Chapter 39: Decisions and Consultations

The wet quintet left muddy footprints down the hallway that led to their exit when the re-entered the castle.

“I will clear those once I change my boots,” Joseph said. “Else our secret will be known far and wide.”

“I will clean it,” Catherine offered.

“You will take ages to get mud out of your hair,” Joseph replied with a smile, “and perhaps a few other places it still resides.”

“Will you dine with us tonight?” Julia asked. At first, she had been irked that her as-yet-unacknowledged half-sister had seemed to capture the king’s attention. But before she lashed out, she recalled the advice that he’d been offered and understood Joseph was simply getting to know Elizabeth and Catherine better.

“Jonathan, Elena and Alexander will depart tomorrow so I will sup with them,” the king answered.

“Oh, of course,” Julia said instantly.

“You are always welcome to join us,” Elizabeth noted. “Tonight is no different.”

“No, thank you,” Octavia said laughing. “Joseph will treat the parting as if it is for years instead of weeks. His tearful fare-thee-wells leave me melancholy for a month.”

“Agreed,” Julia said, also smiling. “I have had too much fun today to allow our dour king to dampen my spirits.”

Joseph shook his head in playful anger.

“I am surprised you do not accompany them, Elizabeth,” Joseph noted.

“I know no one in Westmont,” Elizabeth answered. “I would prefer to remain here with friends rather than visit a place I’ve never been.”

“It is my doing, King Joseph,” Catherine interrupted.

The king looked at the young woman.

“I had no desire to see Westmont again,” Catherine continued after a long sigh.

“Again?” Joseph asked in curiosity. Elizabeth had just said she’d never been to Westmont and he doubted the young maid had taken the trip on her own.

“It is the shire of my birth,” Catherine admitted. “In a village not far from the manor, my parents were slain. I am Catherine of Westmont if we speak literally.”

“Does Elena know?” Joseph asked.

“She does not,” Catherine said. “We ... we arrived at the Burbridge house together – Lady Elena and me. The same people that secured her safety also found me and took me with them. Elena recalls that we arrived at the same time but I have not shared the details of my orphanage.”

She looked past the king and down the hallway.

“While she was pretending to be Rina, we became great friends,” she admitted. “It was she that fostered my friendship with Elizabeth. As time passed I almost forgot that she was really Lady Elena Westmont. But, as she grew older, we drifted apart. I am years younger and that makes a difference to young maidens. She spent more time with Jonathan and Alexander and I spent more time with Elizabeth. I fear she matured far sooner than I have.”

“Or me,” Joseph said. “It is a shame that she and Jonathan connected.”

“Do you still desire her?” Elizabeth asked in a soft voice.

“No,” Joseph answered. “She is with the man she is meant to spend her life with. I am content that she has found happiness. I was speaking more in how she was raised. As with me, she lost most of her childhood. Even after her parents died, she was forced to live in constant fear and remain hidden. I was simply thinking of how much she would have enjoyed a day such as we’ve shared. She was always the adventurous child and instead of enjoying a youth of frivolity and mayhem, she was forced to grow into an adult before her time. I wish I could do for her what you are doing for me.”

“Displaying our anatomy?” Octavia asked with a twinkle in her eye.

“Not exactly what I was saying,” Joseph replied with a shake of his head. “I wish I could provide a way for her to experience some lighthearted fun. I wish ... I wish I could take her on another make-believe adventure before she weds.”

“Perhaps you could,” Elizabeth noted. “She has told me that many secrets exist in this castle but she has refused to reveal them to me. She says it is for my own safety and the safety of others. I think she just wishes it to remain a secret she shares only with her dearest friend – you.”

“She might enjoy another stealthy trek through the castle,” Julia opined but Joseph shook his head.

“I fear that, at our ages, that would not be wise,” Joseph said.

“What has age to do with it?” Octavia wondered.

Joseph sighed.

“The passages and alcoves revealed many things to us that we neither understood nor cared about when we were children,” Joseph explained. “Now, I fear that we would see and hear a great many things we do not wish to know.”

“Then you should think of another adventure for her,” Catherine said. “It need not be far or dangerous. I believe she would enjoy a carefree day with the boy she first loved.”

“Perhaps,” Joseph said. “I will ponder the idea. For now, it is best that you four get cleaned and ready to dine.”

