The Shattered Rose Page 0,68

knuckle. "Like I said, I've had gossip as well as the official messenger. Some men are already moving to support Robert."

"God save us all, then. Are we to have war over it?"

"We can't flinch from the right for fear of fighting."

"I've had my fill of fighting."

"No man can escape it," stated his father. "We have to do what is right. But it can wait. It can wait." He shrugged off his cloak and studied them. "Now, speaking of Flambard, what's this I hear about him trying to seize the child.

And a bowman?"

Galeran grimaced, though he'd never really had a chance to keep the news from his father. "It all came to nothing. How did you hear?"

"Hubert sent me a message. Just as well, since my own son tries to keep me in ignorance."

"I didn't want to bother you."

"Bother me?" Lord William surged to his feet. "Bother me! What do I have in life but bother? And why would Flambard want the brat?"

"It's more a case of Lowick wanting Donata."

"Why?"

"Because Jehanne would have to accompany her babe."

Lord William directed a fearsome stare at his daughter-in-law. "He still lusts after you, does he?"

She flushed, but answered calmly. "He lusts after Hey-wood."

"God's toes," Lord William muttered, seeing the plot. "And Henry Beauclerk will be no friend of Flambard's, so this event spells Flambard's ruin, and that of Lowick too. . . ."

"Precisely," said Galeran. "So, once we declare our support of Henry, I can go to him and ask him to sort out the situation regarding Donata, and be reasonably sure of his support."

Lord William sat back down. "He'll have to heed the law, and a man has a right to his children."

"A man who has been wronged in his own house has rights too. But you'll be the turning point, Father. If you are Henry's staunch supporter here in the north, he'll not want to alienate you. You would be alienated, I assume?"

Lord William scowled at him. "It'd be easier to just drown the brat." But then he flashed a guilty look at Jehanne.

"Perhaps," said Galeran, "you should meet your new granddaughter.

Jehanne?"

She left, even as his father spluttered, "She's not my granddaughter!"

""You might as well get used to treating her as such." When Jehanne returned with the baby, Galeran took her and placed her in his father's arms.

Surely it was the hand of God that had ensured Donata was at her best - dry, awake, and not hungry.

He sent a silent message, and Jehanne slipped out again.

The babe stared up at ruddy-faced William of Brome and stretched her mouth to squawk, almost as if she wanted to talk.

"Hey, hey. There's a little bird, eh?" said Lord William, giving her a stubby, callused finger to grasp. "She looks quite like her brother at the same age, I must say."

That reminder of the son he had never known was like a blow, but Galeran managed to be impassive when his father cast him an embarrassed glance.

"A good strong grip on her too," said Lord William hastily. "Pity she'll not be handling a sword."

"Being Jehanne's daughter, I'd swear no oaths to that."

"True enough!" said his father with a bark of laughter. Then he shot Galeran a searching glance. "All right between you two, is it?"

"It is as it is. I will not renounce Jehanne, or let anyone hurt her. I will not let her child be taken from us."

Lord William looked down at the baby and waggled his eyebrows at the fascinated child. "Load of trouble, you are, for such a tiny mite. Right, then," he said, looking up. "What's Lowick likely to do now?"

"Short of trying to seize Jehanne and Donata by force, I don't know. And if he cannot kill me, his chances of getting Heywood are small even with them in his power."

"If Lowick were to get his hands on Jehanne and the babe, you'd fight him, wouldn't you?"

"I'd have to."

"And if he killed you, his path would be smoothed."

"Apart from the enmity of my family."

"What if he throws his lot in with Duke Robert? Then if Robert invades and carries the day, the enmity of your family will be scant protection."

"Father, I know both Henry and Robert. If Robert prevails, it will be the wildest freak of fate."

Lord William looked him in the eye. "Like the Conqueror succeeding against all odds, and like a hunting arrow killing Rufus? Fate plays a strange game with the kings of England, Galeran. Don't ever expect these matters to follow logic."

He stood and gave