Chapter Fifteen #2
“This is so unexpected, Jasper,” he said, looking at Elreda, who couldn’t hide her delight. “A marriage offer, you say? Certainly we are very honored that you would consider the House of de Lohr but I believe it is something I must discuss with my wife before giving you an answer.”
“We accept!” Elreda couldn’t control herself. “We would be delighted to accept a marriage contract between your daughter and Alexander. We have prayed for such a thing! God has heard our prayers!”
“Wait!” Alexander couldn’t keep silent; he stood up, looking at his parents as if they had gone mad. “Can we not discuss this first before you already have me married and with children? Mother, I know you are thrilled by this offer, but may we please discuss it first before you accept?”
“I will provide her with a dowry of five thousand silver marks,” Jasper said, his offer directed at Alexander as an outright bribe.
“I will sweeten the deal with another twenty gold crowns upon the event of the marriage and the gift of Chirbury Castle, a small garrison near Trelystan. ’Tis not much more than a pele tower, but it would be a good place for a young couple starting off their lives together.
It would be yours, Alexander, provided you marry Kathalin. ”
Alexander stared at him a moment as he processed the great riches Jasper was promising him. “I know Chirbury,” he said. “I have been there, many times. It is built on an older site, in fact. I remember one of the locals telling me that the Romans had an outpost there.”
Jasper could see he had the man’s interested and he hastened to capitalize on it.
“I would supply you with men, of course, as garrison for my holdings, but the castle would belong to you,” he said, watching the gleam in Alexander’s eyes.
“Alex, you have been around Kathalin enough to know that she has had some difficulty adjusting to life outside of St. Milburga’s.
In truth, it was a mistake to send her there as a child and never bring her home, or send her to other fine houses to foster, because all she knows is the way of life of a convent.
I have every confidence that you, as her husband, can help introduce her into society and help her to become the wife she was born to be. I know you can do this, lad. Will you?”
Alexander swallowed hard, realizing that everyone was looking at him.
He was torn between the attractiveness of the offer and thoughts of Gates.
Gates! Surely the man was only after another conquest with the woman, wasn’t he?
Alexander realized there was some doubt in his mind because he kept asking himself the same question.
He had known Gates a very long time and knew how the man worked, and his behavior with Kathalin had been different.
Was it possible, then, that Gates actually felt something for Lady Kathalin?
If that was the case, then Alexander would be snatching the woman right out from under him.
Would he really be saving her from him? Or would he be separating two people who were genuinely fond of one another?
“Your proposal is extremely generous, my lord,” he finally said. “But I… I must think on it. May I have until tomorrow?”
Next to Alexander, Elreda shushed him. “Nonsense!” she said. “Jasper, we accept your proposal. We are grateful that you approached us first about this marriage and we accept with all our hearts. How does Rosamund feel about this? And where is your wife?”
Jasper kept glancing at Alexander, seeing his uncertainty, even though he answered Elreda.
“It is Rosamund who suggested this match,” he said.
“Her illness keeps her confined but, of course, she sends her affection and best wishes to you both. Now, may I have my scribe draw up the contract? I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to know that our children will be joined in marriage. We will not only be friends but family now.”
Elreda held up her cup to Jasper, metal against metal to seal the deal, as Henry eyed his subdued son.
He assumed, naturally, that it was simply Alexander’s general reluctance to marry and soon found himself swept up in the celebration between Jasper and Elreda.
Still, there was something in Alexander’s expression that kept him from celebrating completely.
He wasn’t sure what it was yet, but he would find out.
“Now, Jasper,” Henry said, forcing his focus away from his son. “When will we meet our future daughter? I am eager to come to know her.”
Jasper downed his cup of wine and poured himself more. “Alex,” he said. “Please fetch Kathalin and bring her here, but tell her nothing of our plans. I should like to do that personally.”
Alexander nodded his head and stood up, heading out of the hall. He was silent in his actions, dutiful, but his mind was racing. He was still reeling from what had happened, therefore, it wasn’t Kathalin he would seek first.
