“That is very true.”
Holly couldn’t help but get the feeling that he was being brutally honest with her. She didn’t sense any further deceit but, then again, she hadn’t sensed it earlier when he filled her head with lies. Therefore, she wasn’t sure what more she could say. It was all so disheartening. Her focus moved to his possessions, his tattered cloak and worn saddlebags. They were the possessions of a man who was used to traveling.
“Where will you go now?” she finally asked.
He shrugged. “I have nowhere to go,” he said. Then, he quickly held up a hand. “I did not say that to garner your pity. It is simply the truth of the matter.”
“You truly cannot return to Ashbourne?”
He shook his head. “Not now,” he said. “Mayhap someday, but not now.”
“You said you had other brothers. Can you go to them?”
“They are at Ashbourne.”
Holly continued to stand there, looking at his lowered head. She knew that she should have been furious with him, at the very least, for everything, but she couldn’t seem to manage it. The man had made a mistake and he had confessed to it. Still, it was more than that… she knew Adam and knew he would not have been friends with a man who was underhanded and wretched. The fact that Adam and Rennington had been the best of friends spoke volumes for Rennington’s character.
This night, for her, had been pivotal. In spite of Rennington’s lies, Holly was still under the impression that he had been sent by God. He’d give her peace, telling her of Adam’s death as he had and with that peace, came the feeling that perhaps she could move on with her life now. Perhaps, even Adam had sent Rennington to her, knowing how sad and lonely she would have been. Certainly, Adam wouldn’t have sent a man of questionable character. Perhaps Rennington still had some issues to work out with himself, but maybe that’s why he was really here. Perhaps he and Holly could work on his issues, together.
And perhaps, in that sense, they needed each other badly.
Without another word, Holly turned away and disappeared back into the darkness of the church. Rennington stood up, watching her walk away, thinking that it would be the last time he’d ever see her. He was deeply saddened with that realization but took comfort in the fact that he had her forgiveness. That was really all that mattered to him at the moment. She would return to Thulston now and to the party that was going on, and, perhaps, she would meet an honorable man who would make her a fine husband. Rennington wished with all his being that he could be that man, but given their circumstances, such a thing was impossible. He would have to accept it.
With a heavy heart, he turned back to his cloak, now mussed upon the hard earth. He was just bending over to straighten it when he heard Holly’s voice behind him.
“Earlier tonight, you had mentioned the legend that states if a maiden sleeps upon a sprig of mistletoe taken from a church, she will dream of her future husband,” she said. “Do you recall telling me that?”
Rennington turned to look at her, vastly pleased to see that she hadn’t left. “I do.”
Holly nodded. Then, from beneath her cloak, she pulled forth a bunch of mistletoe that she’d plucked from one of the boughs that were hung all around the church. She held it up between them.
“There is also another legend that states a maiden cannot refuse a kiss when given a berry from the mistletoe bough,” she said. “If she refuses, then she shall not marry in the coming year. Have you heard of that legend, also?”
Rennington nodded, a faint glimmer in his eye. “I have, indeed.”
Holly’s gaze moved from his face to the mistletoe. She inspected the shiny green leaves. “My sisters tried to force me to sleep on a sprig of mistletoe that they found right here in this church,” she said. “They even tried to whisper to me when I was sleeping, thinking to plant dreams in my head. When I discovered what they’d done, I burned the sprig.”
Rennington smiled faintly. “I heard them make their plans yesterday,” he said. “I heard everything they intended to do to you. They seem quite irate that you have no desire to marry.”
Holly was still looking at the mistletoe, its dark leaves and white berries. “I know,” she said. “Rose told me she would hate me forever if I did not wed. She told me she had no intention of being a spinster.”
“That is a dilemma, to be sure.”
Holly reached out and plucked a white berry from the mistletoe and as Rennington watched, she held it out to him. Stunned, he hesitantly lifted a hand and she deposited the berry into his open palm. He just stood there, looking at it.
“Now, you cannot refuse to kiss me,” she said quietly. “If you do, you shall not marry in the coming year.”
He looked up from the berry, his eyes full of incredulity. “Holly…?”
