Page 80 of The Piper's Pursuit

“You were young and frustrated. Most men feel that way, I think, at some point when they are young.”

“You surely never felt that way. You were the oldest son of a duke. You knew exactly what you would do for the rest of your life.”

“Not true. I was told whom I would marry. I was saddled with responsibilities, the pressure to lead, whether I wanted to or not. My father died when I was about your age and I had no choice but to take over, get married to my betrothed, and be the best duke I could, with no one to tell me how.”

“I had not thought about it that way.”

“But God was with me. I made mistakes, but I married a wonderful woman and had eight perfect children.”

They both smiled at him calling Steffan and his siblings “perfect.”

They talked for a few more minutes about new happenings in Hagenheim and the news of his siblings. Then Steffan said, “Katerina is the one who discovered what was happening to the children in Hamlin. Is she not a brave and exceptional young woman, Father?”

“She is indeed.” Father was looking at him with knowing eyes. “She is clever and wise beyond her years, and has made it her business to know everything about her town and its people. And she is very fair of face and form, do you not think?”

“Of course. Who would not think so?”

“Do you care for her?”

“Yes.” It made his palms sweat to admit that.

“And she cares for you, I am sure.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Do you not think she cares for you?”

“I...” He remembered her kiss. But she had made no effort to be near him since she and Father and all his men had arrived in Keiterhafen. Perhaps the kiss was only a fleeting fancy.

Father was still waiting for him to answer the question.

“I think she may care for me. But... I am not sure.” Steffan had done so many terrible things in his life. “I know I don’t deserve her.”

Father raised his brows.

“She is a very good maiden who has done nothing but good in her life, while I have done many bad things and hardly any good, as you well know. I thought I could redeem myself if I could save these children and do a great, heroic thing, but I realize nothing can make up for what I did wrong.” He turned away and faced the paneled wall of the wealthy mayor’s home. He did not wish to talk about this anymore. Why had he said so much? He began counting the panes in the tall mullioned window to distract his painful thoughts.

“Katerina knows you have a good heart. An evil man is not sorry for what he has done and rarely if ever believes he is bad. You are not an evil man, Steffan. And Katerina is wise enough to recognize that.”

Perhaps he wasn’t evil like Hennek, but... “What have I done in my life that makes me worthy?”

“You aren’t worthy because of what you’ve done, son, because no one can ever do enough to be truly worthy. You’re worthy because God gave His Son to make us worthy.”

What Father was saying was hard to grasp. In his mind he’d always been the lowest of his family.

“And you helped Katerina save fifty-two children.” Father smiled.

It was true. He did help Kat save the children.

“You have a good heart that desires to do good. And if Katerina loves you, why not allow that to influence you to do more good deeds?”

“I am not certain she loves me. She does not hate me. That is all I know.” And he could not have said that when he first met her. “Katerina does not give her trust easily, and she has good reason for that.”

***

Katerina was tired and sore, her backside hurting from being in the saddle so much. She dreaded the day’s journey tomorrow, but she was excited to think of bringing the children home to their parents, who would be so overjoyed to see them.

Had Duke Wilhelm thought of how he planned to take the children back? The little ones certainly could not ride on horseback the whole way. Most of them had probably never been on a horse. Perhaps she should go speak to him about it. He’d said that if she needed anything, or thought of anything the children needed, to tell him.