“Yes,” Octavia said sternly. “We must be presentable in order to eat in our rooms, Julia.”

“I believe tonight I might wear just what I wore at the pool,” Julia stated with a wink toward the king. While Julia had Joseph’s attention, Octavia pressed close to him and pulled him down to kiss his cheek. Julia soon did the same from his opposite side.

“Enjoy your meal,” she whispered, “and don’t forget to picture how Octavia and I will be dressed.”

The pair laughed and headed up the stairs side-by-side, swinging their rears to the point their hips bumped with every step.

“Do not allow those two to corrupt you as thoroughly as they have Liala,” Joseph said.

“Those two?” Elizabeth retorted. “You should wish that I don’t corrupt them further. Catherine and Elena are just about as brazen as two people can be when you find yourself alone with them.”

“True,” Catherine said brightly. “You should worry about how thoroughly we plan to corrupt you, Your Highness.”

“I do,” Joseph admitted truthfully. It elicited a pair of giggles.

“Good,” Elizabeth said. “Now, give us our kisses so we may retire to our chambers. If you wish, you may envision us in the bath.”

“Or out of the bath,” Catherine offered. As the other two had done, she leaned in and kissed Joseph on the cheek. Elizabeth hooked an arm around his neck and did the same on the opposite side.

Joseph found himself at the bottom of the stairs looking up at two pale behinds when the duo lifted their dresses upward. They had just reached the top when Joseph turned – and walked directly into Alexander Burbridge.

“Did I just see Elizabeth kiss your cheek?” the man asked.

“It was nothing untoward, Alexander,” Joseph said, glad that the view up the stairwell was restricted to the person standing at the bottom.

“No, of course not,” the man said lightly. “And, if it were, she is an adult and can make that decision on her own. I know that you will treat her with kindness.”

“I would,” Joseph said, “but you need not worry. We are simply becoming friends.”

“I am glad,” Alexander said. “She has been happy these past weeks. She has returned to the girl I used to jostle on my knee. I can still see those days. I would have her on one knee and Catherine on the other. It was when Catherine first arrived...”

He stopped suddenly.

“She told me of her parents and how you took her in with Elena,” Joseph said. “You should know, she etched her parents’ names on one of the crosses we erected, just as Elena and I did.”

Alexander nodded sadly.

“She was so small and scared when she came to us,” he said. “I just ... I couldn’t send her away. I fear Gabrielle told her we kept her because she was a young girl and no one wanted her. That is false but I do not wish to tarnish Elizabeth’s memory of her mother further. We kept her – I kept her – because I thought she needed the most protection. Elena was older. She didn’t understand what had happened but she knew it was something terrible. Catherine was so young. Elena probably could have made her own way if the situation required it. She had you to thank for her resilience, I think. Catherine was scared and lost. There was no way I could send her to someone else. So, we kept her and raised her alongside Elizabeth.”

Joseph put his arm around Alexander in an awkward embrace.

“I cannot tell you often enough how good a man you are,” Joseph said as Alexander patted him on the shoulder.

“Thank you, Joseph,” Alexander replied. “You have known many good men in your life. I am proud that you consider me among them. I have only tried to do right.”

“That is all we can do,” Joseph confessed. “So, you’re off to Westmont in the morn?”

“Yes,” Alexander said with a nod. “We were told it will be a muddy trip but safe for the horses. Perhaps once we’re inland a bit, the roads will dry. But that is not why I’ve come looking for you. I fear Amelia Trimble is on a war footing again. She was prowling around the stables looking for her child. You would think Julia is seven instead of 17 the way that woman keeps watch over her.”

Joseph sighed heavily.

“I do not wish to deal with her today,” he admitted. “Today, thanks to your daughter and her friends, I was able to relax and enjoy myself. I do not wish for Amelia to ruin that. Tomorrow, after you depart, I believe I will be sufficiently saddened that an argument would do me well. I will do my best to avoid her until then.”

He looked at his older friend.

“She is another I wish would revert to better days,” Joseph added. “She used to be so much fun.”

“You remember her from when she was your governess?” Alexander asked. “You were so small!”

“I recall some parts of her time here,” Joseph said with a nod. “I do not think Elena does. I believe I was four and Elena two when Amelia left. I just remember that she was different from the others. She would sing made-up songs to keep us entertained. She would wrestle with me on the floors and allow Elena to climb all over her. Now ... well, if I am to be described as ‘dour,’ I am not certain I can find a word to describe Amelia.”

