Page 71 of Ulf's Destiny
A memory surfaced in her mind all of a sudden. Once, shortly after their arrival in the house, Mildred had asked herfather if they could have matching silver collars made for her and Judith. The two girls had shuddered at the idea of such humiliation. Fortunately, the slave trader’s stinginess had saved them from that fate. He had refused to bear the expense of such an extravagance.
But this beautiful arm ring, made to represent the love her husband bore her, she would wear with pride.
A corner of Ulf’s lips lifted. “I’ll need to take your clothes off to put the arm ring on, you know.”
Ylva wiggled her eyebrows. She did know. That was part of the reason she’d asked him to do it.
“Weren’t you planning on doing that anyway? We have a wedding to celebrate, remember, and you did promise me pleasure.”
The blue eyes caught fire, just like the gem at the center of the arm ring. “So I did.”
“Well, then husband, it is time to make good on your word. I will not be satisfied until I cannot do anything other than breathe and remember how much you love me.”
25
Ylva’s pains started in earnest while she was, of all things, wondering whether the eroded carving on the stone arch stretching above her head represented, as it seemed to her, a mother holding her child in her arms.
The Roman ruins on the other side of the forest had turned out to be as beautiful and mysterious as she’d hoped they would be. Ulf’s uncle, Torsten, had told them about the site the day before, while the whole family had gathered outside Wolf and Merewen’s hut to eat. He and his wife, Aife, had apparently played there as children and had more recently used them as refuge from a storm. There had been such fire in his eyes when he had talked of the place that Ylva had immediately been seized by the urge to go see the ruins. Unable to refuse her anything, her husband had agreed to take her and Oslac in the morning, even if both men had pointed out that she was very near her term for such an outing.
“It’s not so far,” she’d argued. “And we won’t trot. It will be fine.”
She now wished she had listened to them.
“What is it?” Though she had not said a word or uttered a sound, Ulf, ever attentive to her comfort, would have seen her blanch at the realization that the moment to meet their child had come. It was her own fault. From the moment she had woken up there had been this strange dullness in her lower back but, eager to explore the ruins, she had decided to ignore it.
And here was the result.
“It’s—” She gasped as another twinge twisted her insides.
“The baby,” the two men said at the same time, both sounding even more panicked than she felt.
“Wait here,” Oslac shouted, already breaking into a run to reach the horse Wolf had gifted him a few weeks ago. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Ylva stared at Ulf when silence fell back among the ruins.
“Are you sure this is it?”
Alas, she was. What was happening was exactly what Helga and Cwenthryth had told her would happen. “Yes.”
The baby would be born today, there was no doubting it. She wondered if she had time to ride back to the village. Perhaps. But the idea of sitting on a horse right now was torture. Better to wait calmly here, and hope Oslac was back in time with someone able to help her. Helga, Cwenthryth, or even Tola, who had after all settled in the village with Judith.
“Lie down,” Ulf told her gently.
Ylva shook her head. “I’d rather stand for now. Or even better, walk.”
It seemed odd but Ulf’s mother had told her that walking would help keep worry at bay, and help with the progress of the child. Leaning on her husband’s arm, she paced back and forth along the half-collapsed wall of what had once been an opulent palace. Then, after a while, she did feel the need to lie down.
This was it.
“Ulf, I’m scared.”
This was what she had told him the day they had first made love. But everything had gone smoothly then, her body had shown her what to do. Would it be the same today? She could only hope so.
“I’m scared too,” Ulf admitted, doing his best to appear calm so as not to add to her worry. “But I trust you. You are one of the bravest women I know. You are going to bring my daughter into the world safely.”
“It’s a son.”
Somehow Ylva found the strength to give a small smile at the familiar jest. Over the last four months she and her husband had argued over the sex of the child. Ulf was convinced it would be a girl and she had the inexplicable conviction that it was a boy they would name after his father. But, thanks to Oslac, they knew what name to give the child if it was, after all, a girl. Brenna. Like her mother.
