Page 43 of Ulf's Destiny
In her anguish, Ylva almost screamed the words. But how could she help it? She had gone over this in her mind over and over again, until she was sick of it. How could she go to Ulf and tell him he was going to be a father, considering they had not slept together? She would sound like a madwoman at best, like a schemer out to trap him at worst.
But the fact remained. She was with child, and he was the father. As unlikely as it was that their night of passion should have borne fruit, anything else was completely impossible.
At first, she had not paid attention to the changes happening in her. She had not been looking for them, of course, because she knew she was still a virgin. When leaving the village, she had not for a moment wondered if she was leaving with Ulf'’s child in her womb.
But after months without her monthly courses, when morning sickness had started to plague her and her stomach hasstarted to expand, there had been no choice but to accept the shocking reality. Somehow, Ulf had gotten her with child. The only explanation she could think of was that it had occurred when he had pleasured her. His member had not entered her, admittedly, but his fingers had, and they had been slick with his seed. She distinctively remembered, because the feeling had been extraordinary.
Apparently, it had been enough to allow his seed to take root.
“Oh, Judith, why did you bring him here?” she whispered. “I told you I wasn’t yet ready to?—”
“Yes, you did say it, over and over again. But what were you waiting for? For some sort of proof of his paternity to magically appear? Were you thinking that if you brought him a Norse baby with blue eyes and blond hair nine months exactly after your encounter, he would believe you?”
Well, yes, stupid as it was, she had been waiting for something like that. Perhaps if she brought Ulf a child who looked like him, he would have no choice but to believe her? The dates would correspond. But, of course, even that would prove little. She had blue eyes herself, and she could have slept with another Norseman, or any blond Saxon the day after leaving the village, for all he knew. A man who knew he had not reached his release inside her would be foolish to give her the benefit of the doubt and Ulf was not a fool.
She had not seen any other solution but to wait. Going to him before the birth had been unthinkable.
Ylva stood back up, and started to pace the room.
“I cannot bear the idea of telling him I’m carrying his child, only to be ignored or taken for a schemer. I cannot bear to have him think I’m lying, and only trying to take advantage of him, do you hear? I’d rather he never found out than have to deal with his contempt and suspicion. Whether he believes it or not, he did make me with child. I cannot change that. But I can sparemyself the pain of being cast aside for something I never meant to happen.”
A silence.
“You told me he was a good man. How do you know he will cast you aside?”
Ylva turned to face the wall and hid her face in her hands. “Because it is the only reaction that would make sense,” she breathed, feeling all hope die within her. How else would Ulf or anyone else react? “What would you do, in his place? Tell me honestly.”
There was no answer.
Judith had left the hut.
Ylva started to sob. She’d been right. This had been an utter disaster. Her friend should never have gone to the Norsemen village.
A moment later, she felt a presence behind her. The body warming her back was too tall, too imposing to be that of her friend. Ulf. It could be no one else.
She froze, panic seizing her gut. Had he heard any part of her conversation with Judith? What would he do?
Two hands wrapped around her middle, drawing her against his warm, solid chest. For a long moment the two of them remained locked in the embrace, without talking. Ylva closed her eyes, willing herself to calm.
Then Ulf said one word, his voice dark and possessive.
“Mine.”
And for the first time, the baby inside her kicked.
15
Ulf could not talk. With his hands wrapped around the bulge of Ylva’s stomach, he could only think, and feel.
He was going to be a father.
This woman he had never bedded, a virgin, was carrying his child, conceived in a wild night of pleasure. It was a mind-blowing, life-altering thought. And yet he could feel the proof that it was happening in the palm of his hands.
As luck would have it, his mother had gone only the other day to see a woman in the next village who had started to suspect she might be with child.
“She didn’t understand how it was possible, as her lover had a…preference, shall we say, for reaching his pleasure in a place where his seed could never have taken root.” Ulf had guessed from the way she’d blushed where that place might be. And indeed, no baby had ever been conceived that way. “Fortunately, when we went to see him, he was delighted at the news and did not ask any questions or think to doubt her word. They are going to get married before the month is out.”
She had gone on to explain that the seed was what created a child, not the member itself. And, unlike what most people thought, it was not only released at the end of intercourse, when the man reached his pleasure. A small quantity sometimes seeped out while he was thrusting inside his lover. Helga had told her when she had started her training as a midwife that a woman could get with child even when the man withdrew to ensure he did not spill inside her, which was precisely why this method was never guaranteed to work.
