Chapter Eleven
Gwen stared out the window. Her horses, Dom's mare Piper among them, beautiful and wonderful gifts from the beast, grazed hungrily at the green grass that now covered the fields and land surrounding the castle. Winter was over. Spring was just beginning. She heard the sweet song of birds and the thick croak of the frogs.
But her mind wasn't on the things before her. Her thoughts dwelled on another time and another place. If the seasons were as Gwen suspected they were and it was nearing winter back home, her mother would soon be harvesting her garden. Her brothers would be separating the colts and fillies from their livestock to sell at the upcoming harvest fairs. Jacie should have had her baby. Gwen wondered if it had been a boy or a girl. Delia might very well be married.
And yet, as much as she missed home, and her old routine and having her mother and sisters to bicker with, she couldn't bring herself to leave the beast. The last five months had done something amazing to their friendship. Nearly every night now, together they would sit beneath the stars, choosing a different tower top each night, and make up stories about the stars and the pictures they made. They spent hours reading together in the largest library Gwen had ever seen. The room was covered in windows that let in warming sunshine by day and starlight by night. She never let him close the heavy curtains. It was her favorite place, besides her stables. And speaking of stables and her horses, Gwen was determined to get the beast to ride with her instead of loping along as he had done the afternoon before.
No. As much as she had loved her home and family, she belonged here. The beast needed her.
A thought occurred to Gwen, and it surprised her so much, she fell right off of her seat by the window.
"Are you all right?"
Gwen scrambled to her feet. "Yes, I'm fine." Her heart raced with her new knowledge. She clenched her hands behind her back, suddenly feeling shy and small around the beast.
"What's wrong?"
The beast came closer and put his fingers beneath her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "What's wrong?" he asked again.
She looked away. "Nothing," she lied. "I was just thinking of home."
The beast's heart lurched. No! He wouldn't let her go! He couldn't! She meant too much to him.
Will you force her to be a prisoner? Merric's words to him last night haunted him, reminding him of what he had come here to do. He clenched his teeth. Don't say it! Tell her! His mind warred with his heart. But in the end, Merric won out. "You should go to them."
"What?" Gwen glanced back at him, shocked.
Tears slipped from the beast's eyes and he felt as though his heart was being torn from him. "I – I release you. I won't hold you captive any longer. Go back to your family."
"But, I couldn't." Gwen reached out to him and took his arm. He flinched and shrugged her away, violently. "I don't want to go." She tried to smile, to talk some sense into him, but the look in his eyes told her he was oh so serious.
"You must! I won't keep you here!" He pushed her away. "You don't belong here." He whistled once and Piper, saddled and ready, immediately stepped from her open stall and walked forward. She shied a bit at the sight of the beast, but at seeing Gwen, she stepped forward. Seeing the horse, he remembered he had meant to go riding with her again. Now, that would never happen.
Gwen back away as he held out the reins to her. "I don't want to go. I want to stay here. With you!"
"No! You don't belong here, Gwen! This isn't your choice! You must leave!" The beast hadn't shouted at her since the day she had arrived. The sound sent shivers down her back. When she didn't move, only stared at him, the hurt of betrayal gleaming through her tears, he wrapped her hands around the reins himself.
"No!" She cried. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to thrust the reins away.
He swung off the cloak he wore around his shoulder to ward off the spring chill and laid around her shoulders. It was far too large on her, but…he wanted to give her something to remember him by. The beast sighed, his heart breaking, and lifted her onto the horse. He cupped her cheek with one hand. "Don't forget me, Gwen." He wiped the tears streaming down her face. "Don't forget." He whacked the horse's flank before she had a chance to answer and the mare galloped off. The beast stood staring after them, unaware of the tears soaking his fur. The air around him was so quiet he was sure Gwen could hear his heart shattering as she looked back before she disappeared into the forest.
Merric glared down at his master, from a window in the tallest tower. Gwen had galloped away through the forest moments ago. Had the monster done what Merric had only dreamed of? Had he finally send her away? Merric laughed in triumph.
Gwen rode limply on Piper's back as she walked through the worn path in the forest. Tears still ran down her face, her heart crying tears of its own. Her family was the last thing on her mind. Why had he sent her away? The question beat itself in her head with the rhythm to the pounding of her mare's hooves.
