In Which Jeda Hears Grand Enough

July 16, 1192

"Fred!" Jeda met her lover's arms with all the speed her now-showing baby allowed. Though she'd guessed, she hadn't dared believe it was him until she'd seen him. Her father had told her she had a caller, a man, but he hadn't said who it was. Fred might not have told him. I'm the man who knocked up your daughter while she was still married to the king might not have been a valid request for civil treatment.

But, Jeda suspected her father had figured it out the moment this stranger had turned up and asked for a word in private. He'd let them have it. Fred may not have known it, but after everything, he would have done anything for her.

"I'm sorry it took so long for me to come back after I heard Ietrin had died. I just had to make sure things were all right with my family in Carvallon."

"Are they?"

"Better than all right! My younger sister has married a very wealthy man, and his connections have gotten my older sister considerable business with the knights and nobility. I no longer need to continue my... trade in order to keep everyone fed."

"Fred!" She couldn't help but exclaim his name again. "Fred, that's wonderful!"

"Isn't it? Anyway, now that that's all behind me, I... thought I'd maybe start fresh here. Maybe..." He took her by the hand. "...with you."

She squeezed his hand back. She could scarcely believe this was happening. Nearly a lifetime deprived of romance and now here it was--not enough to make up for the cruelty of Ietrin, but enough to make up for sheer lack of itself. "You don't mean..."

"I do, Jeda. If you'll have me, that is." His hands trailed away from hers and grazed the arc of her stomach. "I know you're by far my social better, but if you want me, I'll spend my life trying my damnedest to make up for the pain of your first marriage. I'll raise your child as my own, and--"

"Fred!" Had he forgotten. "Ietrin hadn't touched me since Hollie was born."

He looked up--not blinking.

"Fred, this child is your own."

A touch of red warmed his face.

"And I would love to marry you. My brother Nythran is in need of a steward; I know he'd gladly give the job to my husband."

"I... I don't know what to say." They locked hands again--both hands this time. "Other than that I am glad, and that I love you very much. I wish I could say something grander."

"No need." Who needed many pretty words when the heart came across in so few? "That was more than grand enough."

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