The rain continued a steady downpour, confining the Locksley villagers to their homes.
"A perfect day to visit," Marian decided, pulling her hood over her head. With Ellen napping, and Robin attending the Council in Nottingham, Marian gathered baskets of leftover food from her birthday feast then ran through the downpour to collect Will and Djaq.
The next door she knocked upon belonged to the potter's family. The door opened a crack, revealing the scowling face of Rebecca. Opening the door wider, Rebecca dropped a swift curtsey.
"Your Ladyship!"
"I hope we're not intruding," Marian responded, amazed as always how frightened and suspicious the good people of Locksley had become after living under Guy of Gisbourne. "I've brought food."
"Come in, Your Ladyship! Come in! Kate! Maggie! Come greet Lady Locksley!"
Little Maggie, all smiles, rushed to welcome Marian. Kate came sullenly.
Will cast his eyes over the cottage, then quietly set to work repairing a cupboard.
"Is everyone well?" Marian asked. "Djaq's brought medicine."
"We're well and fine, thank you," Rebecca answered, glad for the food.
Marian noticed Maggie gazing at the blue ribbon in her hair. "Would you like it?" she asked, removing it from her head. "Blue would look so pretty in your red hair."
Maggie's delight was obvious. Kate, however, glared at their guests, then yanked the ribbon and flung it in Marian's face.
"You're dripping on our floor," she snapped, angrily. "We don't want your leavings. We can take care of ourselves."
"Kate!" her mother warned. "Forgive her, Your Ladyship. She lost what manners she had, living with those outlaws in the forest."
Djaq and Marian exchanged quick, amused smiles. "You mean Lord Locksley's gang," Marian reminded her.
Rebecca sucked in an embarrassed breath. "Of course I don't mean Master Robin! It were that tavern keeper I meant."
"Allan a Dale is a true, brave man, and a friend of ours," Marian stated.
The visit was not going well, but then, Kate and her mother were never Marian's favorite villagers. Marian excused them, however, believing they'd turned bitter after losing the men of the house, the potter and his son Matthew. "Kate," she said kindly, giving the blond a gentle smile.
"You lot should of stayed in the Holy Land," Kate snapped back. "Robin would of married me if you hadn't come back."
"Kate!" Rebecca was mortified by her daughter's insolence.
Marian mastered her annoyance. "No, Kate," she corrected. "He never would have."
"Why did he kiss me then?" Kate accused.
A flicker of anger flashed in Marian's eyes. Maintaining her poise, she merely said, "I shall be sure to ask my husband, when he comes home tonight."
"Perhaps we ought to go," Djaq suggested.
Kate slammed the door behind them, and the trio ran through the rain to the next cottage.
This visit proved even more dismal than the other.
Jean, a faded widow over fifty, happily let them in. Her mother, Old Widow Barrett, sat huddled by the fire.
There were several repairs for Will to do, and Djaq rubbed a soothing salve on the old woman's gnarled hands.
"May I have some, too?" Jean asked. "I feel the rheumatism when it rains."
Marian couldn't help notice the gap on Jean's left hand where her ring finger used to be. "It were Gisbourne," Jean explained. "He sent his ruffians to collect our taxes, and we couldn't pay. He ordered me to give him my wedding ring, but it were stuck. It wouldn't come off. So he bellowed for his men to cut my finger off. He got the ring alright, may he rot in Hell."
"Jean," Marian sighed. "I am so sorry!"
"It weren't Your Ladyship's fault. Don't trouble yourself. Master Robin's been restored to his rightful place again, and all our sufferings are over. I only wish my mother could know it. Lost her wits, she did, from Gisbourne ordering his brutes to kick her in her head. Imagine it...an old, helpless woman, fallen to the ground and being kicked over and over, while Sir Guy watched it all astride his black horse."
"I hate Gisbourne," Will stated vehemently, his teeth clenched.
"He cannot hurt us anymore," Djaq reminded them, her voice soothingly calm.
Marian sat frozen, remembering the past. How could she ever have believed she might turn Guy away from cruelty? Because he sometimes showed her his "softer side?" That existed only because he wanted something from her...her very self. Even if she had married him, she would never have given all of herself to him! He was a monster, just as Robin had said.
Robin! How different! Merry and charming where Guy was brooding, generous and giving where Guy would take, a true leader whom men longed to follow, not some coward demanding "respect" through fear and force! Champion of the poor, Lord of her heart!
So, he'd kissed Kate, had he? It must have meant nothing, though Marian was still surprised. Kate! Robin had always been careful to treat his village maidens with respect and restraint. He used to tease, he even used to flirt, but only with those lasses wise enough to know it would go no further.
Marian shook these thoughts away, concentrating instead on the two lonely old widows.
"I must bring Ellie next time," she said, knowing how her baby would please them. "I would have today, but for the rain."
"Oh, we love Her young Ladyship!" Jean proclaimed. "We pray for her daily, and for a brother to follow her."
Marian smiled, coloring slightly. "Thank you. I hope god hears your prayers."
She doubted she could bear any more children. She considered Ellie a miracle, having been told that Gisbourne's wound ruined her chances of ever becoming a mother.
Jean seemed eager to return to her spinning, and there were several more cottages to visit. Bidding the widows goodbye, Marian, Will and Djaq continued their calls, trying to spread sunshine on a rainy day in Locksley.
Marian believed it would be sunny for her, once Robin returned home from Nottingham. She could hardly wait.