Suddenly, electricity ran through her. Piper never falters, but Gwen nearly fell off. When she regained her balance and glanced around, her eyes widened in fear. She reined Piper in and sat silently in a forest of lush trees and shrubs just beginning to show the signs of autumn. The blackened twisted trees were nowhere to be found. Instead of buds on the trees, red and orange leaves littered the path beneath Piper's feet.
All around her warm sunlight burst through the canopy. Gwen was unaware of the passing trees as Piper took it upon herself to bring her Mistress home. And suddenly, Gwen found herself in a clearing. Barren cornfields, only recently stripped of their bounty, bordered her entrance to the east and to the south. The forest bordered her back to the west and to the north stood a large cottage. A cottage she knew too well…
For she had grown up there.
"No!" she cried. "No, no, no, no, no!" She reined in Piper and dismounted. She ran toward the house, dismayed, leaving Piper to find the stable by herself. She stopped halfway there. She still wore the heavy cloak the beast had given her before he had forced her to leave. Gwen burst into tears and ripped it off. She started to throw it away, ready to stomp it angrily into the ground. Seeing the dark material, she sank to her knees and held the cloth close. It smelled like him. Oh, the beast. Her beast.
Why had he sent her away? Did he not care for her? Gwen's heart felt as though it were being wrenched from her chest. She might never see him again. Oh, how ready she was to forgive him if only he would take her back! What had she done to lose his favor?
It took some time for Gwen to quiet the sobs that wracked her body. When she did, she carefully slid the cloak back around her shoulders, holding the end in one hand. With that, she ran toward the cottage.
"Mother! Jason!" She burst through the door. "Jacie! Delia! Kelsey!" She ran upstairs. "Rose! Neal! Where are you?" She ran back down the stairs and into the backyard and cornfields. "Hello! Is anyone there!"
Hoof beats sounded in the distance, making her way toward her. Neal. As he came closer, his eyes widened in shock. He stopped his horse fifteen feet away and dismounted. Gwen watched him, breathing hard, angry, terrified, ecstatic, and unable to take her mind off of where she belonged.
She heard him whisper her name.
She nodded, and through her tears managed to croak, "It's me, Neal. It's me. I'm home." She took a step toward him. He took a step back.
"Stop!" he commanded. "Don't come any closer!"
"Neal, it's me!" Gwen cried harder and spread her hands wide. "Don't you believe me?"
"Gwen is dead! She's gone!" he shouted, but Gwen could hear the tremor in his voice.
"No, I didn't die, Neal! It was a portal! It was a spell!"
"Gwen is dead!"
"Neal, listen to me! I'm right here. I'm not dead." She held out a hand. "You can touch me. I'm real."
"No," Neal continued to back away. "I won't believe it."
"I've seen Father, Neal." The memories were suddenly as fresh as ever and she relived the night her father died. The night she met the beast. "I was with him when he died. I was there. The beast kept me as his prisoner, but we became friends. But he let me go! He let me go." Gwen sank to her knees, sobbing once again, into the cloak the beast had given her. "He let me go. He let me go!"
She felt strong arms envelope her and for a moment she imagined that the beast had followed her. She leaned forward and found a strong shoulder to lean on. And she cried. And then she remembered. "Oh, Neal. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" She felt tears fall onto her neck, felt the sobs shake his body, and realized her brother was crying as well. She clung to him, wishing with all of her might that she might reverse time. Or more importantly, that it was the beast holding her and not her brother.
For a long time after they had spent all their tears, the pair stood together holding each other, grieving, silent.
"Where's Mother?" she whispered, breaking the long comfortable silence.
Neal pulled her to her feet and grasped her hands in his. He stepped back with uncertainty. "Look at you." Gwen looked up at him. "You're all grown up."
Gwen shook her head. "It's only been five months, Neal."
Neal frowned. "Five months?" Gwen nodded. "Gwen, it's been two years."
"What?" Gwen stared at him. "How is that possible? I counted the days!"
Neal sighed and hugged her again. "No matter what happened, you're alive and well. That's all that matters." He pulled away and wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I've missed you, Gwen."
Gwen smiled. "I've missed you, too." She heaved a sigh. "It's been a long time."
Neal nodded. "Too long."
"Neal?"
Gwen and Neal whirled around. There stood Sara, her apron billowing in the breeze. With a sharp intake of breath, Gwen stepped forward. "Mother!"
