Silently expectant, Robin waited with his hands on Marian's abdomen, hoping to feel the baby kick within her womb.
"I felt it!" he cried out at last, jubilantly.
"That was my stomach grumbling," Marian said with a laugh. "I'm hungry, Fool."
The once derisive insult was now a term of endearment. Laughing along with his wife, Robin kissed Marian's hair and offered, "Well then, I will bring you something to eat. What would you like?"
"Squirrel stew," she teased, enjoying being wrapped in his arms. "No. On second thought, I'd like buttered bread. And milk."
"Buttered bread it is. Just don't drop any crumbs on my side of the bed!"
"Which side is that?"
Since they usually slept entwined together, they could have made use of a much narrower bed.
Hopping up, Robin left to head downstairs to the kitchen. No sooner had he gone, then she felt the baby kick again.
"You're going to be a little handful," she grinned, rearranging the pillows behind her back.
...
In no time at all, Robin returned bearing a tray in his hands, and Ellen on his shoulders. Marian's face lit up with a mother's joy.
He needed to stoop to get through the doorway so as to not bump their daughter's head, but he did it with his perfect natural grace.
"You'll need to wait before eating," he told Marian, placing the tray on a table before depositing Ellen in her lap. "I tasted it for you, so if anything happens to me-"
"Don't be ridiculous," Marian interrupted. "She can't have poisoned it! She's been in our sight all the time, until you locked her up. What are you planning to do with her, anyway?"
"I'm taking her to Kirklees, as soon Ian saddles my horse."
"Both of you, on one horse? That sounds cozy."
"Horsie, neigh," Ellen said, clutching her toy horse in her tiny hands. She'd loved the toy so thoroughly, it was barely recognizable, having been loved into a misshapen wad of stuffed leather, on four legs.
"Two horses, then," Robin agreed. "It will just take me longer to get home."
After a pause, Marian relented. "You're right. Let her ride pillion behind you. It will be easier to protect her, should you meet anyone bent on taking her back."
"Now, why would anyone want to do that?"
After making his wry comment, Robin made no move to go, no matter how much he wanted Isabella out from under his roof. The thought of leaving Marian and Ellen to spend time alone in her company was nothing to be desired.
He didn't say it, but he found it ironic that he'd come full circle in his dealings with the treacherous Isabella of Gisbourne. The very first time he'd met her, she was fleeing an abusive husband. He only wished he'd known what he knew now. He would have sent her back to Squire Thornton, rather than step in to protect her.
"Why are we saving her again, my love?" he asked Marian.
"Because she needs us. Now go, so you can return all that much sooner."
Kissing his wife and child, Robin then armed himself with sword, bow, and quiver. Squaring his shoulders, he next armed himself with resolve, not to let Isabella affect him on the long journey to Kirklees Abbey.