As promised, here's the next update - along with some long awaited answers to some of the mysteries. Thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter - I really appreciate your continued feedback! It keeps the creative juices flowing!
Special thanks to RevSue, who is a prompt and patient beta! You're the best, Susan!
Without further ado...
Chapter 16: Together
Neither Clarisse nor Joseph could sleep at that moment. They both sat there on the bed, holding each other, drawing strength. Clarisse was the first to speak, "Do you think we should talk about them?"
"Them?"
"The night terrors. I know from experience that it isn't healthy to keep them inside. I didn't have anyone before to talk to, Joseph – not really; but, you keep telling me to trust you. Will you trust me as well?" She was still pale and trembling slightly, but her voice sounded stronger than she realized.
"You never cease to amaze me, my love. If you are willing, so am I. We will do it together."
They spent the next hour or so relating the various details of the nightmares, astonished at how similar they were. Despite their growing openness and trust, neither could bear to share the future they had seen in their visions relating to the deaths of Clarisse and Mia. They focused mostly on the shared visions from the past and what the revelations could mean.
Joseph made a decision, "Clarisse, I am going to go look at the contents of that safe. I just know there is something in there that will help put all of these pieces of the puzzle in my head together."
Clarisse stood and grabbed her robe, "I'll go with you."
"It's the middle of the night, my dear."
Joseph smiled at the sight she made standing there with her hands on her hips, a determined look on her face.
"We go together, my love."
Sighing and bowing in resignation, "As you wish, my…"
"Joseph…" she issued a warning.
"My love…I was going to say…my love."
Smiling again, she took him by the hand, "That's better, my dear. In the privacy of our suite, I am no longer your Queen – I am your wife."
Not being able to resist teasing her a bit since the mood had lightened considerably since they woke from their terrors a couple of hours ago, "You will always be my Queen…queen of my heart, that is. So does that mean that you can't order me to do things anymore?"
She laughed as she led him to the door, "Of course I still can, my love. The orders will just be coming from your wife rather than your Queen."
Joseph chuckled and shook his head, "Well, that makes all the difference then, doesn't it?" He placed a kiss on her cheek and then opened the door to the quietness of the corridor outside their suite. "Shall we go then?"
Becoming serious again, she replied, "Yes, of course. Lead the way."
She held his hand as they began the walk down the eerie corridor in silence. She closed the distance between them and whispered in his ear, "It seems much different during the day. Although I have been down these halls many times, even late at night, tonight it seems more…"
"ominous." Joseph finished her sentence for her.
"Yes, that is the word." She squeezed his hand as she said, "I am grateful we are doing this together."
Joseph returned her gesture and continued on towards Prince Phillipe's old suite. When they arrived, he turned to her and offered in a hushed tone, "Are you ready?"
She tried to appear brave, "As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."
The creak of the door as Joseph pulled it open seemed to reverberate throughout the empty hall. Holding tightly onto each other, they crossed the threshold into Philippe's old suite.
"Would you like to lead the way, dear? I don't believe I was ever in the Prince's personal suite."
"Of course." Taking the lead, she maneuvered both of them through the darkness of the living area back to the bedroom. She stopped near the entrance to the bedroom, however, and let herself remember happier times when she and Phillipe would sit in front of the fireplace and talk about anything and everything. They had always been close – ever since he had put her through so much trauma when he made his entrance into the world, she had felt a special bond with him. Suppressing the memories for the moment, she led the way through the rest of the suite. Once in the dressing room/closet, they finally turned on a small lamp to provide illumination to the area to which they needed access.
Clarisse knelt down and removed the panel at the back of the closet.
"Do you remember the combination?" Joseph asked.
"Of course. It is Amelia's birthdate."
She could feel Joseph's smile as he spoke in the semi-darkness, "But, of course. What else would it be?"
The lock seemed reluctant at first; but Clarisse tried again – taking more care the second time. Her fingers seemed to be shaking slightly – perhaps she was reluctant as well to discover what was inside. Would there be secrets that would destroy the fragile happiness she had built for herself? Would there be something in there that she should have discovered the first time she viewed the contents of the safe – something that would have changed how her life had played out?
"Are you alright, my love?" Joseph's voice cut into her thoughts, forcing her to refocus.
