Chapter 11

Oscar woke up with a gentle kiss on her bare shoulder. When she opened her eyes, André was beside her, sitting next to her on the bed, smiling "good morning, my Oscar" he said and kissed her.

"Good morning, my André" she yawned.

"Did I wake you up?" he asked."I didn´t let you sleep last night…"

"It´s fine." she blushed "after all, it was our wedding night"

André looked at Oscar with his dreamy eyes.

"what?"

"Promise you won´t pinch me" he answered.

"Pinch you?"

"I feel as if this was a dream…and if it is, I don´t want to wake up"

She thought about the night before…"It´s better than fencing…" Oscar suddenly said blushing heavily.

"Yeah…much better" he smiled "I wonder if we keep practicing, we´ll get better and better…just like fencing"

"Hey!" she said "who said I need to practice fencing!"

They laughed.

"I brought you breakfast" he said. "Why don´t you start eating, while I make your bath ready" he smiled.

"Bath?"

"I thought after travelling and all…it would relax you" he answered. It wasn´t a habit of theirs to bathe often, but for some reason André just thought it would do Oscar good.

After Oscar had bathed, she noticed that André had already made everything ready for their journey."We have to get going if we´re going to get there before dark" he said. They still had a long way to go.

After travelling for almost the entire day, they finally reached their destination: they approached a small villa with other smaller houses surrounding it. Julie and Jean Valmot were standing at the yard wondering, who was coming so late at night to visit them.

Their surprise was huge, when they saw André with the company of two women.

"André!"

"I hope we´re not intruding…It´s just that you invited me to visit and…well" he explained …"here we are"

"Of course!" Sean replied "you and your…companions are always welcome!"

"Thank you"

André looked around. "Didn´t you say something like your former master left you and your family a small house from the countryside?!" André asked. It wasn´t exactly small, not as André had imagined it; it was rather a small villa with couple of small houses surrounding it.

"Well" Sean started "my master didn´t have any children, so he had more money than we thought"

"And strange hobbies" André laughed.

…"André! André!" they heard a little girl yelling. It was little Ann, who was running from the house towards them. She looked happy and healthy, as always. She ran right into André´s arms. "André!" she said "you came!"

"Yes, I did" he smiled "How could I not visit my dear friends!"

"Ann" her mother told her "shouldn´t you be in bed at this time of the night?"

"But if I was in bed, I wouldn´t see André!" she argued.

"Don´t worry, I´ll be here tomorrow as well. Together with my family" he smiled and looked at Oscar.

"It´s her…" they recognized Oscar.

"Yes…she… she is my wife now"

André introduced Oscar and his grandmother.

"Nice to meet you" Oscar started "I´ve heard so much about you"

"Missus Grandier?" they were stunned.

Oscar nodded.

"…" they couldn´t believe their ears. André had accomplished the impossible. "Oh my God!" they yelled "this is a happy moment!" they said and shook the hands of the young couple "congratulations!"

"Thank you!" they replied unison.

"So you did take my advice and put on that costume…" Sean said.

"Yes, I did" André laughed "It was such a ridiculous idea that I never thought…never dreamed that it would work"

"Well, it did. Looks like my master did indeed do good" Sean smiled.

"…" little Ann was staring at Oscar with her eyes open."Wov!" little Ann said admiring Oscar "You´re beautiful!"

"Well, thank you" she smiled.

"Why are you dressed like a man?"

"Ann" André kneed down "Oscar has always dressed that way. It´s because she was raised as a boy"

"Why?"

"Because her parents couldn´t get a real boy"

…"you must be tired" Julie said interrupting her daughter for asking any more questions "you and your wife can stay in the house over there" she pointed them a small, but pretty house. "We can continue talking tomorrow" They knew that something must have happened, because André and his wife had been travelling all this way within a short period of time. And, of course, it was no wonder: many people, especially the nobles wouldn´t accept the marriage between a noble and a commoner. But André and his family was always welcome to visit them.

"And grandmother can take the other house"

"But it´s too much bother for you…"

"Nonsense!" Julie told her "let me introduce you to our house" she said while escorting grandmother. Ann ran after them "goodnight! André and Oscar!"

"Good night, Ann!"

"How´s your other children?" André asked.

"Phil is learning to read and Marcus is…well, you know him" Sean smiled "always getting into trouble"

"Just like us when we were children!" Oscar laughed. Her weariness didn´t spoil her good mood.

"Really?"

"Yeah. André and I got into a lot of trouble…And usually it was André who was blamed" she looked at her husband.

"It´s ok. After all it was my duty to protect you" he said smiling."Still is"

"André. There´s room for your horses at the stables. Give them some hay and water" he said.

Then they walked to the other house." This is yours. You can stay here as long as you want to" Sean said giving them the key. "Thank you so much, Sean. I´ll pay you" André thanked him. "Well, we can discuss about that in the morning" he answered, and after saying goodnight, Oscar and André were left alone. As soon as André had opened the door, Oscar walked right into the house leaving him to take the carriage to the stables, giving water to horses and then bring their luggage into the house.

As soon as he had done that, he returned to the house. But then he stopped at the front of it.

He was looking at the house, and admiring it. It was small, but comfortable and very pretty. Almost as good as their villa in Arras. "Almost" He thought. It was smaller, much smaller. And it was older and needed some work…He sighed. He was worried about whether Oscar would like it here. He had always known that he would never be able to provide the living standards she had accustomed to.

As he finally stepped inside and closed the door, he called her name. No answer. He put the luggage down.

"Oscar?" he asked again, but heard no answer. When he went to check on her, she was fast asleep on their bed. André walked towards her smiling "how tired you were" He thought and took her boots and her over coat off. Then he covered her with a blanket and took his clothes off.

"Good night, my love" he whispered and laid down beside her. Then he put his arms around her and fell in sleep. That night they slept like logs.

The next morning everything seemed to fell into the right place: They could stay as long as they wanted to, and they didn´t have to pay any rent, neither. Instead, André helped Sean to fix the houses, while grandmother taught cooking skills to both little Ann and Oscar. It was time for Ann to start to help her parents in the house, and grandmother was just a perfect guide for that.

During the days Oscar taught the boys fencing and shooting. And she was the best teacher they ever had. In the evenings Oscar taught the little girl to play violin, which she had brought along. Oscar seemed happy, and that warmed André´s heart. Finally she was able to relax.

Some weeks passed by quickly, and they were already starting to consider staying there permanently, but then…One day, Oscar received a letter from her mother…

"André!" she rushed to him. He was chopping firewood for the fireplace. But he stopped as soon as he saw his wife rushing towards him.

"Oscar? What´s the matter?"

"We need to go!"

"Go where?" he asked. She was looking anxious.

"My mother wrote to me and asked our help…"she started.

"Is it about your father?"

"No. It´s Loulou, she´s in a convent " she started to explain "My mother says it's been a while since she last time heard from Loulou and she is worried that something might have happened."

"What?! What is she doing in a convent in the first place?!"

"Apparently she met a woman, who told her that every woman should go to a convent before getting married…and then she just wouldn´t stop talking about going there herself…"

"Getting married?!" he was surprised "She´s just a child!"

"I know!"

"Loulou is as stubborn as you and your father!" André shook his head, but he knew how much his wife´s niece meant to the family, and to them."Alright, Oscar. I´ll get my pistol"

So, they left grandmother with the Valmots, and headed for the convent…