A Dishonorable Knight(156)

"Does that mean you could settle for a drafty Welsh keep with a beautiful view of the mountains?"

Elena laughed at his non-proposal but decided it was better than no proposal. "Do you come with it?"

"Of course."

"Then I can settle for a mud shack."

Gareth grabbed her into his arms once again and swung her off her feet. She stifled the urge to squeal in delight for fear that the men at the campfire would come running. When he finally put her back on the ground he kissed her firmly and Elena felt herself growing warmer with their shared passion.

"How is it that in just a few hours I could go from complete despair over Cynan to ecstatic joy?" she asked when their lips finally parted.

"Because Cynan would have preferred us to be joyful," Gareth replied solemnly. "He found joy in everything and it is only right that we celebrate that joy and remember him for it."

Elena nodded in agreement. As she hugged her fiancée tightly, she looked to the night sky and gasped.

"What is it?" Gareth asked.

"I just saw a shooting star. Do you think it is a bad omen?"

"No. I think it was Cynan."

"Gareth?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."





Epilogue




An eagle screamed high above the mountains that sheltered Eyri Keep. The last of the snow covering the shallow valley in which the keep sat had melted and pale green grass shoots and crocus buds were peeking out to inspect the soft spring day. Inside the keep, a woman screamed in pain.

"I hate you Gareth ap Morgan," Elena shouted, twisting the bed linens as another strong contraction swept over her.

"That's what you said when little Meg was born, darling."

Elena panted shallowly. "I mean it this time."

"Of course you do my love."

Enid entered the bedroom with a stack of clean linens. "Really, Elena," she teased, "you're scaring poor Bryant. He can hear you all the way downstairs. He's beginning to feel guilty about what I'll be going through soon." Enid smoothed her wool gown over her swelling abdomen and smiled.

"Well he should feel guilty," Elena said, gritting her teeth and trying to breathe through the pain. "And you would too, you oaf," she said, addressing her grinning husband, "if you had any feelings whatsoever."

Gareth leaned down and kissed her sweaty brow. "I have more feelings than you know."

The door opened again and a three-year-old boy stuck his head in. "Momma," Cynan's son said, "Papa Bryant just threw up."

Enid rolled her eyes and after ordering her son out of the room, said to Gareth. "You can either stay here and take your wife's abuse, or you can go down there and help my husband get some fresh air."

"What a choice!" Gareth said.

"Make sure," Elena said in between breaths. "Make sure Meg is alright, too."

"As you wish, sweet."

Gareth kissed his wife's forehead again stared at her damp face with worry he refused to voice. Leaving the sunlit room, he went in search of his queasy friend. He found Bryant just outside the front door, sitting outside on an overturned barrel, his head in his hands.

"Don't tell me the man who marched into battle without flinching has been brought to his knees by a woman's labor pains."

Bryant lifted a pale face. "Don't you tell me her pains don't affect you!"

Gareth's grin faded. "Of course they do." Sitting on the stone steps into the keep, Gareth sighed. "I guess I forgot how much pain she went through having Meg. Once the baby is born and all is well, the bad parts just seem to fade."

The two men were silent for several seconds before Bryant spoke. "Gareth, do you think it's alright that I married Enid?"

"What?" Gareth asked. "Of course it's alright. Why would you think otherwise?"

"I sometimes feel guilty about it. As if I had loved Enid even when Cynan was alive and that I just took advantage of his death and her helplessness."

Gareth laughed and then quickly smothered it at his friend's worried expression. "I'm sorry, Bryant, but the thought of Enid helpless is amusing."

"You know what I mean," Bryant said with exasperation.

"I know. But what I also know is that you never thought of Enid as anything more than a friend until last year. And I also know that Cynan would have chosen you above all others to be a father to his son."