"Yes, dear. Just a bit nervous about what we might find."
Joseph knelt down beside her and put his hand on her back. "Whatever it is, we will face it together. Alright?"
She turned as she punched in the last digit and heard the lock give up its hold. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him – a tender kiss filled with all the love and trust in her heart. "Yes – together."
They pulled the contents of the safe out and spread them near the lamp to get the best look at them. Clarisse decided it would be best to let Joseph read them first as she wasn't sure her emotions would stay in check if it were something very personal. She handed him a document that resembled a letter with the Renaldi seal on it.
He opened it very carefully and reviewed the contents.
Clarisse couldn't stand the suspense any longer, "What is it? What does it say?"
"It's Pierre's abdication letter."
Her countenance dropped slightly, "Oh. I see. Well I know what that says."
Joseph looked directly at her as he spoke, "But something was added before it was sealed."
This got her attention. "What? What else does it say? Both Rupert and I had to sign it after it was all finished – how could anyone have added anything before it was sealed?"
"It appears to be in Pierre's handwriting. It says, 'Ceci j'ai fait avec l'amour, pour ma mere.' I'm afraid my French is a little rusty, do you know what that means?"
A tear slipped down her cheek as she answered, "This I do with love, for my mother."
Joseph was confused, "He abdicated the throne for you? That doesn't make any sense, Clarisse. I thought he abdicated to pursue the priesthood and a life with the Church."
She spoke quietly as she answered, "So did I, Joseph. So did I."
"Well it seems rather than answers, we are just finding more mysteries. Shall we continue?"
She nodded and handed him another document, then waited.
Joseph reviewed the document carefully and then spoke, "This appears to be a family tree of sorts."
"Of the Renaldi family?" she asked.
"No. It appears to be from King Chevalier's royal line."
"The King Chevalier of the other royal family of Genovia? The family from which Nicholas is a descendent?"
"That would be the one."
"Why would Philippe have a copy of that?" She wondered out loud.
"I don't know, my dear. But I do intend to find out. What's next?"
She sorted through the remaining documents, "It appears most of these are personal letters from Helen. I suppose I should return these to her. Oh wait, this looks rather official." She handed the final paper to Joseph.
Joseph stilled as he recognized what he was holding. It was the same letter he had given to Prince Philippe the day his father had died – the one Paul had asked about. With slightly trembling hands, he carefully opened the letter.
Clarisse watched as Joseph opened and scanned the document. Her heart dropped as she noticed, even in the dim light, the color fade from Joseph's face. She moved even closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "What is it, love?"
Joseph turned to his wife, trying to decide what he should tell her. Deciding that anything other than the truth would not be right, he began. "This is the letter that King Rupert sent me to recover the night he died."
Clarisse blushed as she remembered the events of that night; first from embarrassment over what had happened and then from shame that she had not shared what had transpired yet with Joseph.
Joseph seemed too distracted to notice her reaction, though, and continued, "It indicates that someone in the Royal Guard intercepted a message…it doesn't say who the message was from or intended for, but did state that a plan was being formed to eliminate the Renaldi royal blood line so that Renaldi rule of Genovia would end and the Chevalier family would rule once again. It appears that if all the blood heirs to the throne were eradicated, that would leave only…"
"me" was her whispered reply.
After a silence which seemed to stretch for an eternity, she continued, "It was probably assumed that I would step down myself when there was no one in my family left to assume the throne. They probably didn't even know about Amelia at the time."
Her words hung in the air as both remembered their nightmares and the fate that had awaited Amelia.
"Joseph?"
His only response was to look in her direction.
"You don't think these people are still out there, do you?"
"I don't know, Clarisse; but I intend to find out."
"Does it say anything else or do you remember anything else about the letter?"
Joseph was brought back from his dark thoughts at her question. "I remember the King giving me instructions when I arrived at the vault where it was being held. He told me when I was asked why I should be given the document, I should respond, "Long live the Renaldi family." I thought that was odd at the time, but now that I know the contents I can see why it was important to have a code word to retrieve it."
Clarisse nodded, "It would make sense, then, why he would send you. He trusted you implicitly, Joseph." She felt ashamed that she had selfishly accused Rupert of sending Joseph away just so he could be alone with her.
