There is a poem that goes something like, "If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was." I have loved this poem since I first heard it, but have no idea who it belongs to in order to give proper credit, but I can tell you, it's not mine.

Chapter Seventeen: If You Love Something, Let It Go...

Adelard and Paladin walked the outskirts of the town looking for a secluded area so they could speak freely. While they searched, they idly talked of everyday Shire happenings.

Paladin puffed on the loaned pipe as he shuffled along the path with his cousin, "Yes, Pimpernel will become a tween this coming year. Addie, they're growing up so fast!"

"I can see that!" Adelard agreed. "It seems like only yesterday we were hoping beyond hope that your baby boy would survive his first week and then his first month...and now how old is he? Nine?"

"Not quite...he's a very precocious eight-year-old!"

Adelard grinned at his friend. "I daresay that if your lad weren't so hard on Tina, you'd find an excuse to have another five children!" Both hobbits laughed at the notion.

"You know what, Addie? You're probably right--someone has to keep up with The Old Took!"

"Ah! Over there!" Adelard nodded in the direction of the blacksmith's tool shed. Paladin could barely make out in the dark the silhouette of a large rock and a small barrel next to the shed.

The two friends sat down, grunting their weary bones' displeasure. "All right, Paladain!" Adelard let out a long sigh, "Out with it!"

Paladin rested his head against the shed. "The question is....where do I start?"

"Try the beginning!"

Before starting, Paladin made Adelard promise not to tell a soul, but he was only going through the motions. He knew he could trust Adelard. When he was finished, he saw Adelard's brow furrowed.

"I don't know why I continue to feel hostile towards Sara. Maybe I do, but....perhaps it's...jealousness. Do you think?"

Adelard looked at his cousin, "You do have yourself in a pickle, Paladin! I could have told you this would happen. But do I blame you? No. I must say that what you did was beyond the call of any father. Yet when you opened your heart to Merry, you unwarily opened it to the pain of letting him go." He reached over and patted Paladin's hand, seeing his tears glistening in the moonlight. "And I know you feel this pain deeply."

"I just don't want to see Merry hurt again."

"I know that, Paladin, but the lad will be fine! He needs to find his way to his own father; if you don't let him, you'll only be seen as standing in his way." Adelard's expression became far away, "Before Niola died, when she knew Everard would be fine and as she lay in my arms, I cried and told her I didn't want to let her go. She told me something that I remember to this day. I can barely recall anything else she said, but I remember this; she told me that if I love something, I should let it go. And if that something loved me back, then it would return to me." Then he added, "If Niola never returns to me, then I shall go to her." He again reached over again to Paladin's hand and held it, "Let him go!"

Paladin sniffed and wiped his eyes with his handkerchief. "I never imagined it would be this difficult!"

"Difficult enough, yes, but what a road Sara will have to tread!" Adelard shook his head. "I never for one moment thought--"


"Thought what?"

Both Paladin and Adelard jumped to their feet, peering into the darkness to find....Gillie!

Adelard was quicker than his younger cousin was. He none too gently shoved Gillie up against the side of the tool shed, and was immediately sorry he did so; Gillie was extremely drunk. "What have you heard!" Adelard watched as Gillie sat on the stone in a heap then gather himself up for another onslaught.

"I heard enough!" Gillie staggered to his feet eyeing the barrel he just sat on, "The two of you slinking off into the dark so you could keep the barrel of ale all to yourselves!" Both hobbits winced at Gillie's breath.

Paladin wasn't convinced of his brother-in-law. "What else have you heard?"

"I heard enough!" Gillie was angry in his drunken haze, "I heard you (he pointed his finger into Paladin's chest) say that you didn't know Sara's road would be difficult! Then I heard you say--" But Gillie never finished his sentence; as he turned toward Adelard, he fell unconscious into his arms.

"Well, perhaps we have nothing to worry about!" said Adelard.

Paladin helped his cousin with Gillie, "No, but if I know my sister, Opal, like I do, he will have something to worry about when she sees him like this!"