K risten waited in the closed-off cooking area for her mother to come downstairs. Selig would be sailing in the morning at what in other parts of the world would be called the dawn, but since the sun only set for a few hours each night in the summer this far north, it could not be called dawn here.
Including Selig, there would be a crew of thirty-four men. A few of them were cousins, but mostly they were friends, younger sons and even older ones, all lovers of the sea. The cargo well would be full of the furs each man had to trade, and other items of value that had been made over the dark winter months. There were fifty-five furs that Kristen's own family had gathered this winter, including two of the prized white polar bear skins that brought such a high price in the East.
It would be a profitable voyage for everyone, and Kristen had to try at least once more to be included. Selig had said he wouldn't mind, but of course he found it difficult to refuse her anything. Since her father had said no three times again this last week, her mother now was her only chance to change his mind.
The servants were preparing the evening meal. Foreigners all, they had been captured on Viking raids to the southern lands and to the East. Those who served the Haardrad family were all bought, though, for Garrick had not raided since he was a youth, nor had Selig since he began sailing in his father's stead. It was a subject that sometimes caused arguments between Kristen's parents, for her mother had been just such a slave, captured by Garrick's father and given to Garrick back in the year 851. Of course, Brenna, with her fierce pride, had never acknowledged that Garrick had owned her, and some of the tales they told of each other were of bitter struggle that was tempered by the love they now shared.
Kristen couldn't imagine her parents at odds with each other as they once were. Oh, there were still occasional fights between them, and Garrick would ride north to cool off sometimes. But when he returned, her parents would lock themselves in their chamber for hours, and when they finally came out, neither could recall what they had fought about. All of their arguments, big and small, ended in their chamber, which was a source of amusement and teasing for the rest of the family.
Bored with waiting, Kristen was pestering Aileen for some of the sweet nuts the cook was adding to the bread she was making. Kristen cajoled her in Aileen's Gaelic tongue, which usually worked to soften the woman. From the servants, who had come from so many different lands, Kristen had learned a variety of languages, and could speak each one like a native. Hers was an active mind, always eager to learn new things.
"Leave Aileen alone, love, before your father's favorite nut bread becomes plain old flat bread."
Guiltily Kristen swallowed the last of the nuts she was chewing before turning to face her mother with a grin. "I thought you would never come down. What did you whisper to Father to make him carry you upstairs like that?"
Brenna blushed prettily and with an arm about her daughter's waist, steered her into the hall, which was empty with all the men down at the fjord loading the cargo on the ship. "Must you say things like that in front of the servants?"
"Say it? They all saw him pick you up and—"
"Never mind." Brenna grinned. "And I did not whisper anything to him."
Kristen was disappointed, having hoped to hear a deliciously wicked confession from her mother, who was always so outspoken on all subjects. Seeing her disappointment, Brenna laughed.
"I did not have to whisper anything to him, love. I simply nuzzled his neck. Garrick has a very sensitive spot on his neck, you see."
"That could make him so lusty?"
"Very lusty."
"Then you provoked him. Shame on you, Mother!" Kristen teased.
"Shame on me? When I have just spent a very pleasant hour with your father in the middle of the day, and with him so eager to get down to the landing? Sometimes a woman has to take matters into her own hands when her husband is so busy."
Kristen made a sound that came out very much like a giggle. "And did he mind it, your taking him away from the fun of seeing the ship loaded?"
"What do you think?"
Kristen smiled, knowing very well he wouldn't have minded at all.
Her mother did not act like other mothers, nor did she look like other mothers. Besides the raven hair from her Celtic heritage, and her warm gray eyes, she looked much too young to have full-grown children. Although she was nearly two score years, she looked much younger than that.
Brenna Haardrad was a very beautiful woman and Kristen was most fortunate to have inherited her mother's features, though her height, tawny-blond hair, and aqua eyes she had solely from her father. She could at least thank God she wasn't as tall as her father and brothers. Brenna had often done so, although here in the North, Kristen's unusual height was not the problem it might have been elsewhere, for the Norsemen were either as tall as or taller than she. In Brenna's own land, though, it would be a definite disadvantage, for Kristen would be as tall as some men, but taller than most.
"Surely you were not waiting on me just to ask me impertinent questions," Brenna said now.
Kristen looked down at her feet. "I was hoping you might have a few words with Father now that he is in such a good mood, and ask him—"
"If you can sail with your brother?" Brenna finished for her, shaking her head. "Why is this voyage so important to you, Kristen?"
"I want to find a husband." There, she had said what she couldn't say earnestly to her father.
"And you do not think you can find one here at home?"
Kristen gazed into the gentle gray eyes. "There is no one I love here, Mother—not the way you love Father."
"And you have considered everyone you know?"
"Yes."
"You are telling me you cannot accept Sheldon?"
Kristen had not meant to let her parents know of her decision so soon, but she nodded her head. "I love him, but in the same way I love my brothers."
"Then what you want is to wed a stranger?"
"You wed a stranger, Mother."
"But your father and I knew each other a long while before we finally admitted our love and wed."
"I do not think it will take me so long to know when I am in love."
Brenna sighed. "Aye, I have armed you well with the knowledge I did not have myself when I first met your father. Very well, love, I will speak to Garrick tonight, but do not hope for him to change his mind. I am of a like mind in not wanting you to go off with your brother."
"But, Mother—"
"Let me finish. If Selig returns in time, I believe your father can be persuaded to take you south to look for a husband."
"And if summer is nearly over when he returns?"
"Then it will wait until spring. If I am to lose you to a man farther south, then I would rather it wait until spring . . . unless you are eager to have a man now?"
Kristen shook her head. This was not exactly what she had in mind. She wanted to be away now, away from the threat Dirk posed, but she couldn't tell her mother about that, either, for Brenna was likely to go after Dirk herself.
"But I will be a year older," Kristen pointed out, hoping that would sway her mother.
Brenna smiled at her daughter, for Kristen did not realize how truly desirable she was. "Your age will not matter, love, believe me. They will fight over you when they know you are looking for a husband, just as they have done here. Another year will make no difference."
Kristen said no more about it. They sat down before the open door that let in the warm breeze and the only daylight. The large stone house built by her great-grandfather had no windows, in order to keep out the bitter cold of winter. Kristen was helping Brenna work a large tapestry, for her mother had no patience to do it alone.
Impulsively, Kristen asked, "What would you do, Mother, if you wanted to sail on that ship?"
Brenna laughed, thinking the matter settled. "I would steal away on it and hide in the cargo well for a day or so, until it would be far away from here."
Kristen's eyes rounded incredulously. "Would you really?"
"Nay, love, I am only teasing. Why would I want to sail without your father?"