Chapter Fifteen #4
He scratched his head before continuing.
“Perhaps this is not the right time to say this, but I am not sure if there will ever be a right time, so I must speak.” His hands, unconsciously, were cracking knuckles.
“I am not Sir Garren, nor could I ever be, but I swear to you that I will never raise a hand to you, nor speak harshly to you, and I will provide you with comfort and gifts and protection as well as, or better than, any man alive. You will never want for anything. Perhaps… perhaps with time, you will grow accustomed to the idea of me as your husband, a poor substitute for Sir Garren.”
It was a kind thing to say, gently spoken. Derica could only nod, as she felt the tears coming again. Keller realized he had been expecting a reaction from her, something favorable. But she gave him nothing. Not knowing what else to say, he turned to leave.
“Thank you,” Derica whispered. “For your kindness and hospitality, I thank you.”
Keller paused, dipping his head graciously in response to her words. He also felt emboldened by them.
“If I were to bring you some food, would you eat it?”
Derica didn’t want to give him the kind of encouragement she suspected he was looking for. She refused to even think about it.
“I would like to have the children brought to me,” she said. “And perhaps some food for all of us.”
A hint of a smile crossed Keller’s lips. “It shall be done, my lady.”
*
Sian and Aneirin slept with Derica that night in the great bed, and for the next several nights afterward.
She would not let them out of her sight.
Keller would come every morning as their meal was brought and would attempt to engage her in small talk, which he wasn’t very good at.
Although Derica could sense his conversational ineptness, she hadn’t a greater desire to lead their conversations.
So Keller would leave within a few minutes, saying he had duties to attend to, which he did, but it was obvious he was disappointed that his future bride had no interest in him.
Derica was never rude, but she wasn’t particularly receptive, either.
Keller would return two or three more times throughout the day just to see if she required anything, but she never did. At least, not from him.
Whether or not she required anything, Keller saw to it that she had an entirely fitting noblewoman’s wardrobe by week’s end.
The two severe women who aided Derica were the chatelaines of the castle and had set an armada of women sewing garments for Derica and the children.
Keller had personally escorted the severe women to the town of Penfro to barter with the merchants for fabric.
While the women tended to the dressing needs, he had wandered to the silverworker’s hovel and had come away with several lovely pieces of jewelry.
Keller had never bought jewelry in his life and had gone over the top with his first purchase.
Either the silversmith had been very persuasive, or Keller had been very weak to resist the sales pitch.
At any rate, there were three brooches with different colored semi-precious stones, one necklace with Citrine stone and one with Garnet stone, each necklace with a matching ring, and finally a filigree belt inlaid with pale purple stones that he had sewn into a gown of heavy lavender brocade.
On the guise that they were wedding gifts to his bride, Keller had delivered everything to Derica after sup one evening.
He’d simply thrown all of the gowns on the bed and then handed her the jewelry in a great awkward bunch.
While Derica stood there with her hands overflowing with silver and stones, Keller gave the children little trinkets he had also picked up on his shopping tour.
Sian had a wooden horse and cart and a tiny sword, while Aneirin had a doll.
Before they could properly thank him, Keller predictably fled the room.
Stunned with the gifts and his fast disappearance, Derica put the jewelry on the table against the wall and went through the pieces one at a time.
Aneirin came to stand beside her, inspecting each item carefully.
The little girl had never seen such things.
She put one of the necklaces around the doll’s neck and Derica smiled her approval.
The jewelry was finely made, Derica knew; she had possessed a great deal of it, left behind at Framlingham.
This small horde must have cost Keller a sizable amount of money.
She turned to the gowns, lying in a heap upon the bed.
She could see at least five different colors of garments.
There was a lavender, a pale blue, a deep green, a rich yellow, and a soft red.
While Sian crawled on the ground alternately playing with his cart and his wonderful sword, Derica and Aneirin inspected the clothes.
They were well made. Since she had come to Pembroke in nothing but peasant rags, Keller had been more than thoughtful to her needs.
More than that, he had gone out his way to be kind to her and the children.
