Chapter Thirty Nine ~ Passing The Time

Days passed by and the events of that frightful evening was just a memory now. The repairs on the castle were coming along nicely and Mr De Noir seemed to be cheering up. Though the burnt down out house was far from any sort of management, he didn't seem to mind. I heard him speak of new plans to do with the space, such as to extend the stables or maybe a new little building for either Robin or Mr Gomez, so they could have some private space of their own.

I wasn't quite sure what the extent of Robin's injuries were now, as Mrs Harper's rule of privacy still applied. So I had to rely on word of mouth through the castle's resident nurse and Robin's father.

So whilst I waited for Robin to recover, I had to find other ways to occupy myself.

Some activities included helping Jesse, whom I had began a new friendship with, and Jude with some of their work chores which usually was sewing and cleaning.

Another was roaming the castle's library with Mrs Heliotrope, checking out the books they had on offer. Mrs Heliotrope would search the shelves for more romance novels, as she seemed to have a thing for them at the moment, then insist I read something, explain the plot to me then thrust the book into my arms. The truth was, after she had explained the plot briefly to me, the book didn't seem too interesting. I would claim to have read it then searched the castle trying to find someone who had actually read the novel in question to run over the rest of the plot with me so I could answer any questions my tutor would ask me about the book.

One of my more usual activities though, was wandering aimlessly around the castle grounds, usually after midday, admiring different parts of the De Noir property and getting to know the area more. This was where Robin had grew up, so it intrigued me to get to know the place more. Sometimes I would be accompanied by someone. The someone differed as days past. One day it would be Loveday, the next Jude, the next Mr Gomez, who had a habit of sneaking out his room without Mrs Harper knowing. One evening, Mr Cunningham offered to walk with me, which was unusual. It was awkward at first, but he seemed to be wanting to try make up for his son's wrong doings. Which I had to respect him for. Though his son was the only person who did not accompany me on one of my walks around the grounds. Henry had asked, though I had declined.

Every time.

One week passed this that night and the inside of the castle had been completely repaired. The debris from the burnt down out house had been cleaned up and disposed of, though the plans for the space the out house once stood had been put on hold until Robin was fit enough to continue his jobs around the castle.

The weather around Moonacre had changed rapidly within a week. Snow had fallen again, covering the ground in white and coating the tops of trees and buildings. I had missed the snow and the sight reminded me of the winter that we were well and truly into. The snow came with a price though. The cold conditions were made much worse with living within the stone walls of the De Noir castle. Every inhabitant of De Noir castle would wear some sort of coat every moment of the day. Including when we rested.

"Miss Maria?" Jude's voice asked me. I was currently sitting outside underneath a large, snow covered, tree in the grounds with Jude and Jesse. The children didn't have to work today, so I was spending the day with them. To give their mother some peace, having had to look after them both and the injured De Noir men over the past week or so. I sat crossed-legged on the ground with Jesse sat on my lap, having warmed up to me instantly with all the time I had spent with him and his sister. Jude was making some sort of fort with the snow by clumping it all together, humming blissfully to herself.

"Yes Jude?" I asked, urging the little girl to continue.

"Are you getting married?" She asked, not looking up from her mound of snow. The question took me by surprise and I frowned in confusion. Jude didn't notice and hadn't realised how her innocent question had stunned me into ponder.

"No." I replied finally. "Where on earth did you hear that nonsense from?" Jude grinned and looked up at me.

"I heard Mummy and Lady Loveday and Lady Heliotrope talking about it." When Jude was first introduced to my tutor, Mrs Heliotrope, she made the mistake of giving her the title 'Lady', not knowing the difference from that and 'Mrs'. When Mrs Harper went to correct her, Mrs Heliotrope cut in and told Mrs Harper to forget it. We all knew she enjoyed the title of 'Lady Heliotrope' so we didn't correct Jude on her mistake.

"But Jude, I'm not getting married." I told her. "What were they saying?" Jude shrugged once.

"I can't remember all of it, all I remember is them all talking about you and how the next wedding bells they would be hearing would be your's and Master Robin's." Jude went back to her mound, scooping up a large clump of snow and dropping it onto of her snow shape. "Are you and Master Robin going to get married?" I had to say, Loveday, Mrs Heliotrope and Mrs Harper were just a gossiping bunch of women and that I regretted the day I ended up like them. It seemed they had nothing better to do other then talk about myself and a wedding that wasn't to happen.

"No, we're not Jude." I said softly. Jude pouted slightly.

"I think you should." She said suddenly. "Then I could be bridesmaid." She looked up and beamed at me. "I can be bridesmaid if you get married, can't I?" Her face was slightly wary, worried for what the answer was to me. I smiled and nodded.

"Of course you can be my bridesmaid." I laughed. The large grin appeared back on the little girl's face. I saw her eyes glance at her brother, who sat quietly still on my knee, and her grin turned mischievous.

"Jesse can be bridesmaid too." Jude announced. Her words seemed to knock Jesse out of his own little world and I saw him frown at Jude. "You have to wear a pretty little pink dress." I rolled my eyes as she teased Jesse.

"I no wear a dress!" Jesse cried. Jude shrugged.

"It's not your choice." She told him, sticking her tongue out. The action was so incredibly childish, though I then remembered that the little girl was only seven and Jesse much younger.

Jude continued to tease her little brother, I tried to stop her but she still carried on. Loveday appeared and told us all to come inside as it was too cold for us to stay outside for too long. She scooped Jesse up into her arms and we all walked back up to the castle. Though Jude was very reluctant to leave her snow mound. I reassured her it would be there tomorrow.

