Isabelle swallowed, and her mouth quivered into a smile. “You spoke truly when you said that I did not know how to trust, but you were wrong when you thought I did not love you, for I do, and have always loved you. From the time I met you, I have loved you. And if you will let me come home to Talwar and be your wife again, I will prove it to you in every day that remains of my life. Oh, my lord, I promise that I will.”
His eyes lit with bright, sudden joy, and he searched her face with a hopefulness that filled her heart with aching for all that he had longed for and been denied.
“Isabelle,” he whispered, lowering his mouth to kiss her gently, lovingly. “It is the most precious gift I could ever receive, your love. I will cherish and tend it carefully, all of my life. Take mine in turn, and we will begin anew, in the manner that we should have done if I had not been so foolish as to steal you away in the beginning. Is it as you would wish?”
“Oh, aye,” she replied fervently, hugging him. “Aye, Justin. If it is what you truly wish.”
“There is nothing I want more,” he said, and then lifted his hand to touch the cloth that covered her head. “Isabelle, what has your uncle done to you?”
She remembered suddenly, and with a gasp pushed away, setting both of her hands upon her head and staring at him wide-eyed.
“Oh! Don’t look at me!” she cried, horrified that he should see that her hair had been shorn away in the manner of fallen women who were convicted of crimes.
“Isabelle,” he murmured, insistently pulling her hands down to her lap before tugging at the head covering to reveal her near baldness. “Oh, God.”
It was the first thing that Sir Myles had done to her after they arrived. Forcing her to kneel before him in a manner of penitence, he had pronounced her as being needful of a lesson in humility, and had hacked her hair away by the handful, leaving only short clumps of black hair tufting in odd and various lengths over her scalp. Isabelle knew how ugly she looked now that her only minor claim to beauty was gone. Ugly, and disgusting to gaze upon. No man would want a wife who bore the ultimate mark of shame, having had the crown of her glory cut away. So deep, so full, was her humiliation that Isabelle would have crawled away to hide if she thought Justin would have allowed it. As it was, she waited in silence for him to speak, dreading both his pity and his repugnance.
“Do you know when I first decided to make you my wife?” he asked softly, ignoring her resistance and pulling her back into his gentle embrace. “It was on the very day that I presented myself to Sir Myles and Lady Evelyn. You were sitting in the corner of the room, where you always were, laboring on your uncle’s accounts, but your uncle called you away from them for a moment to be introduced to me. Do you remember?”
She nodded against his chest. His hand smoothed lightly over the back of her neck.
“You had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen, and the way you looked at me… I think I fell in love with you even then, for you made me feel as if I were the most desirable man alive.“
“You are,” she whispered, sniffling.
He chuckled, and said, “Your hair was beautiful, and I am sorry that your uncle visited such a vile manner of torment upon you, but, my beloved one, I would have loved you no matter how beautiful you were, or whether you had hair at all, simply for the way that you looked at me. I spent many years craving a woman to look upon me in such a way, and I could not let you go, once I had found you.”
“But it looks so ugly,” she said miserably. “Oh, Justin.”
“Don’t cry, Isabelle,” he murmured, wiping his palm across her cheek when tears began to spill over them once more. “Your hair will grow again, more lovely than before, and until it has returned in its glory, you must embrace this state as one that proclaims your bravery in the face of great suffering. I am proud of you, Isabelle, and will ever be so.”
How good he was, she thought, and how easily he eased her fears and filled her heart with peace.
“I do not deserve you, Justin,” she began, but his fingers pressed against her lips to stop the words.
“Never,” he said, “have more foolish words been spoken, especially between those who love. We deserve each other in every way that God and man can know, and so’ we shall be together, never again to be parted by deceit.!” He tilted her face upward, against his shoulder, and looked into her eyes. “If there is blame to be placed for all that has befallen us, then it should be placed upon me. I trusted Evelyn, blindly and stubbornly, and because of that, we not only lost each other, but also our babe.”
“You know?” Isabelle whispered. “She poisoned both of us, making us ill, and then took our child’s life.”
He nodded. “I blame myself as much as her, for I made the way easy, and now our child is gone. Can you ever forgive me, Isabelle? Will you ever be able to look upon me and not remember that I lost something so precious to us both?”
“If you can forgive me for having such a lack of faith in you, then how could I not forgive you for believing Evelyn’s lies? We neither of us sinned with purpose, but in ignorance. Let us forgive each other and ourselves, and go on, just as you said that we should.”
He lowered his head to kiss her, but Isabelle suddenly became aware of the sounds of shouts and fighting that drifted upward from the stairs. Pushing up and out of his embrace, distressed, she looked over Justin’s shoulder, toward her open chamber door.
