Fairy Tale Romance Collection

  Colin shouted for Duke Wilhelm. Within moments, he was striding down the corridor with one of his men. “Good work,” Duke Wilhelm said. They hauled Claybrook to his feet and dragged him, none too gently, down the stone steps toward the dungeon.

  Steffan and Wolfgang were staring, their mouths open, at Colin and his sword. He winked at them as he put the sword back in its sheath.

  Shouts resounded from the courtyard and Margaretha ran to the window to look out.

  “Father’s knights are returning with prisoners. We have won!” She turned to him, her face lit with a big smile.

  He came over to the window to join her, stepping around Adela and Kirstyn, who were still sitting on the floor. The men outside were shouting jovially and celebrating.

  “It is over, then.”

  “Which one is your father?” Margaretha asked him.

  “That one there,” Colin said. “He’s wearing a black surcoat with the red and yellow chevron from our coat of arms.”

  “Oh yes, I see him. And there is my father greeting him. Isn’t it wonderful that they are friends? Things seem to have worked out so perfectly in the end, didn’t they? Even though they started out so badly.”

  “Very true.” Things had not started out well, but now . . .

  Margaretha’s gaze shifted to his shoulder. “Did Claybrook’s sword hurt you?”

  “I barely felt it. The chain mail protected me.” He used his fingers to brush back a curl that had worked out of her braid and dangled by her temple. Her hair was as soft as silk. His heart started to speed up.

  One of Duke Wilhelm’s knights appeared at the top of the steps. Margaretha’s little brothers spoke to him in excited tones.

  “They’re asking,” Margaretha explained, “if it is safe for us to come out now.”

  The knight must have affirmed that it was, because the boys bolted out the door, whooping, and Margaretha’s two sisters also left.

  Suddenly, he was alone with Margaretha.

  Margaretha was thankful Colin was only wearing the long mail tunic and not the hard metal plates of armor like Valten wore in jousting tournaments. She could snuggle close to him. But did she dare? They were alone, but anyone might come into the solar at any time, as the door was open. She smiled up into his blue eyes. “You said you had more to say to me. How long do you think we have before we are discovered?”

  “Not long, no doubt.” He stared at her lips. “We should make the most of it.”

  A delicious shiver went through her stomach at his words, hoping he meant to kiss her, but he frowned.

  “Margaretha.” His hands gently wrapped around her shoulders as he leaned toward her. “We get along reasonably well, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, of course.” Her heart sank.

  “We were vastly good friends on the way to Marienberg, weren’t we?” There was a sharpness in his eyes as he seemed to delve into her thoughts.

  “After you stopped trying to get rid of me.”

  He looked sad.

  “But I understand why, so it is all well.” Margaretha’s breath shallowed as she focused on his lips. “You became the best friend I’ve ever had. You were sweet and kind and courageous and . . .”

  “Remember when we were in the tunnel and I said I loved you? Well, I didn’t mean I love you as a friend, Margaretha.”

  Their kiss came even more sharply into her memory and she whispered, “I didn’t think you did.” She placed her palms against his chest, against the hard texture of his chain mail, imagining she could feel his heart beating under her right hand.

  “I know you love your family. They are wonderful people, and it’s perfectly understandable that you wouldn’t want to leave them.” His hands tightened on her shoulders. “But I can’t leave here without you. I want to marry you and have children with you and take you back with me to England.” His expression was almost fierce as he said, “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “Yes.” Oh, why didn’t he just kiss her? “I understand.”

  “Will you marry me? Will you leave your family and come with me? Or must I stay here and work in the stable until your father either sends me away or takes pity on me and makes me one of his knights, so that I’ll be worthy enough to marry you?”

