Chapter 18
Ylva stared at the stranger, her heart beating madly in her suddenly hollowed chest.
“My b-brother?” she repeated, dazed. Oslac. That was the only name she remembered from her past. The name of her brother.
“Yes.”
Of course. The hair. And the instant feeling of recognition. It suddenly made sense. If the man was Oslac, then, of course, he would look like her.
She closed her eyes, doing her best to contain the joy that had burst inside her body. Could it be true? After years of solitude, had she finally been reunited with—
“Says who?”
The voice slicing through the air did not belong to her but to the man by her side. Ylva’s eyes snapped open as she turned to Ulf. He was scowling and a muscle in his jaw was ticking.
“I beg your pardon?” Oslac seemed as taken aback as she was by the aggressive question.
“You say you’re her brother. Where’s your proof?”
“Proof? Well, I—”
“Faeir!” Ulf interrupted, calling out to Steinar, who had appeared in the distance, as if warned by a mysterious force. “Please take this man away and keep him with you while Ylva and I talk about this. He claims to be her brother.”
Ylva had bristled at first, but she allowed herself to relax.
This last piece of information would surely guarantee that Steinar chided his son for interfering in the family reunion.
He knew she was an orphan, so he would guess what it meant to her to be reunited with the only member of her family she had left.
To her utter shock, however, the mention of the word “brother” had the opposite effect.
The Norseman’s countenance, already rather stern, as per usual, became positively icy.
“You’re coming with me,” he said, landing a restrictive hand over Oslac’s shoulder.
Only a fool would have argued. Her brother didn’t. After one last look in her direction, he followed Steinar to his hut.
Ylva was too stunned to react as she should have and run after him.
When Ulf closed the door and turned her to face him, she was still blinking, trying to adjust to what had just happened.
Her brother had reappeared by surprise, after more than thirteen years’ absence—and he had been sent away before she could even hug him.
“Wait!” she finally exploded, glaring at Ulf. “What do you think you’re doing? This is my brother, I need to—”
“Not yet. We need to talk about this first,” he interrupted.
Talk? What was there to talk about, except find out how Oslac had found her after all this time?
“What do you mean? He said—”
“I heard what he said. I was there, thank you.” A pause, during which Ulf seemed to try to get himself under control. “Look, I’m sorry for being cautious but I assure you it is not without reason.”
“Oh?” Her furious glare made it clear he had better tell her what that reason was right away but he shook his head.
“Come. You’ve had a shock. You should sit down.”
“And you should start talking. I’m not going anywhere until you do.”
He started to pace the room. Evidently his anguish was genuine and he would not find it easy to talk about this. Why? Did he know something she didn’t about the man? Had he already met him? Or heard things about him?
“A very similar thing happened to my mother, Cwenthryth, I mean, when she was younger,” he started, sounding agonized.
“A man came to her house one day, claiming to be her half-brother. He wasn’t but still, he stayed for months in her house, only to take advantage of her ailing father and abuse her. Badly.”
Bile rose in Ylva’s throat because she could all too easily guess what form the abuse had taken. Not for a moment did she think Ulf was making this up to justify his earlier outburst. Cwenthryth’s trust had really been betrayed by an impostor and the whole family had been traumatized by it.
“That is horrible, I’m sorry,” she said, her anger abating somewhat. He was not being an overbearing lout, he was only trying to protect her. “But what that man did doesn’t mean that Oslac is lying. His could be a genuine claim.”
He shook his head, as if regretting being incapable of telling her what she wanted to hear.
“I’m sorry but I know the length some people will go to exploit other people’s weaknesses and I don’t want you to get hurt, now less than ever.
” A glance at her stomach made clear why that was.
She was not to place their babe in danger.
“We don’t know where this Oslac comes from, he has no proof he is who he says he is.
He just appears at our door claiming he is your long-lost brother and he expects us to go along with the shocking announcement. How are we supposed to believe he—”
“He would not have any proof!” Ylva cut in, getting agitated once more. “How could he? There can be no proof to produce. But he is the right age, he looks as he should, and he came looking for me. Why else would he have bothered?”
“Why? Didn’t you hear what I just told you?
” Ulf was starting to lose his temper as well.
“He might want to take advantage of the fact that you are on your own, and take you back to his house so he has someone to fuck whenever the need takes him! Have you thought of that? I’m sure my mother would have liked to have someone by her side to urge her to caution when this bastard Godfrid knocked on her door. ”
Ylva took a step back and forced herself to calm. Ulf had never looked so aggravated, even when she had tried to kill him. This side of him she had never seen before worried her but she sensed it was only his pain and frustration talking. She should try to be understanding.
“It makes sense for you to be suspicious after what happened to Cwenthryth,” she whispered.
“But don’t you see? I have to at least take into consideration the fact that he could be my brother.
I need to know. And for that I have to see him.
It is my decision to make. You cannot decide for me when or if I talk to him.
You cannot deny me the opportunity of finding out the truth. You have no right over me.”
She hated to point this out but she had to make him see reason. This was not his battle, it was hers. And she was desperate to go talk to the man who could be the only family she had left.
Ulf came to stand in front of her and placed a hand over her stomach. The touch was gentle, careful, but his eyes were smoldering.
“I might be nothing to you, but I am this father’s child,” he said in a low, almost menacing voice. “You can think of me what you like, you can wish you didn’t have to deal with me, but it is my responsibility to protect this babe and I will do it.”
