Chapter 9
Lyndsey woke the next morning with a huge headache and an ache in her shoulder. She wondered why she felt so horrible. But then the events of the previous week came flooding back to her. She felt arms tighten around her, and she looked up to see Tristan sleeping peacefully. 'Finally, he's sleeping.' She thought. Tristan had been known to withhold sleep for weeks and it was not healthy for him. She looked at his face as he slept. He looked so peaceful and different then he did when he was awake. She lied her head back down on his chest and listened to his heartbeat, and was soon asleep again herself.
Tristan woke to birds chirping right outside of his window. It was mid-afternoon, judging by the position of the sun. Never had he slept this long. He looked down to see Lyndsey sleeping peacefully. She looked content in the position she was in, unfortunately Tristan had to get up and get ready for the day. He gently slid her out of his arms, mindful of her shoulder, and lied her back down. He stared at her for a few minutes before turning to leave.
Lyndsey woke to a bed all to herself. She wondered where Tristan had gone, but didn't think to hard. She was stricken to beds rest for a whole week. She would go insane in that amount of time just lying in bed. So, she got up, wearily at first. Her legs felt like Jell-O. She balanced herself with her good arm until she could stand properly, and slowly began to walk towards the window. She felt a little dizzy as she walked, but soon made it to the window. She sat on the ledge and welcomed the sunshine and the cool breeze that blew in. As she looked around the village, she saw family's running around, mothers chasing their children; father's working to support their families. She looked over to the stables to see Tristan giving his horse a bath. He loved his animals so much; it was amazing to see a grown man care about something other than himself. That is one of the things she found loveable about him. That he would put himself aside for someone else, if that person was worth it of course.
As she was in her on little world, Mya, Tristan's hawk came flying towards her. Lyndsey outstretched her good arm and the hawk landed on it. The hawk had inside her mouth a red rose. "Where did you find that, huh?" she asked the bird. The bird dropped it on her lap, squawked, and then flew off. She followed the bird to see it land on Tristan's arm. She knew that Tristan had given it to her. She smiled and picked it up and smelled it. It was fresh, like it was just picked. The colors were beautiful. It was a red rose no doubt, but it had shades of whites, and purples and pinks. Never had she seen a rose like this before. Usually they were done by hand, but this was done by nature herself. She walked over to the water basin, and filled a cup with water. She placed the rose inside and sat it next to her bed.
She heard a knock on her door. "Come in." she said. In stepped Tristan with a smirk on his face.
"Your not supposed to be out of bed for another week." He replied coyly.
"Well, I can't lye in this bed for a week with nothing to do. I will go stir crazy. If I had something to do then yes, I could, but seeing as there isn't, I will surely be up walking around." She said with a triumphant smirk on her face.
"What if I gave you something to do?"
"Like what, knit?" she said sarcastically. Tristan just gave her a smirk and walked over to her. "Sit down." He replied. She looked at him with hesitation and slowly sat down on the bed. Tristan pulled a box out from behind his back. 'How did I not notice that?' she thought. Tristan placed it right next to her and sat down on the chair next to the bed.
"What are you up to?" she said with a hint of skepticism.
"You wanted something to do, so I gave you something to do. Open it."
Lyndsey was a little skeptical about the whole box thing. But she got over it and opened the top. Out popped a kitten, no more than a few months old. She had big brown eyes and had a mixture of colors. . She squealed like a little girl and picked up the kitten. Never had she seen anything so cute before in her life. Lyndsey thought back to her days of learning about cats, and determined it was a calico kitten. Very rare. The little kitten meowed and Lyndsey was instantly in love. She vowed from then on that she would never let anything happen to this animal that was just so cute! Lyndsey looked over to Tristan and gave him a huge smile and hugged him. She kissed him hard and very passionately. It took all of Tristan's might to not throw her on the bed and have his way with her.
"Thank you!" she said as she pulled away with the kitten still in her arms.
"What are you going to name her?"
"Hmmm, well lets see, I'll call her Leena." She replied. Leena meowed at her knew name and Lyndsey's heart just melted. She was in love with this cute little animal. Tristan left them to their own devices. He gave Lyndsey a quick kiss and a pat on the head for Leena and left.
A week had finally gone by and it was safe to say that Lyndsey did not go stir crazy. To her the week flew by because of the time she spent with Leena. Leena would follow Lyndsey everywhere she went. If Lyndsey got up to go the window, Leena would go to. Leena was Lyndsey's best companion, just as Mya was Tristan's. Lyndsey was finally able to walk around, and the bandage on her shoulder was taken off. She could use her arm but not in the manner she used to.
The day had finally come when Lyndsey was able to start training again. She took it slow, as to not re-injure her shoulder. As she began practicing, she felt like she was just learning everything over again. 'Ugh, I should have been paying more attention, if I was and not running around gloating then maybe none of this would have happened.' Tristan watched as she practiced and could see the inner turmoil going on inside her. He knew that she was scolding herself, which was why he didn't want her to begin practicing yet. But Lyndsey, being as stubborn as she was, decided to begin right away.
Nightfall came and she was finally exhausted from training all day. She was getting back to the way she used to be. By the end of the week, she should be back to normal.
Leena followed Lyndsey to dinner that night. They decided to have dinner at the round table for they had many things to discuss. Lyndsey entered with Leena not to far behind. Lyndsey say down next to Tristan and Leena sat on the table next to Lyndsey. It looked kind of ridiculous to see a kitten sitting on the table, but they all knew that if they said something, they would get a beat down from Lyndsey. So they kept their mouths shut. They all ate in silence with an occasional conversation here and there. Leena ate a piece of meat that the cooks prepared just for her.
When dinner was finally over they all sat with looks of satisfaction in their eyes.
"First things first," replied Arthur, "We need to stop putting this marriage off. First thing this weekend, we will have a ceremony for Tristan and Lyndsey. They have been waiting for this for awhile, but with the injury, we had to put it off. So, this weekend you two will be wed, and we can finally get back to normal. If that's possible." He said with a smirk.
Tristan and Lyndsey looked at each other and smiled. They would finally be getting married. Lyndsey tuned ut everything else that was discussed as she stared at Tristan. She would finally be his wife.
