“No need for thanks, Hild,” Arthen said, clasping the woman’s hand in his.
Hild then asked after her grandson at once, not looking at Emma at all. Arthen answered her questions while his keen eyes began to dart from Hild to Emma herself. It was plain he could perceive the strain between them.
“Well,” he said, not long after he’d assured Hild that Robin was well and thriving. “I shall leave you two to confer alone.”
Hild nodded, still not looking at Emma, and following Arthen with her eyes as he retreated to a distant place where he would not be able to hear what she and Emma would speak of. When at last she glanced upon Emma, Emma saw in sheer wonder that Hild’s eyes were filled with tears.
“Emma…” Hild whispered, and Emma thought the world would collapse around her.
How did this woman know who she was? What sorcery was this?
“I–”
“Sit, daughter, sit,” Hild whispered to her as she took both her hands in hers.
CHAPTER 11
Emma decided her mind had been playing tricks upon her. The woman was now calling herdaughter, so she must have called her Rowena, and not Emma. Yet now Hild repeated her name, “Emma, my daughter, here at last!”
“Your daughter?”
Hild smiled between tears.
“Aye, my daughter. Mine just as Rowena is mine. You were born nearly on the same hour from my womb, just moments before your sister.”
“Rowena is my sister?”
“Twin sister, aye,” Hild nodded, now caressing Emma’s cheek with a roughened hand.
Emma widened her eyes, not wanting to believe what she was hearing.
“Nay,” she shook her head. “Lady Edith is my mother. And Lord De Laval my father…”
“Aye, De Laval is your father indeed, yet Edith’s not your mother. She took you from me to raise you as her own. She took you. And I could do nothing to stop her,” Hild whispered with a bitter twist of her mouth.
Emma shook her head, in sheer amazement. It could not be true, could it? Yet she plainly recalled how harsh and uncaring Lady Edith had always been to her, as if Emma were not her own flesh and blood. Perchance…
“It is a sin to forsake your child, and I am now atoning for it,” Hild spoke in a soft voice, which seemed calmer now. “What I did – I had no choice but to do what I did, but this thing poisoned my life, and it poisoned your sister’s. I thought of you often, and wept, and she was able to see it. One time… One time I spent a whole day in the rain, to watch for Lady Edith to pass by the square holding you by the hand, just to get a glimpse of you. I thought I’d left Rowena at home sleeping. She was only five at the time. Yet she had followed. And when I cast eyes upon you, she saw you, walking by the lady’s side, bedecked in a gown fit for a princess. She asked me about you that day, you know.Who is this girl who looks like me? As beautiful as a princess? And why are you glancing upon her so? Do you love her better than me?And I spoke sharply to her, in pain as I was. It haunts me to this day.”
“Rowena knew? She knew I was her sister?”
“I never told her. Never spoke of you again. Yet she’s always been clever. At times she gave me to understand she’d figured out my secret. She sought you out, didn’t she?”
Emma nodded, her heart in sheer turmoil. She understood now that Hild spoke the truth. And Rowena had well known why they looked alike. Rowena was her sister. Yet she’d deceived Emma, just as she’d deceived her own family.
“How is she? My reckless daughter. Reckless and restless through my own fault,” Hild asked with anguish in her eyes.
Emma soon had no choice but to tell the tale of how she and Rowena had switched places, and how she’d come upon Master Archer and Robin.
“You speak so fondly of the child,” Hild uttered softly, casting Emma a searching glance.
Emma nodded, not wanting to lie to this woman.
“Aye, it may be strange, but I think of him already as my own. And I have resolved not to give him up,” she said in a resolute voice.
For a while, Hild was silent, but then she nodded.
“Have your wish then. It is God’s way. He must have brought you into Arthen’s house for a reason. Robin needs a mother. I could no longer be one to him when my own sins pressed so heavy upon my soul. Rowena... I truly pray she’ll find forgiveness for what she did. I truly pray both my daughters will be content in the life they've chosen. Perchance it is as it should be.”