A healthy routine was adapted in the life at the De Noir castle. It would be weird when us Merryweathers returned back home. The only one of us though that seemed like they couldn't wait to be back was Marmaduke. He had been away from his beloved kitchen for too long now and hadn't quite gotten used to life with the De Noir's as we had. Mr De Noir though had allowed him to make himself home in the castle's kitchens, which the little chef had more than happily done. The food for dinner and breakfast after that improved greatly.

I lost track of time after the second week and I wasn't quite sure how long ago the night of the attack happened. My thoughts were mainly occupied by one person and one person alone. The only problem was everyone else in the castle seemed to know it to.

When I was unlucky enough to be alone with them, Loveday, Mrs Heliotrope and Mrs Harper would constantly interrogate me on my feelings for Robin.

I knew telling Loveday was a mistake.

I had decided to just be open with how I felt. Robin already knew so it couldn't do any harm. And I had also had to deal with the fact I thought he was dead. That had opened my eyes a lot and just being truthful about how I felt seemed to be the best way. This new rule of mine seemed to be a bad one when it came to the gossiping women though.

It seemed Jude was right about the whole 'wedding bells' thing. When I talked to them about it, I realised that the three of them had already began planning the wedding. A wedding that wasn't even going to happen. They were obsessed! It was unbelievable how myself and the De Noir boy could be the main topic of conversation within the De Noir walls. I had to say it wasn't a nice feeling to know I was constantly talked about. There was even a small amount of dread for when Robin did get better and for when I saw him for the first time. People would stare and listen in to our conversation. How could I possibly talk to him properly with everyone watching?

What I was going to say to him was another matter. What was I going to say to him? Hello Robin, glad to see you better and not dead. Not a very good opening sentence. The last time I had spoken to him was when I confessed I loved him. I was going to be completely useless when I saw him next. I would probably collapse into a bumbling mess and stutter and stir my words. Not an attractive look when you're trying to talk to the boy you love.

I could only wait for that day to come now. And pray that I wouldn't have to do it in front of any unwanted eyes.

Though what was I going to say to him? I hadn't thought about it very much. Things would be awkward and very hard to explain. He knew I loved him, unless he didn't believe me the first time round. If not then I would have to go through it all again. This time though face the rejection head on. If Robin didn't love me back he would have to tell me and I would have to move on a deal with it. This wasn't a feeling I was looking forward to.

The sound of cackling brought me back from my thoughts and I looked around at the gossiping women sat around me. It was a wonder how the three of them found the time to gather like this and just talk. Mrs Harper was the castle's nurse and had to look after Robin and Mr Gomez as they recovered, but yet she still seemed to have time to sit around with Mrs Heliotrope and Loveday to talk about completely pointless things.

I was having one of the few regretful moments when I was alone with the three of them, having been convinced and dragged into having tea with them in the great hall.

"What am I going to say to him?" I blurted out suddenly. The three ladies all looked up from their cups at me, silencing their conversation.

"What, what was that, dear?" Mrs Heliotrope stuttered. I sighed.

"What am I going to say to Robin when I see him?" I asked. I might aswell get some advice from the three master's of love themselves. They all shared knowing glances and smiled.

"Tell him how you feel, Maria." Loveday told me. I rolled my eyes.

"I have!" I cried. "I don't want to have to go through it all again." More knowing glances and sympathetic smiles.

"Maria, there is something you should know about my brother." Loveday began. "He's not very good when it comes to his feelings." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again. I already knew that. "So sometimes, telling him something twice is the only way to drum it into that thick skull of his." I paused.

"So you think I should just tell him again?" I pressed. They all nodded.

"The truth is the only way." Mrs Harper told me. I nodded once then stood up and left, not even bothering to make an excuse of my exit.

I ran down the corridors, aware the looks I was getting from people I passed. I didn't care and just continued running. A voice called my name. A voice that sounded very familiar but I continued running, not looking back to see who it was. I carried on out into the grounds and down towards the edge of the forest, though I stopped when I came to the large, lonely tree in which I spent most of my time with the De Noirs sat under. I leant against it to catch me breath.

Thoughts buzzed through me head. Everything Loveday had told me had pretty much just concluded what I already thought. Telling the truth was the best way to go around my issue, though I wasn't sure I was ready for the rejection. I couldn't bare to imagine of Robin's face when he told me he didn't love me.

Oh Lord, please tell me he isn't already in love with someone else!

I ran my back down the tree until I was sat down against it. I held my head in my hands as I tried to reason some sort of sane though in my mind.

Why couldn't things be simple? Why couldn't Robin have just told me when I had confessed to him? Save me all this wait for him to recover. Why must he torture me with this wait? Surely it wasn't fair? Mr Gomez was right, Robin was in need of a good smack around the head when he healed properly.

The sound of slow crunching footsteps in the snow came closer towards me though I didn't look up. My head was too heavy with thoughts to just simply take a look at who was approaching me. I clenched my fists tight together so my nails dug into my palms. The pain was numb instead of peircing.

If it was Loveday coming to give me another 'pep talk' then I wouldn't be happy and couldn't control my actions.

A voice spoke, causing me to flinch and my stomach churn.

"Didn't you hear me calling you, princess?"

(A/N) Okay, I know you all expected Robin/Maria fluff in this chapter and I'm sorry that there is none. My original plans were to make this chapter longer by continuing after where I've left it, but I decided to split the chapter in two so the next chapter can be Robin/Maria orientated. If that makes sense.

Thank you for all your awesome reviews. You are all truely amazing!

This story will be coming to an end soon. I think one or two more chapters and then I'll leave it there. Please tell me if anyone has any ideas on how I should end it, that's the bit I'm really stuck on! :)

Anyway, thank you again and until next time.

-jemlou-