Elfhild began complaining Cearo was pulling her hair too hard almost immediately, saying Cearo was going to rip all her hair out of her head.
"Sorry," Cearo murmured, silently chastising herself for letting her mind drift to Aelfrid and how she was going to handle having to deal with him today. Why couldn't there be some nice, easy, black-and-white answer? Why couldn't he just accept she only wanted to be friends and just get over the crush he had on her?
"It's not a crush," Elfhild said. "He loves you."
Cearo felt her face flame. Of all the times to be thinking out loud…she sighed. "He shouldn't have kept bothering me." At least it was only Elfhild who'd heard. "Whatever it is, a crush or love or whatever, I told him I was not interested and he should have left me alone."
"It is not that simple, leoflic. He is not going to take 'no' as if he had only asked if you wanted to go for a ride in the evening."
"I know it's more than that. I knew he'd bother me again about it at some point, but he would not stop pestering me when I said I was not interested right now."
"That was your mistake," Elfhild said with a laugh. Cearo scowled at the back of her head, hurt by the laughter. "You said 'right now'. He took that to mean all you needed was some more persuading to let him court you."
"So he thought that if he continued to pester me, despite the fact I was clearly upset and telling him to go away, I would tell him what he wanted to hear that day?"
"Or the next. Men can be like that."
"Men are stupid, then." Very stupid. Only a fool would continue to pester and harass someone when they were upset. Aelfrid deserved to fail if that was what he thought.
"You are pulling too hard again. Thank you. Men are not stupid, just persistent." Elfhild sighed softly. "Don't shut him out, Cearo. Aelfrid is a good man who loves you very much and it's obvious to everyone who has seen you two together that you love him too. Let me finish," she added quickly when Cearo started to protest. "You do. Until you came to stay with my family, you and he were rarely apart unless you had to be and you're always happier and smiling more when he's around or someone mentions him. You've been as miserable this past month as I am when Helm is on patrol."
"Stop playing matchmaker," Cearo chided brisquely. "Is it wrong to miss a friend?"
"You have been acting as if a part of yourself is missing, Cearo. You were missing more than a friend." Elfhild reached back and put a hand over Cearo's, giving it a quick squeeze. "Enough pensive thoughts. Today is supposed to be happy. I am finally marrying Helm."
"And looking forward to what comes after the wedding," Cearo teased as she fastened off the end of the braid she had been working on. "You'll wish you'd gotten sleep last night, since you won't be getting any tonight. Just try not to be too loud." Elfhild protested and Cearo laughed. "Get used to it. You'll hear far worse than that before the feasting ends tonight."
When Cearo and Elfhild left the storeroom, the sounds of people out front were louder than before. Cearo turned to Elfhild to ask if she wanted company for a while and saw she was white as simbelmynë.
"Sit down," she told her friend, helping her sink to the floor and lean against the wall. "You'll be fine. Do you want some water?"
"Yes, thank you," Elfhild said softly, head between her knees.
Cearo returned a few minutes later with two mugs of water. Handing one to Elfhild, she teased, "Why are you so nervous? You know everyone out there."
"That's why." Elfhild took another drink of water and smiled. Cearo was glad to see color returning to her face. "I will be fine. Sit with me for a few minutes."
"Do you really think he misses me?" Cearo asked after a moment.
"Kenric? I doubt it." Cearo gave her a peevish look and Elfhild laughed lightly. "Absolutely. Probably more than you miss him." She took Cearo's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Talk to him. Set things to right. Today is the happiest day of my life and I want you to be happy as well."
Cearo looked over at Elfhild and smiled. "Thanks. I hope I can get up the nerve to."
Elfhild's smile grew a bit devious. "You will talk to him tonight, even if I have to tie you up so you cannot run away. You cannot avoid him forever."
"I can try," Cearo quipped. Elfhild gave her a hard look and Cearo laughed. "I'm not serious. I don't want to be tied up. I know I need to, and I want to. I just…I don't want things to change. I don't want him to look at me like Helm looks at you. I want him to be safe and he's not anymore."
"Running away is not going to help anything." Elfhild stood up and held out a hand for Cearo. "It's getting quieter. It is probably time to start." She gripped Cearo's hand tightly, her nervousness plain on her face. "Go ask Brecca if it's time. I would, but…." Elfhild gestured to herself.
"Of course. Wouldn't want Helm to see you too early." She winked at her friend and hurried off.
When Cearo went to sit with her family, most everyone was glad to see her and talked over each other asking if she was coming home that night and please, come home and they missed her. Aelfrid and Brego were noticeably silent at the far end of the bench.
"Are you two going to sit there like lumps?" Rheda chided them. "I raised you better than that!"
"Forgive me," Brego said, sounding as if he meant it. Cearo doubted he did. "It is nice to see you again, Cearo." The look he gave her made her take a step back and move Wilone, who'd begged to be picked up, so she was holding the girl in front of her. Brego's gaze made her feel as if she were naked, and there was a feral hunger in his eyes which told her he would give her no peace until he got what he wanted. She shivered.
While Brego was speaking, Aelfrid stood up and came down to where Cearo and the rest of the family were standing. Cearo resisted the urge to say she needed to go back and finish helping Elfhild get ready.
'You'll have to do this sometime. Just get this over with,' she told herself. 'He's not going to attack you. Relax.' Out loud, she said, "Hello" and was glad she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.