Derica fingered the gowns, feeling guilty for the way she was behaving towards him, but she didn’t want to give the man any encouragement. Her heart forever belonged to Garren. But that should not prevent her from being nice to Keller, who was doing all he could to make her life comfortable.
It was late when Derica finally put the children to sleep.
Sian liked to fall asleep in her arms, so disengaging herself from him when he was finally asleep was something of a tricky effort.
She managed to do so without rousing him.
The fire in the chamber burned low, giving off a good deal of heat as she silently changed into one of the new gowns Keller had given her.
The soft red surcoat made from finely polished cotton fit her very well over a delicate linen long-sleeved sheath.
To it, Derica attached one of the brooches Keller had given her, a silver piece worked into the shape of a flower with a large garnet set deep into it.
She then brushed her hair and plaited a long braid, which fell luxuriously down her back.
Looking at herself in the polished bronze mirror, she didn’t see the same woman she had known once, the young girl who had run away from Framlingham into the arms of the man she loved.
Gazing back at her was someone with the sad maturity to have loved and lost at a young age.
If she looked long enough, she could see her broken heart bleeding out all over herself.
It was a sobering moment in a week that had been full of them. Depressed, she quit the room.
It occurred to her half way down the hall that she hadn’t left her room since her arrival and was somewhat lost in the vast labyrinth of Pembroke.
It was a massive place that smelt of dampness.
She found the stairs and ended up on the living level, which held the great hall.
There was some light and voices coming from the great room, drawing her into it.
Keller was standing by a hearth that was taller than he was.
A fire blazed brightly in it. There was a cup in his hand as he spoke softly to a shorter man next to him, his strong features silhouetted by the light.
When Keller looked over and saw her standing in the doorway, he nearly dropped his cup.
“My lady,” there was concern in his voice as he walked towards her. “Is something the matter?”
“Nay,” Derica shook her head. “The children are asleep and I wish to speak with you.”
He couldn’t set the cup down fast enough or walk quickly enough to her side. “Of course,” he gestured to the small room across from the great hall. “We may speak in the solar.”
The solar was dark, no fire in the hearth. Keller quickly set to lighting a blaze, but Derica stopped him. “There is no need for that,” she said. “I will only take a moment.”
“Very well,” he stood up, too fast, and dropped the kindling on his boot. Rather than look the fool and reach down to pick it up, he simply kicked it away and pretended not to care. “What did you wish to speak to me about?”
“About your gifts.”
“The gowns? Are they not to your liking?”
“They’re fine.”
“Then the jewelry. You’d rather pick out your own? The silversmith said that garnet and citrine were of the latest fashion. I bought what he suggested.”
He was turning into that nervous boy again. Derica put her hands up to stop his chatter.
“The jewelry is lovely, Sir Keller. Absolutely lovely.”
He looked confused and relieved at the same time. “I see.” He started popping his knuckles again. “Then what did you wish…?”
“If you’d let me get a word in, I simply wanted to thank you for your generosity. You left the chamber so quickly that we did not get the chance.”
A twinkle came to his brown eyes. “Oh,” he said. “I left because I did not want to intrude. I feel as if I intrude far too much on your time as it is.”
It was rather humorous watching the seasoned knight pop his knuckles and shift around nervously. “May I ask you a question, Sir Keller?” she finally said.
“Of course.”
“Do I frighten you?”
The twinkle in his eyes grew. “Aye.”
“I thought so. But why?”
The man shrugged his big shoulders and stopped cracking his knuckles. “Because… because you’re so beautiful, I suppose.”
“But why does that scare you?”
He pursed his lips. “I didn’t say I was scared. Merely terrified. There is a difference.”
He was trying to make a smooth explanation, but it wasn’t conveying what he hoped. He was looking befuddled and Derica couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
“Sir Keller,” she reached out and put a hand on his arm.
“I do not wish to terrify you. I am not the sort to terrify anyone, truly. I am quite approachable under normal circumstances, but this week has not seen normal circumstances. If I have been distant, or even rude, then I am sorry. But my mind is elsewhere. Much has happened.”