Chapter Six #3
Jeniver was about to reply when the keep entry opened and Scott stepped through.
From where Jeniver was sitting, she could see the knight right away and his gaze found her almost immediately.
Jeniver’s humor faded as she braced herself for the conversation that was to come.
Scott had arrived and it was time to inform Lady Courtly de Shera of her husband’s youthful indiscretion.
Although Courtly was a level-headed and pragmatic woman, it was hard to know how she was going to react.
Still, they could not delay. She had to be told.
“Greetings, Scott,” Courtly said as the knight entered the solar. “We have plenty to eat. Are you hungry?”
Scott nodded as he sat down at the long, scrubbed table. The dogs shifted their attention from the girls to their latest visitor and Scott patted Taranis on his big, black head before moving to help himself to the food at the table.
“Ah,” he said, taking hold of the apple pie and helping himself to a massive slab. “More of Lady Courtly’s culinary experiments. I am happy to eat it all before Max gets to it.”
Courtly and Jeniver laughed at him. “That was for Ty,” Courtly pointed out. “It is a pie he described to me, something Lady Honey would make for him when he was young. I tried to recreate it.”
“And you did a magnificent job,” Scott said, his mouth full. “It is delicious.”
Pleased, Courtly watched the knight wolf down a big portion of the pie. “You had better eat your fill now,” she said. “You know what will happen when Maximus and his brothers return.”
Scott swallowed an enormous bite. “I know exactly what will happen,” he declared. “I will get nothing but crumbs. I am glad they are away for the next few days so that I can eat my fill before the hungry hounds return.”
Courtly giggled. “Hurry and eat what you can, then,” she said, noticing that Violet and Lily had finished their food and were now under the table with the dogs.
She turned to Jeniver. “Jeni, mayhap the girls need to be taken away for their naps. When they crawl under the table, you know it is prelude to them laying down and sleeping there.”
Jeniver nodded, peering under the table at Lily and Violet. “Indeed it is,” she said, lifting her head and calling to the nearest servant. “Please send for the nurse. Lady Lily and Lady Violet must be returned to their chamber.”
As the servant headed off, the room fell into comfortable silence. Scott was eating everything in sight and Courtly was finishing off the last of her pie. The nurse soon appeared and pulled Lily and Violet out from underneath the table, escorting the children out of the solar.
When they were gone and there was no one left in the low-ceilinged room but the three adults, Jeniver cleared her throat softly.
The time was upon them to delve into the disturbing dealings at hand and she would waste no more time.
It wasn’t as if they could avoid the subject.
The longer they delayed, the worse it would be. It was time to speak.
“Courtly,” she began casually. “Did you notice the visitors we had today at the gatehouse?”
Courtly sipped at her fruit juice. “I did,” she said. “Who was it?”
With that simple question, the opportunity had presented itself to tell her everything and Jeniver chose her words carefully.
Courtly would be upset enough with the subject matter so Jeniver tried to present a calm, even front.
She could only pray that her calm attitude helped Courtly somehow.
God only knew how Jeniver would react if she had been presented with Gallus’ bastard.
She couldn’t even imagine. Therefore, she fell back on how Scott had presented the situation to her in the hopes that it would help Courtly understand the freakish turn of events. She could only pray.
“Love is a strange thing, isn’t it?” she ventured softly. “Love is the greatest motivator in the world. It can be the greatest gift or the heaviest burden. Sometimes people fall in love and have no idea that when that love is gone, there are still lasting effects they might not even be aware of.”
Courtly was looking at her, a curious smile on her face. “I suppose so,” she said. “What does that have to do with the visitors we had earlier?”
Jeniver glanced at Scott, who had stopped eating. He was looking at Courtly, gauging her reaction. But he caught Jeniver’s look and took the hint. It was time for him to help explain the situation from his perspective.
“Lady Courtly, I have known Maximus since we were children,” he said.
“I am a few years younger than he is, but we squired together and my brother and I would tail around after him and Gallus and Tiberius. I have, therefore, seen all three brothers go through a great deal. In particular, I was there when Maximus fell in love with the young peasant girl, Rose. He has told you about Rose, has he not?”
Courtly nodded, not at all concerned with the path the conversation was taking.
“Aye,” she said. “He was seventeen and she was fourteen, as I recall. She was the daughter of a smithy and Max’s father sent the girl and her father away to stop the romance.
Max has spoken of that event with some sadness.
As a young man, I think it deeply marked him. ”
Scott nodded in agreement. “I remember,” he said. “He was heartbroken about it, as any young man in love would have been. I’m sure you can understand that.”
“Of course,” Courtly agreed. “But what does that have to do with the visitors today?”
Scott continued as gently as he could. “I was with Max about a year later when a soldier passing through Kenilworth told him that Rose had perished of a fever,” he said.
“At that point, she was nothing more than a fond memory although news of her death did sadden him for a time. To the best of my knowledge, that is the last time he received any news about Rose. He never heard about her again… until today.”
Courtly’s eyebrows lifted. “Did the visitors bring more news of Rose?” she wanted to know. “Who are the visitors?”
Scott didn’t dare look at Jeniver for fear that Courtly would see their apprehensive expressions and it would send her into a state. Therefore, he kept his eyes on Courtly, strong and reassuring, as he delivered what would perhaps be the most shocking news of her life.
“Rose’s father came today,” he said. “He has come seeking Maximus.”
Courtly frowned. “Why on earth should he do that?”
Scott was very good at maintaining a somewhat passive expression, masking the pity he felt for the woman. Before he could speak, Jeniver grasped Courtly’s hand gently and continued.
“Maximus was told that Rose died of a fever, but that was evidently not true,” she said gently.
“Rose’s father came today to inform Maximus that Rose, in fact, died in childbirth with Maximus’ child.
He has brought the boy here to Isenhall because he feels the boy is due his birthright, as a de Shera. He has come to seek it for the boy.”
Courtly stared at Jeniver. It was clear that she was processing what she had been told.
She stared at Jeniver an excessive amount of time, her eyes glittering and her features flexing slightly as she digested the information.
She wanted to speak but she couldn’t. Thoughts were rolling through her head but she couldn’t grasp just one.
Should she shout? Cry? Become angry? Her husband had bedded another woman and had produced a child.
What should I feel? I don’t know! Finally, when the wait became nearly unbearable, her quiet voice filled the air.
“Max has a son?” she repeated. “He and Rose had a son?”
Jeniver nodded. “Aye.”
“How do you know this for sure?”
Scott spoke quietly. “Because the boy looks exactly like him,” he said. “I knew Max at that age. His son is the mirror image of him. There is no denying he is Maximus de Shera’s son, my lady.”
Courtly was looking at him as he spoke, further processing his words.
When reality finally struck, she stood up swiftly, pulling her hand from Jeniver’s grasp and making her way over to the lancet windows that overlooked a portion of the bailey.
She wrapped her slender arms around her torso, hugging herself, smelling Maximus on her skin because she had not washed off his scent since he had left her two days before.
She slept with one of his tunics because it smelled of him.
Her whole world revolved around him. She didn’t even know how to feel at this moment.
All she could feel was bitter, nauseating shock.
Gazing up at the blue sky above, she could see her husband’s face, somewhere in the clouds.
Nebulous and handsome, he smiled back at her.
“Max could not have known about the boy,” she muttered.