Ylva bit her bottom lip. Not only was he angry but he was hurt. “I didn’t say you were nothing to me. I don’t mean that.”
She’d said he had no right over her. It was not quite the same, was it?
No, but she could see why it would have hurt him.
How would she feel if he’d said the same about her?
She would have hated it. Oh, but this was a mess.
She had just made a shocking discovery and being with child didn’t help her deal with the emotions it provoked inside her.
She needed to think. Alone.
Eyes filled with tears, Ylva ran out of the hut.
After a while, she had to come to a stop. Her stomach, admittedly not as big as it would get in the months to come, was making it uncomfortable to run. A fallen tree trunk to her right provided a handy seat.
She would have liked to go to Steinar’s hut immediately and demand to see Oslac, but she knew the request would be ignored.
She knew now why Ulf’s explanation that the man was claiming to be her brother had provoked such a reaction from his father.
He would have been reminded of the man who had done the same thing to hurt his wife.
Though she sympathized, she couldn’t help but feel the unfairness of it in her bones.
One man was being held under suspicion because of what another had done.
And now the happiness she’d felt at being reunited with her only family was tainted by doubt.
Because, say what she might, Ulf’s story had chilled her to the bone.
What if this “Oslac” really was an impostor out to take advantage of a lonely, vulnerable woman?
She had only just been freed from Mildred.
She could not risk becoming another man’s captive.
It was not only about her. She had to think because she had her child to protect.
If she had to put her wishes on hold to ensure its safety, she would.
Just then footsteps were heard behind her. Ylva tensed. Had Ulf come after her? No, the footsteps were too tentative and soft to be those of a big, irate Norseman. She waited, hoping that whoever it was who had happened upon her would carry on and leave her alone.
The noise stopped when the person came to a halt by her side. Cwenthryth. Ulf’s mother. Well, not birth mother but mother nonetheless. The woman who’d suffered at the hands of a man posing as her brother. Another chill went through Ylva. The poor woman had been through so much.
“Are you all right?” Cwenthryth asked softly.
All sorts of answers passed through Ylva’s mind. In the end, the honest one came out.
“No,” she admitted, staring at her feet. “I’ve just argued with Ulf. Earlier today I thought I’d seen my brother for the first time in thirteen years. But I was denied the opportunity to find out more and now I don’t know whether I can trust him or not. So no, I’m not all right.”
“I know what happened this morning, which is why I came to find you. I guessed you would be upset.”
With a sigh, Cwenthryth sat down on the tree trunk next to her. Ylva didn’t even think of hiding her rounded stomach. It was probably too late and suddenly she couldn’t remember why she had wanted to keep the babe a secret.
“Yes, I am upset,” she mumbled.
“I’m sorry for Ulf and Steinar’s heated reaction. You can be sure I will have a word with them once their temper has cooled. But I cannot say I’m surprised at how they reacted, or even that I blame them for being cautious.”
Ylva couldn’t help being disappointed. She had hoped that Cwenthryth would be an ally. But apparently, she was siding with the men. After what she had endured it was perhaps understandable, but Ylva couldn’t help feeling as if the whole world was against her.
There was a pause, then Ulf’s mother turned to her.
“You will have been told about Godfrid, the man who posed as my half-bother, I suppose, the reason for the men’s reticence to accept Oslac’s word?” She spoke in a low voice, making it clear she was uncomfortable discussing this. The memories would be too painful.
“Yes. I’m sorry. What he did to you was monstrous.”
“It was, but he did more than hurt me. I bet that Ulf didn’t tell you Godfrid almost killed him when he was not yet thirteen?”
Ylva’s hands flew to her mouth. Indeed he had not. “No. Why?”
“Because he had stopped him from doing what he’d planned to do to me.
” Cwenthryth bit her bottom lip. “After a few days hiding in the village, I had foolishly gone back home. Godfrid was furious and decided to ensure I never left again. This time I think he would have killed me after raping me. But Ulf had come into town to ask me to come back. He saw us and jumped on Godfrid, who turned his ire onto him. In the end, Steinar arrived in time to save us both. But it was a horrific scene. I really thought that Ulf would die.”
Dear God, what a story. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
She had once asked Ulf about his happy childhood.
She now knew it had not been free of trauma.
He had told her about his real mother’s murder, but she had not known about this even worse tale.
Having to come to the rescue of the woman you saw as your mother aged only twelve and then being almost beaten to death for defending her, having to witness your father commit murder in front of your eyes, even for a good cause, would have been traumatic.
Was it during that frightful attack that he’d had his wrist broken?
He’d told her he’d been twelve but had not given any more details. It could have been.
Cwenthryth took her hand in hers.
“Go to Ulf. He will have calmed down by now. He’s always been more measured than his father.” She gave a smile that betrayed her love for her gruff husband. “He will understand that you need to speak to Oslac.”
Yes, she did need that. “Would he agree to accompany me, do you think?”
Cwenthryth smiled as if that had been exactly the right thing to say. “He only wants to ensure no harm comes to you or the babe. So, yes, he will be grateful if you give him the chance to do so.”
Ylva stilled. Did the woman suspect that the babe in question was her first grandchild? Or did she simply assume that Ulf would want to protect any woman with child, like the good man he was?
She shook her head. It did not matter. She was not so proud or stubborn that she would make a point of going to Oslac alone, just to spite people who cared about her and wanted to help. All her life she had wished she could have such people.
“I will ask for Ulf’s help. Thank you.”