39. Thurid Re-Marries

Thurid and Gwyneth often met at church on Sunday and would drive back in their wagons to one or the other of their houses and talk. Two summers after Frosti’s death, Thurid said, “Mother, I am thinking of re-marrying.”

“Well, you are a grown woman, married once already. This choice is yours alone.”

Thurid nodded. “I think I will marry Cran.”

Gwyneth was amazed. The thought struck her that Cran was an ex-robber and that Thurid was a wealthy widow. She said, “He is younger than you.”

“A few years, not so much.” She looked Gwyneth in the eye. “I suppose you think he is after my wealth.”

“I think it possible,” admitted Gwyneth.

“Well, as to that, I will ask Hallvard and Ljot and Colm about a marriage contract that will keep everyone from being concerned about such matters. Anyway, if wealth is what he wants, well, I want a companion. I need a man in my house. He is welcome to what I have.”

Gwyneth said, “Daughter, your decision will not be questioned by me.”

Later, she told Colm, “Cran is like the seed sowed on hard soil, but now he has found fertile ground.”

Thurid is that, all right, thought Colm, and his mouth quirked a little but he did not allow himself to actually smile enough so that Gwyneth would notice.

So Cran and Thurid were married. Cran was not a spendthrift and he had taken to farming. After a time, people ceased to be concerned that Thurid might be exploited. Anyway, she began to have children by Cran and so that marriage seemed solid enough.

Between her two husbands, Thurid had ten children altogether that lived and she began to get stout. After Thurid went a few years without a new pregnancy, she believed that she was done with child-bearing. Of course, many a woman has received a late surprise.