  “I don’t want you to have to work in the stable. You aren’t very good at it, and it isn’t a worthy goal for a man who will someday be an English earl.” She lifted a finger to rub the delightfully prickly whiskers on the side of his face. “You could become one of father’s knights, since you do look very good in mail and armor and with a sword in your hand.” She smiled teasingly, leaning her forearms against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her back. “But I love you so much, I don’t feel any fear at the thought of going with you to your home in England. I want to marry you more than anything else in the world.”

  “You do?” His brows went up, and his breath seemed to catch in his throat.

  “I do. I know I’ll miss my family, but I would miss you too much to let you go. I want you to be my family now, for us to be a family together.”

  He closed the gap between them and kissed her, more intensely this time, stealing her breath and turning her knees to mush.

  He ended the kiss and she pressed her cheek against his chest, feeling the tiny circles of the chain mail. “You asked me once why I never married any of my suitors. I knew I didn’t want to live without love and passion and goodness. And you have all those things. You are what I wanted all along. The more I understood you, the more I fell in love with you. Only I didn’t even realize I was in love with you until . . . I’m not sure when, exactly.”

  She leaned away to look into his eyes.

  He touched her hair, and said softly, “I think I fell in love with you when you refused to let me leave you with Anne. Or maybe it was when you came and freed me from the dungeon, then fearlessly led the way through that secret tunnel.”

  “You say the sweetest things.” Margaretha might have laughed if she hadn’t felt so warm and comfortable, and if she hadn’t been thinking about kissing him again. “Perhaps I fell in love with you when I saw how you took care of Toby and never complained about taking him with us. And when you held me in your arms and let me cry about how much I missed my mother. You didn’t try to take advantage of me. You didn’t scold me or get annoyed with me. You just . . . loved me.”

  She kissed him. “I love you,” she whispered against his lips.

  “I am sorry you must leave your family,” he whispered back.

  “As long as you love me, and I am not alone, I will be happy.”

  He kissed her, and she was lost in Colin again.

  Someone cleared his throat. Loudly.

  She looked up. Colin’s father, and her own father, were standing at the door.

  Margaretha’s cheeks went hot. Colin slipped his hand in hers.

  “Father,” Margaretha began, “I — ”

  “I already know. Lord le Wyse wishes to marry you.”

  Lord le Wyse. How noble that sounded. Had he already asked her father if he could marry her?

  “We shall speak of this later,” her father said, not looking surprised, but Colin’s father’s eyes were wide and questioning as he stared at his son. “Now, let us go to the Great Hall. Cook has prepared food for us all.”

  She searched her father’s face again, but he did not appear angry. He didn’t even scowl at Colin, only frowned a little.

  As she passed out of the door, she heard her father say to Colin behind her, “She said yes?”

  “Yes, Your Grace,” Colin replied.

  It seemed her father knew a bit of English. Colin had apparently discussed his marrying her, and her father had not refused. That thought set her heart to soaring. She squeezed Colin’s hand, and he squeezed back.

  “I just remembered,” Margaretha said, as they sat down at the trestle tables in the Great Hall at Hagenheim Castle. “I haven’t eaten since my wedding feast last night.”

  C
olin nearly choked on the sip he had just taken from his goblet. He met Duke Wilhelm’s eye at the head of the table.

  “Father, I’m not truly married to Claybrook, am I?” Margaretha asked. “I heard the priest say we were man and wife, but I did not give my consent, and I escaped him before I was forced to fight him off. Besides, everyone knows that he was heaving his stomach’s contents all night.”

  “Nevertheless,” Duke Wilhelm said, “I shall write the archbishop immediately and have him annul your marriage to Claybrook.”

  “How long will that take?” she asked, echoing his own thoughts.

  “Perhaps no more than a month. Perhaps two.”

  A month seemed like a long time to Colin. Two months was an eternity.

  “Margaretha,” Duke Wilhelm said, as he pinned her with a serious stare. “I want to know if you have accepted Colin le Wyse’s suit to marry you.”

  “Yes, Father, I have.”

  She clasped Colin’s hand under the table.

