Chapter Six: Perceptions
Paulette hummed a merry tone as she and Louise labored over the lavish dinner menu. There was no room for error this evening, what was sure to be one of the happiest evenings of their lives.
As she chopped up the apples and readied them to be baked into a pie, Paulette let her mind wonder to the Prince's visit earlier that day. She remembered the look on his face as she told him all about Danielle's father's death. The way the Baroness swooped down on everything they held dear to their hearts and bled it dry. What really got him going was when she told him how the Baroness would beat Danielle when she "misbehaved." He had been so appalled and so devastated that it seemed to Paulette that he took Danielle's pain into his body. Made it his.
She could have spoken to him for hours about this incident, or that one. But instead he was anxious to get to Danielle, insisting that he would figure out a suitable punishment when she was safe in his arms. Just then, Maurice came bounding around the corner of the house and unwittingly notified Marguerite to the Prince's presence. Before the Baroness and her daughter spilled into the driveway, Paulette revealed Danielle's location. And quicker then a flash, Henry was on his horse. Before dashing off, he simply said, "Make the Baroness believe that I wish to marry Marguerite, and that my parents have approved, I will handle the rest."
Paulette had been unaware that while she was conspiring with the Prince, Jacqueline had been speaking to Laurent a few yards away and had heard everything that was said. As the Baroness gathered everyone inside who had seen the Prince, a simple nod between the youngest daughter and the servant formed an alliance.
The Baroness had interrogated them of course, but they had faired well. And dare she say, it was rather fun! After a brief overview Louise was jumping at the opportunity to do her part as well. As a group, they decided to stay as close to the facts as possible, that way nobody got confused and blew their cover. Jacqueline, by now, Paulette mused, must have run upstairs telling her sister all about "the second wedding" the Royals were preparing. Of course Marguerite was so spoiled and arrogant that was surely primping up, laboring for hours over what dress to wear, what broach should adorn it, and how to wear her hair.
Although uninformed of the details, Paulette could only imagine what the Prince had in store for the Baroness and her wretched daughter.
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Danielle walked swiftly through the dense woods. Although she knew where she wanted to go, and what direction she was headed, she wasn't quite sure where she was. She had been walking ever since her lungs ached too much to run, traveling altogether for a couple of hours. Her stomach growled and reminded her it was near suppertime. Surely, Le Pieu had all his men scouring the countryside looking for her by now. And honestly, Danielle wasn't particularly worried. They would never find her, she had much too good of a head start.
She had left Henry speechless in the courtyard. Telling him only that she was sorry, but never revealing why. The sight of him crying broke her heart, and somewhere deep down, a little part, an unwavering part, wanted to run to him and hold him. But that part of her being was greatly outnumbered by other, more domineering parts. Parts of her that wanted nothing more then to return to her normal life, and forget the last few weeks ever happened. Parts of her that still felt dirty and numb. She was sure that some parts of her were diseased, if not her body then her soul. And all parts had one thing in common they were all frightened.
Danielle didn't realized how scared she was until she sat at the table with Henry. She remembered she was gazing out the window when he touched her. Two days before hand, his touch would have instantly soothed her, and that was in fact, what he was trying to do. He had said so. But instead of feeling her shoulders relax and her eyes grow heavy, the sensation startled her. So much so that her Ginger tea flew out of her cup and found a home on Henry's lap. It was as if every cell in body yelled "PANIC!!" at the same time.
She tried to tell him that she didn't expect him to touch her, and that she was just tired. But she knew from the look in his eyes that he didn't buy it. She knew that Henry knew that something was wrong.
But how was she supposed to tell Henry what happened, when she didn't even know? She was in fact, unconscious. She couldn't bear to sit there and try to answer questions that she had no answers to. So she left. Or at least she tried to. All he did was grab her fingers innocently and she attacked him. In that brief instant when he held her, and spun around and slapped him, he was the enemy. She looked at Henry like he was a wild dog. Savage, and hungry, and loud. Jaw's drooling as he hunted her down. And once again, her body yelled "PANIC!!" and she slapped him as hard as she could.