“Is it a battle?” she asked. “My uncle…?”
“Your uncle has been placed in bonds, although Senet and I both wished to kill him outright. My brother Alexander has claimed the right of taking him to London to face judgment.”
“Sir Alexander!”
“Aye, and Hugh and Chris, as well, and all their men.” He smiled, and ran the backs of his fingers over one stillwet cheek. “You see, my beloved, how greatly you are valued? Three armies joined together to find and free you. Your uncle’s small forces never could have stood against so large a venture.” His smile faded, and he regarded her more soberly. “Isabelle,” he said, “there is much I must tell you about your uncle and Evelyn. Much has happened since you were taken away’ from Talwar, much that will bring you great sadness, I fear. Our lives were not the only ones touched by sorrow.”
“What has happened?” she asked fearfully, his words filling her with dread.
“I will tell you when I have got you safely back at our camp,” he promised. “For now, only trust me and know that I love you. All will be well.”
“Aye,” she murmured, lifting his hand and pressing it against her cheek, turning her face to swiftly kiss his grimy palm. “I trust you, Justin, and I love you, and as long as I am with you, I know that all will be well.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The end of the harvest season brought cool weather, a colorful world, and joy among the residents of both Talwar and Briarstone for the coming months of feasts, celebrations and greater leisure; Michaelmas, St. Crispin’s Day, All’s Hallow Even, All Saints’, All Souls’, and Saint Catherine’s days, Christmas and Twelfth Night. The workers that Sir Christian had sent to tend to Talwar’s small crops had already enjoyed the feast that Justin and Isabelle gave to thank and reward them, and had accepted the gold coins Justin handed out, packed their things, and returned to Briarstone with smiling faces.
On the rooftop of the keep, Justin and Isabelle stood together, his arms wrapped loosely about her slightly protruding belly, her head resting upon his shoulder as she leaned against him, savoring his embrace.
“It has been so long since Odelyn died,” she murmured, her gaze fixed upon the hilltop where three tall figures, barely discernible from this distance, stood beneath the tree where her child and Odelyn were buried. “Do you think Senet will ever come to accept the loss of her?”
“He will,” Justin answered. “In time.”
“He has become so hard,” she said sadly. “I worry about him going out to make his way just now. What will people think of such a man, so cold and disdaining as he is
? I wish he would stay at Talwar until some of his anger has left him.”
“The lads must all go one day,” Justin said, comfortingly kissing the top of her head, where her thick black hair had grown back to make a soft, curling cap that he found thoroughly enchanting. “I cannot shelter them here forever, and each man must find and travel his own road. My lads will do well, for they have learned well and are ready now to live as men, rather than boys. The new ones that Chris has just sent to us will grow and leave, as well, and others will come to take their place. That is the way of things.”
“But Senet and Kayne and Aric,” she murmured, squeezing his hands. “You have loved them all as if they were your own. I thought that Kayne and Aric, especially, would stay with you forever. I know you will grieve for the loss of them.”
“For a time, I think, I will, and when they have seen something of the world, they may come back to us, if it is what any of them desire. For now, it is good that they go out and discover what the world may have to offer. And I will not have time to sorrow long, for my new lads will keep me busy, and so will this little one, when you have given him life.” He pressed his palm over her belly. “Or her. And John and Ralf and Neddy will be with us yet for some years to come, so we’ll not be deserted all at once.”
“But I shall miss them so very much.”
“Aye,” he said with gentle sympathy. “But they have promised to come to us at Christmas, when we are in London, and to visit us here when they may. We will not lose them altogether.”
“But why must they go now? So soon before the feasts to come, with winter fast approaching? Could they not come to London and stay with us until next spring? ‘Twould be so much better, and the house you have bought for us there is so grand and large that there would be room aplenty.”
“Nay, I do not think they will wait so long. Senet would have gone many months ago if he had not wanted to make certain of you, that you are well and content, and for Sir Myles to receive a just reward for his many crimes. Now that your uncle has been sent to God for his final judgment, your brother feels that you are safe enough for him to leave in my meager care. I do not think he will ever forgive me for having left Talwar, abandoning you to Evelyn’s evils.”
“He should understand better than anyone else why you left as you did, and the pain you felt when I so much as accused you of betraying me.”
“Leaving you in a fit of rage was as childish a thing as I have ever done,” Justin replied. “Senet has the right of it. I should have locked you in your chamber until you came to your senses, and I should have taken Evelyn by the neck and thrown her out the castle gates.”
