Chapter 5

The three of them left town that afternoon. Marion was no longer afraid of bandits. Not with her new sidearms, training, and boyfriend. Now, it was Cecilia who was terrified. She was still unarmed, and worse still, she had managed to thoroughly piss off Luke. This was a man that she had watched snap another man’s neck and elbow without breaking a sweat.

To make matters worse for Cecilia, she had to watch as Luke picked Marion up and gently put her on her horse without struggling a bit. This was something that Cecilia had never seen before. She had never seen someone so strong and yet so caring. All this was making her extremely jealous of Marion’s relationship with Luke. Cecilia was hanging behind as they left Nottingham, trying to slow Luke and Marion down. However, they barely slowed down at all. Cecilia could see them talking and laughing, but she couldn’t hear from where she was.

However, if she caught up so that she could hear, she wouldn’t be able to slow them down. Once in a while, she would see Luke and Marion stop talking and glance back at her before they would resume talking.

Marion and Luke rode at a decent clip; both had one of the pack animals tied to their saddle. This way, the pack animals couldn’t wander off, and Cecilia couldn’t steal them. Within five minutes of them leaving the town gates, it was evident that Cecilia was trying to slow them down. At first, Marion wanted to slow down so she could keep up, but Luke didn’t.

“If a big guy like me can ride this fast after not ridden horses in years, she can keep up. After all, we have all the gear with us, and her extra horse is just a spare, so she needs to speed up more than we need to slow down,” Luke told Marion.

At first, Marion wasn’t sure, but her desire to be with Luke quickly overrode thoughts of slowing down for her sister. It didn’t take her long to figure out another benefit since as long as they didn’t yell, Marion and Luke could talk without worrying about Cecilia overhearing them. Marion rode a bit faster to open the gap up more before talking with Luke.

“Luke, what’s the future like?”

Luke had to think for a second about how best to answer this.

“How do you mean?”

“Well, I guess, for starters, what did you do to support yourself?”

“Well, I owned a small company that specialized in engineering consulting. That means when another company has some special project and needs an engineering specialty they don’t have, then they would call my company. Someone from my company, usually me, would talk with the potential customer to see what they needed. If we could help them, then we would discuss the project. They would tell me everything they wanted the project to do, then I or someone in my company would create possible solutions for them and the cost of that solution. Creating those solutions took time and money, with some creations taking over half a year. The customer, of course, had to pay for that. Once we had everything ready, we would present the solutions to the customer, who could then decide how to proceed. If they liked one of our solutions the best, my company would oversee the installation of those solutions, with some jobs taking over a year to complete. At any one time, we might be working on five or ten projects. That way, we would never run out of work.”

“Wow. That sounds complicated.”

“Sometimes it was. Sometimes it wasn’t. The worst ones were in other countries because we would have to follow the local laws, which sometimes could be a pain.”

“So, did you have a woman in your life?”

“No, I did not. Traveling all over the world didn’t leave much time for romance. I did have one at one time, but I don’t want to talk about her right now,” Luke said in a flat tone.

“Why?”

“Please, Marion. That part of my life still haunts me, and it pains me to revisit it. Plus, it was a long time ago.”

“I’m sorry, Luke.”

“Don’t worry about it. Now, how about you? You have a man in your life?”

“Just you. Father was looking for some matches for me, but none seemed to work out.”

“I’m sorry about your father.”

“I am not. Father was very sick and close to death anyway. He tried not to tell us, but it was clear he would be meeting God soon. At least this way, he got some glory before he died. We might not have met if he had fought off the attackers.”

Marion giggled here a bit, and Luke couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Can you tell me about your family, Luke?”