"Osric and I have missed the races in the evening," Aelfrid chided, smiling.
"You two aren't the only ones." She returned his smile and studied his face. Bema, but she'd missed him. "You're growing your beard."
"It looks like a ragged piece of wool," Kenric said, earning him a swat on the back of his head. "What? It does!" Cearo bit the inside of her lip to keep from laughing. Kenric was right, not that she'd say so in front of Aelfrid.
"Be careful what you say, Kenric," Rheda chided. "In several years, it will be your turn."
"Mine will not be that ugly."
"No, it will be uglier," Aelfrid said dryly. To Cearo, he said, "Where are you sitting?"
"Here, unless you don't want me to," she replied, teasing him. "I'm sure-"
"Be quiet and sit down, girl," Rheda grumbled good-naturedly, taking Wilone from her. In a low voice, she added, "He would drag you back here if you tried to sit anywhere else." Cearo felt herself turn red and Rheda laughed. "If he didn't, I would. We have missed you." Rheda gestured to the end of the bench. "Sit."
"I can't. Not yet," she added quickly when she saw Rheda's smile start to falter. "Elfhild sent me to find Brecca and ask if it's time to start."
"He was going out to the oven with Halfred just now," Algar said.
Cearo flashed him a smile. "Thanks."
The ceremony was short and simple and was over before the young children began to fuss too much. Cearo had asked Rheda why weddings were so short the first time she had seen one, a few months after she arrived.
"Is it so the children aren't crying and disturbing things?" she'd asked.
Rheda had smiled wryly and said, "Why waste time and delay the feasting with long speeches and ceremony when they are just as married with a few short words?"
Cearo had grinned and voiced her agreement. If only people back home thought like that, she'd mused, weddings would be much more bearable.
The memory made Cearo smile as she pushed her way through the tangle of people and furniture to get to Helm and Elfhild. The smells coming from the cooking area were delicious.
"Now you won't have to sneak off to kiss her," Cearo teased Helm as she walked up next to him. "Have you shared all your eldest brother wisdom with Aelfrid yet so he can carry on the noble tradition of keeping everyone else in line?"
Helm regarded her quizzically. "Do I know you? You do not look familiar." Cearo gave him a dark look and he laughed, pulling her into a crushing hug. "Brego is next to receive the eldest brother wisdom, I lig /I ."
"He is, isn't he? I try not to think about him."
Helm gave her another quick squeeze and released her. "If what I hear is true, he will not be in the Westfold much longer."
"Really?" Her day just kept getting better.
Helm nodded. "He may be marrying his sweetheart who lives near the Gap."
"A wise move on his part. He wouldn't want his children to grow up without knowing their father."
"Enough about Brego!" Elfhild chided. "Today is about my lout of a husband" she gave Helm a fond look "and me, not his brothers."
"Of course. Forgive me," Cearo said, laughing. "If I may speak of another brother for a quick moment, I've spoken with Aelfrid so you won't have to find rope to tie me up with."
Elfhild's face lit up more, if it were possible. "Wonderful! I told you everything would be fine. Are you going to sit next to him when we eat?"
"And if I say 'no'?"
Elfhild's lips twitched. "But you are."
"I didn't say that." Cearo didn't look away from Elfhild, making sure to keep her expression neutral.
"But you are." Elfhild wasn't having any of it.
"Maybe." Cearo shrugged casually. "I'll see you later. I better let everyone else" she nodded her head slightly toward the group to her right "speak with you before they drag me outside and dump me in a puddle."
"It is about time you stopped chattering on, girl," the man next to Cearo said, giving her a wink.
She laughed and worked her way through the crowd to find where the family was sitting. Food was starting to come out from the kitchens and judging by the smells, everyone would be eating very well today and going home with an overfull belly.
She stopped, realizing she didn't know where she was going tonight. With the wedding over, she didn't have an excuse to be away from home any more. She bit the inside of her lip and suppressed a shiver. What would she do now? Why hadn't she thought ahead? If she went home tonight, it would be open season for Brego and Aelfrid to harass and pester her. They would likely leave her alone if she was with Rheda or Algar, but she couldn't be with one or both of them all the time and she knew the brothers would seize any chance they could find to press their suit. She silently cursed. Well, there wasn't anything to be done about it right now. Tomorrow she could talk to Rheda and find another reason for her to be gone. For one night, she could handle the brothers, or at least Brego. He was the worst. Aelfrid just didn't know when to shut up. She felt a smile push at the corners of her mouth. She'd give his ear a twist if he bothered her too much, just like she'd been doing for years. That would get the message across. Her smile grew. Now to think of a way to everyone else shut up about her and Aelfrid.
Her smile fell and she scowled as she started walking again. Why did everyone think she and Aelfrid would end up married? Being good friends didn't mean you'd end up married to each other. Before she'd come here, she'd had lots of guy friends and sure as heck they would never be anything but friends. People were stupid. They assumed about Aelfrid and that she'd want to marry as soon as she could after turning twenty. If anyone had bothered to listen to her, they would have known she was not going to rush into anything and it made no difference to her if she married at twenty or one hundred and twenty. No one did, though. They smiled indulgently and told her she'd see things differently after she turned twenty. She smirked, imagining how surprised and shocked they'd be when she didn't become a feather-headed idiot obsessed with marriage. She would marry when she met the right man and not before.