Chapter Twenty-Four
“You will forgive me if I do not believe you. And I do not appreciate having my wife upset so.”
Brandt, Rosalind, and Margarethe were in one of the smaller solars of Melesse, one that was tucked back near the kitchens and used by the staff for storage.
Brandt wouldn’t take them into a finer chamber to discuss their business because he truly didn’t want them there, so he showed them the same consideration they had always shown him; none.
As he had escorted them into the keep, Rosalind had smiled tremulously at him and he remembered that the last time he saw her, she had stuck her tongue out at him. It was difficult for him to move past that last impression. Margarethe wouldn’t even look him in the eye.
“But… it is the truth,” Rosalind insisted to his statement. She looked at her sister for support. “Margarethe, tell him.”
Margarethe was much like her mother with a quick temper and rash mouth. But at the moment, she was quite apprehensive of her massive father as he stood by the door of the small and crowded chamber.
“Several years ago, Mother met a man by the name of Louis of Ghistelles,” she said, her voice quivering.
“She fell in love with him. She wanted to be with him but because she was married to you, it was impossible to marry him. So she told him her husband was dead and that she was a widow. He married her but before she left with him, she told us to tell you that she had died. She wanted you to believe that she was dead and gone, which is why we told you she had perished of a fever. It is God’s honest truth, my lord. ”
Brandt hadn’t truly believed their story until that moment. Now, he felt the fingers of doubt clutching at him and he didn’t like it. The girls seemed sincere.
“I remember when you sent me the missive informing me of her death,” he said, jaw ticking. “I came to Gael to see you, if you recall. You were young.”
“I was ten and Rosalind was eleven.”
“I asked you if you wanted to live with me and you told me that you did not. In fact, I seem to remember you were rather adamant about it.”
Margarethe nodded, glancing at her sister. “We had three governesses already,” she said. “We did not need parents. I suppose we hoped that Mother would return some day, but she never did.”
He was coming to feel just the slightest bit sorry for them but he fought it.
He reverted back to his historical feelings for them, his children who had been taught to hate them.
He didn’t trust them in the least and even though the story sounded genuine, he chose not to believe them.
He couldn’t. It would turn his world upside down if what they said was true, and that would destroy him. He couldn’t let that happen.
“You told me she was dead and that is what I still choose to believe,” he finally said.
“It makes no difference that you have come to me with this ridiculous story now. I have remarried and my wife and I are expecting a child. If you repeat that story again about your mother running off with another man and possibly still living, I will purge you from Chateau Gael and you will live in the streets. I will take no notice of you and officially disown you. Is that clear?”
The girls looked terrified. Rosalind nodded emphatically. “It is, Father.”
“Do not call me that,” Brandt said coldly. “You will address me as ‘my lord’ or ‘Lord de Russe’. Now, why did you come here?”
Both young women looked beaten and scared. Brandt refused to feel pity as Rosalind, a very well-spoken young lady, struggled to explain.
“We do not remember you from childhood, my lord,” she said quietly, fumbling through her words.
“Mother took us from England when we were quite young. All we knew was what she told us or what we had heard from others. We had heard that you were a lord of war and advisor to the king. Mother said you were a brutal man.”
“That still does not tell me why you have come.”
Rosalind looked at Margarethe for support. The younger sister, looking at the floor, spoke.
“Bearing the name de Russe has been a curse,” she said unhappily.
“Everyone in France hates us. Our lives are Hell because everyone is suspicious of us, made worse now that you and the Prince of Wales are waging such terrible warfare on the land. We are spat upon at church, hissed at in the street… we have come to you because we cannot live here any longer. We have come to ask you to send us back to England where we will at least have a chance of living normal lives and mayhap securing a decent marriage prospect, because no one in France other than dishonorable men will consider us.”
Brandt saw a good deal of himself in his younger daughter.
She was unafraid and strong, but very sad.
For the first time, he was starting to feel like their father.
He had never felt that way before and he struggled to shake it off.
