Chapter Twenty-Four #2
“Answer me,” he said, looking mostly at his father. “What are you doing here?”
Andres gave his brother a droll expression. “Can we at least dismount?”
“Nay.”
Andres sighed sharply. “Cortez, we came to find you,” he stated the obvious.
“Father and I had many serious discussions after you left and he has come to see the error of his ways. Old prejudices die hard but Father agrees that your wife should not be held responsible for the actions of her ancestor. He has come to make amends. Now, can we dismount?”
Cortez was looking at his father now. “Is this true?” he asked, considerably less hostile. “Did you come to apologize?”
Gorsedd looked rather ragged and pale, sporting several days’ growth on his face.
“All I have is my family,” he said, rather simply.
“You must understand that I spent my youth listening to stories of de Velt’s atrocities against my grandfather.
I had grown up hating the very name. Your wife…
she comes from that family but she did not commit the crimes.
Forgive an old man for living in the past and for letting old prejudices cloud his thinking. ”
Cortez couldn’t help but think of what he’d been told. Father’s mind is going. Maybe in flashes of insanity, he would forget his apology and relive the old hatred. He couldn’t help but be wary.
“You are forgiven,” he said quietly. “But I am not entirely sure I can trust you around my wife. She is the most important thing in the world to me, even over you.”
Gorsedd appeared genuinely remorseful. “Will… you at least allow me to apologize to her?”
“Why?”
“Because I want my son back and this is the only way he will return.”
That was probably very true and for that fact alone, Cortez was willing to believe that his father would behave himself.
His family was the most important thing to him and he would do what was necessary to preserve it – perhaps even put aside an old hatred.
Still, time would tell, but for the moment, Cortez was willing to agree.
It was his father, after all, and he had missed him.
He would like nothing better than for these wounds to be healed. He looked at Andres.
“Do you believe him?” he asked.
Andres nodded. “I would not be here if I did not,” he said, his gaze softening on his brother. “Give the man a chance, Cortez. Please.”
Cortez could feel himself relenting. “Very well,” he said after a moment. “Dismount your horses and come inside. I will have Peter take your mounts to the livery.”
A collective sigh of relief went up as Gorsedd and Andres dismounted their horses. As Andres went straight to Keir, who tried to punch him in the nose as he had once promised to do, Gorsedd went to Cortez.
The old man gazed up at his son. There were a thousand things he wanted to say to him but the words just wouldn’t come.
At this point, actions would speak louder than words and he knew it.
He had much to atone for. As the cold wind blew around them and the knights began to head back into the warmth of the tavern, Gorsedd dug into the pocket of his heavy cloak.
“I have something for your wife,” he said. “Mayhap… mayhap in some small way, this will emphasize my regret at my behavior. I hope it will.”
Cortez was trying not to feel pity for his father but it was difficult. He loved his father very much and the rift had greatly upset him.
“What is it?”
Gorsedd pulled out a piece of cloth, carefully wrapped around something, and as he unwrapped the ends, Cortez could see flashes of silver beneath.
The great silver collar suddenly appeared, whole and bright and beautiful as it had been the day it had been forged.
It was magnificent beneath the cloudy, cold skies and Cortez couldn’t help but reach out to touch it. So many memories in that one collar.
“The necklace,” he breathed. “You had it repaired.”
Gorsedd nodded. “I did indeed,” he said, looking up at Cortez.
“I hope your wife will accept this. Your mother would have wanted her to have it and, in some small way, mayhap this makes your mother a part of your marriage. She would have been so happy to know your wife, Cortez. With this necklace, I believe your mother is giving you her blessing. I hope your wife will wear it with honor and accept the apology of a foolish old man.”
Cortez grinned. He put his hand on his father’s shoulder, giving the man a squeeze. “Let us go inside and ask her.”
Gorsedd nodded, broke into a smile, and then fiercely hugged his son, who returned the embrace firmly.
Finally, Cortez could feel warmth again and hope.
He could feel so very many things, not the least of which was his father’s genuine regret and remorse.
For them, so many things had come full circle and for life in general, the great questing undertaken those weeks ago was now at a close.
Everyone had what they had come for; for Diamantha, it was Robert, and for Cortez, it was Diamantha.
For Gorsedd… it was the understanding that life goes on and old family hatred should remain in the past. For Gorsedd and Cortez and Andres, it had no meaning.
Life was good now and they intended to keep it that way.
The great questing, to all concerned, meant something different to each and every one.