Beau nodded. “I know, my lady,” he said, turning to look at her. His blue eyes were twinkling. “I think you have been fearful to say anything to me since Tenner came up with the plot to bring Jane to Baiadepaura. But the truth is that I know she has changed. I was able to see her briefly after her injury and, in the time I spent with her, it was true that she had changed a great deal. But I could still see the Jane I fell in love with in her eyes. She is still there, underneath everything.”
“You truly believe that?”
“I do.”
Annalyla smiled at the man. Love, truly, was blind. “Then I pray you come to know her again while she is here,” she said. “I wish you all of the happiness in the world, Beau.”
He went to her, then, taking a knee beside her and taking her hand, kissing it gallantly. “Tenner is a very fortunate man,” he said. “I have known him for years and he has always been a man of character and strength. There are times I have seen compassion in him, but this sentiment that he seems to hide… I saw it briefly when Jane was injured. It seems to me that you have brought out that side of him. He is no longer afraid to show it. I shall ever be grateful to you for how happy you have made him.”
Annalyla was touched by his tribute. “As he has made me happy, too,” she said. “Maude once said that Tenner was a secret romantic, and I believe that. He very much wants to see his friends as happy as he is.”
Beau started to reply when noise from the entry caught his attention. Quickly, he stood up, turning to the door just in time to see Tenner entering. The man was in full mail and protection, looking like a powerful battle lord, but the expression on his face was exceedingly soft as he went to his wife. Annalyla stood up about the time he reached her and he stretched out, putting his arms around her, gently.
“Greetings, sweetling,” he said sweetly, kissing her soft mouth. “You are looking well and beautiful.”
Annalyla hugged him tightly. “I am very well,” she said. “How was your journey?”
Tenner kissed her again, on the lips and on the cheek. “Uneventful,” he said. He looked at Beau as if just noticing the man. “Well? Has all been quiet since I’ve been away?”
Beau nodded, but he was distracted, hearing more commotion in the entry. “Aye,” he said. “Very quiet, except we caught some children trying to steal one of our cows yesterday. Young boys, in fact.”
Tenner frowned. “Are they hungry?” he asked. “Did you seek their parents to see if they are in need of food?”
Beau lifted his eyebrows. “Their parents were not destitute,” he said. “In fact, one of the fathers was so outraged that he let me beat his son with a switch before he took a turn himself. I am sure that will be the last time that lad tries anything so foolish. One does not steal cows from the great Lord of Baiadepaura’s herd simply for the thrill of it.”
Tenner snorted. “Boys stealing cows,” he said. “If that is the least they do, then that is hardly a beating offense. As a child, I did things that were much worse.”
Annalyla looked at him. “Like what?”
“I could tell you, but you would probably leave me and never return,” he said. “Therefore, in the interest of our marriage, I refuse to answer.”
As she started to giggle at him, more people began entering the solar. Annalyla, Tenner, and Beau turned to see Arlo entering the room, followed by Maude leading a young woman with her. Maude had her arm around the woman’s shoulders and was speaking softly and steadily to her. Beau’s gentle expression told Annalyla everything she needed to know about the new arrival.
Lady Jane FitzJohn had arrived.
Annalyla took a good look at the woman. In truth, she’d never actually seen her. Even on that night last year at Seven Crosses when the woman had tried to break into her chamber, Annalyla had never taken a good look at her.
Now, she was.
Lady Jane was fair, with pale blonde hair pulled into a braid and big, blue eyes. She had an angelic beauty, rather delicate, which was surprising, considering the force with which the woman howled.
But she also looked a little confused, and even a little scared, as Maude led her into the chamber. Beau, unable to stay away, timidly approached.
“Jane?” he said softly. “Janie, ’tis me. ’Tis Beau.”
Jane’s wide-eyed gaze turned to him and, for a moment, no one breathed. No one spoke. They were all waiting to see her reaction to her former lover, a man that she had cried for constantly since the day he’d been exiled. But she didn’t react at first – she simply looked at him with a gaze that showed nothing at all in her expression. No recognition, no joy.
Undeterred, Beau tried again.
“Janie,” he said gently. “Sweetheart, do you know me? It is Beaufort. You told me once that you loved me, and I have never stopped loving you. Tenner has brought me here to greet you. Do you remember me?”
Jane stared at him as if processing his words. They were all looking at her, praying for at least a glimmer of recognition for Beau’s sake. The man had waited so very long. Then, it came… a flicker of a smile appeared. The smile widened. A hand came up and she reached out, hesitantly touching his face. A second hand came up so that she was touching both of his cheeks, the blue eyes studying him intently. It seemed to go on forever. Then, she spoke, in a soft and distant voice.
“Beau?” she whispered.
A grin spread across his face as tears filled his eyes. “Aye,” he said hoarsely. “It is Beau.”
Lady Jane blinked, slowly processing what she’d been told, before moving away from Maude and right into Beau’s arms. As he wrapped her up in his big embrace, she collapsed into him, holding him fiercely.
“Beau,” she murmured again. “My Beau.”
“Aye, my sweet,” Beau said, struggling not to weep. “I am your Beau. I always will be your Beau, until the end of all things.”
She held him ever so tightly, her eyes closed. “I… have missed you.”
“I have missed you, too.”
