Sandra Hill (33 page)

Even Torolf had managed to fly in for the night, and would return to the base and his training expedition early the next day. Which brought to mind Ian, who was glaringly missing. If Torolf had come, Ian could have, too.

Ah, well, Magnus thought, he probably wanted Madrene to have private time with her family.

So the five of them were about to make an important decision: Magnus, Jorund, Rolf, Ragnor and Torolf.

“Madrene is going to be pissed that we didn’t include her,” Ragnor said after taking a swig from his long-neck bottle.

They all nodded their heads. Madrene could peel the rust off a broadsword with her sharp tongue when she went off on one of her tirades.

“Dad … all of you. … you should know something,” Torolf began. He had everyone’s attention.
“Madrene told you that she was able to hold off invaders at Norstead for one year until Steinolf sailed his many longships up the fjord. And I know she told us, sketchily, how she went from one harem to another over the following two years.” He smiled to himself. “I know she even told us of her creative method for keeping those horny sultans from raping her. But what you don’t know is what happened to her before Steinolf sent her away.”

Magnus felt blood rush to his head. “The slimy codsucker! Did he rape Madrene?”

“No. No. It was almost worse than that,” Torolf said. “First, he killed all the warriors and cotters who resisted the invasion. It was a mass slaughter because he slithered in during the darkness of night and caught them unprepared. They had just fought off an invasion of pirates a sennight before and were not as alert as they should have been. Some were able to escape to the hills. Steinolf believed that, if Madrene would marry him, all her people would return and—”

“—he could slay them under a flag of surrender,” Jorund finished for him. At one time, Jorund had been a far-famed warrior. “I am familiar with Steinolf. He is a
nithing
… a man with no honor.”

Sensing that Torolf had not yet finished, Magnus prodded him, “Go on.”

“Madrene refused, knowing full well that the marriage would result not only in her death but in the death of all our people.”

“What did the bastard do?” Rolf asked icily, sensing what was to come.

Torolf took a deep breath and disclosed, “He had her whipped repeatedly over a period of three days.
On the last day, they led her by a neck tether through the great hall, afore two hundred fighting men. Naked.”

Tears welled in Magnus’s eyes and he started to stand.

Torolf put up a halting hand. “Let me finish while I can. I know that we saw those scars on Madrene’s shoulders, but we did not see it all. Ian told me that she carries welts from neck to buttocks, dozens of them … scars that will never go away. That beast broke the skin and drew blood with each of his blows.”

Magnus did stand then, and pulled at his own hair. With a bellow of rage, he went berserk for a moment. They all understood a father’s fury at learning his daughter had been violated so. When he sat back down, his shoulders sank. “ ’Tis my fault. I never should have left the Norselands.”

“Nay. ’Tis my fault for leaving Norstead to search for Rolf,” Jorund said.

“Well, if anyone is to blame, ’tis me,” Rolf said. “I was the first to leave. I started this nightmare.”

They all argued at once then, getting louder and louder. Finally, Ragnor stood and shouted, “
No!
” When they quieted and turned to listen to him, he said, “I was the last. I did not need to go off to war with Svein. ’Twas I who left Madrene alone. I will ne’er forgive myself for that. But I know how to make amends. I will go back to Norstead and regain our family home. ’Tis the least I can do.”

“Dost think it is possible to go back?” Magnus asked.

“I do not know, but it seems to me there must be a way. Perhaps, going back to the present-day site of
Norstead would be the way to begin.” Ragnor had always been the smartest in the family, and everyone heeded his words.

They all sat silently then, pondering what would be best.

“I am her father. I should be the one to avenge her,” Magnus said.

“I am the warrior in the family. I would be best able to avenge her,” Jorund said. No one mentioned that he had not been a fighting man for nigh on fifteen years. His body was still hard, but his skills must be rusty.

“I am absolutely the one to go,” Ragnor said, “because I was the last to leave her alone.”

“Mayhap we should all go,” Magnus offered, but no one seemed enthusiastic about that plan. Too many family members would be left alone here.

