An Arrangement of Sorts Ch. 04

Joss got up from the table, "Another tea, Bethany? I'm finding that I sure need one now."

"Yes," the woman nodded, "Why not? I know this is a lot to digest all at once, but it's there for you both if you want it. Oh, and there is another thing to it all. Most have never cared for it, but in the Earldom, it has always fallen to the Countess to keep the sordid history straight and record it. There's a pile of historical work for you, or you may hire someone from the stipend that the job earns you.

It's nothing like the duty of the head of state, but you will be asked to make the odd appearance and to help with the raising of some funds for various causes. Your home is near the seat of the place. Your hound there would fit right in, and there is a small staff," She counted her fingers for a moment. "Six, unless I am mistaken. The Earl draws a stipend and also earns the historical "third penny" which was a tax long ago, but is now a fixed sum from the Crown."

She chuckled a little, "You may even get to meet the holder of that crown one day before too long."

Honey began to get excited and Joss could see that Chris was home. She ran to his aunt and put her hand over the woman's wrist. "Please, "she said with a small grin, "This is going to have to be discussed like crazy, but would you please stay for dinner and also, please try to ignore what I'm about to do. This is a chance that I've just got to try for, and I mean absolutely no disrespect, so bear with me, ok?"

Bethany liked Joss' playfulness and she nodded, "Of course."

"So, Chris is not a knight, correct? I've been calling him 'Sir Moreth' now and then for fun."

"If you're being proper and correct, then, no," Bethany smiled, "he is not to be addressed as 'sir'. He is not a Knight of the Realm. You may address him as 'Lord Moreth' or 'my lord'.

Joss was already trotting toward the door as it opened and in an instant, Chris saw and recognized his aunt. He would have said hello, but Honey was there to welcome him home and at the same time, Joss dropped to her knees and slid the last three feet to him like that. She bowed, touching her forehead to the floor.

Chris stared as Joss sat back up still on her knees. "Lord Moreth," she smiled, "would you please marry me?"

Chris stared, beginning to smile himself now. "What the hell, ..."

"That's not correct, Joss," Bethany called to her, "The tradition remains as it always has. Chris must ask you."

"Aw shoot, ..." Joss grumbled good-naturedly.

Bethany looked at her nephew and winked, "This is your chance, Christian. Ask her now."

He shrugged, though he was happy. "I don't know what you did to make this happen, Aunt Bethany, but I'm not as slow as I look. Joss, would you please finally marry me?"

She stood up, beaming at him. Joss didn't care about what had been told to her the last while as much as she cared about the look in Chris' eyes right then. She'd been leaning this way anyway.

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. "Yeah," she sighed, "It's looking like I gotta. I just can't help it, Chris. I love you."

"Well I must say that's very nice to see," Bethany grinned. She lifted her Mason jar and toasted them once before taking a sip. "Of course, it would be desirable that there be children, you know. You're not too old yet, and I don't want to have to think of doing something like this all over again."

He thought for a moment, "Grandfather, ..."

His aunt nodded, "About a year ago. So you know why I am here."

He nodded, "I have an idea why."

Bethany shrugged, "You just fell off the Earth, Christian. I've been trying to find you."

"I'm very sorry for that. I guess I basically re-made my life after the divorce, and I should have called you, but I had a couple of really large and important changes in my life with the entrance of Joss and Honey. I just kept putting it off."

"Well," Bethany smiled, "if you put it off because you didn't have the strength or the ability to get out of your bed because of Joss, then I'd consider it a valid excuse and I forgive you." She turned to Joss. "And if my guess has any ring of truth to it at all, then well done, Joss."

Bethany looked at Chris again, "Will you consider assuming the title? I know that you would miss your job, but I think there's enough back there to keep you busy. There are festivals that will require your attendance, most especially the medieval re-enactment one. That one generates a lot of money for the town and they always clamor for the Earl and the Countess. My father used to take part, but never in the way that he would have liked, due to his health."

"Well what would they like?" Joss asked.

