Chapter Fourteen
Blayth couldn’t seem to stop hugging his son. Ronan was close to being strangled as the man clung to him, his big arms around Ronan’s neck.
Maybe there was a threat in that, too.
Knowing his father as he did, he couldn’t discount anything.
“It is a surprise to see you here, Papa,” Ronan said, coughing when Blayth’s arm smacked his Adam’s apple. “Why did you not send word that you were coming?”
“You are looking well,” Blayth said, avoiding the question. “I was sorry to hear about your friend. Titus told me what happened at Middlesbrough.”
Ronan nodded, indicating for his father to sit. Blayth settled his big body down onto the seat and Odo immediately provided him with a drink. The majordomo was making sure everything was running smoothly for the unexpected guests.
“It was devastating, to be sure,” Ronan said as he sat down next to his father. “Dyce and I have been friends for many years. He was a good man, Papa.”
Blayth took a drink of the rich, red wine. “I remember this man, I think,” he said. “He came to Roxburgh once or twice.”
Ronan nodded. “He came more than that,” he said. “A big man with a black beard.”
“I do remember him.”
Ronan went to collect his own cup. “His death was vicious,” he said, lowering his voice. “A de la Londe knight impaled him on a lance. A slow and terrible way to die.”
Blayth frowned. “I heard,” he said. “Titus said the de la Londe knight was beaten to death.”
Ronan simply lifted his eyebrows in response. “The punishment fit the crime,” he said. “In any case, Dyce lived long enough to ask me to take care of his wife after he was gone. So here I am.”
Blayth took another drink of his wine. “Here you are, indeed,” he said, toying with his cup once he set it down. “Tell me what your plans are, Ronan.”
“What plans?”
“With Ravenscar and the widow of your friend,” Blayth clarified. “Surely you have plans for the future. Or will you simply remain indefinitely?”
Ronan shrugged. “I will return to Roxburgh eventually,” he said.
“Ravenscar belongs to Lady de Brito’s cousin, whom she does not share a good relationship with.
She is certain he will ask her to leave now that Dyce is gone so I have offered to bring her north where she may find a position with Aunt Mae at her foundling home. ”
Aunt Mae was the Countess of Northumbria, his aunt by marriage, who was a very good and true lady. “When does Lady de Brito’s cousin want her to leave?” Blayth asked.
“I do not know. He does not yet know of Dyce’s death.”
Blayth frowned. “Why not?”
“Because Lady de Brito is with child and she wants it born here,” he said. “This was Dyce’s home and she wants the child born at the home of his father. I’m afraid if we notify the cousin too early, he would want her out before the babe is born.”
Blayth looked at him curiously for several long moments, enough so that Ronan wondered what his father was thinking. He lifted his eyebrows.
“What?” he asked. “Why do you look at me like that?”
Blayth sighed. “Lady de Brito’s child,” he said. “It is her husband’s?”
Ronan nodded. “Aye,” he said. “Why? That is a strange question.”
Blayth shook his head. “It is not when you hear what I have to say,” he said.
“You want to know why I am here, Ronan? I shall tell you. It is because I had a visit from Edmund de Grey. He was informed by men within your ranks, former de Grey men, that you are carrying on an affair with Lady de Brito and that the child she carries is yours. Edmund is demanding that I punish you. Though I did not believe the child to be yours, I cannot be sure that you are not carrying on with a vulnerable widow. Tell me what is happening here, Ronan. Tell me the truth.”
It was Ronan’s turn to stare at his father in surprise before letting out a hissing sigh. He took a deep swallow of his wine before answering.
“I understand now,” he said. “You are here based on gossip.”
“Gossip or not, tell me the truth.”
“You want the truth?” Ronan said. “I will always tell you the truth, Papa. I have never lied to you and I do not plan to start now. The truth is that I am in love with Lady de Brito but the child is not mine. It is Dyce’s.”
There it was. The verity of the situation that Blayth had come all the way from Roxburgh to hear. He nodded faintly, accepting what he’d been told, before finishing off the contents of his cup.
“I see,” he said. “So you have remained at Ravenscar to be with her.”
“Aye.”
“It is not like you to have dalliances, Roe.”
“This is not a dalliance, Papa,” Ronan said seriously. “I love Isabeth and she loves me. She is fine and sweet and compassionate, everything a woman should be. She makes me feel loved and respected. She is a wonderful woman and I am not ashamed that I love her.”