The king managed to avoid everyone after dining with those that would depart in the morning – and two that would stay behind. Elizabeth and Catherine invited him to join them in paying a visit to Julia and Octavia but Joseph demurred, telling them he had ledgers to peruse before retiring for the night.

The young women had been persistent but Joseph stood firm – for once. He really didn’t have much to do but he didn’t want a confrontation with Amelia to darken his good mood.

He managed to avoid Julia’s mother until after he’d watched Jonathan, Alexander and Elena ride off in the direction of Westmont. Elizabeth and Catherine were also saddened and he had his arms around their shoulders when he returned to the castle.

Amelia was waiting for him near his office and he was thankful that the two young women had entered the dining area.

“May I speak with you privately, King Joseph?” Amelia asked.

Joseph closed his eyes for a moment and nodded.

“Certainly, Mistress Trimble,” he said. “Would you like to visit in my office or somewhere public?”

“Your office is fine,” Amelia told him. As she passed in front of him, Joseph saw how tired and old the woman looked.

“You are not sleeping well,” he said.

“I fear I am not,” Amelia admitted.

“Sleep is often a foe I cannot conquer,” the king admitted.

“I know,” Amelia said. “I have come to apologize to you for my behavior. My daughter pointed out yesterday, in rather blunt terms, that I owe you my very life as well as theirs. I realized that I have never properly thanked you for what you’ve done for us.”

“Julia’s tongue sometimes gets ahead of her brain,” Joseph declared.

Amelia laughed at the trueness of the statement.

“That, my king, is a fact beyond dispute,” she said.

“Well, you should know that I suffer the same affliction,” Joseph cut in. “I have spoken to you in harsh terms you do not deserve. I ask for no apology from you and you owe me none.”

“And you do not owe me one, either,” Amelia told him. “I did not speak to Julia last night. It was Victoria who presented the facts to me. I was angered but once I thought things through, I understood that she was absolutely correct. You could have claimed my daughters – and me, I suppose – as spoils of war. My husband and their father plotted treason against you and no one would have thought twice about you turning us into bed warmers or forcing us to live as tavern whores.”

“I never would have considered such things!” Joseph said.

“No,” Amelia agreed. “You – and Genrico – are just as Victoria told me. You are men of honor. You have treated my family with courtesy and dignity. You do not display my children as spawns of treachery. You have elevated them. Victoria will marry one of the most powerful men in the land and Julia...”

“Will be at the very least one of my most trusted friends and confidantes,” Joseph answered.

“Victoria accused me of wishing to return to the times when parents could make choices for their adult children,” Amelia said. “That is the one thing she was wrong about. I ... I simply see so much of myself in Julia.”

“I know,” Joseph said. “I think that is why I enjoy being around her. I see the young, happy woman from my memories in the face of your daughter.”

“I am certain you do not recall me much if at all,” Amelia said.

“There once was a man from Parumph,” Joseph started.

Amelia instantly covered her mouth and Joseph grinned.

“Whose prong was a thick as a stump,” he continued.

“Stop!” Amelia said.

“Too big for our vee, the lassies did plea, so the girls used their lips and their rumps.”

“Joseph!” Amelia said. She tried to contain her laughter but it escaped.

“See?” the king asked. “I remember a great deal about you. I remember that you used to sing that. I will admit that I had no idea what it meant but I recall that you warned me I was never to repeat it in front of my parents – or Elena. I never did, you know. I told you I wouldn’t and I never did.”

“I was such a stupid child,” Amelia said.

“No,” Joseph said. “Amelia, you have a great many places where your anger is justified. You may be angry at your parents for refusing to enjoy their willful child and for sending you far away. You may be angry at your husband for the ill way he treated you. But I hope you will never be angry at those with a zest for living.”

“I have resolved that I will not be angry at Julia – or at you,” Amelia said. “I lay awake last night considering how much worse life could be for my family. I considered where my girls would be right now if you had not arrived when you did. I considered that I would be in a cold, dark grave at this moment in time without your intervention. I am ... still somewhat old fashioned. But I am wise enough to know that my daughter could do much worse than mistress to a king – particularly a king as kind and generous as I know you to be.”