"The title of Earl is the modern day remnant of the old Norse jarl. It means chieftain. What they'd like is more of a chieftain who looks like a warrior, and his lady ought to look the part as well. It's quite a lot of fun and I think that you both would like to be involved. I'm sure the organizers would be over the moon to have the real couple there taking part. Your obvious beauty and grace, combined with your charm and added to the romantic appeal of his background would sway a lot of the locals. The pubs would hum over it for months."

Joss frowned, "I might be able to pull that off right up to the point where I open my mouth to speak."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Bethany chuckled, "there is no one alive that I know of who could speak the proper way anymore anyway and besides, people come from all over to take part or just to be there and watch."

"You said there was a castle?" Joss asked with interest.

"About half of the structure is fallen-in," Bethany said, "There is enough of it left that is sound to be a romantic home, since my own grandfather tried to live there and installed a hot water heating system in a small part of it. It still works, but it's a little cranky. It's livable, since I lived there for a time, but it's cold in the winter unless you run around in your woolys all of the time. But the view from the tower is worth it, perhaps. I'd live there during the summer months, and Christian had a wonderful playground then when he came to visit."

Joss turned to Chris, who nodded, "It's impressive for an old run-down castle, but you can't go in most of it, other than the tower and what's below that. It's cold in some parts year-round from the sea breeze."

Bethany nodded, "That's why I'd wait until Christian had gone back home. Then I'd flit off to someplace warm for my own fun. You ought to say yes. How many people get to live this sort of life? Besides, it's your heritage and it's yours by right, never mind that it's - "

"Duty," Chris nodded solemnly, "I know." He turned to Joss.

"Well? Do you think Chloe the woodland nymph could survive living in a dusty old hall when she's not living in a dusty old castle? I can already see the castle there in your eyes, but I'm sure you'll get over that once you've frozen your ass off there for a little while."

I dunno," she said, "I think I might survive it as long as I've got you."

"I won't accept unless you agree, Joss. I won't even think about it."

"You do what you need to do and I know that you'll look it all over beforehand," Joss said earnestly, "Don't worry 'bout me. I'll go where you go. I've always told you that."

Bethany Moreth set her Mason jar down and looked at them both. "I will be there to help, as will the others and your small staff. We would all hope that you succeed and be the sort of gentry that the place requires. It's not as though you have no idea about the job, Christian. You were with your grandfather many a time, so you know at least some of what is involved."

She looked at her nephew in a bored sort of way and sighed. "So just say 'yes' right now Christian, and we can just have fun as we always used to. I'd much rather talk with you both and catch up than have to argue about duty. I accept your fine woman's invitation to dinner. Now can we please just dispense with all of the dust and cobwebs before I burst from drinking all of this tea out of my need to wash them down?"

She winked, "And if we can't, then please, Joss, may I have another? I like this better than sipping from china with cream. I like it your way very much."

Chris smiled, "Well, I've got some bourbon, a little single malt scotch, Glenlivet which makes me want to weep every time that I take a sip for the cost of it, and some beer. Which would you like?"

"All of them," Bethany replied, "If you agree, then I'm not going anywhere tonight and I'm just so sodding tired of all of this hunting for you. I'm happy to be near you again and now I've met the Earldom's new jewel, so say it and let's be done for God's sake."

He turned to Joss and saw her nod," You don't need to ask," she said.

He sighed, "I guess I've wanted this all of my life, in a way. Alright, if there's a way to not go broke in this, I'll agree. Yes, Aunt Bethany."

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The woman looked up from her desk in the small suite of rooms that had once been set aside for the use of another Countess long ago. Joss used one room as her office and she had her desk there near the one where the lovely woman now sat. She was Joss' assistant and also her friend. They'd just fallen into the friendship naturally and what had begun as an awkward professional relationship was now becoming a very close friendship that both of the women had been surprised over.

But it sure helped with the work of being a Countess, Joss knew. She'd had no need of a suite of rooms for herself. She slept with Chris every night and their love had grown even more since the almost fairytale-like wedding not long after Chris had assumed the title and the considerable work of the Earl of Moreth a few months before. Joss still couldn't believe how it had happened.

