"At your age, Guy, you should have already found a wife before now." It was not the first time that Lady Margaret brought this up with her son, for she was worried about him.
After her husband's death she had been hoping that his life would get better from here on out. Of course, it had not escaped her notice how much Guy had suffered at Edmund's hands, and she was well aware that this was not at all something he could get rid of so easily. Still, she had hoped that a sufficient time had passed to heal these wounds, only to have to realize time and again that this had not yet occurred.
Knowing what her husband was putting the boy through had made it easier for her to bear her son's absence when at that time he had been send to Gloucester to become a page. Needless to say, she had also been able to understand, for what reasons he so seldom returned home.
It had been much more difficult for her to accept that he had accompanied Sir Geoffrey to Normandy - when he was sixteen years old. But even in this case she had told herself that it was for the best. The farther her son and her husband were separated, the better it was for the boy. In the end, Guy had come back to England as a knight, and that had then been the time when she had really gotten her hopes up that he could lead a better life now.
Only to be disappointed all over again when next he entered the service of the de Rainault brothers, who treated him no better than Sir Edmund had done. And the longer he had to remain in Nottingham - and she could perfectly understand for what reasons he could not leave - the smaller his chances of ever getting a wife grew.
This was why she had now reached the decision to take matters into her own hands. She was aware that it would not be an easy task, since her son had nothing to offer to a wife except his title and himself. Edmund had done everything that was possible for him to make it abundantly clear to Guy how he had viewed him and had not left him anything. Moreover, she had by now also come to realize that he could not hope to ever acquire any property or wealth while in Nottingham. This had become obvious at the latest at the time when Robin Hood had appeared in Sherwood and no one was able to get hold of him.
"Mother," he replied, "I don't have time for a wife." His tone was meant to make it clear to her that she was only wasting her time. But she was not buying into it. She was convinced that he really meant that no woman would be willing to marry him. It pained her that he had such a low opinion of himself.
She was sure that he, too, longed for the affection and the tenderness of a wife, even if he took great pains not to let anyone see this. However, she knew he was nothing like that horrible man he had to put up with who really did not like women. Guy's problem was more to the contrary, as he was unable to resist women, which had gotten him more than once into trouble. For some reasons he had never learned to resist these temptations.
Because of that it was now up to her to look for a suitable wife for him. Moreover, she had to find a bride as quickly as possible, if only to prove to him that he was not right in believing that no one would ever accept him.
After all, she wanted nothing more than to make her son happy, and in doing so she ignored the fact that so far she had not been very successful. She was however determined to change that, no matter what Guy would think of it.
"Good night, Guy," was all she wanted to say to her son at that point, though.