Chapter 14
“Where is this man then?”
After leaving Ylva alone in the hut, Ulf had gone in search of Judith and found her in the vegetable patch, weeding the plants by the gate.
She blinked when he asked the question even before he had come to a halt next to her. “What man?”
But, of course, she had no idea whether he’d found out Ylva was with child yet.
“The baby’s father,” he said with as much patience as he could muster. “You wanted my help to make him do the right thing by Ylva, I gather. Well, here I am. So tell me where I can go find him.”
“You mean… She didn’t tell you who he was?”
“No. She refuses to talk about it. But you will tell me.” Wasn’t that why she had gone to find him? One way or the other, she would be made to talk.
Judith sighed and sat on a big stone in the shape of an anvil.
She mumbled something that sounded like “stubborn woman,” and looked up at him.
If he didn’t know better, Ulf would have said that she pitied him.
But he did know better. The Saxon did not like him, and frankly, he wasn’t sure he liked her much either.
“Before you go find him, you need to know what happened,” she said. Damnation, but it was pity he could see in her eyes! “I don’t think Ylva will tell you, though, so we will have to be clever about it.”
“What do you mean?”
She stood back up, decision etched over her face.
“I’m going to go speak to Ylva. Follow me.
Don’t let her see you, but sit on the bench by the window.
I will open it so you can hear our conversation.
I promise I will ensure you get all the information you need.
She will probably hate me even more, but at this point I don’t see any other solution. ”
Ulf wasn’t sure what to say, or whether he should agree.
Listening to a private conversation seemed rather underhanded, but if neither woman was prepared to give him the name of the baby’s father, he didn’t have much choice.
He needed to know who he was, so he could do what he had been brought here to do.
“Very well.”
“Whatever you do, don’t make a sound, do not move until I have left the hut.
Then do what you feel you have to do. If you want to go speak to Ylva, do.
If you want to go back to your village rather than deal with what you heard, leave without seeing her first. It’s for the best. She has gone through enough already. ”
That was an odd thing to say. After going to all that trouble to get him, Judith wouldn’t mind him leaving without a word?
Well, he wouldn’t. He would hear who the father of Ylva’s child was, and then he would deal with the knowledge, in one way or the other.
“You need to tell him everything, not just that you are with child.” Judith launched her accusation as soon as she entered the hut. “That is why I brought him here, in case you hadn’t realized.”
Not realized! Ylva rounded on her friend, who had gone to open the window and was barely looking at her, as if what she was saying was of little importance.
Which was not her opinion at all.
“Yes, you brought him here. You ignored my wishes and did the one thing I told you not to do. How dare you—”
“I did what had to be done. Don’t you see?” The window suddenly forgotten, Judith turned to face her.
“No, I don’t see.”
“Let me be clear then. Why are you refusing to tell Ulf he is the father of your child? He deserves to know.”
“Because I know he will never believe it and I cannot even blame him!” Ylva exploded. How many times had they had the same argument? Her situation was a highly problematic one.
When she had been obliged to accept that, against all logic, she was with child, unable to absorb the shock alone, she had confided in her friend.
It would have been impossible to keep it a secret for much longer anyway.
But it had been a difficult conversation.
Judith had naturally taken this to mean that Ylva had lied about Ulf never having possessed her that last night in the Norsemen village.
But she had not lied, he had not possessed her, and she didn’t understand how it was possible that she was now carrying his child.
Because it was his child, that much she knew. There was no other possibility. She had not so much as touched another man’s hand since she had left him.
She sat down, wrapping her arms around her stomach protectively.
“I am the mother so I have no choice but to see my body change and accept that this is really happening. But without this irrefutable evidence, I would not believe it myself. I told you we didn’t sleep together, in the normal sense of the word, and that is no lie.
I still have no idea how this happened, and therefore cannot expect any man to believe my claim that my baby is his.
Ulf never possessed me. How on earth is he going to accept my word that he made me with child that night?
You had difficulty believing me at first, and you’re my friend.
How do you think he will feel? He will think that I found myself another lover, someone who doesn’t want me or this child, and now I’m putting the blame on him. ”
In her anguish, Ylva almost screamed the words.
But how could she help it? She had gone over this in her mind over and over again, until she was sick of it.
How could she go to Ulf and tell him he was going to be a father, considering they had not slept together?
She would sound like a madwoman at best, like a schemer out to trap him at worst.
But the fact remained. She was with child, and he was the father. As unlikely as it was that their night of passion should have borne fruit, anything else was completely impossible.
At first, she had not paid attention to the changes happening in her. She had not been looking for them, of course, because she knew she was still a virgin. When leaving the village, she had not for a moment wondered if she was leaving with Ulf'’s child in her womb.
But after months without her monthly courses, when morning sickness had started to plague her and her stomach has started to expand, there had been no choice but to accept the shocking reality.
Somehow, Ulf had gotten her with child. The only explanation she could think of was that it had occurred when he had pleasured her.
His member had not entered her, admittedly, but his fingers had, and they had been slick with his seed.
She distinctively remembered, because the feeling had been extraordinary.
Apparently, it had been enough to allow his seed to take root.
“Oh, Judith, why did you bring him here?” she whispered. “I told you I wasn’t yet ready to—”
“Yes, you did say it, over and over again. But what were you waiting for? For some sort of proof of his paternity to magically appear? Were you thinking that if you brought him a Norse baby with blue eyes and blond hair nine months exactly after your encounter, he would believe you?”
Well, yes, stupid as it was, she had been waiting for something like that.
Perhaps if she brought Ulf a child who looked like him, he would have no choice but to believe her?
The dates would correspond. But, of course, even that would prove little.
She had blue eyes herself, and she could have slept with another Norseman, or any blond Saxon the day after leaving the village, for all he knew.
A man who knew he had not reached his release inside her would be foolish to give her the benefit of the doubt and Ulf was not a fool.
She had not seen any other solution but to wait. Going to him before the birth had been unthinkable.
Ylva stood back up, and started to pace the room.
“I cannot bear the idea of telling him I’m carrying his child, only to be ignored or taken for a schemer.
I cannot bear to have him think I’m lying, and only trying to take advantage of him, do you hear?
I’d rather he never found out than have to deal with his contempt and suspicion.
Whether he believes it or not, he did make me with child.
I cannot change that. But I can spare myself the pain of being cast aside for something I never meant to happen. ”
A silence.
“You told me he was a good man. How do you know he will cast you aside?”
Ylva turned to face the wall and hid her face in her hands. “Because it is the only reaction that would make sense,” she breathed, feeling all hope die within her. How else would Ulf or anyone else react? “What would you do, in his place? Tell me honestly.”
There was no answer.
Judith had left the hut.
Ylva started to sob. She’d been right. This had been an utter disaster. Her friend should never have gone to the Norsemen village.
A moment later, she felt a presence behind her. The body warming her back was too tall, too imposing to be that of her friend. Ulf. It could be no one else.
She froze, panic seizing her gut. Had he heard any part of her conversation with Judith? What would he do?
Two hands wrapped around her middle, drawing her against his warm, solid chest. For a long moment the two of them remained locked in the embrace, without talking. Ylva closed her eyes, willing herself to calm.
Then Ulf said one word, his voice dark and possessive.
“Mine.”
And for the first time, the baby inside her kicked.