Torolf stood then. He had seen thirty and some winters, and he was in peak condition. The SEALs training had truly made him into a skillful soldier in the war on terror, not just in body but in honor, too.

To each of them in turn, Torolf said, “No. No. No. No.” Then he addressed Magnus. “Father, I am the only adult male in our family with no wife or children. I will go.”

Thus it was that a U.S. Navy SEAL made plans to go back in time. Some people said that SEALs were a little bit crazy. Torolf would for damn sure prove that to be true … or die trying.

Everyone needs to be needed …

Madrene felt useless.

There was nothing for her to do, especially since
she’d been told in no uncertain terms that Torolf would be the one to go back to Norstead, that she was no longer needed to raise an army. “That beast Steinolf will be dead by year’s end, that I guarantee,” her father had told her with a patronizing pat on the back.

She was not all that upset about not going back to her own time. If she did not have Ian, it would be another story. Then, for a certainty, she would return to run the royal estate alongside Torolf.

For now, everyone told her to just relax. Well, she was relaxed up to her bloody eyebrows. She wanted … nay, needed … work to do.

But when she offered to help oversee the household, Angela and her grandmother told her kindly that they had a housekeeper to take care of that.

“How about cooking?” she asked.

Turned out the housekeeper cooked, too. And used vast quantities of garlic. Angela came from an Eye-tally-on family which cherished the garlic cloves in most of their food. And once again, the garlic turned her stomach. Several times, she’d had to rush, without causing attention, to the bathing chamber to throw up the contents of her stomach into the toy-let. She must have developed some kind of bodily reaction to garlic, she supposed, just like Hilda the Dour used to break out in a rash when she ate strawberries.

Her father, Kolbein, Hamr, Jogeir and Njal were out in the vineyards trimming back the vines. When she’d offered to help, they told her it was man’s work. That outrageous statement caused her to lash them with her tongue good and loud. It did her no good. In the end, they went off without her.

The uncles and their families had gone back to their respective homes, along with Storvald. Ragnor and Alison planned to drive back to Coronado this afternoon, where Alison was a doctor—the modern word for a healer—and Ragnor worked in Sandy-egg-go with computers, just like Geek. At one time Ragnor had planned to become a SEAL, too, but he’d decided he preferred working with his mind.

“Take me back with you,” she said to Ragnor.

It was the first time she’d even hinted of her unhappiness here with her family.

Ragnor, who was helping his wife pack a leather carrying bag, looked up at her with surprise.

“Of course you can come, Madrene,” Alison said, “but you know that Ian won’t be back until the weekend.”

“It matters not. At least I would have something to do. I could clean his house, even if he keeps it spotless. I could rearrange his socks and underbraies so that the vein pops out in his forehead when he sees they are not in their usual places. I could play with the cat.”

“Have you told Father or Angela that you need something to occupy you?”

“Yea, I have. They tell me to relax.”

They left without her, finally, when her father promised to go out on the morrow and buy her a loom to weave some fabrics.
A loom! For the love of Frigg! I need a man, not a loom.

She went upstairs and sat on the bed, waiting for Ian’s nightly call. Then she got a whiff of the red sauce cooking down in the kitchen … the red sauce
highly seasoned with garlic … and ran for the bathing chamber.

At least it gave her something to do.

I’ve got a secret …

When Ian called Maddie that night, she kept blubbering stuff about looms, and garlic, and bullheaded men, and a family that no longer needed her.

“Slow down, sweetie, and tell me what’s wrong.”

“All these years I dreamed about how it would be if my family were still with me. What I failed to recall is what my father’s households are like—full of disorder and noise and people and things I do not understand.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to go home.”

Ian’s heart stopped. He had to ask, but he didn’t want to. “What home?”

“Your home, of course. What did you think I meant, you lunkhead?”

Ian didn’t care that she called him a lunkhead. He leaned against the wall with a goofy grin on his face. “I miss you.”

“You’d better miss me. And you’d better not have run into your former betrothed again.”

“Maddie, I’m on an island.”

