Page 104 of Truly, Madly Viking

"Too greasy!"

They were about to argue the point further; then both shrugged.

"There is one remarkable thing I have noticed about this land—" Jorund started to say, then stopped himself. Why give his brother cause for more grinning?

"What?" Rolf prodded. "Do not be shy now, brother."

Jorund knew he would regret his hasty words, but... What the hell! That was a handy expression Steve had taught him. With his eyes at half mast, he slowly divulged, "Well, have you noticed how much bigger your staff gets in this land?"

At first Rolf just stared at him blankly. Then his gaze moved lower, to his groin. "That staff?"

"Of course, that staff. How many other staffs are there?"

"And yours is bigger in this land?"

"Immense."

"You lie." Rolf hooted. Then, "Show me."

"I do not lie, and I will not show you. Besides, it only gets big when I am around Mag-he."

"You lackbrain. All men's man parts get big when they are aroused by their women."

"I know that," Jorund said with disgust. His brother was speaking to him as if he were an untried boy. "I am talking of huge. Not big, huge."

"Methinks time travel has distorted your eyes."

"Methinks I will never tell you any secrets ever again."

"That is not a secret. That is news of great import. Viking men throughout the Old World will be seeking to travel to the future on the promise of that alone—big cocks."

Rolf and Jorund were laughing heartily when they reentered the keep.

"What's up?" Merrydeath and Mag-he asked them both at the same time.

The women could not understand why that simple question caused the two brothers to burst into more hysterical laughter.

After three days, it was time to go home.

Suzy and Beth were already in the rental car, but they had the windows open and were waving and saying last-minute good-byes to all their new found friends. There were promises of e-mail letters to be exchanged and possible future visits.

Mike Johnson had been taking photographs the entire time during their visit, and now he was snapping last-minute shots... group pictures, individual ones, all different combinations. He was going to the one-hour processing center that afternoon and promised to send copies to them in Texas as soon as they were developed.

"Come back anytime," Meredith urged, hugging Maggie warmly. "It's especially beautiful here in the summer."

"Maybe." Maggie hugged her back.

It was odd, but she and the girls had been accepted by Rolf and Meredith like family. And yet they were not. Their only link with this Rosestead family was through Joe, whose connection with them was tenuous, to say the least.

She and Meredith glanced over to the side, where Rolf and Joe were talking seriously with each other.

Whether Maggie and her daughters ever returned to Rosestead would depend on whether Joe stayed with her. And that was not a given, by any means.

Maggie had seen a different side of Joe here in the village. He was in his element, wearing Viking clothing, speaking Old Norse, teaching swordplay to the young men, playing thinking board games like hnefatafl, arm wrestling with his brother, engaging in footraces and horse races, drinking honeyed mead from a hand-carved horn, helping to chisel with an adz in Roll's shipbuilding shop, chopping firewood like a demon, talking of his other life... a life Maggie could not understand, let alone share.

Deep down, Maggie sensed that Joe wanted to go back to his own time. Oh, his brother had managed to adapt to this modern life, but he had a skill—building ships—that was still valued today. What would Joe do if he stayed? Really, what kind of demand was there for a man who wielded a wicked sword?

How long would it be before his self-esteem as a man began to slip? Would he become half a man... like his friend Steve?