Part Seven
"So, how much of this have you two figured out on your own?" Jason
asked his two young friends.
"Well, by the gods, Jason, we can both count to nine!" Iphicles
replied sharply. "Not only that, but rumors were rampant that
Orestes' marriage was arranged, hasty and ill advised to say the
least. Jael, I'm sorry. Perhaps I'm prying into other people's
business. But inheritance is a very serious matter. And we are
talking about a child who stands to inherit an important kingdom."
"No, my love, we are talking about a child who may not live to meet
her father. Whatever acknowledgment is made now or later, its the kin
relationship that matters right now. Iolaus is our very dear
friend. Do we want to cause him still more pain by causing trouble
for his child? I don't, and you don't want to either, no matter how
much you talk about protocols and rules and rights. I know you better
than that, my heart." Jael hugged her spouse.
"Who fathered this little girl isn't important to the rest of the world right
now. Not really. It's only important to the woman who bore her and the man
who fathered her. If that man is Iolaus then he has a right to take this
chance to see her, and, God willing, help her. If that man is Iolaus,
then his daughter has the right to know him for who he is. Niobe,
Iolaus and their daughter have the right to decide what the rest of
the world will know. No one else."
"Next thing, she'll be saying is: What if Niobe was her, and I was
either Iolaus, or Orestes." Iphicles told his stepfather, with a
small grin on his features as he kept Jael in his arms. "Well, being
as Orestes is almost three years dead, I'd rather be Iolaus, just
now, thank you. But, being as I'm wed to the most beautiful queen and
mother to be in all of Greece, not to mention one of the best royal
advisors anyone ever had, I'd far rather be myself."
"Go on, flatterer!" Jael replied, kissing him and laughing
softly. "Go on, please!"
"And one of the most modest women I've ever known, as well as shy,
soft spoken, unpretentious, quiet,. . . . Did I mention beautiful?"
"Yes, love, but you forgot brilliant!" Jael teased him, winking at
her father by law.
"Shame on you!" Jason laughed. "Your wife is a genius, the same
as . . . mine. "Jael smiled sunnily at the former king of Corinth,
and stood up, crossing the room to hug him and kiss him as she would
her long dead father. Then she turned to both men and nodded.
"Well, what do you know? I am brilliant!" she exclaimed. "Now, if
your majesties both will please excuse me; I have to go see a man
about a dove." Jael kissed her husband warmly and hugged him close for
a moment. Then she let him go, saying. "Hold that thought."
"Hold. . . Jael what?" Iphicles asked as she hurried out the
door. "Jael, wait!" the king called, but his queen was already out
the door and halfway down the hall. "Gods, that woman is fast!" he
exclaimed to his stepfather. "I swear, I think she moves faster on
foot now than she ever did in that contraption you're sitting on."
"Well of course, Iphicles." Jason laughed. "She doesn't have to
calculate every angle and turn when she's walking. You should take a
turn in this contraption, as you call it, and get some understanding.
I'd be willing to bet Jael loves walking and running and dancing more
now than she did as a girl."
"Oh you're right about that, Jason. Especially dancing. Gods help me,
my queen loves dancing and ...other things." Iphicles
grinned. "Some days I think she's going to wear me out." The king
glanced at the table still strewn with the food Iolaus had somehow
managed to leave behind and began to serve himself rather than call
an attendant. One viewpoint he shared with his queen was a liking for
privacy rather than courtliness when family and friends were
together.
"Naw, I think she'll just wear you down, bit by bit." Jason
contradicted him, smiling. "That's what Alcmene told me women like to
do, anyway. Noticed any difference lately?"
A small loaf of bread sailed at the Argonaut's head in reply.
