"He moves about like lightening, doesn't he?" Johanna said to her mother, as they both watched Robin help unpack the coach to settle his family in Leicester Castle for the night. "However did she manage to capture him?"
Her jealousy toward Marian was more apparent than she wished to show, yet her wise, beloved mother had always been her confidante.
"If you ask him," Queen Eleanor answered, "he will say she was the one more difficult to catch." She studied her daughter, who in turn was studying Robin through a window. "Joan," she said soothingly. "My beautiful, spirited Joan. You mustn't torture yourself, longing for someone who never belonged to you."
"But he did, Maman, once!"
"Oh?" The queen was displeased, imagining more had transpired between Robin of Locksley and her youngest daughter than what had really occurred.
"We kissed," Joanna explained, "once in Sicily, when I was a widow." She closed her eyes, remembering. "He wasn't like lightening then, more like a slow, all consuming fire that melted me from head to toe." Opening her eyes, now brimming with tears, she explained, "I have never felt so, before or since. Oh, Maman! Why did you have to bring him here?" Unable to restrain herself, Johanna burst into sobs.
The queen held her daughter in her arms and gently stroked her hair. "Such beautiful hair," she mused. "All but John inherited your father's color. John is a changeling, I suspect, some ignoble murderer's son switched at birth with the child I must have borne."
"That old joke," Johanna sniffed, already calmed by her mother's influence. "You know John hates it when you say that."
"Of course he does. But what else could I do to try to make him behave? Slippering him never worked, as it did you."
"You only slippered me once."
"Yes, when you took my diamond."
"That heavy, magnificent jewel! I couldn't resist its glitter, Maman. I was only a child."
Queen Eleanor smiled, as though to herself. "It was given to me the time I accompanied King Louis to the Holy Land, in that disastrous crusade. Saladin himself, a young man then, presented it to me as a token of...well, let us call it a peace offering. An enormous, perfect diamond, alone on a golden chain. I have never seen its equal."
"What happened to it? I don't remember seeing you wear it since...I don't recall."
The queen's smile turned wise. "You might say I returned it to the Holy Land, selling it to help pay for Richard's crusade. When Saladin gave it to me, he could never have guessed I would use it against him."
"Maman, you are incorrigible!" Johanna laughed, her good nature restored.
"Even as a child, Joan," the queen said, coming to the point of her story, "you tried to take something that didn't belong to you. Keep away from Robin tonight. You don't want me to have to slipper you again!"
"Oh, Maman! I'm not child!"
"Exactly. You are a woman, and a very beautiful one."
"You think Robin unable to resist me?"
"Not that, Joan. I simply don't want you making a fool of yourself."
Johanna sighed. "I'll do my best," she promised.
...
Every meal at Leicester Castle was formal, very different from the casual family meals enjoyed at Locksley Manor.
Tonight, Robin and Marian's children supped separately with their nurse, while Johanna presided over a long, well polished table in a huge dining room surrounded by stony faced, silent servants.
"We are very casual here, with my husband away," Johanna told her guests, trying very hard not to care for Robin. "I hope you will enjoy the wine. Is it grape harvest time, Maman, in Aquitaine?"
"I believe so. You are in for a treat, when you reach Aquitaine," she told Robin and Marian. "I wish I could go to see the barefoot girls stomp the grapes. All of them browned by the sun, but purple up to their knees, no matter how hard they scrub. As a young woman, I wanted to join them, just once, you understand."
"I'm surprised you didn't, Your Majesty," Robin said with a grin.
"Who says I didn't?" the queen laughed.
Johanna couldn't tear her eyes away from Robin. That smile! It lit up his entire face, shining radiant like the sun!
"No thank you," Marian quietly told a servant, stopping him from pouring wine into her goblet.
"You're not drinking?" Johanna asked, her voice harder than she meant it to be.
"Only water, please," Marian answered.
"But the wine comes from Aquitaine! You insult my mother's homeland, by refusing to drink."
Marian, already uncomfortable in Princess Johanna's disapproving presence, conquered her embarrassment and explained. "A woman back home, who delivers our babies, advised me to abstain."
"But why?" Johanna demanded, unable to stop her jealous feelings.
"She believes the baby I carry is affected by anything I eat or drink. Since I wouldn't give strong drink to my children, she says I mustn't drink myself, while carrying a child."
"How utterly absurd!" Johanna cried. "Does she claim to know more than doctors?"
"She is very wise." Marian took a sip of water, wanting the conversation to end.
"She delivered me," Robin cheerfully added, wanting to support Marian without speaking for her. "She is an amazing woman, rather like Your Majesty in ways."
"I should like to get to know her," the queen mentioned. "You are wise, Marian, to follow her advice. I will be blunt. I believe you were told it was impossible for you to bear children, after you took the sword intended to kill my son King Richard?"
The queen turned her pleasant, admiring smile from Marian to give Johanna a pointed stare. "Lady Locksley deserves our utmost respect and thanks, you know, for saving your brother's life."
"Thank you," Johanna snapped, sounding curt.
She knew she should be grateful, but she couldn't stomach Marian. The woman was far too lovely. Even her voice was beautiful! Johanna searched her, hunting for flaws, zeroing in on a small, light mole just under her lower lip, and a tiny silvery, bluish mark by her ear. Where one mark appeared, Johanna knew, others lay hidden. That perfectly creamy skin contained blemishes, and not only those, but scars! The woman had been struck through her body by Sir Guy of Gisbourne's sword, for Heaven's sake! That had to have left a nasty mark on her!
"Stop it, Johanna," she silently told herself. "Robin isn't yours. But why must he be so...!"
The looks the couple shared spoke volumes. Johanna witnessed so much affection, so much regard, and yes, so many sparks, she wanted to throw down her fork and scream. She felt hurt and wanted to strike back, but only in a small, snide way.
"Robin," she said, then felt herself flushing when he turned his incredible eyes on her, "did you ever have those Venetian glass beads restrung?"
Robin remembered the beads, a gift he'd meant to give to Marian, more than he recalled Johanna's kiss. "I never did," he admitted. "I should have done." He smiled at his wife. "I bought them for you, on my way to the Holy Land."
"You bought me a present?"
"A necklace of green and gold glass beads, from Venice," Johanna interrupted, ignoring her mother's warning look. "One lovely evening in Sicily, I discovered it on Robin's person, under his shirt, and like the spoiled princess I was, stole it from him and put it around my neck."
"Another necklace you stole," Queen Eleanor warned. "Remember the lesson of Saladin's diamond."
"But the diamond is irresistible, Maman!"
"It doesn't belong to you. You have your own jewels, you know."
"Under his shirt?" Marian asked.
"Against my heart," Robin told her. "I missed you, Marian."
"I missed you, too. But under your shirt?"
"I poked my hands around," Johanna said, enjoying Marian's rising jealousy, "and pulled it out. I must have weakened the string, because it broke, scattering the beads all over the garden while we kissed."
"Excuse me," Marian said, pushing out her chair and rising from the table. "I have a bit of a headache."
Robin rose and excused himself as well, after shooting Johanna a questioning, irritable look. "Goodnight, Your Majesties," he said, following Marian from the dining room.
"Well, I hope you're proud of yourself," the queen scolded. "I, on the other hand, am ashamed of you."
"I think I showed marvelous restraint," Johanna said. "More wine?"