“I do not blame you for leaving,” she said, twisting her head upward to look at him. “But do you know, Justin, you have never told me what made you come back? I thought you meant to stay away until I had gone to Gyer.”
He smiled. “I have not spoken much of those days after I left, because they shame me so greatly. I spent the first two days riding as far away from Talwar as Synn could take me, and as fast as he could do it, with the goal of not returning until I was able to live in my own home without thinking of you every minute of the day. I was in such a foolish rage that I seldom stopped long enough eat or rest. By the third day, Synn and I were so weary that to stop was a necessity, but no sooner had I unsaddled him and arranged a sleeping blanket for myself on the ground than I was set upon by robbers.”
“Robbers?” she repeated. “Justin!”
“They weren’t very good robbers,” he amended with a grin. “Weary as I was, even the most unfit knaves should have been able to best me, but I must have been a sight to behold, for I think it was the wild look of me that scared them away so easily, although I did draw my sword to defend myself. After they had run off, I sat upon the ground with my sword in my hand, and I realized, suddenly, despite everything that had passed between us, that you must care for me, and perhaps even love me.”
She looked at him with surprise. “Being set upon by robbers caused you to realize such a truth?”
“In a way,” he admitted. “It was because the sword I held in my hand was the one you had given me. Your father’s sword. And the knowledge struck me, like a much-needed blow against my head, bringing me to my senses, that you went to a great deal of trouble to give me such a precious gift, just as I had done in order to have your mother’s books returned to you. I had undertaken such an effort to show you that I love you, but it had not occurred to me, until that moment, that perhaps you went to so much effort for the same reason. Because you love me.
“Aye,” she said with a soft smile. “Indeed, that is why.”
“And then I remembered what you had said to me before I left, that the months you’d had with me were the most wonderful you’d ever known. And I realized, suddenly, that if that was true, then you didn’t really want to leave. That somehow you felt you must go for the sake of my happiness, not your own. Until that moment, I thought that you simply wished to be away from me, that you preferred to serve as my brother’s steward, rather than as my wife.”
“Never,” she murmured.
“Once I understood the truth of it, I also understood that you didn’t know that I loved you, either. That somehow I had to make you know and believe it. I couldn’t let you go if you loved me, no matter how hardheaded you might be.” He grinned, and Isabelle laughed.
“So you got back on Synn and came back to Talwar to lock me in my chamber until I came to my senses?”
“No,” he confessed with a measure of embarrassment. “I was so weary that I fell asleep where I lay, not on my blanket, but on the cold ground. I doubt even the robbers could have roused me, if they’d decided to return. Fortunately, I slept in peace and woke several hours later. Then I mounted Synn and headed back for Talwar, stopping only long enough to buy bread and ale once before continuing on.”
“Would you truly have locked me away?” she asked.
His smile returned full force. “Aye, and with me your fellow prisoner, devoted to convincing you that we belong together. I was going to keep you captive until you admitted that you loved me. I had already stolen you once. It seemed a likely step to take.”
She turned more fully, sliding her hands upward and about his neck. “And what methods would you have employed to bring such a confession about?”
He kissed her long and fully before replying, “The most merciless that I could invent. I planned to lay a long, dedicated siege, you see.”
“But I was already gone,” she said, sobering. “I wish I had stayed, and been here when you returned.”
“As do I,” he agreed, “but it is long ago, and we cannot spend our lives sorrowing over things that cannot be undone. We must go on and take our happiness as we may, just as Senet and Kayne and Aric must now do.” He lifted his gaze to the hill beyond. “They are riding back. Senet has finished saying his last goodbyes to Odelyn. It is well, I think. This is the place where he must begin to find his soul again, beginning now.”
She turned in his arms to watch as the three mounted riders carefully descended the steep hillside.
“They have grown into men so quickly. Look at them, Justin. So proud and strong they are, so steadfast and able. How very proud you must be.”
“Indeed,” he murmured. “I love them well.”
“We must go down to meet them,” she said. “To say goodbye. Only another hour, and they’ll be gone.”
“But not forever, beloved,” Justin reminded, tipping her chin up and kissing her mouth. “Our lads will come and go as they may, but you and I will be here, waiting and ready to receive them, to welcome them home when-. ever they arrive.”
“Aye,” Isabelle said, smiling up at him. “We’ll be waiting for them here. Together, and with joy.”
“Together,” he murmured, kissing her again. “And with joy. I love you, my beautiful wife.”
“As I love you,” she said with a mischievous grin, “my handsome, and most wonderful, thief.”
eIS
BN 978-14592-6808-1
THE BRIDE THIEF
Copyright © 1997 by Mary Liming
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