A Flower for Guy #Wattys2021

Chapter XXIII

Chapter XXIII

Nottingham, September 4th, 1194

"I'm glad to learn that things between you and Guy are going well", Rebelle commented, after Violet had finished telling her – even getting into rather intimate details – about her experience in bed with her husband.

Rebelle had come to Nottingham from Chetwood to escort a cart with cider barrels for the castle. This would probably be the last time, because after the wedding, her deputy Harry would take her place, because she would take care of Rivendale, both as the lady of the estate and as the head of the guards. Of course, she had taken the opportunity to come and visit her cousin the baroness.

"And I bet that, when you'll get to the point, you'll wonder why on Earth you waited for so long", the young warrior-girl added with a brazen grin. Violet blushed, but she couldn't blame her cousin, because, if what she had experienced so far was only the premise of the true conjugal joys, she would surely regret the time she had wasted.

"Mayhap you're right", she admitted, then she knitted her brow as a thought stroke her. "Or mayhap not. I still need time, and Guy understands this. If I had sped up things, now I wouldn't be here cursing my lunar cycle forcing me to wait a few days before..." she stopped abruptly, at a loss for words, but she didn't blush again. Come on, she was talking about her lawful husband! Yet, she didn't know how to express those concepts so new to her.

"Before experiencing again the pleasure the man you love and who loves you can give to you", Rebelle completed the sentence for her, for once using a less direct language than usual.

"Guy doesn't love me", Violet protested.

"That's your opinion", the younger woman promptly replied. "What other possible reason would he have to comply with you reticence? Last night he could've taken you without so much of a fuss, and you wouldn't even mind. Instead, he chose to wait a little longer, to give you time to adjust with the idea that you want him as much as he wants you. There can be no other motive."

"'Tis just your supposition! If he loved me, he'd tell me, wouldn't he?"

"Perhaps not, as he might not have realised it yet, or he thinks you don't return his love and therefore he doesn't want to express his feelings. Many men think 'tis a weakness to confess their love to a woman who doesn't reciprocate it."

Violet just shrugged, far from convinced.

When Rebelle got on her horse again, after taking her leave, a thought struck her: Violet hadn't denied her love for Guy. The warrior maiden smiled secretly: she was envisaging for her cousin a future married life as happy as hers...

OOO

In the late afternoon, Guy and Drastan returned from Stafford. Guy dismissed his right-hand man, exhorting him to go to Rivendale, while he would go looking for Violet. He found her in her garden, intent on picking herbs. Bent over a low rosehip shrub as she was plucking its fruits, Violet had her back to Guy, who couldn't help but notice her sensual rear curves, that her position revealed under the skirt. He felt a predictable tension in his breeches, but he mastered himself, because this wasn't the right time nor the right place.

"Violet", he called, quietly as not to scare her. She straightened her back and turned. Seeing him, she smiled.

"Welcome back! How did it go?" she asked immediately, eager to learn the news.

"Fine... certainly better than I expected. Isabella isn't mad at me, or at least, she isn't anymore. She has a good marriage, three healthy children and she's satisfied with her life."

Talking, Guy moved near her. Stopping in front of her, he grasped her hand and lifted it to his chest.

"Thank you for convincing me to go looking for her and then visiting her", he concluded. "I'll be grateful forever."