Chapter Eleven #2
With that, he plodded out of the yard, leaving Elle standing there, looking at Curtis with a great deal of uncertainty on her face. It was an unusual expression for her, one Curtis had never seen before. She was full of hesitation. Before he could say a word, she spoke.
“I asked Peter to help me find you,” she said, wringing her hands nervously.
“My lord, I am sorry. I have made a mess out of things, and I did not want you to hate me for it. I am sorry I said those things to you, because I should not have. They are my own insecurities, and I must learn to overcome them, but I should not have lashed out at you as I did, and I am very sorry for it. If you still wish to annul the marriage, then I understand, but I could not let you do it without knowing how sorry I am.”
It was quite a speech, as remorseful as he’d ever heard her. That was surprising. Curtis’ eyes glimmered with mirth and perhaps even warmth.
“There is something you must do for me,” he said.
Elle nodded eagerly. “I will, whatever it is.”
“Never again address me as ‘my lord,’” he said. “You are my wife, and that is far too formal, even for me.”
She blinked in surprise. “As you wish,” she said. “What… what should I call you?”
“My name is Curtis,” he said softly. “I will answer to Curtis or Curt. Whatever you wish to use, I will answer.”
He sounded… calm. Calm and unlike the enraged man who had left the encampment those hours ago. Elle was unsure how to proceed at that point, because he seemed kind again, but she knew she’d upset him gravely.
“I… I said what I came to say,” she said, looking uncertain. “Sir Peter has probably already started back for the encampment, so I will sleep in the stable for tonight, but mayhap you will let me travel back with you tomorrow morning.”
He grinned and shook his head, glancing at his feet as he pondered her statement.
“Do you honestly think I would let you sleep in a stable?” he said, lifting his head to look at her.
“Ever again? Your days of smelly clothes and sleeping in anything other than the finest bed I can provide are over, Elle.”
He seemed almost jovial, and her bafflement grew. “I do not understand,” she said. “I came to apologize to you, and I meant it, but you’ve not said a word about the situation other than to pretend it never happened.”
“It didn’t.”
“But it did,” she said firmly, moving toward him.
“I was horrible to you, but all I can tell you is that this entire situation has been contrary to everything I have ever been taught about the English. As I told your father, I should not be mourning my life as if it meant something before yesterday. When the only people who ever showed me kindness are the men who defeated me in battle, that should tell any sane person that my life of coldness and harshness was not a life worth living. Realizing that you are going to annul the marriage has made me understand something for the very first time.”
She was close to him now, and he gazed down at her. “What is that?”
She lifted her slender shoulders. “That you have given me a glimpse of another life I never knew existed,” she said.
“A life where people care for one another. Your family loves one another. You have friends and warmth and understanding. All I ever knew of the English were that they were wicked and cold and greedy, but that is certainly not what I have experienced. I’ve never seen this side of things. ”
He cocked his head. “If you have come to realize that, then mayhap this incident was not wasted,” he said. “All I need is for you to be fair about things. Stop relying on the lies from the past. Open your eyes to the world around you, and I promise you will not regret it.”
“I will, I promise,” she said quickly. “I will try very hard.”
He smiled at her. “I will, also,” he said. “I will never again lose my temper as I did. That was wrong of me, and if I hurt you, then I am very sorry.”
The sounds of his apology were like music to her ears. “You had every right to,” she said. “There was nothing else you could have done. I behaved terribly.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “I would say this has been a trying situation for the both of us,” he said. “When we first met, you were trying to kill me. Now, we are married. I do not know of any other married couples who have had the rough beginning we have.”
“Other than your father and mother,” she said.
He chuckled. “Aye, other than them,” he said. “But there is hope in that. They cannot live without one another, so hopefully, we will grow to be fond of one another, too.”
That made her heart flutter, just a little. “You said I should look beyond the English knight and see the man beneath,” she said. “I am willing to do that as long as you are willing to look beyond the Welsh rebel and see the woman beneath.”
He grinned, flashing a smile that was much like his father’s.
