Historical Setting: 610 C.E., Vosges Mountains
Gratitude in this darkness that ends a day of homecoming and feasting should be all we have in our hearts. But Ana and I both want each of our children to be loved as we know love, and now for Greg, this love is tenuous.
Ana whispers to me, “We know that just as Greg is formed in this family to be forever in the ways of Jesus’ love, Gaillard was, in his family, pressed into the mold of Frankish nobility. If there is any resolution for these differences it will have to be sourced in love, not parental edict.”
“What advice did you offer?” I ask.
“I told Greg we love him and he said that isn’t the problem. So, I asked him if he wants to make you take up a sword and a spear and go visit Gaillard’s uncle to make him tremble and quake in terror until he completely changes his wishes for an heir.”
“He laughed. Sorry, Laz, he thought that was funny, and he really did laugh.”
“Laughing could be good.”
“We both know this can only be between Gaillard and Greg. If Greg chooses not to be the object of pretend love, then it will be Gaillard who must decide between an assigned wife or Greg. He didn’t like my suggestion either. If Greg had a third parent, he would have gone away for that parent’s advice. As it was, he just walked back here and said nothing.”
Dear God, stay close to Gaillard and Greg, as we know your wings are wider than the bounds of our imaginations. Amen.
And so, it is a bright autumn morning when the four guards ready their horses and prepare to return to Metz. Greg waits on the forest path, while Gaillard bids them a safe day’s journey. Then these two young men walk toward the wilderness, hand-in-hand. I know they’ve been released from the simple plan of assigning one to be a concubine, precious or not. But when they return for their horses will they leave here together, or will they part separately? Ana reminds me they must choose their own way now; we can only love them. It is, of course, something we’ve learned about love from God herself in the metaphor of being parents. Unconditional love is letting our children make their own choices regardless of our wishes that they might never know pain.
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 