"My Lady Rosaline?" The shriek came through again.
"Nurse?" Rosaline yelled out. "Benvolio, something must be wrong."
Benvolio pushed his wet feet back into his boots and turned to help her up, but she had already started to run through the woods, her shoes in her hand. He chased after her.
"Nurse, I am here," she yelled out.
At their usual meeting tree Rosaline's Nurse was sitting trying to catch her breath, they ran up to her.
"Are you alright?" Benvolio asked the Nurse.
"Yes, I just need to catch my breath. It's your Mother, Rosaline."
"Is she alright?" Rosaline asked.
"Well, you had a gentleman come to visit you tonight."
"Oh no, one of the men my father has chosen?"
"Not exactly," the Nurse said stalling to catch her breath.
"Who was it?"
"It appears you have an admirer," the Nurse said. "The young Romeo Montague."
Rosaline looked at Benvolio who was white in the face.
"Please breathe Ben. Nurse, did he have a poem to read to me?"
"He did," the Nurse said.
"I should have known this would happen," Benvolio said. "Of course he would fall in love with you, how could he not?"
"Benvolio please breathe," Rosaline said. "We have to focus on what this means. A Montague walked into Capulet Manor to profess his love for me."
"Romeo loves you for one moment and he has the courage to tell the world, to tell your Mother. Oh God, your Mother?"
"Exactly, my Mother, now Nurse what happened when he read his poem?"
"I believe it was intended for your ears only, but your Mother took it from him and read it aloud. It was quite good really, and the young Romeo did not change his tune no matter how hard she pushed him. He was determined to speak with you."
"My Mother Nurse, what did she do to him?"
"Well, she called for you."
"Oh no," Rosaline said.
"And you weren't there, so I answered for you. I told her you had gone to the Chapel for prayer."
"Thank you, Nurse."
"Don't thank me yet, she knows."
"She knows?" Benvolio said, rising to stand beside Rosaline.
"That incompetent twig Gregory, your Father's servingman, brought Romeo to your Mother when he asked for you, and he should have turned him away. Any how, Gregory told your Mother that you were not at the Chapel. That you never go to the Chapel, that you go to the orchard to meet with a boy."
"She knows everything," Rosaline said.
"He told her that you have been doing this for years now."
"How will she react when you bring Rosaline home?" Benvolio asks.
"I suspect you will be punished, Rosaline, and that your Father will push for a match to clear your good name."
"I can come to your Mother with you," Benvolio said. "I can go to your Father. Rosaline let me try."
"You will do no such thing, young man," the Nurse said as she stood. "Rosaline, your Mother is involved and angered now. I believe the best thing for you is to come home with me, accept your punishment and forget about these nights in the woods."
"But Nurse-,"
"I have let this go on for far too long, I only did so because I see how happy this time makes you. I saw all your pain go away each night, and you deserved to be happy my sweet angel. So I let you have these nights in the woods with Benvolio, but now your punishment will be to leave your home for good. To make a life with a good man and raise your own children with the joy that lives inside your heart."
"I cannot marry some stranger, Nurse, you know I can't."
"I don't know that, and neither do you. Darling there is nothing that can be done," she turned to Benvolio and took his hand. "You know her Mother well, and tonight she is hot. Her temper is high and it is not the time for you, do you understand me, young man? In these woods it might not matter that you are a Montague, but the moment you enter those gates it will matter very much. It mattered with your cousin and he was not outed for spending every night with young Rosaline in the woods. Believe me, Benvolio, this is for the best."
"But Rose-,"
"Benvolio," the Nurse said, stopping him. "Tonight I will take care of Rosaline as I have every time her Mother is hot with rage. You can trust me child, trust me that tonight is not the night to fight her Mother."
"I have no wish to fight her Mother."
"Then you don't understand what it will take to become the nan deserving of our Rosaline."
"But I do understand, and I don't think it will be a fight."
"Believe me young man, tonight it will be. If you wish to keep the peace then you will need to let the fire burn down. Rosaline you will need to obey your parents' wishes and you will not be able to return to these woods."
"She is right," Rosaline said. "Tonight is not the time, Benvolio," she leaned into whisper. "But I will meet you here tomorrow night right here at the root of our tree. Come Nurse?"
Rosaline guided the Nurse through the tricky grove. Benvolio followed them as they silently walked to the edge of the woods.
"You need to leave us here son," the Nurse said, continuing to walk out of the grove towards the Capulet Manor.
He reached for Rosaline's hand once more, pulling her back into the cover of the trees. She smiled at him, squeezed his hand and pulled him closer to her. She looked into his eyes.
"Your eyes are brown," she said. "Like a cows eyes after he eats a lot of grass."
He smiled, "Your eyes are still blue. It will be my life mission to make them green again."
He slowly pulled her close to him, listening to her breath, hearing that she wanted to be pulled into him. He wrapping his arm around her waist he could feel his heart beating strong and loud against hers.
"Rose, I-," he began.
"Rosaline," the Nurse's voice startled them once more.
Rosaline softly laughed in his ear, sending goose bumps down his back. She tightened her grip on Benvolio's hand.
"I will see you tomorrow," she whispered, then turned away.
"Tomorrow," he said.
Staying hidden in the darkness of the woods, Benvolio watched as Rosaline and the Nurse entered the gates of Capulet Manor. Slowly, the gates creaked shut and as they did, a figure came out from the moons shade of the Capulet wall. With a heavy head the figure was easily recognizable, it was Romeo and he was walking towards the Sycamore Grove.
"Romeo?" Benvolio hollered out.
Romeo stopped, he turned and looked at Benvolio and without a word or gesture, he turned back and continued to walk away.
"You can have the solace of the woods, cousin," Benvolio whispered. "Tonight you were a stronger man than me."
He had never told his cousin about his stolen nights with Rosaline. He couldn't blame him for falling in love with here. He had loved her from the moment he first saw her. And tonight he got the chance to say it, to truly let himself feel it. He never wanted to let go of her.
As Benvolio turned back towards Capulet Manor, he felt sick at the thought of Rosaline inside facing the wrath of her Mother? He walked the edge of the woods that hit the brick wall circling the Manor. With one hand grazing the face of the wall and the other hitting the low hanging branches of the surrounding Sycamores, he turned into the woods and jumped into the tree. He climbed a few branches and sat almost comfortably with his head resting on the thick trunk. It was the tree that reached over the wall for its mate, from there he could see Rosaline's bedroom window. Fixing his eyes on the dark outline of the window, he waited for the flicker of candlelight to tell him her Mother had finished with her and she was safely in her room.
Benvolio found himself holding his breath. He had to trust that her Nurse would do everything she could to protect and comfort Rosaline. His eyes stayed glued to her window as he kept time by the passing stars. The moon was disappearing, and a bit of light was filling in the east when he finally saw the candles light in her room.
Benvolio's heart lifted at the sight of it. He knew she was in pain, but now she could bury her head in her pillow and when their stars rose again in the sky, tonight he would be in the woods waiting for her, ready to listen and maybe even hold her. The candle light in Rosaline's room flickered and went out. He knew she was settled and in her bed now, perhaps even peacefully asleep.