Marian finished filling the basket with the last pieces of bread and she covered it with a cloth, then she looked at Guy, who had just entered the kitchen.
She smiled at him.
"Good morning, future husband."
Guy's gaze lit up when he heard her calling him that. He approached the girl to hold her in his arms.
"It still seems a dream to me."
Marian touched his lips with a kiss.
"Well, you'd better believe it."
They looked at each other with a smile, then Marian frowned, looking better at Guy's face.
"Do you feel well? You are pale."
"I didn't sleep tonight, and I have a headache. I'm afraid that yesterday evening I drank a little too much."
Marian smiled, amused.
"Not as much as Allan, though. Sit down."
Guy obeyed and he closed his eyes as Marian began to gently massage his temples.
"Is he still alive? Last time I saw him last night, he was making a marriage proposal to my horse..."
The girl burst out laughing.
"The stable boy said he saw him still there this morning, snoring in the hay. I imagine he will be sleeping in that stable for a while."
"Today I'll do without him, then."
Marian looked at him.
"Where are you going? If you don't feel well, maybe you'd better try to get some sleep too."
"I promised Tuck I was going to see him this morning. I'm already a bit better, but if the headache doesn't go away, I will ask him to give me something for the pain."
Guy didn't tell her that he had just taken some of Djaq's remedy and that it was already starting to work. It would be too complicated to explain Marian how he could get it without involving Robin Hood.
"Speaking of pain, does your leg still hurt?"
"Just a little bit."
Marian looked at him, suddenly serious.
"Yesterday evening I spoke to Archer. You're a liar, Guy."
Gisborne froze, but he tried to keep an indifferent air.
"Why? What did he say to you?"
"That it isn't true that you disarmed him, and that he was the one who won."
Guy gave her an embarrassed smile to hide the relief, and he promised to himself to make his brother pay for that scare the next time he saw him.
Marian shook her head resignedly.
"You know I don't like these challenges, Guy, regardless of the result. It's not by saying that you have won even when it isn't true that you will make them seem more acceptable."
"Sorry, you are right."
The girl bent over to kiss him on the forehead.
"You don't have to feel obligated to be the best at all costs. I'm not in love with you because you're better than Archer or because you won a race against him. I love you because you are you. If you really have to challenge yourself, I don't care who wins, the only thing that interests me is that you don't get hurt. Or at least not too much."
"I will do my best to avoid it."
Marian was still massaging his temples, pausing from time to time to stroke his hair or to play with a disheveled lock and Guy captured her hands in his.
He paused to kiss the soft skin inside her wrist before letting her go and standing up.
"Now it's better for me to go."
"Don't you want to eat something?"
"Maybe later."
"Then wait for the servants to finish loading the wagon and we can go together, I'm going to Kirklees too."
"Are you going to visit the orphanage again?"
Marian nodded.
"I want to bring the leftovers from yesterday's feast to the children. Even though I thought there were more of them."
Guy blushed slightly thinking of the provisions he had brought to the camp of the outlaws.
"I bet that's Allan's fault: before I knew him, I couldn't imagine that a single person could be able to eat so much," he said in an amused tone, mentally apologizing to his friend and thinking that the next Nightwatchman's mission would have to supply the orphanage's pantry.
Marian chuckled.
"Poor Allan, you should ask Tuck for some remedies to make him feel better."
Robin woke up hearing Much's enthusiastic exclamations and he thought that his friend must have found the food brought by Gisborne.
He turned on his back, a little sore, and realized he had slept on the ground, by the fire, and not on his cot.
But there wasn't the slightest trace of Guy at the camp, and the blanket that Robin had given him that night had been neatly folded and it was resting on one of the logs arranged around the fire, along with the parchment they had stolen from the sheriff.
After Guy had told him that the Thornton on the list was the man who had married his sister, Gisborne hadn't spoken anymore and he had just stared at the fire, while Robin had ended up falling asleep.
He got up from the ground and stretched. He collected both the blankets and the document, leaving the blankets on the bed and putting safely away the latter. In the end he decided to reach his companions.
"Robin? Where does this food come from?" Little John asked. Much emphasized the question with a sort of grunt, too busy eating to be able to talk.
"Gisborne. He wanted us to celebrate his engagement too."
"Where is he now?" Much asked, finishing chewing.
"I think he's back to Locksley. When he arrived at the camp it was late at night. After a while I fell asleep and when I woke up he wasn't here anymore."
"Taste this, master. It's excellent," his friend said, holding out his plate after helping himself with another portion.
Little John scolded him.
"Much, leave something for Will and Djaq, later we'll bring it to them."