After returning from their honeymoon, Joss had given the suite over as quarters to the woman who now smiled at the Lord of the place as he leaned against the doorframe with a slightly inquisitive look on his face.

"I had a message that you'd asked to see me," he said.

She nodded and invited him in, pointing at a chair as she stood up, "Yes, my lord," she smiled, "it's very kind of you to find some time for me. I only require a few minutes, I think."

He sat down and she began what had been on her mind for a little while. Despite what she knew of the man, she was aware that she had to tread a little carefully and also, she had to couch her words a little as well.

"I don't know if you remember me very much from your summers here as a boy," she smiled, "but I was in quite a bit of awe of you back then, though I was a little girl," she said.

Chris nodded, "I do remember," he said, "it always seemed to me that I seemed to see you just about everywhere - in the village here and there, and then here at the castle often. You were always with your mom, who worked for my aunt. I'd come in and almost run you over sometimes."

The woman laughed a little, "Well I wanted you to, of course. Mum always kept me on a short leash, or I'd have made such a huge pest of myself, since I was seven years younger. The last thing that you needed as a teenager on summer holidays here was an adoring little tag-along who would only have mooned over you constantly as I certainly would have done if Mum had allowed me to. I'm sure that I'd have been one little red-topped pain in the arse to you."

"I find myself very thankful for many things that are just so perfect for me now. The place and the area have a new lord and lady, and that can only be to the good, and also, I have the best job in the whole world now and it seems to me that I've been dreaming of something like this all of my life. The best part is that my lady and I have become such friends."

He nodded grinning, "I see that. I was a little afraid that transplanting a girl like Joss so far from home, ... well, it doesn't matter now. She's busy as anything and happy, and I always hear about you two. I make time for it actually. I'm always amazed at how well she's taken to the place, and she doesn't feel lost at all, the way that you manage her schedule and all."

He smiled at her a little carefully wanting to move this along to where he had a thought that it was headed, "Plus, I get to hear all kinds of great stories, since the two of you are about the same in a lot of ways."

"Well, it is true," the woman smiled in admission, just as carefully. "I wanted to ask you, what do you know of the old stone table on the stones outside of the doors which open onto the high turret?"

He smiled even more carefully now, "I've heard enough about it to know a little of the story of the Sunne's Gift, I think it's called. Why?"

"Well, you might know that it was a hopeful gift once, between a pair of lovers long ago," the woman said, "It has seen use several times since by the inhabitants of the tower in the way that it was intended, on the few sunny and warm days that this place offers.

Indeed," she smiled, "Most of those inhabitants had no idea what it was for and they used it as a table where the pair who'd had it made and placed used it as often as they could, even in colder weather - with many more skins than on the warmer days and nights, I've learned.

They placed it in the hope that their love would last until their ends, and I daresay that it must have, for they lived well into their late eighties."

She reached for a large package wrapped in heavy paper and held it out to Chris. "With the sudden arrival of you both and the speed that everything happened, well, I found myself in this new job and swimming for my life, awash in the many things that I had to put together for such a quick wedding. I had no time to make my own gift to the new Lord and Lady."

"So I make my gift to my Lord and my Lady now," she said, "terribly late, but better, perhaps, for the knowledge of you both and my hope that what you share lasts longer than the love between the originators of the custom." She bowed as she held out the package.

"The traditional hides, my lord," she smiled, "May you both wear them out."

Chris was shocked, but then he laughed, knowing at once the thoughtfulness and the intent of the gift.

"Our heartfelt thanks," he grinned, "Well, mine now and beforehand from Joss. It says a lot about you that you'd know of this for one - though maybe I shouldn't be surprised, and the way that you try to gather the lore and the old doings of the castle."

"That's exactly why, my lord," she said, "and if I may be so bold," she smiled a little conspiratorially, "the weather guessers are calling for uncommonly warm weather the next few days. Speaking as Joss' friend, I wouldn't tell her until the day."

They heard Lady Moreth's call from the bottom of the long staircase, and he turned to rush out with the package so that he might hide it.

