Chapter Fifteen
It had been over two weeks since Joselyn left Berwick.
She was counting the days since she last saw her husband because he had told her that their separation would not be a long one.
No more than a few weeks, he had told her.
Well, a little over two weeks was a few weeks as far as she was concerned and she was growing increasingly anxious.
She had mentioned it to Lady de Lara, who in turn told her husband to send a soldier to Berwick to see how the situation was faring.
The soldier also carried a missive from Lady Pembury to her husband, something sweet and short.
Joselyn was coming to see that Lady de Lara was most definitely the route to go in order to have her wishes known to Tate.
The words were not even out of Toby’s mouth before Tate was moving to fulfill her requests.
But, then again, Stephen was the same way with her.
Not that the past two weeks had been terrible.
On the contrary, she was having a marvelous time.
Toby was sweet and hospitable, and she liked her very much.
She and Cade had also come to know each other better during this time and she could see that he was a generally sad boy but eager to please.
She wanted to make him happy, to see him smile more, so she spent as much time as she could with him when he was not playing with Roman and the twins.
But as time passed and Cade began to realize that a life he had never expected was opening up to him, he began to show more joy in things.
Joselyn had played a child’s game of cards with him the night before, along with Roman, Cate, Dylan and Alex, and she was coming to see the happy boy beneath the sad fa?ade.
Roman and Cade had conspired to cheat against Dylan and Alex, causing the twins to start fighting each other, and Joselyn had sat back and watched while Roman and Cade nearly busted a gut laughing about it.
It had been truly hilarious to watch and in that small gesture, she found herself falling more deeply in love with her son. He would make Stephen proud.
It was near the nooning meal on this warm day as Joselyn sat with Toby in Toby’s well-appointed solar.
Toby was without the baby as the child napped in the room above her head, and her other children were outside with a big, burly man who had been introduced to Joselyn as Wallace.
Joselyn was not entirely sure about the gruff old man when she had first met him but she had come to see that he was something of a grandfather to the de Lara children.
They clearly adored him. She was not sure if he was a servant or a soldier, but mostly, he was a playmate and mentor.
When the children weren’t with Tate or Toby, they were with Wallace.
Cade was with him, too. She could hear the children playing some sort of game from the bailey as she worked on a piece of needlepoint in a frame.
She had never had much time for lady-like pursuits so this was fairly unfamiliar territory.
She had jabbed her finger with the needle several times as Toby sat across from her and wrote on parchment.
Joselyn had discovered that Toby managed all of Tate’s books and estates, and she greatly admired the woman for her learned ways.
“Ouch!” Joselyn jabbed herself for the tenth time in as many minutes, sucking the finger with the blood prick. She looked at Toby. “I am not getting any better at this. I would do better chopping wood.”
Toby snorted, looking up from her quill. “You have not given yourself enough time to become familiar with the techniques,” she said encouragingly. “I think your bird looks very good.”
“It is a butterfly.”
Toby stared at her a moment before breaking down into laughter. “Your butterfly looks terrible.”
Joselyn burst into snickers. “You do not have to be so cruel about it,” she teased.
Toby lifted an eyebrow. “Did you not know that about me? I am a cruel woman.”
Joselyn watched her return to her books, her smile fading.
“Nay, you are not,” she said softly. “You are one of the kindest people I have ever met. Growing up, I never truly had a friend. Then, when I went to Jedburgh, emotional attachments with others were discouraged. The nuns believed the only attachment should be to God. I suppose this is the first time I have ever had someone to really talk to.”
Over the weeks, Toby had heard more of Joselyn’s harrowing life and she looked at the woman, her expression soft with sympathy.
“You and I had the same kind of life,” she replied quietly.
“Before I met my husband, I managed my father’s affairs because he was too drunk to do it, tended my bedridden mother, and raised my little sister.
My entire life revolved around ensuring that our family survived. I never had a friend, either.”
Joselyn smiled timidly. “Do you suppose we are friends now?”
Toby nodded her head emphatically. “Of course we are. We will be the greatest of friends forever.”
