by D. J. Holmes
As I walked by the pig pen early the next morning, James ran up to me, “Jon, I just heard from the kitchen staff this morning. Your mother, the Duchess and her daughters are all going shopping today!”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Timothy is supposed to get the coach ready. See, I told you that the kitchen staff knew what they were talking about. Do you believe me now, Jon?”
“Yes, James. It’s too good to be true. I can leave as soon as the coach rolls out the gate, and I won’t have to worry about anyone seeing me leave!”
Mother walks over to the stable and asks, “Timothy is the coach ready?”
“Yes, my Lady.”
“Would you please drive it over to the front of the palace? We can’t have our guests walking to the stable now, can we?”
“…No, my Lady.”
Walking back to the palace she requests, “Theresa, would you let the other’s know that the coach is ready? Timothy is bringing it around to the front where I am standing.”
“I sure will, my Lady.” And with a bounce to her step, she delivers her message.
Finally, the coach appears at the front entrance to the palace. Jon’s mother walks up to them, and gestures with her hand in the direction of the coach. “Come, come ladies. Let’s be off for a day of shopping.”
“Yes, my Lady. We’re so excited.”
Running over to open the coach door for all of the women, Jon says, “Duchess, Hortence, Genola, have a great day.”
“Thank you, Sir Jon.”
Genola begins thinking to herself, “He sure seems a lot happier than he has been for the last few days. I wonder what’s going on.”
After Jon’s mother is seated, she asks, “is there anything that you would like me to get for you, Jon?’
“No, thank you, Mother, just have a fun day and take your time. We’ll be fine here.”
“That’s sweet of you my son. See you later.”
Moving toward the coach door, Genola, states, “Mother, I don’t think that I want to go today.”
“Genola, you did this to us the last time that we had a day of shopping planned. Sit down, young lady!”
“You’ve never spoken to me in that manner before, Mother.”
“Yes, well, you’ll be getting this type of treatment a lot more in the future.”
“Timothy, drive on. We’re ready.”
“Good-bye everyone, have a great day,” I said. “See you when you return.” An overwhelming sense of relief overcame me as the coach neared the gate. As soon as the gates began to close, I ran to the stable, “I’m out of here, James. Hurry up. Let’s change clothes. I can’t wait to see, Mary.”
Riding my horse as fast as I could to the field where we would normally meet, I looked all over, but Mary, wasn’t in the field. I went to the stream where we first met, but I couldn’t see her there either. “Where else can I look for her? Where would she be?” I began to panic.
“I don’t even know where she lives or where she works. How am I going to find her?” Sitting on my horse, I continued to stare in all different directions, desperately trying to find, Mary.
Finally the only place left to go was the village. “But how can I go there? That’s where my mother and our guests have gone shopping. What if I run into my mother?” Apprehensive, I went anyway, and cautiously rode through the village.
There are two main streets going north to south and another one that crosses those streets going east to west. I rode slowly through the first main street, looking at every small framed woman, with medium length strawberry blonde hair, to see if it was, Mary. I looked on the cross road and still didn’t see her. Just as I was turning onto the second main street, on the far side corner, I could see two older boys giving a small girl an awful time.
“Quit it, you tub of lard!” she said.
“Nanny, Nanny, little girl,” the first boy said as he put his fingers in his mouth, stretching it to make a strange face. Then he bent over, picked up a handful of mud, throwing it at her dress.
“Don’t get my dress dirty, you gut runner,” Mary yelled. The other boy grabs one of her braids and pulls it.
Mary screams, “Who do you think you are that you can touch my hair?” Then she grabs a broom that is leaning by the side of one of the village huts.
As I am watching this whole thing, I raised my legs out to the side of my horse, ready to bring them back down as hard as I could, to make my horse gallop. I wanted to help Mary, when suddenly I saw, out of the corner of my eye, my mother’s coach parked kitty-corner across the street. At this very moment, my mother, the Duchess, Hortence and Genola, are coming out of the store.
Mary is still battling the two older boys with a broom. She swings the broom at the boy’s legs and he jumps.
“Oh, the little girl thinks that she is going to hurt us. Come on, little one, give us your all,” says the largest boy, raising his arms waist high, gesturing with his hands and fingers for her to come closer to him, and do the best that she can.
She swings her broom at him again, and finally hits him on his leg.
“Listen, no little girl is going to hit me and get away with it.” He begins to walk toward her.
I could see that Mary was going to be hurt, if I didn’t get to her right away. My mother was still outside the front of the store, but at this very moment I really didn’t care, I just wanted to protect the girl that I loved.
Mary can sense that something awful is going to happen to her if she doesn’t think quickly. She looks up with a weird look on her face and points with her right index finger while saying to the boy closest to her, “Look!”
He looks up, and she hits him with a first-rate whack on the side of his head, with her trusty broom. He falls to the ground. The second ruffian runs to his friend’s aid. When he realizes that his friend is knocked out he starts to run toward Mary.
