Authoress's Note: Hmm...it was unanimous...sometimes nice, sometimes, well, shall we say...blunt...but anyhow, i am giving in to my adoring Public (here, here!), and updating...and this chapter is sweet, so i hope you're all happy! Humph!!! Much love to all, and kudos bars to Chein (many thanx for you lengthy and detailed review), Heaven (yours was by far the sweetest and gentlest), and hemlock (who correctly assumed that i m a raving maniac who enjoys throwing kudos bars at little children...mwahahahahahahahaha...whew...o...and, one golden day, I will expand this and make it mucho grandes better, but, sadly, today is not that golden day...eventually, tho =o)!!! Many thanx, much love, and be nice....santa claus (a.k.a. satan) is still watching!!! Teeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee...wow, i crack myself up!!! Tootles! ~Jenny the chica~






Chapter Twelve



Tobin came at five o'clock, exactly, and I embraced him tightly as he climbed over the balcony. He asked me why I had done that, and I explained to him, as soon as my sobs became slightly more muffled and I could breathe again, what had happened today.

We sat on the bed, and he held me until I stopped shaking. Then, as soon as I dried my eyes and looked up at him, he said, "Gretchen, do you remember the surprise I promised you yesterday?"

I nodded.

"Well," he went on, "I think that this surprise might help this a little bit."

I looked at him curiously, then whispered, "Go on."

He got down on one knee, on the floor, beside me and told me, "Gretchen, I've loved you since I first heard your voice, and now as I've come to know you, I love you even more. And Gretchen, I would like to ask you to marry me, right here and right now."

My jaw dropped for a moment, and then I reached over and hugged him again, realizing that I had loved him since he first came.

"Yes, yes, Tobin, I'll marry you," I exclaimed, gasping breathlessly in my excitement. A thousand questions flooded my mind, and I tried to push them back, trying to enjoy this happy, memorable, once-in-a-lifetime moment, but they had to be asked before I could feel calm.

"What about Mother? And how will I be able to get out to go back to your home with you? And how can we get married here and now? And how-"

Tobin graciously cut me off. "Dear Gretchen, we will hide it from your mother just as we are now. You will stay here, and one day, I will come and be able to free you. In answer to your last question, in our country of Echligia, the royalty have the authority to marry others, as well as themselves."

I smiled at how he could so easily calm me down, but there was one last thing I had to ask. "Tobin, the problem is, I can never leave here. If I leave, I know that Mother will find me. She found and kidnapped me before. Would it be so hard for her to do it again?"

I started weeping, but Tobin gently said, "Don't worry, you'll get out one day. Until then, I'll come like this every night."

"All right," I whispered, accepting what I knew that I only wanted to hear, but I tried to make myself at least partially believe him. "I won't worry."

After I said this, he "positioned" me where to stand, and he stood across from me. There, we were married, and I looked forward to our evening talks even more.

Sadly, my new husband did have to leave, and we parted at around two in the morning.

I thought to myself, as I usually did every night after he left, how we would never be like normal couples, but we could still be happy, for, after all, we were in love.




A/N: AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW...ok then...now go review!!! Thankies!! ~Jenny the chica, signing off...over aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand out!!!~