Edgar was not sure what he thought of that. He would love to build another boat, but he hated Dreng.

“Employ that cocky pup?” Dreng said scornfully. “No one wants a dog that barks at its master, and I don’t want Edgar.”

Ma ignored that. “You can pay him half a penny per day. You’ll never get a cheaper boat.”

A calculating look came over Dreng’s face as he figured that Ma was right. But he said: “No, I don’t like it.”

Leaf said: “We have to do something.”

Dreng looked obstinate. “I’m her father, and I’ll decide.”

“There is one other possibility,” said Ma.

Here it comes, Edgar thought. What scheme has she dreamed up?

“Come on, spit it out,” said Dreng. He was trying to be in charge, but no one else believed it.

Ma was silent for a long moment, then said: “Cwenburg must marry Erman and Eadbald.”

Edgar had not seen that coming, either.

Dreng was outraged. “And she would have two husbands?”

Leaf said pointedly: “Well, plenty of men have two wives.”

Dreng looked indignant but could not, for the moment, find words to express just where Leaf was wrong.

“I’ve heard of such marriages,” Ma said calmly. “It happens when two or three brothers inherit a farm that is too small for more than one family.”

Eadbald said: “But how does it work? I mean . . . at night?”

Ma said: “The brothers take it in turn to lie with their wife.”

Edgar was sure he wanted no part of this, but he kept quiet for the moment, not wanting to undermine Ma. He would state his position later. Come to think of it, Ma must already have guessed how he felt.

Leaf said: “I knew such a family, once. When I was a child I sometimes played with a girl who had one mama and two daddies.” Edgar wondered whether to believe her. He looked hard at her face and saw an expression of genuine reminiscence. She added: “Margaret, her name was.”

“That’s how it should be,” said Ma. “When a child is born, no one knows which brother is the father, which the uncle. And if they’re sensible, no one cares. They just raise all the children as their own.”

Eadbald said: “What about the wedding?”

“You will make all the usual vows, in front of a few witnesses—just the members of the two families, I suggest.”

Erman said: “No priest would bless such a marriage.”

“Fortunately,” said Ma, “we don’t need a priest.”

Leaf said scathingly: “But if we did, Dreng’s brother would surely oblige us. Degbert has two women.”

Dreng said defensively: “A wife and a concubine.”

“Though no one knows which is which.”

“Very well,” said Ma. “Cwenburg, do you have something to tell your father?”

Cwenburg was puzzled. “I don’t think so.”

“I think you do.”

Edgar thought: What now?

Cwenburg frowned. “No.”

“You haven’t had your monthly blood since we arrived in Dreng’s Ferry, have you?”