* * * * *
Keern rode toward his family home still seething at the memory of Shena and her trickery. Her transformation had shocked him.
How had he been so completely fooled by her act? Why hadn’t he wondered at her willingness to do the things they’d done together? Of course, he’d not been thinking with his head so much as with his groin. She had backed off on the idea of intercourse, but then, she’d be shrewd enough to avoid pregnancy.
When he’d received the announcement of Jordan’s wedding, nostalgia had started within him and along with it a desire to return to his place of birth and settle down like his two brothers, to find a gentle woman to marry, to start a family. Shena’s sweet innocence had been so appealing. He had seen in her what he’d wanted to see in a woman.
As he rode toward the iron gates of his home, he heard the horn sound and whoops from the guards. His name sounded on their lips, along with shouts and hurrahs. He smiled as his gaze drifted along the gravel path curving through the meadow of wildflowers to the large stone-and-timber house about a half-kilometer up the hill.
It was good to be home.
The gates opened, and as he rode through, people rushed to the gate to greet him.
“Keern, you’ve finally arrived.”
“Will.” It had been a long time since he’d seen his older brother. A few more lines crinkled around Will’s eyes, but other than that he hadn’t changed.
Keern dismounted his horse, handing the reins to an eager pair of hands. He strode toward Will and held out his hand in the offer of a handshake, but his brother scoffed and dragged him into a bear hug, pounding his back for good measure.
“Come, the women want to see you.”
“And what about Jordan?”
A huge grin split Will’s face. “Yes, him, too.”
They walked toward their family home, built with their father’s own hands.
“He’s not too busy dreaming of his wife-to-be?”
“Oh, I think he can spare a few moments for his older brother.”
Jordan, their younger brother, was to wed four days hence. Keern had made the trip to join in the festivities. He hadn’t told them yet that he intended to stay, not wanting to disappoint them if he changed his mind.
“We leave on the morrow to Chamberlan. Kristinna’s family is looking forward to meeting you.”
“Brother, here you are.” At Jordan’s voice, Keern spun around.
He smiled at the sight of his younger brother. He stood as tall as Keern himself, a man now. Keern had known the lad must have grown, but with the reality staring him in the face, he felt sadness at having missed so much.
Jordan threw his arms around Keern in the same bear hug as Will’s. “So, the star-traveler returns.”
“As if I’d miss my favorite brother’s wedding.”
“That’s what you said when you came for mine!” Will cut in.
Keern flung his arms around both their shoulders, laughing. “Of course. You’re both my favorite.”
At the house, the women greeted him with exuberance. Will’s wife, Jenna, a tall, graceful woman, gave him a warm hug. Their cousin, Helena, pleasantly round and ever-smiling, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and her husband, Jacob, shook his hand.
Entering the house triggered a plethora of painful memories.
Their father had died when Keern was six years old. Will had become the head of the household at a young age, and they had all pulled together as a family, becoming closer than most.
Despite that closeness, Keern had withdrawn after his mother’s death.
Where Will’s job was to run the family, Keern had decided his was to protect their mother. He was determined he could protect her from anything, if he tried hard enough -- and he put his heart and soul into doing just that. The illness, however, had slipped right past him, stealing her away with a finality that had devastated Keern.
After her death, everything around him had reminded him of her. The rocking chair where she’d rocked him in her arms as a child, the woods where they’d gone for long walks and talks about life, the fields where they’d worked together, shoulder to shoulder, alongside his brothers.