Githa comes for a visit
“Well, dearie, I thank you,” Githa said as she sat in the chair little Wynna had offered her. “I would love to sit and chat with you a while, but in truth it was your Mama I came to visit. Is she able to have visitors?”
“Oh, she’s better. My Da just makes her lie down all the time. I’ll go get her.”
Wynna shuffled back to the bedroom and came back a moment later with Gunnilda.
“Oh, Githa, you just got to excuse me if my hair is mussed,” she said. “I don’t know how to lie down and keep it neat.”
“It looks presentable, I suppose. I heard you were feeling better, so I came to see for myself.”
“Well, I guess I am. I’m still a bit tired, but His Grace sent a maid down to me, and she just takes care of everything. She’s a real pert one with Alwy, though. I don’t like that.”
“Oh, you can’t help that, dear. You got him all cleaned up and holding his head high, so now the girls will notice him. I always said he was a fine looking man, especially when he has his shirt off. Even your Egelric can’t compare – especially from the back.”
“Oh, Githa! Not in front of Wynn! Besides, don’t call him ‘my’ Egelric. I’m sure I don’t own him.”
“Don’t you?” Githa laughed. “Oh, don’t make those faces. Tell me about your baby instead.”
“Well! He was real quiet and still when I was lying sick, and I was that scared! But he’s just making up for it now. Oh, Bedwig!” she groaned. “It never fails! If I have company, this boy has got to come trotting out here with his banner waving!”
Bedwig laughed at his own joke. It worked every time.
“Now, don’t you mind your Mama,” Githa said. “You haven’t anything to be ashamed of, my darling. Gunnie, you just keep on turning out fine boys like this one and all our girls shall praise you in the gates, especially if the lads all develop a taste for running around naked all the time.”
“Oh, Githa! Not in front of Wynn!”
“I’m sure Wynn has heard worse up to the keep with all those big boys, haven’t you, Wynn? I heard you got a sweetheart, anyhow.”
“Wynna!” Gunnilda gasped.
“No I never did!” Wynna wailed. “I never wanted to kiss him! He kissed me!”
“Kiss who? My poor baby!”
“Oh, your poor baby is seven years old, or just about, and she does have a kissable face!” Githa cackled.
“I do not!”
“You do so, darling, and one day you will be happy for it. Especially if it’s getting kissed by a future duke!”
“Wynna!” Gunnilda was overwhelmed.
“No I never will!” Wynna cried, close to tears.
“Oh, hush, child. I’m only teasing you. But we can have this conversation again in ten years and see if I was right. Now – what were we saying, Gunnie?”
“I don’t even remember!”
“Oh, I know. It was about your baby. You tell me – is it a boy or a girl this time, anyway?”
“I don’t know yet. He sits high, and low, and upside-down and right-side up and inside-out. Once he gets settled I can tell you.”
“Didn’t you try the trick with the string and the needle?”
“I did and it said it was a girl – but didn’t you try that and it said it was a girl with Brandt?”
“That’s true. You were right and the needle was wrong.”
“So I just got to wait and see how he sits. I guess I don’t care anyway. Alwy would like a girl – he says to help me out, but I think he’s just got a real soft spot for girls, don’t he Wynn?”
“He sure does fuss over Wynn and Baby, doesn’t he?” Githa agreed. “Where is that Baby today?”
“She and his young lordship went riding with his young lordship’s mama.”
“Uh oh, Wynn! Better watch out she doesn’t steal your sweetheart!”
“He’s not my sweetheart!” Wynna said through clenched teeth.
“All right then, darling,” Githa laughed. “I’ll tell Baby the way is clear! Oh, say, Gunnie, I guess if you’re better you can come to his young lordship’s dinner, can’t you?”
“I guess if I don’t, these kids will eat me alive. That’s all they talk about these days.”
“Well, it’s a big day when a young noble boy gets his first sword, I guess. We common people wouldn’t know. Won’t he be fine then, Wynn?”
“Oh, leave her be, Githa,” Gunnilda said. “She’s too small for sweethearts.”
“I don’t think I ever was!” Githa laughed. “Wouldn’t you know Ethelmund was the first boy I ever kissed, though we couldn’t stand each other for years afterwards! He thought I was too stuck-up, and I thought he was too lazy. Guess we were both right! But that didn’t stop us. Funny thing,” she laughed and then sighed.
“I guess he’s not so lazy now that he found something he likes to do.”
“That’s so! And say, Gunnie, that reminds me of the news you missed while you were sick! My Ethelmund is going to be working on the furniture and woodwork over to the new castle in the hills, and in payment the King is going to have a new house built for us! What do you think of that?” Githa crowed.
“Finally!”
“I should say so! Ethelmund just doesn’t notice, but our house is simply not the thing. I’m that ashamed to receive my lord Earl!”
“Oh, how is that precious baby of his?” Gunnilda asked. “I haven’t seen him since he was so tiny!”
“He’s getting bigger and fatter all the time. He’s started smiling, and let me tell you, the day he smiled at my lord Earl for the first time, it was the first time I saw a smile on my lord Earl’s face in – I don’t even remember the last time I saw a smile on his face. He does love that baby. But we all do. He’s that beautiful! He puts my poor homely little Brandt to shame, not that I would trade him for a bushelful of Baldwins.”
“Oh, that poor man,” Gunnilda sighed. “I used to think Egelric was the unhappiest man I knew, but now I’m not sure.”
“It’s not the weight of the sorrows you should measure, dear, but the strength of the man to carry them. Men have died for less than what those two dears have endured. We just have to love them all we can, don’t we, dear?” Githa asked, her sharp eyes intent on Gunnilda’s face.
“I guess we do,” Gunnilda sighed, and her eyes were soft and vague.