  “Do you understand that your responsibility will be to your husband? That your home will be England, not Hagenheim?”

  “Yes, Father, I understand.”

  “And that you will not be able to visit Hagenheim whenever you wish?”

  “Yes, Father.”

  Colin’s heart sank as he thought he detected a note of sadness in Margaretha’s voice. Was he wrong to take her away from her family, a family who loved her? She loved him, but did she love him enough not to resent, after a while, having to live away from her family and the only home she had ever known? She had said she would be happy with him, but would she regret her decision, maybe even regret it already?

  She smiled up at him, then attacked her food like a person who was thinking only joyful thoughts. Perhaps she hadn’t realized yet the homesickness she would feel, the loneliness for her family, living in a foreign place with only a husband to love her. He must speak to her, to make her understand what her father had been asking her.

  With much still to do to restore order after Claybrook’s seizure of Hagenheim, the town and the castle, their meal was rather quick. Even so, while they ate, Margaretha managed to charm Colin’s father into smiling and laughing. His father even promised to help Colin build her a house bigger than le Wyse House, and to her specifications.

  Their fathers stood to be off, Colin’s father to assist Duke Wilhelm.

  Margaretha also stood. “I shall go up to see if Mother needs any help with Gisela.”

  “Wait a moment,” Colin said, touching her arm. “I think we need to talk.”

  “We can go into the library, if you wish.”

  No one seemed to notice them slip into the nearby library. It was rather dark, as the sky outside was cloudy and there was no fire and no candles lit. She turned to him, an eager light in her eyes.

  “Margaretha.” She was so fair, with her long eyelashes and sweet smile. But he had to give her a chance to change her mind. “I don’t know if you realize what you are giving up to marry me. You will live across the ocean from your family. You won’t be able to visit Hagenheim very often. Are you sure you understand?”

  “Of course I do. I’m not a child.”

  He stared hard at her.

  She sighed. “I know I will miss my family. I have a wonderful family. But I want to be with you.” She reached up and pressed her hand to his cheek. “I can’t stay at home forever, and I don’t want to. I need to have a family of my own.”

  “Yes, but you will rarely see your parents.”

  “Don’t you think we will be well-suited? That we will be content in our love?”

  “I don’t know if . . . if I will be enough. Perhaps you will miss your mother and will come to resent me for taking you away. Anne said you would never leave your family.”

  “Anne was wrong.” Margaretha’s voice was soft as she drew closer to him, never taking her eyes off his. “I will not resent you, Colin. Yes, I will miss my mother, and my father, sisters, and brothers. I will miss Hagenheim. But I am ready to start a new life with you. I am sure we will face problems, but nothing will be too hard for us, because God has brought us together. We must have faith and courage, and I will never regret my decision to love you and marry you and move to England with you.”

  He didn’t think he could possibly love her more than he did at this moment. And at the risk of spoiling it, he had to mention something he was dreading. But if he did not tell her now, she would find out later, when they went to England. “There is one more thing. I want to ask forgiveness for calling you a flibbertigibbet.”

  “Why? Because I turned out to be such a good spy?” She arched her brows and grinned.

  Could she possibly be more beguiling?

  “That is not what flibbertigibbet means. It means . . . but you have to promise not to be angry with me.”

  “I will promise no such thing.” She was still smiling playfully.

  “Then you must promise to forgive me and to know that I don’t think you are a flibbertigibbet at all anymore.”

  “Colin, what is a flibbertigibbet?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “It is a person who . . . chatters a lot and is not very . . . intelligent.”

  Her face instantly lost its playful look. “You thought that about me?” Anger and pain seemed to be warring behind her eyes.

  “No, not after I got to know you. Only when you thought I was mad and didn’t believe me about Claybrook.”

  “Oh.” She took a step back.

