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Changes: Part Five

Started by Laurna, January 09, 2025, 01:06:49 AM

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Laurna

Changes
Part Five
Chapter
Proposal


Realizing he was running out of time to win his lady and not lose her to the court intrigue of the mystery they were unraveling, Washburn spontaneously pulled Lady Fiona away from the corridors leading to the schola and pulled her into the enclosed garden of the Orangery. He did not mind that Lady Isla and Lord Kevin followed them at a distance to act as chaperons. Kevin had an idea of what had spurred Morgan's action.

Sitting under the citrus trees with his beloved, Washburn tried reciting the poem that Kevin had made him memorize earlier that day, but he stumbled over the opening line and let his voice fall away into silence. He was fully embarrassed at his own lack of talent. Surely other men did not falter so before the love of their lives.

His lady grasped his hand expectantly, searching him over, hoping he would say more. "Go on, I am listening."

"I fear it will sound ill from my lips, for I did not write it."

"Very well, tell me something in your own words."

He patted his tunic where a lump sat beneath it. "I have a letter for you. But it is not a poem, as you asked for."

"Read it to me then, if the words are yours, I will know it."

He pulled a parchment from his tunic and untied the ribbon, unrolling the top portion. Washburn read the opening line.

"Dearest Lady Fiona,"  The tall knight realizing the awkwardness for reading this while sitting beside his lady where he could not look at her, scooted over before her and knelt down on one knee so that his eyes were lower than hers, and he could look up at her, that is if he could find the courage to do so. His hand shook a little as he unrolled a parchment more and tried his best to act nobly. "I have been unable to tell you how I feel in verbal tellings, so I thought that putting words on a page would be easier.  I can tell you that it is not easier. But I shall give this a go."

"Dearest Noble Lady Fiona.  I am Sorry. Sorry for all the hurt I have caused you. I never intended to let my work overcome my desire to be at your side." Washburn took a deep breath, then continued to read his letter. "You have accused me of neglect, and you are right to do so. I took for granted that my love for you was a given, and that you would wait for me to be wholly ready before I offered you a place in my home. You already have a place in my heart, but I have been miserly in expressing how I feel.  Even as I have taken time to heal my past, I wanted you to have time to grow to be the woman whom I know you can be. I pray I have not let so much time pass that we have learned to grow apart, I had never thought that could come to pass, and I hope still there is time for us to find each other again."

Washburn dared to look up at his lady's braid of fair hair entwined in ribbons of green and gold. "Kevin told me to recite you a love poem, but I fear my talents do not fold in that fashion. Let me finish reading my letter and hope that it is enough."  He unrolled the scroll a little further and bent down to try and read more of his hand scrawled words."I love you! I want to possess the power of your eyes, the way you see through to the truth of all things.  I want to own the honor of your heart, unbound by the trials that I have dragged you through in the first weeks of our meeting. I want your courage and your will. You are the hand that has kept me from falling into the depth of that old dry well in Windimar.  I wanted every part of you, but I thought I had to make my house perfect for you so that you would look past my failures and the tatters of my soul.

"But I now see that it is not the material things that I need to be offering you. Though, you certainly can have all that I have.  What I need to offer you is all of me, as I am, for though I am broken without you, I am whole when I am with you." Washburn looked full up into Lady Fiona's eyes. "You make me whole."

Looking into his eyes, she leaned forward, and he was rewarded with the kiss that he had longed for. They snuggled for a while until lady Isla coughed in the distance. She and Kevin seemed to be having a lively conversation by the fountain. Their chaperons both were trying to turn their eyes away. But neither could help the smiles between them. Wash suspected that Kevin's smiling was more for Isla herself, but she may not have realized that. Wash liked the idea of Kevin and Isla as a couple.  He liked even better the idea that Fiona might finally agree to marry him. Though as yet she had not said yes. But then he realized he had not yet asked her.

Fiona kept hold of his hand, as she often did. Their rapport was becoming intimate. Wash would not back away, but he was starting to consider a less populous location to continue this closeness. "My Lady, if we continue on as we are, we will need to shake off our chaperons. Unless it is your intention to tease me so."

"Perhaps a little," she said with a happy smile. But she relented and their rapport become no more than a soft connection.

