A Memory of Love

them to his brother's castle, but he did not give his name or that of his brother. The two women were quiet except the next morning when they were leaving. The lady asked me to pray for her sister-in-law, Katherine. She gave me a coin, which is more than the man did.'

'Do you remember what she looked like?' Rhonwyn gently probed the elderly nun's memory.

'Young and pretty,' Sister Margaret replied. 'She had beautiful light blue eyes, and although she wore a head covering, I could see a bit of her hair. It was a nice nut brown. She was well spoken, although her Welsh sounded a bit strange to my ear, as if it were not her native tongue. Her servant was ordinary and appeared frightened.'

'Did the lady perhaps favor this gentleman with me?' Rhonwyn asked. She drew Rafe forward.

'She did!' Sister Margaret cried. 'Indeed she did. Why, my lord, you could be sister and brother.'

'We are,' Rafe replied. 'My sister Katherine was being kidnapped, good sister. Are you certain you cannot recall hearing a place or a name? We must find her!'

'I am sorry, my lord,' Sister Margaret said, but then she brightened. 'I can tell you that when they departed the following morning they went north. Straight due north.'

'What is in that direction?' he asked her, but she shrugged.

'There is only one place to the north,' the mother superior told them. 'It is a two days' ride, and there is nothing in between. Aberforth Castle would be the next inhabited place. There is nothing before it, and nothing in any other direction at all, my lord.'

'Who is the lord of the castle?' Rhonwyn asked the nun.

'Rhys ap Daffydd, lady' was the response.

They sheltered the night in the convent guest house, and then the following morning they departed.

'We must go to Cythraul,' Rhonwyn said as they turned west. 'I want to speak to my father before we beard this Rhys ap Daffydd.'

'How far are we?' Rafe asked her, and Dewi answered.

'We should be there by nightfall,' he said.

'Do you know this Rhys?' Rhonwyn asked Dewi.

'Only by reputation, lady. He is an ambitious man, they say,' Dewi replied, 'and never your father's friend.'

They rode that bright November day over the green hills of Wales, seeing no one. Finally, as the sun was setting, the ramparts of Cythraul appeared ahead of them.

'I will go ahead to be certain it is safe,' Dewi said, and kicked his mount forward while Rhonwyn and Rafe drew their horses aside in a thicket to await Dewi's signal. When it came they rode quickly into the fortress. Looking about her, Rhonwyn wondered that she had been raised in such a rough place.

'Rhonwyn, welcome home!' Morgan ap Owen lifted her from her saddle. 'Why have you come?'

'Is my father here yet?' she answered his question with a question. 'Oth went for him some days ago.'

'He hasn't come, but then neither has Oth. Come into the hall, lass. And who is this fellow who accompanies you?'

'This is my husband, Rafe de Beaulieu,' she answered.

'I thought you wed Edward de Beaulieu,' Morgan replied.

'I did, but then our marriage was dissolved, and I wed his cousin Rafe. Rafe's sister married Edward. That is why I am here, Morgan ap Owen. Several days ago some Welsh came over the border and kidnapped Lady Katherine, believing she was me. It obviously has something to do with my father. We have to find Kate before she is harmed, and she will be when they learn she isn't me. I needed to meet with ap Gruffydd in a location where we wouldn't be observed so I could learn from him just what is going on, old friend.'

'I understand,' her old mentor said. 'Well, there is nothing for you to do but sit down with us in the hall until he comes.'

The evening meal was served, and they sat at table with Morgan ap Owen as bread, venison, and trout were placed before them. At first the men who had raised her were shy of Rhonwyn, but gradually they realized that while her manner had softened and she was a grown woman, she was still their lass. The hall soon became noisy as they told Rafe tales of her childhood, and he joined in their uproarious laughter at her many adventures and misadventures.

'I suppose,' said Lug ap Barris, 'that you're no longer the fine soldier you once were. After all, you're a mam now.'

'Would you like to go hand-to-hand with me, Lug?' she asked him in a deceptively innocent voice.

He saw the look in her eye and chuckled. 'Nay, Rhonwyn. 'Tis obvious I am mistaken.'

'And who do you think will teach my son how to use the alborium, Lug? Is there anyone in your memory who can shoot as well as I?'

'Nay, Rhonwyn,' he replied.

'You taught me well,' she said softly, and he flushed with pleasure that she would remember him now that she was a lady.

Brenin, the ancient wolfhound, came and lay by her side. 'He is my first dog,' she told Rafe as she leaned over to stroke the old animal's head.

'Tell me of the laddie,' Gwilym the cook said.

'He has joined the Benedictines in Shrewsbury,' Rhonwyn said, 'and is at the abbey. You would have been proud of him. When he learned I had disappeared while on crusade, he came to Palestine and sought me out by doing what King Richard's minstrel, Blondell, once did. He went about entertaining with song, singing his first song always in our Welsh tongue, waiting for an answer, and when he finally received it, he helped rescue me.' Then she told them of her adventures and the reason for the dissolution of her marriage to Edward.

When she had concluded her tale Morgan op Owen spoke up for them all. 'The Englishman was wrong to remarry so hastily.'

'He was fearful of dying without heirs,' Rhonwyn said, shrugging, 'and he could hardly expect I would return to him. It was a miracle, but the other miracle was that I have found real love with Rafe, my friends. I hold no bitterness any longer toward Edward, and I love his wife, Katherine. I must find her, Morgan. She is a gentle woman, and she has two sons at Haven. One is yet new and at the breast.'

'We'll help you, Rhonwyn,' Morgan said. 'You know you can count on the men of Cythraul.'

They slept that night in the hall, cuddling in her old bedspace. Rafe fondled his wife's breasts, but after a purr of pleasure, she warned him off. 'We cannot,' she told him.

'Why not?' he murmured in her ear, licking softly at it.

'Would you embarrass the men who raised me by letting them hear the sounds of our passion, Rafe?'

In response he took her hand and placed it on his manhood, which was now rock hard. 'You will owe me greatly for this enforced abstinence, lady,' he told her, and then kissed her mouth sweetly.

'I always meet my debts, my lord,' she responded with a smile.

In the late afternoon of the following day Llywelyn ap Gruffydd appeared in the company of Oth. 'How is my grandson?' he asked.

'Thriving, and with your chin, my lord,' she told him.

The prince turned and looked at Rafe sharply. 'Is this the one they married you to after Edward de Beaulieu betrayed you?'

'Aye, and I love him, so there is no harm done,' Rhonwyn quickly replied. 'Rafe, come and give your hand in friendship to my sire.'

Rafe held out his hand to Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. 'My lord.'

The prince grasped the hand and said, 'If she is happy, then I will accept you, Rafe de Beaulieu. You look a better man than Edward.'

'I am,' Rafe replied without a moment's hesitation.

Ap Gruffydd stared hard at him a moment, and then he burst out laughing. 'By the rood, Rhonwyn, here indeed is your match, and I thank God for it, for certainly I have done little enough for you, daughter.'

'You are a great man, Tad, and have great things to do,' she answered him with a small smile.

'Your mam always said that to me,' he said, a cloud briefly flitting over his features.

'I know,' Rhonwyn responded.