By nightfall the tiny, stiff bundle that was once Hildred’s baby brother lay buried underground alongside the mother who died bearing him. Hildred and her father knelt at the freshly churned earth a long while, crying until their eyes ran dry and muttering nonsensical prayers.
When Hildred heard someone approaching, for a moment she panicked. She had forgotten Eadric’s presence, or assumed he left some time ago. But there he stood, and he had been watching them from afar all the while.
“How do your make your living?” he asked Hildred’s father.
The man looked up with no expression at all, his eyes vacant, as if his soul had long since fled his body. “I’m a free man,” he said, “but for a long while I made my living reaping Thegn Sigbert’s crops. He dismissed me a few months ago, saying he could no longer afford me.”
“So this is your land?”
“Yes.”
“Then it will be mine now.” The confidence in his voice shocked Hildred, but her father did not react at all. “In exchange your daughter will come work for me on my estate, and I’ll supply her enough food to feed you both. I will also give you seeds to plant here.”
“It’s too late to plant,” her father said.
“I speak of the future.” Irritation grated on Eadric’s voice. “In a year I’ll expect you to pay me my dues as your lord, and such charities to you will cease. Do you agree to this or not?”
Her father hesitated.
“Yes!” cried Hildred. Such elation filled her that her soul seemed to peer down on her body from afar. She could hardly believe this was happening. Only hours ago she had looked upon Eadric as the most vile man on earth, but now she wondered if he was an angel sent from heaven. Enough food to feed her and her father for a year? Seeds for next year? A chance for her father to get back on his feet? She had never heard of such a proposal from any other lord before, but that didn’t matter. The alternative was poverty and destitution.
Even so her father looked upon the land with sadness; he did not want to lose it. But he must have realized, too, that there was no better option left to him. At last, he bowed his head in assent.
“Yes.”
“Very good.” Eadric exhaled, and Hildred realized he had been holding his breath. Perhaps he was newer to all this than he seemed. She must have been glowing with excitement, for when his gaze fell upon her, it narrowed. “As for you, er … what is your name?”
She lowered her gaze. “Hildred.”
“Well, Hildred ...” He tilted his head to a ridiculous angle until she could not help but look at him. Then he gave her a playful smirk. “If you ever steal from me, bear in mind I will not be so forgiving as when you steal from someone else.”
Despite everything that had happened, despite the old and fresh graves in the ground next to her feet, Hildred felt a grin winding up her face. “Yes, of course, my lord.”
“Dear God!” said Eadric.
Fear coursed through her veins, and a frown returned to her face. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Please smile again.”
Though now she was fidgeting with nervousness, she forced herself to smile.
“There.” She tensed as he reached up with one hand, but his touch was gentle as he brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “When you smile, you have dimples. Did you even know that?”
“I … I …” Hildred wanted to laugh at this ridiculous observation. But sobs welled unexpectedly into her ribcage. I forgot, she might have said. Instead, she turned aside, away from his touch, tears flooding her eyes. She found it difficult to speak at all. “I’ll start work on your estate tomorrow,” she managed, just barely.
“Very well.” She could not bear to look at him as he returned to his horse; she wondered if he thought her silly and foolish for crying again so suddenly. But how could she explain that she did not remember the last time she smiled?
As Eadric rode away, her father held her, and they stood together until her sobs faded once more to silence. She drew a deep breath, and exhaled as the wind stirred the dark world. She harbored the brief hope that from now on, she would find reason to smile more often.