He didn’t want to feel anything for the pair but it was becoming increasingly difficult.
“It was not I who brought you to France,” he said.
“It was your mother. If you must blame someone, blame her. I have dutifully provided you with a roof over your head and a comfortable living arrangement but beyond that, I will not do anything more. I am sorry you wasted your time coming to see me.”
Margarethe looked at him, stricken. “How can you be so cold?” she blurted “We had no choice when Mother took us away. We were children! She only told us what she wanted us to know about you. We never got to know you personally to make our own judgments about you, but from what I see right now, everything Mother told us about you is true. You are a mean and cruel man!”
Rosalind hissed at her sister, quieting her, as she tried to salvage the conversation.
“It is true that our mother hated you,” she said.
“She wanted us to hate you, too. She told us you never wanted us and that you hated us. Now we see that it is true and if we have wasted your time, then we apologize.”
Brandt looked at her, his harsh stance wavering.
He knew he shouldn’t engage them in this level of emotional conversation but he couldn’t help it.
His relationship with Ellowyn had allowed him to realize and understand his feelings, so he was perhaps more emotional than he should have been.
He still wasn’t very good at controlling his emotions once his guard was down.
Rosalind and Margarethe were trying very hard to pull it down.
“I never hated you,” he told them. “No matter what your mother told you, I never hated you. You are my offspring and to hate something I have created is not within me. I realize that you were children and she fed you lies about me, so hear me now: I never hated you. I never sent you away to France. That was her decision. She did her best to keep you from me and turn you against me, and I know that she has succeeded. You have come here asking me to send you to England because my reputation in France has made you outcasts. Mayhap that is true and in that respect, I will reconsider your request to send you back to England. Given our historical relationship, you will understand that consideration is the best I can do right now.”
The girls nodded demurely before glancing at each other, passing expressions of uncertainty and hope. Rosalind sighed with some relief.
“Thank you,” she said softly. “My lord, I am not sure how my sister feels, but in speaking for myself, mayhap you will accept my apology for my behavior towards you all of these years.”
Brandt eyed her. She looked so much like her mother that he was having difficulty overcoming the innate aversion to her.
“What do you hope to gain by telling me that?” he asked an honest question. “You are a woman grown. Do you expect to establish a relationship with me?”
Rosalind shrugged. “If not a relationship, at least a rapport,” she replied with equal honesty.
“The older I have grown, the more I have become more curious about you. Mother does not care for us, and although you were my father in name only, at least you have done right all of these years to provide for us. That says something for your character no matter what my mother has said. I simply want you to know my thoughts.”
Brandt’s guard went down another notch, at least where Rosalind was concerned. Margarethe was still standing against the wall, staring at the floor. He wasn’t sure about his youngest, but if she was truly like him, then she would be very stubborn about things.
“And so I do,” he finally said. He cleared his throat softly, forcing himself to show a measure of compassion. “You may stay here tonight and be on your way in the morning. Remain here and I will send someone to tend to you.”
He exited the room and quietly closed the door behind him.
Still inside the cold and dark solar with items cluttering the floor, Rosalind turned to her sister, who was still silently staring at the floorboards.
The older she and Margarethe grew, the more they seemed to grow apart in thought.
Margarethe still very much hated their father, but that was purely based on their mother’s teachings.
Margarethe wasn’t so sure she wanted anything to do with their father, but Rosalind was different.
She thought perhaps he might be worth knowing.
Age and inherent common sense told her that.
Rolling her eyes at her stubborn sister, she moved to the other side of the chamber to wait for one of her father’s servants to come for them.
*
“You certainly carry your own storm with you wherever you go,” Ellowyn said after hearing Brandt’s report on his meeting with his daughters. “Nothing about you is peaceful for very long, is it?”
Brandt smiled wryly. “Apparently not. Except for moments like this with you, most everything around me is at some level of upheaval.”
“Including daughters you have not seen in years showing up on your door step.”
“Exactly.”