The Nightwatchman (English)(From Ashes Vol.2)

Chapter 19 - A Wedding in the Forest (Part 5)

Guy helped Allan to load the last basket full of food, then he gave him the reins of the wagon as he climbed into the saddle.
Allan went to Sherwood Forest and Guy escorted him on horseback until he saw him take the path that went in the thick of the trees: from then on, Robin Hood's men would take care that the supplies arrive at their destination without problems.
Guy turned his horse and came galloping towards Locksley: the rosy light of dawn began to lighten in a sunny morning.
On the way home, he noticed a bush of yellow roses and he stopped to collect some for Marian.
Maybe she could use them to adorn her hair or her dress, in any case he hoped that she would like them.
He grinned in thinking about what Vaisey would say if he had seen him stopping to pick flowers for a woman. Every time he thought of the way the sheriff used to treat him, Guy always appreciated more the freedom that he had managed to win and he did not regret all the pain he had to endure to conquer it, because in his eyes it was worth it.
Marian was already awake when Guy came home and she accepted the roses with a smile, but Gisborne managed to catch a flash of sadness in her eyes as she took the flowers to arrange them in a vase.
"Have you picked them on the way to Locksley, didn't you? From that bush that grows near the church?"
Guy nodded.
"Do you like them?" He asked, a bit hesitant and Marian kissed him on the cheek.
"They are beautiful, Guy, thank you. Now go, I asked Thornton to prepare a bath for you, we have to hurry or we'll be late."
The girl looked at him going up the stairs, staring at him until he had disappeared from view, then she looked back at the roses and wiped a tear.
Guy couldn't know, but he had picked the flowers from the same bush from which she had been cutting the roses that she laid on his empty tomb every night, when she had believed him dead.
Marian forced herself to banish that painful memory: now Guy was there with her, alive and well, and the past didn't matter anymore.
She sniffed one of the roses and kissed its petals, then she took the whole vase and she went up the stairs to get back in her room and finish getting dressed. Once ready, she asked the maid to find a way to braid the roses in her hair, although they were still too short to make an elaborate hairstyle.

"Sir Guy?" One of the servants came into the room carrying some folded towels and he waited next to the bathtub.
Guy opened his eyes suddenly, raising his head to look at him. The hot water had relaxed him and he must have fallen asleep for a few minutes.
"Is it late?"
"Not yet, sir, but Lady Marian told me to check that you were awake."
Guy smiled to himself, amused.
"Tell her I'll join her in a moment."
The servant came, unfolding a cloth.
"Do you want me to dry you, sir?"
Guy shook his head and reached out to take the towel.
"I can do it myself, you can go."
"As you wish, Sir Guy."
Gisborne came out of the tub and wrapped himself in the towel, then he ran a hand through his hair to squeeze out a bit of water and he began to dress.
He chose the same long black leather jacket he had worn the day he had hoped to marry Marian and he couldn't help but wonder how his life would have been if that day if the girl had not run away leaving him at the altar. If that day Marian had married him to protect Sir Edward, would she have learned to love him the same, or would she come to hate a husband who was imposed to her almost by force?
Guy couldn't know and he could only hope that the day when Marian would agree to marry him joyfully could come soon.
It occurred to him that if they had married a year before, maybe they could already have had a child and that thought was able to move and terrorize him at the same time: it seemed unbelievable and unreal.
Until a few months ago, Guy had thought he didn't have a future, that his life would end prematurely and that he would never be free from Vaisey's chains. He still struggled to believe that he was free, and that he had infinite possibilities opening up before him.
He finished dressing and hurried down the stairs to reach Marian, before the girl could accuse him of being late.
Marian was waiting for him outside, next to the horses and she wore a new dress he had never seen, made of cream colored cloth and decorated with black and gold embroidery. He smiled to see that the girl had his roses in her hair and he wondered if the choice of the color of the decorations of her dress had been random or if Marian had deliberately chosen the Gisborne family colors to send him a message.
You'll only have to wait for a while and then I'll offer you my colors for you to wear them as your own. Let me make up for my mistakes and everything I have is yours forever, if only you want to have it.