Joselyn’s smile grew. “I hope so,” she said sincerely. She watched Toby as the woman winked at her and returned to her parchment. “Would you tell me how you and your husband met?” she asked as she returned to her sewing.
Toby paused, looking at Joselyn with twinkling eyes.
“Good Heavens,” she exclaimed softly. “Where to begin? Tate came to my father’s town seeking donations for young Edward, not yet the king at that time.
Tate was Edward’s protector, uncle, father all rolled into one.
Stephen and Kenneth were the king’s bodyguards.
I met all three of them at the same time. ”
Joselyn forgot about the ugly needlework before her, much more interested in Lady de Lara’s story.
“Was it love at first sight?” she asked.
Toby looked at her as if she were mad. “Absolutely not,” she said firmly. “Tate and I had a very rough start. He did not like a woman who spoke her mind. But he warmed to me, eventually.”
Joselyn thought back to when she and Stephen had first met.
“Odd you should say that you and Tate had a rough start,” she said faintly, thinking back to that turbulent day.
“Stephen and I had no less a rough beginning. We were forced to wed on the eve of surrender, neither one of us wanting to wed the other, and during the ceremony my mother went mad and threw herself into the hearth. Stephen took me from the hall before I could watch her burn to death.”
Toby’s eyes opened wide with horror, with sorrow. “Oh, Jo-Jo,” she murmured. “I am so sorry to hear that. Truly.”
Joselyn shook her head, thinking it odd that the memory didn’t pain her like it once did.
“It was terrible, that is true,” she replied.
“But in a strange way, it was also how I came to discover what kind of man I had married. Stephen built a coffin for my mother and prayed over her for hours from what I was told. And he did this without even knowing me. He did it because it needed to be done.”
Toby watched the way Joselyn’s face softened when she spoke of Stephen. Knowing the man as she had for years, she was thrilled beyond measure to see such adoration in the woman’s eyes.
“Stephen is a wonderful man,” she agreed softly. “So is Kenneth. You and I are extremely fortunate to be admitted into their exclusive club. Surely no finer men walk the earth.”
Joselyn smiled, thinking on her enormous and handsome husband. “I have offered to find Sir Kenneth a wife,” she said. “He does not seem too keen on the idea.”
Toby laughed. “He will be when he meets the right woman. Stephen was never too keen on the idea, either, but that has changed.”
“Only because he was forced to marry me.”
“Then perhaps we need to force Kenneth into marriage.”
Joselyn pretended to agree. “What enemy daughter can we saddle him with?”
Toby laughed heartily, returning to her parchment and still snorting. Knowing Kenneth as she did, it was a humorous suggestion indeed.
Joselyn pushed aside thoughts of Stephen before they dampened her mood, returning to her own project to keep her mind occupied.
As they resumed focus on their individual tasks, the soldiers on the walls began taking up a cry.
From where they sat in the solar, both women could hear it and Joselyn looked at Toby with both fear and curiosity. Toby cocked an ear, listening.
“It sounds as if they are opening the gates,” she said after several moments.
Joselyn struggled not to get too excited. “Perhaps the soldier has returned from Berwick.”
Toby could see that the woman was ready to jump from her seat. “If it is, we will know soon enough,” she said steadily. “Relax and resume your sewing.”
Joselyn forced herself to calm and resume her needlepoint.
But her hands were shaking, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Toby.
She knew very well what it was to wait for a husband who was away at war.
But time passed as they continued with their tasks, sitting in comfortable yet expectant silence, until bootfalls echoed against the retractable wooden stairs.
Joselyn heard them first, her hand frozen above the fabric, still clutching the needle, as Tate entered the solar. He glanced at his wife but his focus was mostly on Joselyn. He opened his mouth to speak but he was not fast enough.
“Well?” Joselyn stood up, gazing at him expectantly. “We heard the sentries. Did the messenger return from Berwick?”
Tate was trying to think of a calm way to relay the information, not only for Joselyn but for Toby.
He didn’t want to upset either of them but knew he had little choice.
Before he could get the words out of his mouth, a massive body suddenly walked up behind him, wedging itself in between Tate and the door jamb. Joselyn’s eyes widened at the sight.