A family copy, it was stamped and sealed with reference numbers of where the original was stored. Also indicated was where the marriage records for their mothers and grandmothers could be found.
Jerin leafed down through the birth certificates, layered youngest to oldest, till he came to his own.
Jerin Whistler, male child born to Mother Elder Whistler and fathered by husband Tullen Bead-water from Bowling Green. Grandchild of Tea Whistler and husband Alannon (ancestry documented but uncertified). Great- grandchild of Jo Whistler amp; Order of the Sword crib captive named Harrid, number unknown. Great-great- grandchild of Mother Elder Whistler amp; Order of the Sword crib captive, name and number unknown: tattoo initial of T. No other lineage known.
If not for their father and grandfather, Jerin suddenly realized, he wouldn’t be blood related to Kai at all.
He thumbed through the others, noticing for the first time how odd his family was once all the bloodlines were assembled. His ten grandmothers were divided among five crib fathers, and no two shared the same birth mother. None of his great-grandmothers represented by their surviving daughters even shared the same crib fathers; they seemed to be nine strangers sharing a family name.
Lifting out the records of his mothers’ generation, he studied his grandmothers’ papers underneath. They were dog-eared, much folded, and largely incomplete. One even had an elaborate map inked on its back. The birth certificates recorded birth mother and father, and most had a birth grandmother named.
Often for grandfather, the records stated, “Order of the Sword crib captive, initial designation,‘’ and this varied from grandmother to grandmother, and then a general time period of years was noted.
Among the grandmothers’ papers was one crisp sheet, obviously carefully protected. It declared that the ten Whistler sisters married one Alannon, pedigree lines waived as the groom was war plunder and verbal questioning indicated no crossbreeding.
Too bad he hadn’t thought to show Princess Rennsel-laer this. She seemed interested in his grandfather.
Bit-ing his lip on bitter thoughts that wanted to crowd in, he placed all the documents back into the box, and locked it tight.
Their twelve mothers arrived after lunch, while middle sisters tended the back pasture fence. The youngest reached their mothers first and shouted news at the top of their lungs. Even from the kitchen where he was kneading bread, Jerin could hear cries of ‘“Heria got a rifle from the Queens!” and “Jerin and Eldest are going to Mayfair! Can I go too?” Jerin covered the dough to rise, washed his hands, and went out to welcome them home.
Mother Elder was sitting up on the buckboard’s seat, stranded there by a wailing Bunny on her lap, trying to listen to all her children at once. “Quiet! Hush! Eldest, what in Mothers’ name is going on?”
“Princess Rennsellaer’s Captain Tern came to stay yesterday,” Eldest said, reaching up to free Mother Elder of Bunny. Eldest passed the little girl to Mother Dia, and then gave Mother Elder a hand down.
Mother Elder had been with their father the night before his accident. When she left for Annaboro, she hadn’t realized that she was pregnant, thinking her weight gain had signaled the start of menopause. Even without her letter from Annaboro, however, there was no missing the pregnancy now. The buttons of her shirt, stretched over her swollen belly, were threatening to pop, and she had a satisfied smile and glow.
“She’s at Heron Landing today,” Eldest said of Captain Tern. “But she’ll be back for dinner. The Queens sent an expensive custom rifle and pistols for Heria. They also offered to sponsor Jerin’s coming out in May-fair. We’ve accepted. Captain Tern is to escort us back to the palace. We haven’t decided who will all go.”
“I want to go! I want to go!” the youngest chorused.
“Hush! None of the youngest will go!” Mother Elder said firmly. “Marriage is business only for elder and middle sisters. They’ll be the only ones going.”
This was greeted with groans of disappointment.
“Now, now, we’ve been riding for hours to see you, so no long faces, or no one gets their presents from Annaboro.”
The horses were cared for, the supplies carried into the house, and the presents distributed, all in record time. With the youngest shooed out into the play yard with their new treasures, Jerin, his elder sisters, and their mothers settled down to discuss who would go with Eldest to Mayfair.
“It says ‘with as many sisters you wish to also attend.’ ” Eldest tapped the Queens’ letter, folded stiff, on the table. “Harvest will start soon; we’ll need almost everyone here. With Captain Tern escorting us downriver, and then us staying at the palace proper, I can’t see needing to take more than two others.
Which two?”
“I think we should take Summer,” Jerin said quietly.
“Summer?” Eldest looked and sounded surprised. “Why?”
Jerin blushed, ducking his head from his elder sisters’ confused scrutiny. “We’re not going just to get me wives, but you a husband too. It’d be a shame to pass up the chance to make an influential marriage both ways. And, well, I don’t mean to slight anyone, but Summer’s the prettiest.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Birdie asked.
“Well,” Jerin said, “if your husband has any say in who he marries, then we should take the prettiest sister with us. Right?”
There was reluctant agreement from his sisters.
“Then we’ll take Summer,” Eldest stated. “And who else?”
“Corelle,” Mother Elder stated.
“Corelle?” Jerin yelped in surprise as the others mur-mured their agreement with Mother Elder. “She’s been taking favors from Balin Brindle and she left the farm unprotected. Take her? After the way she’s been?”
“Especially after the way she’s been.” Mother Elder said quietly. “She hasn’t seen enough of the world, what she’s giving up if she settles for Balin Brindle.”
“But Mother Elder!” Jerin cried. “It would be like rewarding her for being bad! 1 don’t know why you let Corelle get away with things.”
“Jerin, we have four sons,” Mother Elder said, taking his hands. “We could easily split the family four ways, though we probably won’t, but we certainly will be splitting at least once. Either Corelle, Heria, or Blush will be Mother Elder for the younger sisters. You can’t make good decisions as an adult if you were never allowed to make any decisions while you were a child. Now is the time for Corelle to learn from her mistakes.”
“Couldn’t you split the family so Summer is Mother Elder?” Jerin grumbled.
“Summer isn’t strong enough. Where Corelle leads, the others follow. We only need to teach her to lead wisely.”
The middle sisters rode in shortly before dinner. Eldest met them at the paddock, pulled Summer and Corelle aside, and told them that they would be going to May-fair. The others could hear Corelle scream from all the way in the kitchen, sounding like someone was murdering her with a rusty knife.
“What did Corelle do this time?” Blush asked.
“What’s Eldest doing to her?” Leia peered out the kitchen window. From there they could see Corelle, leaping up and down in the paddock, still screaming.
Heria glanced out the window and made a noise of disgust. “Corelle’s going with Jerin and Eldest to May-fair. Eldest just told her.”
“Lucky dog,” Blush muttered.
After a sleepless night that seemed to go on forever, dawn came. Jerin dressed in his loose, dun-colored walking robe, folded up his quilt, placed it in his wedding chest, and locked it tight shut. When he came down to breakfast. Eldest and Birdie went up to carry his chest out to the buckboard. Eldest. Corelle, and Summer stacked their bags on top of it.
Breakfast was quiet and solemn. Afterward, he hugged and kissed his mothers, sisters, and brothers good- bye. He gazed one last time at the solid stone farmhouse, the well-kept barns, the sprawling fields.
Then he left home, forever.
Chapter 7