Robin smiled at seeing Much's outraged look at Little John's comment, then he took a meat pie and he began to eat it absently.
He was worried about Gisborne, he had seen how troubled he had been in thinking about his sister.
Isabella of Gisborne...
Robin remembered her well from his childhood. She was a couple of years older than him and sometimes she joined their games, but she usually didn't break away from her mother's side, following her like a shadow.
The last time he had seen her, it was on the worst day of his life, in front of the burnt ruins of Gisborne's house, when she and Guy had been driven away without anyone doing anything to stop them.
During the fire Isabella had remained motionless next to her brother, as if she had been petrified, and even later, when all hope had been lost, she hadn't spoken, nor cried and she had let herself to be dragged by Guy's hand as if she no longer had her will.
Gisborne had told him that he had sold her, that he had given her hand to a man he barely knew just because that Thornton had offered him a good price, and Robin wondered for the first time what Guy and Isabella's life might have been like after they had been banished from their lands.
"You can tell me the truth. You're sad, aren't you?"
Robin jerked his head up. He hadn't noticed that Little John had sat next to him until he spoke.
"What?"
The man shook his head.
"Gisborne and Marian. This betrothal. She was supposed to be your fiancee, not his. It's normal for you to be sad."
Robin stared at him, amazed.
"No. I wasn't thinking of Marian. I'm happy for them, really."
"One who's really happy doesn't sit staring into space, Robin."
"I'm just worried about the sheriff's plans. He must have something in mind, but I don't know what to expect, it has nothing to do with Guy, I assure you."
Little John looked at him, unconvinced.
"Remember that in any case we are here for you."
Robin nodded and smiled at him.
Guy held the reins with one hand and he had his other arm tight around Marian's waist with a proud, possessive look. His black stallion was tied behind the wagon because Gisborne had decided not to mount him, so he could travel at the girl's side.
The wayfarers they met on the road gave them curious looks and both Guy and Marian knew that they wouldn't miss the chance to talk behind their backs and to pretend to be shocked at the scandal of seeing them travel together, alone and so close to each other.
Guy grinned, noticing from a distance a group of peasant women who were gossiping and turning around to look at them from time to time. When the wagon passed close to the women, Guy pulled the reins to stop the horse and he stared intently at the group of peasants.
The women looked at him in dismay, too terrified by the fear of some retaliation to think they could run away.
Marian gave him a curious look, wondering what his intentions were. For over a year, many people considered her Gisborne's lover and treated her like a slut, and she knew that Guy could not stand that situation. On one hand, Marian wished Gisborne would lecture those malignant gossips, but on the other he was afraid he might overdo it.
Guy motioned for the women to approach, serious, and those came forward, trembling and throwing worried glances at the knight's sword as if they feared that Gisborne could use it to stab them at any moment.
Guy instead took Marian's hand in his own to show the ring to them, and he smiled in the most amiable way he could.
"Ladies, I have the honor to introduce you to the future Lady Gisborne. I know you are always very interested in other people's business, so I thought you might like to know that Lady Marian has agreed to marry me."
The gossipers stammered a few words of good wishes, and as soon as Guy restarted the wagon, they scattered in terror, running back to their homes.
Marian watched them run away, amused by their confusion, then her eyes met Guy's and they both laughed.
Allan was right, Guy thought. People were not used to seeing him smile and they were frightened when he did, but it didn't matter, sooner or later they would forget his past and they would no longer consider him just as the sheriff's ferocious dog.
In the meantime he would try to live a happy life at Marian's side and, someday, seeing him smiling wouldn't seem so strange anymore.
He held the girl close and Marian rested her head on his shoulder, still giggling.
Guy kissed her hair and sighed, satisfied.
He had the impression that slowly all the fragments of his life were returning to their place, making him stronger, more and more whole.
The memory of the list of names written on the stolen parchment suddenly crossed his mind, saddening him.
Isabella...
His sister was still one of the missing pieces.
If really Thornton was going to come to Nottingham, maybe that would have been the right opportunity to find Isabella and ask her forgiveness for not being able to take care of her.
Gisborne decided he would do his best to try and fix things.
He knew it was late to do it, that he should have looked for his sister many years ago.
I just hope it's not too late.
He looked at Marian and the girl smiled at him, radiant, turning those melancholic thoughts away from him.
Marian loved him and agreed to become his wife. Guy still struggled to believe it, but if that wasn't a dream, then he could also believe that there was nothing really impossible in the world.
He took her in his arms and dragged her into a passionate kiss, regardless of the scandalized looks of passersby.
You are my betrothed and I want everyone to know.
