Epilogue #2
“I have just come from a meeting with the king,” he said. “I have been asked to accompany William’s son to France. Evidently, Alexander wishes to make an alliance with the French and I have been asked to help mediate the matter. It is a great honor, Cadie. The king is putting trust in me.”
Catherine looked at him, her fine and powerful husband.
He was trying to gently tell her that he was about to leave her for a length of time.
There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t thank God for the man she’d married.
Her life could have so easily been different, and it almost was, so there wasn’t a moment in her life that she took for granted.
She was married to the man she loved and they had a fine son, Keene, who looked like his father in nearly every way.
There was much in her world to be thankful for, even if he had to leave her once in a while.
“You have established yourself as an indispensable advisor to the king,” she said, the gleam of pride in her eye. “I am proud of you, Kress. You are well-deserving of the honors bestowed upon you.”
He turned to her, smiling faintly. “You are my greatest supporter.”
“And I always will be.”
Lifting her hand, he bent over to kiss it. “I am not entirely sure how long I will be gone,” he said. “It could be months. These negotiations often take a very long time.”
Her warm expression faded somewhat. “I hope it is not too long.”
“Why not have Susanna come to visit? She can keep you company while I am gone.”
She gave him a look that suggested he was mad. “And have her leave Achilles? Surely you jest. Besides, he would probably not let her come. He does not like to be parted from her, much as you do not like to be parted from me.”
He shrugged. “Then your friend, Lily-Elsie?”
Catherine shook her head. “Susanna tells me that Lel is in love with a Summerlin knight. She will not leave him.”
“Then I suppose you must endure my absence with only Keene and his nurse to keep you company.”
She cast him a sidelong glance. “It is not a matter of being alone,” she said. “It is simply that I should like you to be here when your next child is born.”
He looked at her in shock, his eyes widening. “What next child?”
“The one I am to have next spring.”
Kress’ jaw dropped. “And you are only thinking to tell me now?”
She giggled at the astonished look on his face.
“I am still not entirely sure, but I suspect it is the truth,” she said.
“I do not want to wait until my belly is big and round before telling you while you are in France. I would send you on this journey knowing you can only be in France until early spring and then you must come home to see if I was right.”
He just looked at her a moment before breaking down into soft laughter. “You are a continual surprise and joy,” he said, his gaze lingering warmly on her. “Have no fear that I shall return in the spring to see our new son. But all I truly care about is that you come through the birth unscathed.”
“I have before.”
He lifted his big shoulders. “I would imagine that giving birth is like going into battle,” he said.
“Each one is different and in each one, you risk your life. I never go into battle thinking it is a simple thing. You should not go into childbirth thinking it is simple, either. You must take care of yourself. I could not survive without you, Cadie.”
Catherine could see that he was growing emotional, as he had when she’d been pregnant with Keene. She’d never seen a man worry so much over a woman and it was truly a sweet thing to experience. It only made her love him more.
“Have faith,” she said softly. “As you shall endure, so shall I. But if something does happen… do you remember what I said to you once, years ago when we thought we would never see each other again?”
Kress knew what she was speaking of. He thought back to that moment in time, one of the worst moments in his entire life when he thought he and Catherine would be forever separated by her marriage to Ellesmere. He recalled the words as if she had only spoken them yesterday.
“I recall,” he murmured. “’When that moment comes and you pass through the veil between life and death, wait for me.
When my time comes, I will be looking for you.
’ Those words still hold true, you know.
I will be waiting for you and I know that if you should go before me, you shall be waiting for me.
I have never believed that death would permanently separate us, Cadie.
For you and I, it will only be the start of a new adventure together. ”
She smiled up at him, squeezing his hand. “Going through life with you has been a great adventure already,” she said. “I am eager to know what the next fifty years will bring us, and even beyond.”
“Only greatness, Lady de Rhydian. We shall know only the greatness of love that men dream of but few experience. That shall be our legacy.” He watched her face for a moment as she mulled over his words. “No regrets, Lady de Rhydian?”
She shook her head before the question was even out of his mouth.
“Never,” she insisted softly. “It was a nightmare to think of marrying the earl those years ago, at that place where I was born. Mountain Dark is something I do not think of any longer. My life now is better than I could have ever imagined. And it is because of you, my love. Only you.”
He bent over, kissing her hand again, feeling warmth and devotion for the woman that he could have never believed himself capable of. But with Catherine, all things were possible.
From nearly the first moment he met her and her naughty poems.
True to his promise, Kress made it home from France the following April, just in time for the birth of his second son. The child was large, and Catherine had struggled to bring him forth. But in the end, mother and child fared well and Kress was blessed with another son and a recovering wife.
He couldn’t have been happier.
In fact, it was enough joy to prompt him to write to William Marshal to tell him of his good fortune and to let the man know that he and Catherine were deliriously happy.
He hadn’t contacted William since he’d fled north with her those years ago, but now, he thought it was time to let him know just how happy the failed mission to bring Catherine of Vendotia to Mountain Dark had made him.
Finally, he was a contented man.
When William read of the birth of Mattox William de Rhydian, he grinned like a fool.
In truth, he had to agree with Kress – it was probably the first time he could recall being glad that a mission had failed, and that the Welsh princess had never made it to Mountain Dark.
It would have been the end of many things in more ways than they could comprehend.
Instead, that failure was only the beginning for the Executioner Knight and the lady of pure Welsh blood.
For them, it had marked the start of their happy lives, forever after.
* THE END *