"I was, no am, honored that he felt that he could trust me with such an important task. There is one more thing in here that sounds familiar."
"What is it?"
"It is the same message that Philippe left for Mia in his letter to her. It says, 'Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious may not live at all.' He did tell her it was wisdom that had been passed down from his father, right?"
"Yes. I believe, though, that particular piece of wisdom has been passed down for generations."
"Well, it's certainly sound advice."
Clarisse nodded, but didn't feel as confident. It was after receiving that letter that Philippe decided to taken his place on the throne. Not long after, he died in the car accident.
"Clarisse?"
She looked up to see Joseph standing over her, offering his hand to help her up. She grabbed the personal letters she intended to return to Helen and then pulled herself to a standing position. She looked at him seriously, "Joseph, I don't want to go back to bed…or, more aptly, to sleep. I fear what terrors may invade my thoughts again."
"We're not going to our suite, Clarisse. We are going to the library." He led her through the suite and back out into the corridor.
She whispered again as she wanted to avoid any sound echoing, "Why the library?"
He stopped and pulled her in close so he could whisper in her ear, "Because I need to know more about King Chevalier and his descendants. Primarily, how they lost the monarchy to begin with and what lengths they may have gone to in order to get it back. I know this is frightening, dear; and, if you wish, I can wake Charlotte and you can stay with her while I try and discover this information myself."
Shaking her head and pulling herself up straight, she responded, "No, we started this together and we shall see this through, right?"
"Right. Shall we proceed?"
She took his arm again and they worked their way through the castle to the grand library. After searching for a bit, they came across a book entitled, "The History of Genovia"
"This seems like a good place to start." Joseph led her to the sofa and sat down. She nestled in close and pulled a blanket from the back of the sofa over them to keep warm. She wasn't sure, however, if the chill was from the room or from the fear that now plagued their minds and hearts. She felt safe in Joseph's embrace and relaxed somewhat as he located the information they were looking for and began to read.
"It appears that King Chevalier only had one son; who, in turn, only had a daughter. The lineage ended when the daughter failed to meet the marriage requirement thereby eliminating her from eligibility for the throne. Once the King and his son had died, rule of Genovia went to the Renaldi family. After some time, however, the granddaughter did marry and produced heirs. Those heirs created the line from which Sir Nicholas descends."
"So, the Chevalier family lost their right to rule over the same law that almost cost the Renaldi family that same fate….how interesting." Despite being very interested, Clarisse found herself growing sleepy. Whether it was exhaustion over the events of the night or the timbre of Joseph's voice lulling her to sleep as he read, she wasn't sure. She did know, though, that she needed to get some rest as the pre-coronation activities continued tomorrow with the ceremonial reading and the royal toast, just to name a few.
She slid down Joseph's body until her head rested in his lap. Joseph began stroking her hair as he continued to read.
Morning
Mia walked into the library looking for a book that she was supposed to read from during one of the ceremonies later today. Charlotte had joined her to help in the search as the Queen had not answered the telephone in her suite, even though it had been dialed many times. Normally, they would have alerted security; but since Joseph was obviously with her, they had not thought it necessary.
Both were surprised as they walked in and found the couple, who had been M.I.A., asleep on the sofa.
Mia giggled as she knelt down by the sofa to try and wake them. "Hey you two, rise and shine!"
Clarisse was a bit startled at first as she awoke to find Mia staring at her. Her disorientation faded, though, as she remembered the events of the previous night. She pushed herself upright and turned to wake Joseph. He seemed as disoriented as she – the night's adventure taking its toll on his as well.
Mia turned serious as she realized that neither her Grandma nor Joe looked all that well. "Are you two ok? What were you doing down here last night?"
Searching for a quick answer, Clarisse was the first to respond, "Well, you see my dear, Joseph couldn't sleep and so he wanted to come to the library to read for a while to try and make himself sleepy."
Joseph continued – aware of what Clarisse was trying to do, "Yes and your grandmother insisted that she come with me. It seems that we cannot stand to be apart – we now want to do everything together, right dear?"
"Yes, together." With that, they stood and kissed Mia – promising to be down soon for breakfast.
Hope that eases some of the frustration over the mysteries! I know there's more to be revealed; but I can't share it with you ALL at once, now can I? smile Thanks for reading!