It was a rather passionate speech, one that had Blayth believing every word. Ronan was usually the silent type, so the eloquent statement had Blayth taking notice. It was also the least bit heartbreaking to realize what his son had gotten himself into.
“Then bringing her north was really so she could be near you,” he said, watching Ronan nod. “Do you really intend to ask Mae if Lady de Brito can help her in her foundling home?”
“Aye,” Ronan said. “Wait… that’s not exactly true. Isabeth wants to have her own foundling home and I was going to ask Mae for assistance and advice. Isabeth is very good with children, Papa. She would do good work.”
Blayth thought on that. “There is more to the situation if you bring her north,” he said. “She comes north as your mistress, Ronan. That is not a respectable position for any woman. Is that the life you truly want for her?”
Ronan averted his gaze, unable to look his father in the eyes. “You were fortunate, Papa,” he said. “You were able to marry the woman you loved, both times that you were married. I will never have that chance. Therefore, I want her with me.”
But Blayth shook his head. “It is not a good idea,” he said.
“Roe, I know you do not want to hear this, but Edmund and I had a very long discussion about the situation. He begged me not to permit you to divorce Marian and, after considering all of the implications of such a thing, I have agreed. Furthermore, he has agreed to speak to Marian about her… ways. He assures me that she will settle down and become a fine wife to you. How can you expect her to stop her parade of men when you will have a mistress nearby?”
Ronan didn’t like what he was hearing, so much so that he rudely waved a hand at his father.
“Marian will never stop her parade of men no matter what Edmund says,” he said.
“If Edmund has convinced you that he has the power to force Marian to behave, then he is mistaken. It cannot be done and most certainly not by him. More than that, I do not want her to be a fine wife to me. I do not even like the woman. I never have.”
“She is your wife, Roe.”
“She is the wife you picked, not me!”
His voice was growing louder and Blayth could see just how much the de Brito widow meant to him.
Or at least, what he thought she meant to him.
Asmara’s words came floating back to him…
she needs a husband and it cannot be Ronan.
Having not met the de Brito widow he couldn’t be sure that she wasn’t emotionally coercing his soft-hearted son, but Ronan was definitely in love with her.
That was a problem.
“Whether or not I selected her is immaterial,” he said calmly. “She is your wife and you are bound to her by God and the church. Your wife is a whore because she carries on with other men. What does that make you if you carry on with another woman?”
“This is different.”
“Is it?” Blayth shot back softly. “Just because you say you love her does not make it acceptable. I’ve never known you to make a bad decision in your life, Roe, but I’m seeing it now. You don’t understand that this affair is damaging.”
“To whom?”
“To you,” Blayth said firmly. “Most importantly, to Lady de Brito. She’s no better than a whore herself if she allows herself to become your mistress.”
That was it for Ronan. He was on his feet, standing several feet away from his father because he was genuinely concerned that he might lash out at the man. As it was, he glared at him from more than an arm’s length away.
“I will never hear you call her that again,” he growled. “I would have run any other man through who said what you just said. Isabeth is the finest woman in the world and far more worthy than you allow.”
Blayth was watching his son’s body language, wondering if he was going to have to dodge a flying dagger at some point.
“And you would allow the finest woman in the world to become your mistress?” he asked quietly. “Think, Ronan. Lady de Brito deserves a husband and a home of her own. She deserves that dignity. She does not deserve the life of being a mistress to a married man.”
“It is far more than that.”
“If you do this to her, you are ruining her life,” Blayth said flatly.
“Is that what you want? Better still, is that what your friend would have wanted for her? Being another man’s courtesan?
You vowed to take care of her but this is not taking care of her.
This is making her your property, like a horse or a sword. Is she no better than that?”
Ronan wanted to argue with him but he couldn’t. Unfortunately, his father was making perfect sense and he was feeling despair and desolation.
God, is he right? Is that what I am doing to her?
He began feeling sick in the pit of his stomach.
“I love her, Papa,” he said hoarsely. “Were it not for you and your manipulation, I would not have married Marian. I would have had a chance to be happy but because of you, I am not. Isabeth offers me what you did not – joy. And now you want to take that away from me, too.”
With that, he turned away and headed out of the hall. Blayth watched him go with tears stinging his eyes, feeling Ronan’s pain but knowing that they both knew he was right.
It was a horrific realization.