Unbidden (The Evolution Series) (35 page)

Bliss never lasts. It cannot. Happiness requires the contrast of discord, or sadness, or anger to make its moments stand apart. Of course, their happiness would have lasted much longer if not for the arrival of Rochelle’s least favorite person in the world.

It was late afternoon
, three weeks after their return home. David and Rochelle sat side by side on the bench at the table. She was showing him how she determined the yields from each field, and what should be planted in it the spring. He had been catching on well, and she had enjoyed the day. Until the front door opened. David leaped up at the sight of his brother, eager to grip him in their usual masculine clasp.

Rochelle’s heart sa
nk to her toes. She had never told David of her suspicions about his brother at the tournament, nor had she asked what Louis and Theo had told him of their own. She’d assumed Doeg had gone to Bavaria for the entire winter, and thus was well gone from their sphere for months at least. His arrival this late in November suggested he might be intending to winter with them, an arrangement she did not think she could bear.

Rochelle rose, knowing David would expect her to at least offer Doeg a courteous greeting
. Her welcome nearly choked her, but she kept her face carefully blank. David returned to her and slid an arm around her waist to haul her up against him.

Doeg grimaced
. “Ah, the picture of connubial bliss.”

“I highly recommend it,” David retorted.

“You are hard at work, I see,” Doeg commented, pointing at the table strewn with parchment.

“Yes, we are making some decisions about the spring planting.”

“Already?” Doeg asked sharply.

David glanced at Rochelle, who smoothly interjected
. “I like to be sure I have enough grain held back for seeding.”

“Oh, yes of course, that,” Doeg muttered
. “So, brother, what are you planting in the spring?”

As they moved toward the chairs by the fire, David gave a fair description of how Rochelle usually alternated her crops, and how she determined when to leave a field fallow
. “Even now, there are men tilling up some grass so the fields are ready. It is long, slow work.”

Rochelle sat away from them and behind David, studying Doeg’s reactions
. He seemed intensely interested in her farming practices, eager for the simplest detail that she, quite frankly, thought he would already know since he stood to inherit an estate.

“How go your own preparations for winter at Calx, Doeg?” David asked, exhibiting a bit of pride at being a landowner in his own right.

“Atrum Calx is Father’s domain, as you know,” Doeg answered.

“You have been there?”

“Yes.”

“And how is Father?”

“That is partly why I have returned. I think it would be helpful if you come to Bavaria with me, just for a short visit.”

“Why?  Is he ill?”

“No, just concerned about you.”

Rochelle slid to the very edge of her seat, feeling her pulse quicken
.
What are you up to now
, she wanted to scream. But with David’s trust in her so newly regained, she held her tongue.

David laughed
. “Our father has never been concerned about me before. Why now?”

“How should I know?” Doeg said hotly
. “I am asking you to come and that should be enough.”

David’s voice became firm
. “Doeg, I have been traipsing all over the country since last spring and I have just been married. I intend to stay here for the winter. If Father is that concerned he should have come here with you.”

Doeg’s eyes glittered in that way that made Rochelle’s skin crawl, but he smiled, “You know Father no longer travels
. Of course we, being bachelors, did not know that you would want to remain closeted with your new wife for a time.”

Rochelle had hoped to escape the next day by taking a ride with her husband, but found Doeg trailing along. He made her stiff and out of sorts. She missed the easy camaraderie she and David had developed. Doeg continued to ask how and why things were done in particular ways, always addressing David, who often had to defer to Rochelle. She sensed a rising irritability in her husband as the afternoon wore on.

When they crossed a ridge, David pointed to a field below where several men worked
. “That is a fallow field they are turning,” he said.

Rochelle scowled toward the workers
. The men were not tilling, they were loading rocks on a cart. “I wonder why they are moving those rocks now,” she asked, intending the question to be rhetorical.

“Oh, I told them to yesterday morning when I was here,” David replied
. “They looked like good stones for building the forge so I asked them to take them to the site.”

“You have chosen a site?” Rochelle asked carefully.

“Yes, over by the river. There is a good flat spot.”

“Oh.”

“Do you want to see it?”

Doeg piped up, “Yes, let us see it!”  He eyed Rochelle imperiously as they kneed their horses forward.

Rochelle’s heart sank when she saw David’s chosen spot.

“What do you think?” he asked eagerly
. “I tried to find a place that would not affect the existing operations on the estate.”

“Yes, I see that
. Uh, perhaps you and I could talk about this more privately.”

“We are private
. Doeg is my brother.”

“I know, it is just that
I would feel more comfortable —”

“Out with it,” David said firmly, annoyed at the realization that she did not approve of the location.

Stunned by his demand, then feeling a surge of anger, she said exactly what was on her mind. “There is a reason this ground is not in use. It floods nearly every spring and is a swamp until at least July.”

David looked crestfallen as he turned to study the river and the lay of the land
. “Yes, I can see that now.”

“Further up, then,” Doeg called from the rise
. “Surely it is high enough here.”

“It is drier there,” Rochelle admitted, “but there are other things to consider.”

“Such as?” David queried, irritated again.