For those who had known Lady Jane and Beau before her head injury, there wasn’t a dry eye among them. Maude had tears streaming down her face, quickly wiping them away, as Tenner and Arlo looked upon the tender reunion with moist eyes. Even Annalyla, who hadn’t known them before, was fighting off tears as she watched a couple who had once loved each other deeply. It was clear that the love was still there.
The entire chamber was filled with it.
“Beau,” Annalyla whispered tightly. “Take her into my solar down the hall. You have waited a very long time for this moment and you do not need an audience.”
Beau simply nodded, gently turning Jane around and, with his arms around, escorted her from the chamber. Jane seemed very calm and content, nothing like the wild woman Annalyla had first become acquainted with. In Beau’s arms, she was where she belonged and no matter how badly her mind was damaged, somewhere deep inside, she knew that this was where she was meant to be.
She finally had her Beaufort.
When they were gone, Maude wiped away the remainder of her tears as she turned to Tenner.
“That was a wonderful thing you did,” she said. “I have always said you are a man of great compassion and understanding, Tenner. What you have done for Beau and Jane merely proves it.”
Tenner was reluctant to take praise for what, to him, was simply the right thing to do. “You know that their separation has troubled me from the start,” he said, looking down at Annalyla, who was gazing up adoringly at him. “Call me foolish and sentimental, but it simply wasn’t right for those two to be kept apart any longer. I suppose it was my own happiness that made me realize that. I cannot imagine being kept from Annie, not even if she was no longer the same person. To me, she will always be my Annie, no matter what.”
Annalyla smiled at him, putting her soft hand against his cheek. “You and I seem to be in the business of reuniting separated lovers,” she said. “First Faustus and Anyu, now Beau and Jane. Everyone has the right to be with the person t
hey love, I think. Everyone deserves to live happily for the rest of their lives.”
“I agree.”
“How long will Lady Jane be staying with us?”
Tenner kissed the palm of her hand that was still on his face. “Ivor did not make any demands to have her returned soon, so I will keep her here as long as Beau wants me to.”
“And if Beau wants to marry her?” Maude asked the question they were, perhaps, all thinking. “He was betrothed to her, once. That love has never died, Ten. What if he wants to marry her?”
Tenner shrugged. “Then he can do it with my blessing,” he said. “I’ll not stop him. I will even be the one to tell Ivor. All that man wanted to do was keep Jane caged like an animal, so if Beau wants to marry her and take care of her for the rest of her life, then I can think of no more noble destiny for a man.”
There was the secret romantic again, the man who had become unbearably sentimental and sweet at times since his marriage to Annalyla. She brought out a side in him that he’d been fearful to expose until she came along. He was no longer rigid in his beliefs, either, but was truly more open and understanding. He was also unafraid to show his emotion.
His wife liked him that way.
“Speaking of destinies,” she said after a moment, putting her hand on her belly. “Ours shall soon be here. I am eager for our son to learn from his father, not only the skills of a knight, but the skills of a man. True men do allow themselves to feel and they understand the meaning of love. Beau and Jane are very fortunate to have a friend such as you.”
Tenner gave her a lopsided smile, kissing her again as Maude and Arlo excused themselves, leaving the future parents some time alone. Such time was precious, and given Annalyla and Tenner hadn’t seen each other in five days, they appreciated the privacy.
They would lose it soon enough.
Two days later, during the midst of a brilliant storm that had rolled in from the sea, Annalyla gave birth to a lusty baby boy, who screamed unhappily in his father’s arms as the man wept joyfully all over him.
Little Blaize de Velt looked nothing like the de Velt side of the family. He was born blonde, a distinct de Lohr trait, until his eye color started to develop and it was clear the lad would have the brown eyes with the splash of green in right iris, only in Blaize’s case, it was barely noticeable. It gave the child a distinct look, one that Tenner was very proud of. Though a trait he was once embarrassed of, now it defined the de Velt line. He saw it from a different perspective and he was proud of it. There was no mistaking his son, with de Velt and de Lohr blood running through his veins, would also know a great future as his forefathers had.
In time, Blaize was joined by playmates bearing the surnames of de Correa and even de Fira, a trio of lads with the weight of England resting upon their young shoulders, charging forth to find their own great and noble destinies. They had all been born at a castle that, not so long ago, had harbored a dark and terrible reputation. Now, it was a place with a great legacy, with more than one love story for the ages.
Baiadepaura Castle, that desolate fortress on the storm-battered cliffs of Cornwall, had finally found peace.
* THE END *
Children of Tenner and Annalyla
Blaize
Laurent
Josette
Maxim
Reine
About Kathryn Le Veque
Medieval Just Got Real.
KATHRYN LE VEQUE is a USA TODAY Bestselling author, an Amazon All-Star author, and a #1 bestselling, award-winning, multi-published author in Medieval Historical Romance and Historical Fiction. She has been featured in the NEW YORK TIMES and on USA TODAY’s HEA blog. In March 2015, Kathryn was the featured cover story for the March issue of InD’Tale Magazine, the premier Indie author magazine. She was also a quadruple nominee (a record!) for the prestigious RONE awards for 2015.
Kathryn’s Medieval Romance novels have been called ‘detailed’, ‘highly romantic’, and ‘character-rich’. She crafts great adventures of love, battles, passion, and romance in the High Middle Ages. More than that, she writes for both women AND men – an unusual crossover for a romance author – and Kathryn has many male readers who enjoy her stories because of the male perspective, the action, and the adventure.
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Bay of Fear (Battle Lords of de Velt Book 3) Page 21