"Thanks again," he smiled.

"Not at all," she chuckled, "I do have an ulterior motive after all, my lord. This old place is alive again with you both here. I should know, I've been around here all my life. What's needed now are children. I'm just doing my part to keep the heritage of it all alive."

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She walked through the glass doors which had been a recent addition only about a century before onto the half-turret that lay near the top of the keep tower. As always, the wind was blustery at this height, but it was pleasant and warm today as it blew her cloak open a little to reveal her nakedness underneath. She smiled as she walked to where he stood, looking over the battlements at the countryside around them. Sometimes, they just asked each other for a day together and away from their schedules and her secretary had managed to come up with this one on short notice.

As was common for the time of its construction, the place had a moat surrounding it which had over the centuries turned into a large and very lush pond with all of the aquatic life that could manage to stay alive over the winter months. There was no person to be seen across the grassy and undulating land around them, besides the cars that passed on the road more than a half a mile distant and the odd fishing boat far out to sea. Other than small aircraft, perhaps, they were safe from anyone's view.

Joss smiled as she admired him. There was no role to play here other than his wife, but she knew what worked for them and so she wore the collar of her subservience today as a matter of course, and perhaps a little quiet hopefulness. Her soft voice came to him from over his shoulder and it made him smile a little wider, that was all.

"Does everything seem right in the Earldom this morning, my lord?" she asked.

He turned and nodded, admiring her as her cloak and the wind teased him, alternating between hiding her and revealing everything. He leaned back against the old stones of the turret wondering at his fortune for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah," he sighed, "It looks ok from here, but that's looking a little too far out, I think. The wind is warm and so is the sun today. From what I know, it's the kind of day that ought to be taken advantage of to my mind. Days like this don't happen often here."

Joss looked at the old stone table there and wondered at how it had been covered over with sheepskin that was fastened in some way so that the wind didn't steal it. "What is this thing?" she asked, "I can't decide if it was supposed to be a table or some kind of altar."

He shrugged as he walked to her. "Beats me. Maybe it was a table or just a place to plan out one's defenses in the event of a siege. I'd doubt that it was meant to be an altar. We were Christians long before this was built."

He hugged her and began to kiss her throat in the way that he knew would make her knees a little weak.

"That's just what I'm going to use it for today, that's all."

Joss shivered at the feel of his hands and what he was doing to her neck for a moment. He went to his knees slowly and began to kiss her bare mound. The first time that his tongue slid into her folds, she gasped and had to lean back against the stone table.

"What are you going to worship, lord?" she sighed, "I think that's what an altar is for, isn't it?"

He stood to help her ease back onto the warm wool there in the sunshine and she leaned back until she held herself up on her elbows as she spread her legs for him.

He kissed the space between her breasts and said nothing for a long time as he traced many of her features with his lips and his tongue. But he finally stopped for a moment to look up at her from where his lips rested against her labia.

"I dunno," he smiled, "I thought that I'd just worship you right here for a while, since it's such a nice day to adore my slave girl and be thankful for my luck."

He loved her this way for more than an hour, finally pulling her hips toward him so that he could take her as he stood. It didn't last long however. Joss laid back on the sheepskin so that he could mount her there.

Honey lay on the warm stones dreaming of chasing rabbits.

The only one who heard her faint cries from the tower was her secretary, a pretty woman of perhaps twenty-eight whose own line descended from the families of the servants of the lords of this place. She'd had no need to offer her services, other than an old sense of duty and a desire for the chance to work amid the many ghosts of the old place where her own history was tied as securely as those old spirits. She was here just as many of her fore bearers had been before her. The previous holder of the position had retired and suggested her daughter as her replacement. One long interview later ...

Gwendolyn smiled as she looked up and moved her long red hair out of her eyes. She was the only one who knew the secret of the Lord and the Lady Moreth. She wore her own cloak today, one that matched the one around her mistress' lovely shoulders. The cloak had been a gift from the Lady. It was a fine and expensive one and it suited the climate. Besides, she just liked the way that it felt.