Epilogue #2
Truer words were never spoken. The first few years after Thor and Caledonia married, he and his father had spent time and money searching for Madam Madonna.
Thor wanted to bring her to justice for what she’d done to Caledonia’s children, and for some time he was determined to do it.
But the trail had grown cold and he’d all but given up, as he’d told his father.
This news was as shocking as it was welcome.
“Incredible,” he finally said. “I know that Callie will want to hear this.”
“How do you think she will react?”
Thor shrugged. “I think she wanted to punish the woman herself,” he admitted. “But to know she received a harsh punishment at the hands of others… I think she will accept that. As long as Madam Madonna isn’t harming other children, I think she’ll be satisfied.”
Gage shook his head sadly. “Callie had a difficult life until she married you,” he said. “If we can at all right the sins of the past, you know we will try.”
Thor smiled at his father. “I know,” he said.
“Your help with Madam Madonna meant a good deal to her. But those who have sinned against Callie in the past are largely gone now—de Tosni, Rotri and Domnall de Wylde, and now Madam Madonna. If there was anyone else, she hasn’t told me.
I think living the life we have for the past eight years has eased the memories of the horrors and has also tamed her wild streak.
No more wandering, no more taverns or inns or drinking.
All of that has stopped. We only look ahead these days. We do not look back.”
Gage put his hand on Thor’s shoulder. “Wise words, lad,” he said. “But what about Gomorrah?”
“What about it?”
“That was her favorite place, once. Does she ever talk about it?”
Thor shook his head. “She does not because I told her that if she so much as entertained the idea of ever returning, I would burn the place to ash,” he said firmly. “She promised me she would never go back. But then she laughed, so I do not know if she was serious or not.”
Gage chuckled. “You married a headstrong woman, lad,” he said. “I would be on my guard, always.”
Thor joined in his father’s laughter, but before he could reply, Jane suddenly appeared. Tall and elegant, with her mother’s white hair and dark green eyes, she took one look at Thor and broke out into a smile that nearly split her face in two.
“The baby is here,” she announced happily. “It is a girl!”
Thor broke down laughing. He was so happy that he simply couldn’t help it. “Finally,” he said as his father slapped him on the back. “A lass after all of those boys. How is your mother? Is she well?”
Jane rushed forward, grasping him by the hand and pulling him to his feet. “Mother is very well,” she said. “She says that you must come right away and see your black-haired daughter.”
Grinning, Thor and Gage followed Jane to the master’s chamber on the top level of Edingale’s keep, a vast and lavish chamber that seemed to be full of people.
There were midwives, a physic, and servants milling about.
Thor also caught sight of his mother over near the bed, fawning over a small bundle in Caledonia’s arms. When Caledonia looked up and saw her husband, the smiles of love and adoration that passed between them were tangible.
Thor had eyes only for his wife.
“My love,” he said as he came to the bed and kissed her gently on the mouth. “Are you well? How do you feel?”
“Exhausted,” Caledonia admitted. “Your daughter did not want to come forth. She was quite happy in my belly.”
Thor could see a little face and tufts of dark hair peeking out from the swaddling. He tried to reach for her but realized that Jane was still holding his hand. She hadn’t let him go. He smiled at the young woman he very much considered his daughter and gave her hand a squeeze.
“Have you held your sister?” he asked her.
Jane shook her head, but her gaze was on the baby. “Nay,” she said. “Mother said you must hold her first. She promised I can hold her next.”
Thor had to pry his hand out of Jane’s so he could collect the infant from his wife’s arms. He held the baby with a good deal of confidence, cradling her against his chest as Jane tried to get a look.
He finally peeled back the swaddling so she could see the infant.
The big sister was quite thrilled with her.
“Well?” Caledonia said, smiling wearily at her husband and eldest daughter. “We had planned on a lad, but I do not wish to name my daughter Lance. What shall we name her?”
Thor shrugged, looking at Jane. “Do you have any suggestions?”
Jane nodded hesitantly. “I must confess something,” she said, looking between her parents. “I prayed for a sister. I love my brothers, but I did not want them to outnumber the girls, so I prayed very hard for a sister.”
Caledonia chuckled. “God heard your prayer,” she said. “It seems to me that since you prayed for this child, you should name her.”
“I agree.” Wynter, Lady Ashington, spoke up. Standing on the other side of the bed, the beautiful woman with the red hair was watching the touching scene with a great deal of delight. “Janie, what name shall the baby have?”
Jane’s gaze moved to the infant, who was starting to squirm. “I… I like the name Julianna,” she said. She looked up at Thor. “Do you like the name? Julianna?”
“I love the name,” he said. “Well done, Janie. Would you like to hold Julianna now?”
Thrilled that her parents liked the name, Jane nodded eagerly and rushed to sit down next to her mother on the bed.
Thor placed the baby carefully in her arms, and Jane gazed at the baby for a moment before bursting into quiet tears.
As Caledonia and Wynter comforted the emotional young woman, Thor stood back by his father, watching the tender scene.
“Sometimes I have trouble believing just how rich my life really is,” Thor murmured. “Do you remember that moment, years ago, when Henry forced me into this marriage?”
“Well I do.”
Thor looked at him. “I never had the chance to thank him before he died,” he said. “I have always regretted that.”
A smile played on Gage’s lips. “He went to his grave thinking we were both angry with him.”
Thor snorted softly. “I once told him that I did not think I would make a very good husband.”
“I remember.”
“Have I?” Thor turned to his father, tears suddenly in his eyes.
“Have I been a good husband, Papa? A good father? I’ve so wanted to emulate you in everything.
I hope I have made you proud. I know that I added Wylde to my name, to honor my wife’s family and the Tamworth line, and I have always been afraid that, secretly, that has disappointed you. Has it?”
Gage put his arm around his son’s shoulders.
“Of course not,” he said. “You are simply making your own mark, creating your own dynasty. Some say that the measure of a man is upon the field of battle, or in the political arena. But I’ve come to think that the true measure of a man is how much he is loved by his family and friends.
You took a broken woman and her equally broken children and created something fine and whole.
Henry was right when he said you deserved more than being a garrison commander for your father. He was right and I was wrong.”
Thor smiled weakly, wiping at the tears in his eyes. “I think we were both wrong,” he said. “I will have to name a son after him as penitence.”
“Wherever Henry is, I am certain that will please him.”
“So long as I please you, that is all I am concerned with.”
Gage gave Thor a squeeze, but Caledonia was calling to him, so he stood back as Thor joined his wife. He leaned over Jane, still holding the baby, as Caledonia pointed out a dimple on the baby’s chin.
Just like her father.
Those years ago, Gage had indeed been wrong when it came to fighting the idea of his son, his greatest son, marrying a widowed countess.
He was grateful that he’d been wrong, because what Thor had with Caledonia was nothing short of magical.
As Gage had said, Thor had taken a broken woman and her broken children and made something whole and wonderful out of them.
And they made something whole and wonderful out of him, too.
Thorington de Reyne-Wylde, Earl of Tamworth and Stafford, had turned out to be a remarkable warlord in his own right. He had indeed made his own mark by taking on his wife’s surname, bringing a Wylde streak to the Aragon mercenary and Visigoth blood that already flowed in his veins.
One Wylde knight, indeed.
And Gage couldn’t have been prouder.
* THE END *
Children of Thor and Caledonia de Reyne-Wylde
Robert’s daughters:
Jane
Janet
Joan
Thor’s children:
Thorne
Kirk
Reed
Julianna
Lance
Justina
Jeniver
Henry
Gray