  “I regret ever thinking that about you. It isn’t true at all.” He reached out for her, but she curled her arms into her chest. “Now I know that you are a courageous woman who bashes soldiers twice her size in the head with whatever she finds nearby. You are a woman with a strong will, who never gives up, and is fiercely faithful to those she loves.”

  The smile came back to her face. “I am powerful, aren’t I? I’m the kind of woman you want by your side in a fight, am I not?”

  “You are,” he readily acknowledged, sighing in relief to see her anger dissipating. “You are the kind of woman any man would want by his side, in times of peace and times of war. And best of all, you are always full of faith in God, and you have taught me a lot about finding peace.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. And you have taught me that, even though I do sometimes talk too much, I am still a woman of great worth.”

  “You are indeed a woman of great worth, and I do not think you talk too much.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her briefly on the lips. “I am happiest when I can hear your voice.” He kissed her again. “And I thank God that you love me.” He kissed her for a long time.

  Epilogue

  Margaretha’s wedding day had finally come. The sky was glorious: Bright blue with big fluffy clouds floating overhead. Colin, who looked breathtakingly handsome in a dark blue tunic, his dark brown hair shining in the sun, walked beside her on the way to the church.

  Gisela and Valten’s new baby was two months old, and fat and healthy. She didn’t even cry while the priest said the marriage rites over Colin and Margaretha before the bronze doors of Hagenheim Cathedral. All of the Gerstenberg family was there for the wedding, along with Colin’s father, the Earl of Glynval, who had stayed to accompany the newly married couple back to England.

  Toby was also there, and he stood beside Steffan and Wolfgang, learning all their mischievous tricks, no doubt. But he was smiling and happy. After being with them for a month and a half, he had grown two inches and his cheeks had filled out. He stayed close to her mother, who had sent for him immediately after Margaretha told her about him. She doted on him, and he was calling her “Mama” after only two days.

  Gabe and Sophie had made the trip from Hohendorf with their two children. Her niece and nephew had grown so much, Margaretha barely recognized them.

  She caught a few glimpses of Anne in the crowd, making nice with her smiles and waves, but Margaretha was not fooled. Her cousin was on the side of whoever could help her gain th
e most. And since Claybrook and his captain, Sir Reginald, had been defeated and taken to the king to be judged and punished, she would pretend loyalty and love for Duke Wilhelm and his family.

  And Colin’s new friend, Sir Gerek, was there with a beautiful young woman who looked strangely familiar, although Margaretha couldn’t remember ever meeting her.

  After the ceremony, they feasted at the castle, and it was quite a contrast to the feast after her wedding to Claybrook. Everyone was smiling and laughing, even her mother and father, whom she knew were a little sad that she was leaving in a few days. They were taking turns holding their grandchildren; they would have sufficient consolation when she was gone.

  When the Meistersingers began to play a lively tune, Colin asked her to dance. By the end of it, she was laughing in his arms. Looking down into her eyes, he asked, “Are you happy?”

  “Very happy.”

  He kissed her cheek, and, even though the last two months had been the happiest of her life, the next two months, two years, two decades, promised to be even happier.

  Discussion Questions

  from The Healer's Apprentice

  More to the Story

  INTERVIEW WITH MELANIE DICKERSON

  When did you decide to be a writer, and what did you do before you started writing?

  I wanted to be a writer when I was very young. I even wrote two novels when I was still in high school, but then I stopped writing when I started college. For fifteen years, I completely shoved my writing out the window while I graduated college, worked as a special education teacher, lived in Ukraine for a year, got married, and had two kids. Then I started writing again.

  What kind of activities do you like to do that help you relax and step away from your deadlines for a bit?

  I used to scrapbook, but when I started writing again, that hobby fell by the wayside. I like to watch movies with my husband, and I like to cook—to make recipes I’ve never tried before. I like to go to the gym (okay, I don’t like to go, but I like that I’ve been) and I like taking my kids places they love, like skating or going to the zoo or a museum. I love the ladies’ Bible studies at my church. We have some wonderful times.