Rochelle turned Regret so that her back was to Doeg
. “I think it would be advantageous to be closer to a road and some people. I guess I had pictured it nearer the house, or perhaps the vineyards, where there is already a great deal of activity.”  This was an outright lie. She hadn’t really pictured the forge anywhere at all, but it clearly meant a great deal to David to find a location.

Some of the tension on David’s face eased
. “You would not mind having it closer to everything?”

“Not at all
. I think it
should
be. You intend for it to be a place of commerce, do you not?”

David nodded
. “I will go tell the men to stop with the rocks for now, until we find a more suitable spot.”

Doeg protested
. “David, if you want it here, then here it should be. It is your estate, after all.”

“No, Rochelle is right
. We will find a better place.”  He galloped off to the northwest, the direction from which they had come.

Doeg glared at his brother’s retreating back then turned on her
. “You must be good in bed,” he seethed. “Not only has he forgiven you, but he is listening to you as eagerly as his dog does.”

Her already tried temper soared at his impertinence
. “Did you just compare your brother to a dog?  If you believe that, you do not know him at all,” Rochelle spat out. “And I wonder, Doeg, what wiles can you bring to bear when he learns all
you
have done?  At least I have things to offer in return for his forgiveness:  a lifetime of my love, and a home. For his loyalty to you, you offer him nothing but more betrayal.”

She urged Regret forward, chasing her husband across the fields.

“David, come home to Calx with me
. Just for a week or two,” Doeg urged the next day as they waited around the fire for dinner. The sun had not yet set, but the routine of the entire household had been set on its ear by David’s brother. The day dragged on in eager anticipation of its own end. “Your wife does not want you here meddling in her affairs.”

Marian glanced up from her embroidery, giving her daughter a significant look
. Rochelle had decided yesterday to meet Doeg’s challenges head on. She rose from the table to slide into David’s lap. His arms flew out in surprise then curled around her with a welcoming squeeze.

“I do want him here,” she purred.

David smiled serenely. “I have already told you, Doeg, I am not going. Not now.”

A tentative tapping sounded on the front door
. Rochelle jumped up to answer it, with David close behind her.

“Ardo,” she said with surprise
. “Is there a problem?”

The overseer shifted from foot to foot
. “The supplies come from Ribeauville.”  His eyes flicked to David and back to her. “But there is some’in missing, and I thought you — you two — should know.”

“Is the cart at the storehouse?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Very well, we will come see.”

She and David walked behind the man until they reached the heavily loaded cart. Samuel and an older man stood at the back in obvious misery. Rochelle instantly noticed chunks of something she had never seen before. “What is that?”

“Some sort of metal,” Ardo said uneasily.

“Metal?” she repeated.

“It is iron bloom,” David said
. “Theo was going to find some for me, and I asked Samuel to fetch it.”  He picked up a piece with a smile, and turned to show it to Doeg who had, of course, followed them to the storehouse. “I need to it for the forge.”

Rochelle stared at him, nonplussed, then asked Ardo, “What is missing?  You said something was missing from the supplies.”

“The salt,” he answered sadly.

“The salt?” she cried
. “We need that salt!  There are still hogs to be butchered. Who forgot the salt?”

“Not forgot, my lady
. There was too much weight.”

“The salt was the closest thing in weight to the metal,” Samuel interjected
. “You always warn us about overloadin’ the carts.”

It was simply too much
. “So we have iron bloom in place of salted pork for the winter?” she said as calmly as she could manage.

“But we got the oil, and the rye seed you said we had to get
in autumn, and a tiny bit of —”

She lifted a hand to stop him
. “Someone must go back,” she said shortly.

Her three employees looked at her glumly
. “I will go,” Samuel said softly. “It was my mistake, my lady. I know how important is the salt. Can I wait until mornin’ to leave again?”

“Yes
. And check with your master here, and Ardo, and Cook, and your father to make sure this is the last trip before winter. The snow is sure to fly soon.”  After inhaling a calming breath, she turned to her husband and brother-in-law. “Pardon me,” she said in her most politely controlled voice. She walked as normally as possible toward the stables, certain her head was going to fly off her shoulders. When out of earshot, she cursed through clenched teeth, “God in heaven!  Even the details I have tended to get all mucked up!”

“Rochelle, where are you going?” she heard David call behind her.

“I just need a moment,” she replied as she flung herself behind the stable.
Let it go
, she told herself over and over as she paced in a tight circle.
Just let it go
.

He strode around the corner, his brow furrowed
. “What are you doing?”

“I am trying to remember to be a biddable wife.”

He sighed. “You are angry.”

“I do not think we
should talk about this right now,” she warned.

“I will talk to you when I damn well please.”

She rounded on him, an unfamiliar fire in her eyes that only burned brighter when Doeg, eyes glittering eagerly, crept up to stand beside his brother. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Alright then. Talk,” she said.

His head cocked. She sensed his reluctance to engage in the argument now that he saw just how angry she was. He
couldn’t back down. “I didn’t tell Samuel
not
to bring the salt.”

“But you asked him to bring the iron.”

“Yes.”

“Without checking with Ardo or me about what else we needed from town.”

“I only asked the boy to bring the iron if it was there!” he said loudly.

“And surprise of surprises, guess whose orders are followed first, regardless of what makes sense!” she
insisted, warmed to the fight and too outraged to be cowed by his own looming anger.