Then, when he begged her for answers she gave him none. Simply told him that she loved him, and ran for the woods. How could it have been any other way? How could she, in good conscious, agree to marry a man she viewed as an animal? Someone she was afraid of? How could she be his wife without being able to hold him? To give him the simple pleasures a man deserves? She could never give him an heir to the throne. She never wanted a man to lie on top of her again, never mind conceive a child with one.
The more she walked the more she realized that perhaps it was better this way. She was a country girl at heart. Rugged, adventurous, and fiercely independent. His world, of riches and royalty was so restricted. So cut off from all the things that truly mattered in life. No, she could never survive there. God works in mysterious ways.
Now she was headed home. Back to Louise, Paulette, Maurice and Gustave. Back to the vegetables and the hay. When Danielle stopped to think about it, it was quite stupid of her to think she could just show up back home. The Baroness had sold her, after all. Sold her because she was a distraction to the Prince. Well, she would no longer be a distraction. She would merely make her presence known to Paulette, or Maurice, or one of the others, and hide out until Henry married Marguerite and the family moved to the Palace. Then she, and the others would rebuild the farm. Restore it with hard work and commitment.
And life, if she could still call it that, would return to normal.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"Have the preparations been made?" King Francis asked in a hushed tone of voice. His Serviceman eyed their surroundings carefully before responding.
"Everything is in place, Your Highness."
"The Royal Guardsmen, have they readied their extra men? We may need them."
"They're ready to leave when you are."
"Good, inform them that we will depart for the De Ghent manor as soon as the Queen and Prince are ready."
"Yes, of course your majesty."
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"Well, she didn't come right out and say it. But that's the only scenario that makes sense. Am I wrong in assuming that? Please tell me I'm wrong." The Queen shook her head sadly. Henry, who was now pacing back and forth, was trying not to cry. His mother, the Queen was sitting on his bed studying her son.
"Of course she didn't. No respectable woman ever would." Henry stopped pacing.
"What do you mean?"
"Come now, Son, you know that a woman whose been used before marriage, is, in effect, unworthy of matrimony. She's tainted." Henry thought for a moment.
"A woman who lies in bed with a man who isn't her husband, and allows him to enter her, is tainted. Danielle didn't willingly sleep with Le Pieu, he forced her."
"Say's who?" The Queen asked. Henry was surprised to see that she was fighting back tears herself. "There was nobody else in the room Henry. If she told you, or anyone else, for that matter, Le Pieu could counter and say that she gave herself to him."
"And Danielle is a woman, and Le Pieu is a man, so…"
"So he'll get the glory of taming such a wild one, and she'll be labeled a whore." The Queen finished. Everything began to make sense to Henry.
"She thinks that I won't believe her. She thinks that I think she's a whore. That she let him enter her. God…" Henry could no longer hold back tears. They came streaking down his cheeks.
"What exactly did she say to you, Henry?" The Queen asked wiping away a few tears of her own.
"She told me that she loved me."
"And?"
"And that she was sorry she ruined what we had. Mother, why would she be sorry. If anything it's my fault…"
"The blame only lies on Le Pieu, Henry. Nobody else." The Queen cut in.
"But if I hadn't of been so stupid, and thrown what I had with Danielle away…"
"And she feels that had she not lied to you then you wouldn't have been upset with her. And she wouldn't have been sold… Henry don't you see. Nothing either of you could have done would have prevented it, and even if you could have, it has already happened. It's past tense, dear. Now you have to let the what if's go, and find a way to deal with it."
"How do you know so much about this, mother?" Henry asked with a raised eyebrow.
The Queen shrugged the question off and continued. "My point is dear that she's afraid. She's afraid of your perception of her, she afraid of the future, and she's afraid of the ways in which she will be altered. Yes Henry, Danielle will never quite be the same. If you wish to pursue her you must forget the past and start fresh."
He was going to respond, but just then there was knock on the door. Henry called for the visitor to come in. Francis entered the room followed by Laurent. He stopped and studied his wife and son. Their cheeks were strained with tears, their eyes puffy. He shot a concerned look to his wife. She assured him silently that all was well. He nodded.
"The preparations have been made. Are we ready to leave, or do want to call this whole thing off?" Henry's face grew serious.
"No. Definitely not. We leave immediately."