Beti was pleased with his presence, but she did not need him to speak for her. She cast a glance over to quiet him. “And how am I to know that ye speak the truth? I have never seen ye before today.”
Hagbard put a hand up to silence his underling. It was a gentle movement for so large a paw.
“Explain your business here with this lady,” Zeke demanded.
“Please excuse Agmund. He is still very young and zealous for his position,” he said to Beti, barely tilting his head he addressed Zeke. “Our business with this lady does not concern ye. I will not speak of it with ye without her permission."
A whirlwind of ideas hurricaned around her mind. Certainly it could not hurt to hear what the man had to say. Then she remembered the two men from the outhouse just an hour ago. She was thankful for Zeke. She was also thankful for Toby, but this was her life and it was time once again to make a new decision. As long as she stayed here in this public chamber, she should be safe. She slipped her hand into Zeke’s “I will hear what he has to say.”
Frustration blustered through his countenance. “I will be right there.” He pointed to the doorway to the room where the rest of the wagon train still debated their way forward. Zeke moved to that doorway and stayed there. Before long, he was joined by Moses.
Hagbard nodded and waited until Zeke had left them. His eyes questioned the presence of Aggie. “She stays,” Beti said.
“Ye have the look of your mother.”
She couldn't help the smile that blossomed on her face. “Ye knew my mother?”
“Ya. There is much to tell you. Sigrid played with my daughter Astrid and her sisters.”
Hagbard painted pictures of her mother’s country. Of young girls playing in the woods and by the seashore. His chuckles brought her memories alive. And what she hadn’t seen, her heart filled in. Her mother in the meadow near a castle made of stone.
Her heart broke again, and she longed for her mother and her father. What would they do?
“Now I come to the reason of my visit. King Anders grows old. He has two sons, your mother’s cousins.”
“Neither of them is fit,” Agmond interjected.
Hagbard rolled his eyes and raised his hand for silence once again.
“Your mother’s cousins are young. They have not taken to their training as was hoped, and I promised your grandfather that should I deem it necessary, I would come for you and see if you would do what your mother would not.”
“What would my mother not do?”
“She would not come home. She would not be queen.”
“And why would she not come when her father called her?”
Hagbard hailed the innkeeper. “A tankard for me.” He raised an eyebrow in question.
“Coffee for us,” Beti told the innkeeper.
Hagbard fell silent while he waited for his punch to arrive. Beti rested back in her chair, the butt of her rifle on the floor next to her. Aggie fairly vibrated in the chair next to her. Zeke remained within sight.
“’Tis a long story. And one that must be told, but it is not an easy tale to tell.” Hagbard nodded to Zeke. “Yer young man is diligent. I find that commendable."
Beti saw no need to correct Hagbard and his assessment of her relationship with Zeke. He was not her young man, but she was still comforted by his presence.
Once Hagbard had taken a deep draft from his tankard, he wiped his mouth and began again. “Your grandfather was a hard man. I admired him. I stood with him until the day he died. But he had no use for daughters, only strong sons. Your mother felt his neglect, and nothing I could do could make it up to her. I included her with my daughters whenever I could, but when your father came along, she went with him, and she never came back.”
“So why do you come to me?”
“Your mother’s cousins are not suited for the responsibilities that are coming their way. Your grandfather’s brother is not the man your grandfather was. He could not bear for his sons to do without anything. They are soft as eiderdown. All decisions increase their comfort. They care nothing for their people. Your people.”
“We need you to come home my lady,” Agmond once again interjected. This time Hagbard did nothing but rest back in his chair with his hand still on his tankard. “The country will fall if we do not have a reliable monarch. You are the granddaughter of the great king. You must come home Lady, you must.”
A seed of obligation took root in her thoughts. What was so terribly wrong with her cousins?
Aggie gripped her hand and gave her a look as though all the world has just been handed in her lap and what in the world was she waiting for? Grab it her eyes seem to say. But Beti didn't know what to do. She hadn’t been raised to be a monarch. What in the world did a queen do? How she wished her mother was there or her dear papa. She looked over at Zeke standing against the wall. She needed time to think.
It was one thing for her mama to give up the throne for she had papa then and her child. Beti didn't have anything but her sheep and Nelly. She took another look at Zeke. She needed time to think. And she had to talk to Toby. And how was she going to sleep in her wagon tonight? After the two men accosted her, she was concerned to even step off the porch let alone make her way in the dark to her wagon. But Toby would be there.
“Well gentlemen, ye have given me a great deal to think about. At this point I don't even know what questions to ask. We leave it here for tonight. I presume ye will still be here in the morning?”
Hagbard lifted his tankard and drained it to the bottom. “Aye. We will see you in the morning and answer any of yer questions then. And fear not, the men who accosted you tonight will not come near you as long as we are here.”
A small smidgen of anxiety was relieved by their declaration. She was more comforted by the fact that Zeke and Moses Woodbridge and Gordon Sharp and Captain Isaac Taylor were nearby. Hagbard did make her dream of papas, but he was not her father and she was sure he had his own reasons to come this far.
Hagbard and his counterpart left after Beti rose from the table. She and Aggie made their way to Zeke.
“What was that all about?” Mose nearly shouted into the room.
“Keep ye voice down.” Aggie ordered. “She has been offered a kingdom."
Mose grinned widely. “What kind of kingdom?"
“I haven't been offered a kingdom,” Beti countered. “They are emissaries from my mother’s country. It seems that my great uncle is growing old and it’s time to pick a successor and I am next in line.”
