwernach. They went happy in the knowledge that Wynne was to bear a child to her husband in the spring. While they had been with her, her grandmother and her sister had kept Wynne's mind from the breach between Madoc and Brys of Cai. Now, with nothing more than her household to oversee, Wynne began to think about how she might reunite the brothers in friendship. It would not be an easy task, for Madoc refused to even discuss the matter with her, although she had attempted to broach it with him several times.
"My brother chose to distance himself from his sister and me years ago," Madoc tried to explain to Wynne. "His actions toward us since the day he left Raven's Rock, nay, since even before that, have been consistently hostile."
"He attempted a dreadful act as a boy, I will agree with you and Nesta on that matter, but surely after all these years you can forgive him," Wynne said. "I cannot believe anyone is quite as wicked as you both insist Brys is. Surely there is some good in him."
"Wynne, my dearest wife," Madoc said patiently to her, "I know it is hard for you to believe that my brother is beyond decency. You have been so sheltered all your life, but even the spiritual maturity you possess cannot have possibly prepared you for someone like Brys. He is simply evil incarnate, and he revels in wickedness. There is absolutely no remorse in him, dearling. This is no sibling rivalry, Wynne. This is a battle between good and evil. Between the darkness and the light. You are not yet prepared to fight such a battle. I am."
For Madoc the matter was settled, but Wynne was not satisfied. The very early months of her pregnancy past, she was feeling full of new vigor. She wanted to believe everything that her husband said. After all, was not Madoc the wisest of men? Yet she could not quite believe Madoc in the matter of his brother. The thought niggled at the corners of her brain that Brys must surely have some redeeming qualities to him. If she could talk with him, understand his feelings about the estrangement between himself and his family. Of course, she would not be able to do it at Raven's Rock. She would have to go to Cai.
It would not be a long journey. The matter of a few hours only. She was able to ride still, and she would take Megan with her. No. Megan could not come. If she told Megan, Megan would tell Einion, and he would tell Madoc. They would stop her. The more Wynne thought about it, the surer she became that Madoc was wrong in this one particular matter. Brys could not be as bad as her husband and Nesta painted him. He had done a terrible thing as a boy, but he should not be shunned by his family for the rest of his life for a single sin. She smiled to herself. She would reunite the siblings, and her children would grow up surrounded by warm and loving relatives.
But when? When could she depart Raven's Rock undetected? She did not want anyone guessing her intent and chasing after her; spoiling her chances to make peace between the brothers. Wynne frowned. When? It had to be soon. Before the winter set in and she was unable to ride her horse. She almost shouted with delight when Madoc told her several days later that he must go to the valley pasturelands below to check on their herds.
"The shepherds report that some of the sheep are disappearing," he told Wynne.