“Nay, she does not. As my granddaughter, I would have her wed, secure in the bonds of matrimony.”
“You talk from both sides of your face, Hrolf. For many years Poppa sat at your side without the marriage ties.”
Hrolf stood to his full height, livid with rage, and his retainers drew their weapons. “No man speaks disparagingly of Poppa. In the eyes of the Christian rites I took at the Treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte, the king’s daughter Gisela became my wife. Even then, I considered Poppa my true wife, and I married her as soon as Gisela died.”
Sincere regret immediately flushed Thork’s face, and he hastened to assure Hrolf, I apolgize for my inept words, Hrolf. There are many things for which I would heartily insult you, but ne’er would I slander Poppa. I merely meant to say that the more danico and the taking of mistresses is practiced widely by you and others without impunity.”
Hrolf gave a grudging nod of acceptance to Thork’s backhanded apology. He sat back down and tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the table.
“You may have my granddaughter only on the marriage bed,” he finally said, “and that is my final word. One last bit of advice—I would suggest you depart on the morrow afore bad deeds, as well as words, pass betwixt us.”
Thork held Ruby’s eyes questioningly. She was stunned by the finality of Hrolf’s command, and her shoulders slumped in defeat. Before she could say anything, Thork turned and stormed from the hall, with Selik following after him.
“Please let me speak to him,” Ruby pleaded with Hrolf. “Just talk. That’s all.”
“Nay!” Hrolf growled, still angered by Thork’s words. ” ‘Tis best to end it thus.”
Ruby ran from the hall in tears. What if Thork left Normandy without seeing her again? She had so much to say to him. Would she go with him if she could? Probably. No, actually, Ruby wasn’t sure. She needed first to know Thork’s feelings and what their relationship would be if she went to Jomsborg with him.
Ruby never would have been able to accept the role of “other woman” in her future life with Jack. Could she now? Oh, Lord! Ruby cried inwardly as the questions hammered away inside her head.
Poppa followed Ruby into her bedchamber and comforted her, ” ‘Tis really for the best, my child. Believe me, I know well the pain of living with a man you love without the sanction of the church.”
“Would you have rather lived without him?”
Poppa smiled. I did not love Hrolf at the start. He killed my father, Count Berengar of Bayeau, and took me captive. ‘Twas later I grew to love him.”
“How could you?” Ruby asked, but, at the same time, she remembered Thork’s cruelty in imprisoning her in Olaf’s barn for five days and yet she still loved him.
“Hrolf is a hard man. Ne’er doubt it,” Poppa explained patiently, “but he is a just one, as well, and an outstanding leader. When we came to Normandy, Hrolf instilled the old Norse laws, especially those relating to the respect for a man’s property. So much did he want a peaceable land that he ordered his people to leave their valuable farm tools out at night, tempting thievery. If anything was stolen, he said he would be responsible.”
“Oh, Poppa, what has this to do with me and Thork?”
Poppa smiled indulgently and went on, “There was this farmer’s wife at Lonpaon who hid her husband’s plow, then asked for compensation for thievery. When Hrolf discovered the truth, he hung her, but, more important, he killed her husband, as well, for not controlling his mate better.”
“Are you warning me that Hrolf means what he says about me and Thork?”
“Yea, but I also ask that you remember he does what he considers fair.” Poppa shrugged and smiled enigmatically. “Mayhap it will all work out for the best.”
Ruby didn’t see how that could be. For hours she wrestled with all the questions swirling in her brain, unable to come up with answers that would satisfy her heart, as well as her morality. Finally she cried herself to sleep but tossed restlessly, not knowing if Thork would be gone when she awakened in the morning. In the middle of the night, she dreamt of him.