Mary panics. Her body stiffens, waiting for the immediate impact from the ruffian, when she hears, “Mary, hold your hands up.”
She turns her head to the left, and sees me racing toward her on my horse.
“Matthew!” she cries.
I pulled her up onto my horse, as I kicked the standing ruffian in the face.
Hearing the commotion, the Duchess looks in their direction and says, “What’s happening over there?”
My mother looks over in the same direction and says, “I don’t know, but that looks like one of our horses.”
“Do you let commoners ride your horses?” the Duchess questions.
“No, so I guess it can’t be,” his mother says adamantly.
Genola had seen Jon wearing commoner’s clothes and riding this same horse the day that she had followed him. She knew who it was, but didn’t say anything. This wasn’t the time. A later moment would be more advantageous for her.
Matthew and Mary rode to the edge of the village where the forest began. There they could rest, and talk, where no one would bother them.
“Matthew, where have you been?” she asked concerned.
“Mary, I’ve been trying to come to see you, but circumstances have been that I couldn’t. I hope that you will understand.”
“All that matters is that we are together now,” as she looks into my eyes and puts her arms around my neck.
“Why were you in the village alone?”
“I was looking for you. Then I saw these two boys walking by the farmer’s wife’s, kitchen window. Remember when we asked her if we could do some work for her, in exchange for something to eat?”
“Yes. I think about that day quite often.”
“Well, that time she was making custard pies. Today there was a venison pie, cooling in the window. I knew that they were going to steal it, so I yelled at them, and they stopped. When they saw how small I was, they decided to have some fun with me. But, I sure got them, didn’t I?” Mary said beaming.
“I can tell you, Mary, I’d never want to tangle with you,” and we began to laugh remembering the look on the ruffians face
as he was falling to the ground.”
“He looked so shocked, Matthew, when you galloped in, picked me up, and kicked him in the face.”
“Mary, promise me that you will never go to the village alone again.”
“I promise you, Matthew. I’ll never go to the village alone again.” She changes the subject, “Look, Matthew, I have the necklace around my neck. My beautiful Red Rose Ring on your chain. Do you remember our pledge to each other?”
“Yes, Mary, I will always remember. I love you so much,” touching her cheek with my hand. She felt so soft.
“I love you too, Matthew.” While she puts her arms around my neck, I held Mary around her waist. The intense feeling of our love was swirling around us like a whirlwind encircling us, with all the rapture we could muster. It seemed like we were standing in the middle of time and all that mattered was our love for each other. We could neither see, nor feel, anything else.
“I wish we could be together like this forever, Mary.”
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to someday, Matthew, because I want to feel like this always!”
“I love you, Mary.”
“I love you too, Matthew.”
Suddenly, Mary experiences a sharp twinge in her right side, and bends over in pain.
“What’s the matter, Mary?”
“One of those bullies pushed me up against the corner of a house, and I could feel the pain then. But when I saw you I didn’t feel it any more…well, until now. Do you think that you could take me home? I mean, to the place where I stay?”
“Is it far from here?”
“Not too far,” Mary says with a painful look on her face. Matthew carefully helps Mary up onto his horse.
“Aaa, ooo,” she moans in pain. “Are you alright, Mary?”
“I will be, my love. I just need to rest for a little while. Then I think that everything will be fine.”
“I’ll try to walk my horse slowly so that his movement won’t jar your side.”
“Thank you, Matthew.”
At last, we arrive at the home where Mary lives. By this time the Sun is very low in the sky, and all of the candles in the house have been lit. As we round the corner of the road, we can see the candles flickering through the windows of the house. Mary says, “Matthew, will you let me off here? I’m fine.”
“Are you sure, Mary?”
“I’m sure. Just help me down from the horse, please?” she says with a half smile, trying to mask the pain.
Mary slides down from the horse, with my help. She stands for a moment to take a breath and to get her balance.
“Mary, you’re still not feeling very well. Let me walk you up to the door.”
“That would be fine, Matthew.” The moment that she accepts my offer, she looks at her house, and sees a familiar coach parked in front.
“Actually, Matthew, I think that I can walk the rest of the way by myself.”
“But, we’ve only gone a few steps.”
“I know, but I’m feeling better now. Please let me walk in by myself.”
She begins to walk away, but I grabbed her arm. “Mary, before you leave, I want you to look up to the sky. If we ever get parted, and don’t know where the other one is, let’s look up to the sky at the first star that we see, and make a wish that we will find each other, and never be parted again.”
“I like that idea, Matthew.” She looks up at the stars and then back at me.
Mary puts the palm of her right hand up to her heart, moves it up to her lips, and then laying her palm out, facing upward, she blows into her hand. “Through my breath, I send you my love, Matthew.” Sadly and reluctantly she begins to walk toward the house.
Walking slower and slower the closer she gets to the front door, she says to herself, “My uncle’s coach. Wouldn’t you know that this would be the night that I would come home late I’m going to be in big trouble,” she says quietly to herself.