"Neal, who is that with you?" Sara held up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun and nearly collapsed in fright. "Gwen!"
Gwen ran as hard and as fast as she could until she stood but three feet from her mother. She would have immediately enveloped her in a tight embrace, but Sara held out her hands.
"Get away from me!"
"Mother, it's me!"
"My daughter's dead! Who are you?"
Gwen closed her eyes, tears leaking from beneath her lowered lashes. She opened them and stared deeply into her mother's frightened eyes. "Mama, I'm home."
The next morning, Gwen rose with the sun and at first, couldn't remember where she was. The walls weren't made of stone and her bed was missing the lovely canopy she'd woken up to every day for the past five months. It took a moment to realize that she wasn't in the beast's home any longer.
She fought back tears as she pushed her covers aside and slipped her feet to the floor. Glancing around, she couldn't help but notice that her room was exactly the way she had left it. Only, it seemed smaller. The window over her bed still let in the dreamy sunlight over her bed, the red and white curtains still hung across the glass, the view of her family's land was as beautiful as ever.
Yet, she missed the snow. She missed watching as spring enveloped the land. She would never eat breakfast beside the beast or listen to his voice as he read story after story from her favorite leather bound book. She would never…
Gwen wiped at the tears on her cheeks. No, she would not grieve. She had wanted to come home.
Hadn't she?
Shaking off her uncertainty for a moment, Gwen rose and walked to her closet. Her sisters had long since been married she'd been told the day before. Delia had married a farmer who owned land several towns away, so she didn't visit often. Rose and Eric had moved south, closer to the ocean. Jacie and her husband still lived in town, but with two toddlers and another one on the way, she rarely made the trip up for a visit. Kelsey had married a sailor and had immediately boarded his ship and sailed away, finally finding an adventure worthy of her attention. Sara and Gwen's brothers hadn't heard from her since the day she left.
The room seemed empty without Delia's possessions cluttering the room. Her easels and paint sets were gone and the walls had been stripped of her paintings. Nothing was the same. And yet, nothing was different.
Two years, Gwen though sadly, as she pulled on a blouse and jumper Delia had left behind. Two years of harvests, two years of summer dances, two years worth of sorrow and pain and laughter and life and joy. She'd missed two years of her family's lives. And yet…
She had counted out every day of her captivity as carefully as could be. How was it possible that two years had passed when Gwen was sure she had only marked down six months worth of days? Slipping on a pair of sandals and grabbing the beast's cloak that lay over the foot of her bed, she made her way down stairs, shaking her head over the insanity of what had happened.
Sara stood from her seat at the table and came to her the moment she caught sight of her daughter. She embraced Gwen so tightly the girl could barely breathe. But it felt so good to be held by the woman who had raised her and lost her, only to find her once again.
"I love you, Mama." Gwen whispered.
"Oh, sweet, I've missed you so." Sara pulled away and cupped Gwen's face with both hands. "You must tell me everything that has happened. There's so much we need to catch up on." She pulled away, but not before Gwen saw the shaking of her hands.
Sara headed toward the counter, chattering away, telling her about Neal and his fiancé and Jason and his new wife. Gwen smiled and grabbed the spare apron that Sara always hung on the back of the door. Gwen grinned as she tied it around her waist. Some things never change. She stood next to Sara and the two exchanged smiles as mother handed a hunk of dough to her daughter. Kneading the would-be-bread, Gwen felt herself relax. Somehow, she knew everything would be okay.
Gwen let her mother talk, reveling in her mother's voice, even while the deepest parts of her longed for another's voice. When Sara paused to take a breath, Gwen hesitated. "Mama, did…did Dom ever come home?"
Sara fell silent. Her hands stilled on the dough. "No, darling." Sara turned sad eyes to her. "He did not." She sighed, her hands resuming the slow rhythm. "Near broke Deanne and Mitchell to pieces. They miss their boy something awful."
Gwen felt her chin tremble. "Do you think he's all right?"
Instantly, Sara's arms were around her. "Oh, Gwen. I hope so." At her words, Gwen's resolve to keep her tears at bay broke. For long minutes mother and daughter grieved over a lost loved one. Gwen grieved once again for the life they could never have. A life she had wanted so desperately, but had realized it all too late.
It took some time, but Gwen gathered her courage and led her mother to the table. It was time to tell her tale. "I have to tell you a story. It begins with a promise…"