“God has sent you,” she said, cutting him off gently. “I believe that. I always will. He sent you to me tonight and I, for one, do not intend to waste that gift. Mayhap you’ve done something terrible tonight and, mayhap, you would have done worse had you followed through with your plans, but the truth is that you did not. Somewhere beneath that confused, beaten knight lies the heart of an honorable man. Adam knew it. He would not have been your friend had he thought otherwise. Therefore, I trust his judgment. And I do not need to dream of my future husband because I would like to think that he is standing in front of me at this moment. Now, if you truly wish to continue wandering, I will not stand in your way. But know that you do not have to.”
Rennington stared at her, overcome with what she was telling him. “My God…,” he breathed. “Am… am I dreaming?”
The corner of her lips tugged, seeing his utter disbelief. “Nay.”
“After all that I have done, you would be so forgiving?”
Her smile broke through. “You do not seem to understand,” she said. “What you have done is bring me the peace I had been praying for. You have done something good tonight, whether or not you realize it. I… I believe we have been brought together for a reason. It is a Christmastide blessing for us both, Ren, a dream within this dream that is the season of God’s grace. Our loneliness and sorrow is at an end. I… I believe you need me as much as I need you.”
Never were truer words spoken. Rennington realized there were tears in his eyes as he digested what she was saying. He cleared his throat before speaking, for it was tight with emotion.
“Your capacity for forgiveness is beyond comprehension, my lady,” he said. “You realize that I have nothing to offer you but myself. I come as you see me.”
“And I am content with you and only you, Ren.”
It was a blessing he had not seen coming. Only a woman whose heart was so true and pure could see beyond his poverty, his Godlessness, and believe in the man beneath.
“I have never believed in Christmastide miracles until now,” he said, his voice hoarse. “When I look at you, I can only see God’s greater glory. I shall spend the rest of my life ensuring that I am an honorable and true husband, I swear it.”
Holly’s eyes were glimmering with unshed tears. “Your love will be enough.”
“There would be no one more worthy of it than you, my angel.”
Holly’s smile lit up the darkness of the church as if a burst of sunlight had just exploded in all of its radiant glory. But Rennington only saw a brief flash of it; the next he realized, he was pulling the woman into his arms, kissing her as he had never kissed a woman in his life. All of his joy and anticipation for the future was concentrated in that one heated kiss, filling them both with the greatest sense of hope they’d ever known.
As the bells of the great cathedral tolled at midnight, the Christmastide dream for two lonely and tragic people had finally came true. In the days to come, the single mistletoe berry that she had plucked and offered him as a symbol of forgiveness, as well as hope for the future, ended up in her memory box, as well.
For Holly and Rennington, the legend of the kissing bough became their reality.
* THE E
ND *
A Dream Within A Dream
By Edgar Allan Poe
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow –
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand,
Grains of the golden sand –
How few! Yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep – while I weep!
O God! Can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! Can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
About Kathryn Le Veque
Medieval Just Got Real.
KATHRYN LE VEQUE is a USA TODAY Bestselling author, an Amazon All-Star author, and a #1 bestselling, award-winning, multi-published author in Medieval Historical Romance and Historical Fiction. She has been featured in the NEW YORK TIMES and on USA TODAY’s HEA blog. In March 2015, Kathryn was the featured cover story for the March issue of InD’Tale Magazine, the premier Indie author magazine. She was also a quadruple nominee (a record!) for the prestigious RONE awards for 2015.
Kathryn’s Medieval Romance novels have been called ‘detailed’, ‘highly romantic’, and ‘character-rich’. She crafts great adventures of love, battles, passion, and romance in the High Middle Ages. More than that, she writes for both women AND men – an unusual crossover for a romance author – and Kathryn has many male readers who enjoy her stories because of the male perspective, the action, and the adventure.
On October 29, 2015, Amazon launched Kathryn’s Kindle Worlds Fan Fiction site WORLD OF DE WOLFE PACK. Please visit Kindle Worlds for Kathryn Le Veque’s World of de Wolfe Pack and find many action-packed adventures written by some of the top authors in their genre using Kathryn’s characters from the de Wolfe Pack series. As Kindle World’s FIRST Historical Romance fan fiction world, Kathryn Le Veque’s World of de Wolfe Pack will contain all of the great story-telling you have come to expect.
Kathryn loves to hear from her readers. Please find Kathryn on Facebook at Kathryn Le Veque, Author, or join her on Twitter @kathrynleveque, and don’t forget to visit her website and sign up for her blog at www.kathrynleveque.com.
Please follow Kathryn on Bookbub for the latest releases and sales.
Kathryn Le Veque on Amazon
Fearsome Brides Page 133