“Be careful, Mary,” I quietly said to myself, hoping that somehow she would hear me. My heart is breaking because I agreed to let her walk to the house alone, while she is feeling so poorly. I wanted to be with her to help her, but I made a promise and would stand by my word. My one point of solace is that I never said that I wouldn’t wait until she got into the house to make sure that she was all right. So, I continued to watch until she was safely inside the house.
By the time I arrived back at the palace it was dark and later than I had ever returned home after seeing Mary. I came through the South Gate, and took my horse to the stable.
James asks, “Where have you been? Ever since your mother came back from shopping, she has been asking for you.”
“Mary got hurt and I had to see her home.”
“Is she alright?”
“I think so. What are all of these horses doing here?”
James speaks up, “Your father is home, Jon. Genola told him everything. He’s already spoken to me and Timothy.”
I looked at James with an anxious look. Leaving my horse at the stable, I slowly made my way toward the palace.
“My father, I didn’t realize that he was coming home today. I’ve lost all track of time while trying to figure out ways to out maneuver, Genola, so that I could be with, Mary. Hopefully, he will be in a good mood and laugh at my late arrival home.”
As I walked in the door, my father said, “Where have you been, Jon? Apparently no one knows where you have been except, Genola. Now, tell me why a visitor would know more about what you are doing than your own mother?”
“I don’t know, Sir,” I answered.
“Go to your room. We’ll talk in the morning.” Throughout the night, I could hear my mother and father arguing. Early the next morning, my father came to my room to wake me, putting a guard uniform on the end of my bed he said, “Gather your things. You are going on campaign with me.”
I looked at my father, and began to gather my things. I knew better than to argue with him. “I’m going on campaign with him? That means that I will be gone for a long time. What about, Mary? How will I let her know what is happening?”
Carrying my belongings and walking toward father, I said, “I am here. Where do you want me?”
“I have placed your horse right over there. If you will mount it, we will be on our way.”
As I looked around, I saw James and Timothy, also dressed as guards, sitting on their horses. Looking in their direction, I quietly mouthed, “I’m sorry.” They each answered with a nod of their head, meaning, “It’s alright”
As I mounted my horse, I looked back at the palace and saw my mother in the door way. She looked like she has been crying all night. I waved to her, just as my father yelled, “Open the gates!”
I remembered hearing my father yell those very same words, when I was a little boy watching him leave, but this time, as I watched the gates open, I was with the regiment and my father. I rode with my head down. What would Mary think? How would I get word to her, to let her know that I was going on campaign? Did anything happen to her for coming home so late last night, would her master be angry?
“I couldn’t make the horse move any faster, so that we could get there any sooner. She was in too much pain,” I said to myself. And what about that pain, was she feeling any better today?
My heart had never hurt as badly as it hurt at this moment. All I wanted was to be with Mary. She was the only one that had brought real happiness into my life. It was only with her that I laughed. It was only with her that I felt complete. I could be who I truly wanted to be, only with Mary.
Finally, I lifted my head. I wondered how far we would travel. Where had my father had been assigned to? Looking at the country side, I suddenly realized that I was near the village where I had saved Mary from the ruffians. I looked to my right, and there in the distance was the field that we would always meet in. A little while later, I looked to my left, and I saw the home that I took her to just last night. All I wanted to do was to break rank and gallop to see my true love. The guards nex
t to me seemed to read my mind.
“If you break rank, you will dishonor your father. Why do you think that he brought James and Timothy, with us? They are the ones that will be punished as you watch.”
I didn’t care for my own life, but I didn’t want to bring any more anguish to my friends. I looked at the house for as long as I could, as I rode with the regiment. In a short while I crossed the stream where Mary and I had first met. A few moments later, everything that I held dear to my heart, was no longer in my sight. No longer close enough to visit; soon to become only a figment of my imagination.
“My, Mary, how will I remember what you look like, and will you remember me? Will you ever think of me? Will you wonder where I am? If you come looking for me, how will you ever find me? You don’t even know my real name?” My head hung even lower trying to hide the tears that were coming to my eyes.
My father shouted, “It’s time to make camp, men,” I had never traveled this far from home before. Dismounting my horse, I put my blanket down on the ground, close to James and Timothy. Suddenly, I saw the light from the first star, and memories of Mary came flooding back to my mind.
“My wish is that sometime, somewhere we will see each other again.” Smiles and tears took their turn appearing on my face, as pictures appeared, and faded in my mind. Days turn into months. Months turn into years. And it always seemed that when one campaign was over, the king would then send us on another, further and further away from home.
I began to wonder if I would ever be able to return home. “James, do you ever think of our home?”
“I do, Jon. Timothy and I were just talking about that yesterday. We’ve been gone for years now, I wonder if anything has changed?”
“Many things have probably changed. I have always wondered about, Mary. Do you suppose that she thinks about me?”
“I imagine, Jon, that every time she looks at that ring that you gave her, she can’t help but wonder where you are, and what you are doing.”
“I hope that you’re right, James.”