It was Gates.
He found that he had to.
The troop house was already crowded with the addition of de Lohr’s men and Gates, after he left Kathalin in the garden, found himself lured to the situation by Tobias, who was trying to deal with it.
The troop house was designed to hold about six hundred men in beds built in doubles, one on top of the other, and even more men should they sleep on the floor.
With the men that had returned with Gates from France, and now the addition of de Lohr’s men, Gates and Tobias were forced to do some reorganizing.
Many more men were expected, so the rope and wood bunks in the troop house were moved around to create more space for the incoming escorts.
Gates was in the process of supervising the shift in sleeping space when Alexander entered the troop house. He asked the men at the door where de Wolfe was and, following pointing fingers, he found Gates about midway in the structure as men moved furniture all around him.
Gates, who was trying to figure out a way to cram a lot of bodies into a finite space, caught sight of Alexander as the man approached.
“Did your parents arrive safely, then?” he asked.
Alexander smiled weakly. “They did,” he said. “They are in the hall with Jasper now.”
Gates smiled. “The last time I saw your mother, she wanted to know why I had not yet married and I seem to remember that she harassed you fairly stringently about your lack of a wife, too,” he said.
“Has she started in on you already about being unmarried or will she wait a polite amount of time before laying in to us both?”
Oh, God, Alexander thought. If he only knew how close he was in that lightly-uttered jest. “She has started already,” he said. “In fact… I have a need to speak with you, Gates. Privately. Can you spare a moment?”
Gates didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.
He didn’t even notice Alexander’s pale features or tense expression; the dimness of the troop house negated such observations.
Leaving Tobias in charge of the grunting, heaving men, he followed Alexander outside in the daylight, blinking his eyes and shielding them because he’d been inside the dark troop house.
“God’s Bones,” he complained. “The Light of God is shining into my face and I am blinded by it.”
He said it comically and Alexander laughed softly. “God is scrutinizing you, my friend.”
Gates lifted an eyebrow in resignation as he blinked his eyes, becoming accustomed to the bright winter day. “If He looks too closely He will not be pleased,” he said. “I try to avoid His scrutiny at all cost.”
“Is that why you stay away from church?”
“It ’tis.”
Alexander simply grinned at the glib reply but almost immediately, his smile faded.
“Sorry to drag you out into the brilliant light, but there are things we must speak of,” he said.
“I hardly know where to start so it is best I start from the beginning. You and I have been friends for many years, Gates. I treasure those years and I treasure you.”
Gates nodded his head. “As I treasure you also,” he said, still not particularly sensing anything odd. “You have been annoying at times, and even frustrating, but it is true that I love you like I would a brother.”
He was smiling as he said it but Alexander couldn’t give in to the humor, not now. There were serious matters at hand. He looked at Gates; really looked at the man, trying to figure out the best way to speak of such things. He realized that he was quite nervous about it Hesitantly, he continued.
“Please do not be offended by whatever I say, for I am only speaking frankly and honestly, friend to friend,” he said. “Gates, I must ask you something and you must be perfectly honest with me. It is imperative. Will you do this?”
Finally, Gates began to sense that something was off. There was something in Alexander’s manner and in his words that told him so. Curious but not yet concerned, he nodded.
“Of course,” he said. “I would never lie to you.”
Alexander nodded swiftly. “I know,” he said. “But this is different. What I am about to ask you is personal.”
“Then ask.”
Alexander swallowed hard, hung his head, and then lifted his eyes to Gates in a manner that suggested he was truly reluctant to speak. But he did. “It is about Kathalin,” he said softly. “Are you attempting to make another conquest out of the woman?”
Gates’ expression flickered. It seemed at first as if he was startled by the question, which he was, but he quickly steadied himself. When he replied, his answer was slow and deliberate.
“I am not,” he said. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I sense that you have interest in her and she in you,” Alexander said. “Is this true?”
Gates didn’t say anything for a moment. He sighed faintly and averted his gaze. “I will again ask you why you are asking me this.”