“You are not a rebel,” he said. “You are a princess fighting for your countrymen. That is admirable. But now you have me, and short of saying your fight is my fight, know that I will never forsake or betray you, Elle. I want the same consideration.”
“You have it, Curtis.”
“Good,” he said, his eyes twinkling at her. But then he seemed to notice what she was wearing for the first time, and he pointed. “That is my tunic. I recognize it.”
She looked down at herself. “You told me that I could wear what was in your chest.”
“Where is the blue dress?”
“You told me to take it off so my stench would not be on it.”
His smile faded. “I should not have said that,” he said with regret. “I am sorry, Elle. I did not mean it.”
She smiled timidly to let him know that she wasn’t upset. “You were right,” she said. “I’m not sure one bath could clean up all of the stench I had on me. I may need another soon.”
He laughed softly. “I think that can be arranged,” he said. Then he held out a hand to her. “Shall we go inside, Lady Leominster?”
She looked at his big hand, hesitating. “You’re not going to annul the marriage?”
“Nay,” he said softly. “I did not even mean it when I said it.”
With a grateful smile, she put her hand in his, and he held it tightly, gently leading her toward the rear door of the inn.
“Would it be possible for me to have something to eat with my bath?” she asked.
His eyebrows rose. “You want a bath tonight?”
“I like baths.”
“Then you shall have one every night if you wish.”
“But I do not have any soap.”
“Not to worry,” he said, pushing open the door. “I will make sure you have what you need, Elle. Always.”
She believed him.
*
The bath came with more food than Elle had ever seen in one sitting.
Curtis seemed to have some kind of magic when it came to getting people to do what he wanted them to do, and that included the staff at the inn. Food and drink came, and as Elle stuffed herself on the onion tart, a rather large copper tub was brought in and filled about halfway with steaming water.
She could hear Curtis outside in the corridor, speaking to the innkeeper and his wife, and very shortly, Elle had soap and combs and a scrub brush.
The innkeeper’s wife, a stout woman with faded red hair, also brought in a shift, well worn but clean, and a surcoat that went over the shift and tied on the sides.
It was green in color, and Elle heard the woman tell Curtis that it had belonged to their daughter, who had died the previous winter of a fever.
She was happy to give Elle her dead daughter’s things, but Curtis insisted on paying the woman handsomely for them.
Elle found herself inheriting a wardrobe that was meant for a girl about her same size.
The innkeeper’s wife seemed quite happy to see the clothing put to use, and considering Elle had nothing to her name, she was thrilled to have it.
There were two more shifts and three more dresses that were given to her, along with two pairs of leather slippers that were worn but serviceable.
The innkeeper’s wife even offered to help her bathe, something she said she used to do with her daughter, and Elle didn’t have the heart to refuse her.
She seemed eager to do it. As Curtis went out into the common room to allow her some privacy, Elle climbed into that big tub, both hands full of food, and ate to her heart’s content while the innkeeper’s wife scrubbed her down.
More kindness from the hated English.
In fact, the woman, whose name was Bess, was quite lovely to her.
Elle sat in the tub until the water cooled, and then Bess helped her out and dried her off in front of the fire, combing out her hair so it could dry.
Since Elle had never had a mother tend her, only a bitter grandmother in that capacity, it was strange but also weirdly wonderful to have the kind attentions of an older woman gently brushing her hair.
Odd how a bath, in an enemy country, brought about some awareness.
She was coming to see what she might have been missing.
Open your eyes to the world around you, and I promise you will not regret it.
She was starting to realize what he had meant.
So, Elle sat while the woman combed and combed, food in both hands and gobbling it up as if she hadn’t eaten in days.
Never in her life had she been exposed to so much food.
She had no idea that such a thing was possible.
She’d spent her entire life scraping by with the bare minimum, sleeping on the ground and eating things that other men killed or procured, and she’d truly had no idea that there was a world where food was plentiful.
When she finished with everything on the tray, the innkeeper’s wife sent for more.