"I didn't intend for you to stop." he said with a happy laugh. "I was just imagining... " Snuggling behind the roses came to the forefront of his inner vision, and he quickly calmed those desires. But not before Fiona had caught his intent.

She blushed, giggled innocently and let go his hand, pretending she had no idea what he meant by it. "Lord Washburn, you are not the only one with delayed dreams."

"A maiden should not have such thoughts."  he said with a knowing smile.

"I grew up in a manor house, not a convent." Fiona answered him. Then more seriously, she braved a personal question. "Am I your first love?"

Wash took in a deep breath, then quickly answered her. "You are my Last Love, my forever love."

"I know there were other's before me, but did you love any of them."

"There are not as many as you imagine." He looked at Fiona and knew he would never lie to her. "I have respected those women whom were once my companions. I sought never to dishonor any of them. Just know that I have not professed this unconditional love to any other woman. Since the day we meet, there has been no other than you."

Fiona looked shyly at him, hearing truth in his words. "Know also, that I have never loved any other but you." she said quietly. When he wanted to kiss her again, she held up her hand between them. "How do I ask this without offering offense. But if we are to marry, I think I have the right to know. Of your past ... companions... are there any...children... that I should be aware of? Oh, don't take this wrong! I can accept that you might have other children, I understand that young men have very different expectations than do noble young women. I have learned much from watching the actions of my cousin Micheal and his friends. They make talk of it like it is a game to them." She tried to make light of the serious conversation.

Wash shook his head for a moment, only his mother had ever asked him this question, and that was years ago.  During his tournament years, the court ladies seemed to pass wild gossip about his mostly negligent love life. And he normally ignored the gossip, unless something harmful to another lady was told. Then he would be sure to correct the gossipers, but that kind of tall tales had not been told around court in several years. Because he had given them no substance to embellish upon.

He loved Fiona like he had loved no other, and she was clearly a favorite of the queen's ladies, and protected by the Morgan family, so no one dared to make up falsehoods about her. Careful not to harm his relationship with her by hiding behind falsehoods, he attempted to answer her question in the best way he could.

"I can tell you that I know of no child from my loins that have been presented to me. We are talking about no more than a few women of my acquaintance since the year of my knighting. Any of those women would have informed me if there were children, but they have not done so." Then Wash looked down at his fingers and remembered his missing rings. He took in a breath and let it out slowly. "Only one woman, have I never seen again. So I can not answer you positively. It was before I met you, and I was not exactly in the proper health to father a child. I have not looked for her, nor has she looked for me. So I think we can safely say nay to a child there."

A bit shaken by his own admission. Not knowing if it would be better to let this conversation go and find some mediocre subject to inject into the afternoon conversation, he bit his lip and started to roll up his letter, but instead she took his hands and took the letter from them and glanced down the wildly scrawled words. Her smile deepened as she read them for herself.  She had not run away from him, as Wash had feared, perhaps now he would finally find his courage to ask the question.

He fingered his belt pouch and pulled an emerald ring surrounded by rubies free of the cloth, then leaned forward still upon his one knee. "Fiona? My love for you is great, you are my Best, my Last, my Forever Love! There is no other space in my heart for anyone but you." He smiled, daring to hope and finding himself shy before her. "Perhaps my past, which your strength has gotten me through, can be left behind, and now, today, with your hand on mine, we could walk forward to a future that is filled with happiness and a passel of children; and never fret, I will find room in my heart for every last one of them, sons and daughters alike because they will be part of you.  I promise this to you..." Finding his courage, he looked up into her eyes. "Fiona MacIntyre. Knowing that I am not a perfect man, will you find it in your heart to have me. Will you consent to be my wife for now and for always? I love you so much, Will you marry me?"

May your horses have wings and fly!

Nezz

Perfect!

I can't imagine what prompted you to post this tonight. ;)
Now is life, and life is always better.
-Wolfself

Laurna

I wrote the heart of this months ago, but today's conversation has let me take it out, add to it, and clean it up.  So I thought this is the right time to post it. DFK, know that Washburn Morgan belongs to Fiona MacIntyre now and always.
May your horses have wings and fly!

Jerusha

Wonderful!  Glad you have posted this.
From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggity beasties and things that go bump in the night...good Lord deliver us!

 -- Old English Litany