“Hah! You would be surprised what lengths some women will go to to get a man. I might just have to come there and whack her on the head with a rock if she keeps chasing after you. I know how to do that, you know. Whack someone with a rock, I mean.”

“I know that too well, babe. How about I come and pick you up on Saturday?”

She was silent for a moment, then said, “That is three days away. I cannot wait that long. Methinks I will demand that my father take me back tomorrow.”

“You would be all alone at the house.”

“Nay, I would not. Sam would be there.”

He smiled at that image. “Actually, it would be kinda nice coming home to you.”

“I can even greet you in that garment I never got to wear.”

“What garment is that?”

“When I was trying to think of ways to seduce you—”

“Yeah?”

“Cage bought me a red silk teddy from Victoria’s Secret. Would you like to see it?”

“Definitely.”

“I’m feeling fluttery right now. I have my hand on my belly and I swear it is actually fluttering.”

“Oh, Maddie, you are incredible.”

“Do you ever flutter?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“I did not know my bosom was so big.”

“Huh?”

“The picture on the wall here … ’tis the first time I have ever seen myself as others do. I had no idea I looked that big. Kirsten tells me there is a procedure that a doctor can do to make them smaller.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! You’re not too big, and don’t even think about breast-reduction surgery. It’s dangerous. And besides, most women would die to have a body like yours.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I’ll prove it when I see you on Saturday. Do you want me to bring you something? Candy? Flowers?”

“A vibrator.”

Ian practically swallowed his tongue. “Wh-what did you say?”

“I want a vibrator. Carrie on
Sex and the City
said a vibrator is a woman’s best friend.”

He shook his head and grinned. “Honey, do you even know what a vibrator is?”

“Nay, but you can show me. Can’t you?”

“Absolutely. Hey, I’ve gotta go. There’s a guy behind me who wants to use the phone. One last thing. There’s a secret I’ve been keeping from you. I need to tell you when I get back.”

“I have a secret, too. I have been afraid to tell you about it. It’s … it’s a big one.”

She probably wants to tell me that Luke sold the jewels for her. I already know that.
“It can’t be any bigger than mine.”

“I would not wager on that.”

When in doubt, go shopping …

One day at a time, that was Madrene’s new credo.

She could not continue to contemplate the complexity of time-travel and whether she had or had not, lest she go mad. She had no idea what her future held, either here or with Ian. She had no idea if she should go back to Norstead with Torolf or not.

And so she had chosen to live for the moment, not thinking about the future, which was contrary to the way she always used to live. Everything had a plan then. Her life was organized and well thought out.

And look where that got me.

Now the only thing she could say for certain was that she loved Ian. She knew that without a doubt.

But what will he think when I tell him about the time-travel? Will he still love me then?

She had no answer.

Initially her father had balked at bringing her back to Sandy-egg-go, but he finally gave in when
Madrene railed at him. She knew he was hurt that she didn’t want to spend more time in his company, but she was a grown woman now, and there would be plenty of time later for them to reminisce. Since coming back, she had cleaned and polished Ian’s home from floor to ceiling, even though it was not all that dirty. She polished doorknobs and metal fixtures in the kitchen and bathing chamber. Windows sparkled from her vinegar cleansing. She picked cat hair off the furniture piece by piece.

Ian would be back tomorrow. She planned to tell him her secret right off. Then what would be, would be. The fates had brought her here. The fates would decide whether she should stay.

She had gained a friend in Polly, the lady who lived in the keep next to Ian’s and who cared for Sam in Ian’s absence. Polly’s husband was serving on a ship somewhere whilst Polly stayed home and cared for their two small children.

“Gone a-Viking?” Madrene had asked her.

Polly had laughed. “You could say that.”

They were going shopping together at the food mart today.

Madrene had plenty of money since Slick had sold her jewels. She kept the parchment money in three leather traveling bags in back of Ian’s closet. She had told Slick she preferred coin, but he’d grinned and said, “No, you don’t.” As she eased herself down into Polly’s bug—that was what she called her small yellow vehicle—she asked, “Is this enough money?” She pulled out the small sheets of parchment from her pocket.