“Both of my parents died years ago in an accident. Mom was a geologist. That’s someone who studies rocks. A mining company employed her to look for new deposits of minerals for them. My dad was a part-time jeweler and ran the family ranch. They were both excellent parents, and they taught me so much. I had an older sister named Mackenzie. When our parents died, she canceled all of her college plans so she could take care of me until I became an adult. She got married, and they have two adorable children. When I became an adult, I joined the military to pay for my schooling. My country’s military had six branches, and I was in the Marine Corps. Before you ask, marines are naval infantry specializing in amphibious assaults, and back when ships were powered by sail, they would be in the ship’s company to repel boarders and board other ships. I did very well in the Marines, but that was put to an end when I was injured in combat; that’s why I have to sleep on a firm surface. Next time I have my shirt off, look at the scars on my back. When I was in the service, I would send every extra bit of money I made to my sister to thank her for taking care of me and help compensate for her giving up her plans. When I wasn’t on duty, I studied engineering. I lasted four and a half years before I had to leave. Then, I finished my schooling and started my engineering business. Since I had no family, I made sure to spoil my sister’s children and set up a trust for them so they could have a good start in life. Now, how about your family?”

“It was just Cecilia, me, and my father. I don’t remember my mother because she died soon after I was born, and my father never remarried. He would have the various women in the castle spend time with him. Cecilia is a year older than me. While I was growing up, Cecilia was an idiot, and I was the smart one, so I convinced my father to get me a tutor. Through the tutor, I learned my letters and then taught myself to read afterward. That has always been my favorite thing, but books are so expensive that I could never get many. I usually just read my bible but would stop to read any other book I came across. Father would always have a governess for me who doubled as his concubine. They never liked that I could read, and if they caught me, they would punish me. Cecilia always made sure that they knew when I was reading and generally would make my life as miserable as possible until you were brought to me. I have never been with a man before, and to tell the truth, none of them ever interested me until you.” Luke blushed a bit, and Marion giggled at him. “Cecilia always had at least one man around and would always tease me about it, but it never dawned on her that I wasn’t interested in the men around her. The men she keeps around are hard men who wouldn’t think twice about raping me. Luke, one more question: did you know you twitch in your sleep?”

“Yes, I do, and that twitching is another result of my time at war. My fiancé had told me about it when we were together. Sometimes, she had to scream at me to wake me up because I had gotten violent in my sleep. I saw and did some very evil things during my time in the Marines, and those memories still haunt me. Some nights, I don’t sleep because every time I close my eyes, I am transported back to where and when those memories were formed. If I am ever violent with you, please wake me up as fast as possible for your safety. At the very least, move away until I calm down.”

“Oh my god, Luke, what happened to you?”

“You don’t want to know. Sometime in the future, I may tell you, but not now. So please, I’m begging you, don’t try to force me to tell you. I find myself falling ever deeper in love with you, and I don’t want to scare you off.”

“Oh, Luke, you can never scare me off, but I won’t pry as long as you promise to tell me eventually.” Luke nodded a gracious thank you.

Luke and Marion then told each other stories from their lives and some of the silly things they had done. That afternoon, Marion learned more about the world than she had in all of her life up to that point, and the more they talked, the deeper she fell in love with Luke. And why not: he was brave, intelligent, caring, strong, engaging, and handsome. He was the man that Marion had always dreamed about. In Marion, Luke found someone who was very willing to learn, modest about herself, and could easily carry on any conversation. If something was over her head, she would say something and listen while Luke explained it to her. He never had to say something to her twice because she always seemed to learn it the first time. Not only that, but she was gorgeous and very caring, much like his fiancé had been.

After about 10km, the trio found a stream with a meadow next to it, and with the sun setting, Luke decided this was an excellent spot to stop for the night. Cecilia was glad since she was exhausted. It irritated her to see Marion still full of energy, and Luke never seemed to run out. Marion started on the campsite while Luke caught fish and gathered some herbs for supper after collecting firewood. Cecilia managed to take care of the horses. She didn’t tie the knots as well as they should have been because she hoped the horses would bolt during the night. As she sat near the fire, Luke and Marion prepared dinner.