A/N: Poll- What was your favorite book you read in middle school (aside from RA)?
Saberin: I've now stumbled across the commercial to match the picture and she's wearing a cloak. Ugh...
Aubrey: Happier chapter so no worries :)
Disclaimer: I'm not John Flanagan. And still not Australian.
William found Anamaria in a garden. He joined her on the bench. Before any words could be said they were kissing. Despite her family he loved her more than anything. She had a fiery passion and warm personality it was hard not to be attracted to. She made him feel like he never had before.
"You're back," she said. "I'm so sorry, William. I never…I wasn't…"
"You did nothing wrong," he whispered in her ear. "I missed you."
He heard a familiar tapping to his right. He turned away from Anamaria to find Gabby coming towards them. Of course. The garden was fairly close to the medical wing. She must have been passing by and heard his voice. "William?" she called out once she was at the garden's entrance.
"Over here," he replied. "Straight down the path."
Anamaria leaned closer to William. "She makes me nervous," the Iberion princess whispered.
"She can hear you," William replied also in a whisper. Anamaria turned bright red. William just laughed and kissed her cheek. Once Gabby reached them William took her hand and guided her to a place on the bench next to him. "How've you been, Gabby?"
"Did Kane come back?"
Even though she couldn't see it William shook his head. "I'm sorry, Gabby. Someone had to stay behind to escort the others back. Talia couldn't travel until she had the baby. He, Kineta, and the girl all stayed behind with her."
Gabby gripped her cane. "Do you know how long it will be until he returns?"
"I don't, I'm sorry."
"It isn't your fault. I'll leave you two then."
Gabby stood to go back to work, tapping her cane back and forth in front of her feet as she walked up the way she'd come. William kissed Anamaria's cheek. "I'll be right back," he promised. William jogged the short distance so he was in front of Kane's girlfriend. He caught her arms before she could go farther.
"William?" Gabby asked as she felt his hand. "Was there more for you to tell me?"
"Anamaria and I are going to get married without him. We can't wait any longer."
"I understand."
"You're still invited. I was thinking…my brother needs someone to escort. Anamaria's sister went back to Iberion to take the throne."
Gabby paused for several moments. "Ace and I have worked together several times."
"I know. He wouldn't lead you into anything."
She smiled slightly. "He gets nervous around me. I think I frighten him."
"I wouldn't mind my little brother being on edge at my wedding. It could even be fun."
"I don't know how to dance."
William took her hands and squeezed them. It was a gesture of friendship they shared when he wanted to talk her into something. "That's alright. I'll teach you. Kane once told me how your parents view you. Particularly your mother. I think being a bridesmaid at the crown heir's wedding would shut her up for a while, don't you?"
"I think that's Anamaria's choice, don't you?"
"She already said I could find Ace a partner. What do you say, Gabby?"
Gabby just shook her head. "There's a reason I stay behind when you invite Kane to the official ceremonies and royal banquets. I'm no good in crowds. Especially in crowds of people who watch for etiquette and protocol."
"If people judge you I'll deal with them. Please, Gabby? You know it'd make you feel better. You can wear a new dress and dance with a prince."
"And make a fool of myself in front of officials from every allied country."
William squeezed her hands again. Suddenly he knew exactly what to say. "Lina will be there only she's on crutches. People judge her all the time because she can't walk. Has that ever stopped her from attending royal events?"
Gabby frowned. "That isn't fair."
"Probably not but you're coming now, aren't you?"
"Sometimes I really hate you, you know."
William hugged her. "I know. Now, would you like Rosalina or Carissa to come find you to be fitted for the dress? You're still apprenticing to the midwife, right?"
Gabby bit her tongue. "No."
William raised an eyebrow. "No? Why not?"
"None of my master's patients wanted me touching them and neither did any others aside from Talia. Apparently there's a superstition that if a blind midwife tends them their babies will come out blind."
William shook his head. "That's stupid."
"I know but I'm not about to try to undo generations of beliefs for so simple a point."
"So what have you been doing then?"
"I'm back with Master Jonathan as a physician's assistant. As soon as Ranger Halt returns from Redmont I'll be going back to my parents' as well."
William scowled. "Why?"
"I don't think it is fair to Kane's parents to put me up."
"You make your own money and working for Master Jonathan entitles you to meals from the royal kitchen. They aren't doing anything for you that you couldn't do for yourself and they care about you."
"Still."
"Still? There's nothing. Did your mother tell you you're a burden so much you've started to believe it?"
Gabby fell silent and William knew he crossed a line. "I'll just go," she whispered but he caught her arm again.
"Gabby, move into the servant's quarters. You're on the castle's payroll. You have the right to a dorm room near the medical wing. It wouldn't be much but it would be enough. You'd be closer to Kane and work and those rooms have two beds. You'd have a roommate so you wouldn't be lonely."
"I don't feel comfortable living with someone I don't know."
William understood. The servants had an entirely different life in the castle. If they stole or acted poorly around the uppers, like him, they were dismissed and turned out. Behind the closed doors of places he'd never ventured though he'd spend his entire life there, it was different. Petty arguments and thievery was a daily ordeal. He couldn't see Gabby being happy living in it. He suddenly remembered the letter Kane gave him before he left Nihon-Ja. He took it out of his pocket and pressed it into Gabby's hand.
"This is from Kane. He gave it to me to read to you."
"So read it."
William ripped the seal so that Gabby knew nobody but Kane had read it before now. He unfolded the paper and read its words aloud. "Gabby, I'm sorry I have to stay behind. I'm sure someone has already explained to you why. I'll return in a few months and when I do I plan to ask your father if I can marry you. Regardless of what he says you can expect a ring shortly after. You've got some time to think about it but I believe participating in the rescue of the Hibernian royal family will get me promoted into that stable career you talk about. I love you. I asked William to be the one to read this to you because no matter what he does to insult me for openly saying that I love you, he's about to marry Anamaria in a very public ceremony in which he'll be…" William shook his head. "Mind if I skip this part?"
Gabby smiled. "I'll spare you but only because your fiancée is nearby."
"Thanks. Now…I hope that you'll accept this proposal. Ranger Will told me it took him several tries before Lady Alyss agreed but I hope we won't have to go that far. With love, Kane…well Gabby? Are you going to tell him you'll marry him?"
"Where's the ring you're giving to Anamaria when you marry?"
It wasn't custom for men to present rings right away to those they wished to marry them but the men did need a ring to show their wife-to-be. It was a promise of life together. Kane and Gabby had decided long ago their future engagement would be a short one. William had Anamaria's ring on a chain around his neck ever since she agreed to marry him. It had been the ring of a grandmother he never knew. Kane slipped it off his head and put the silver band in Gabby's open hand. She felt over it carefully.
"Do you know if Kane has one for me yet or not?"
"I honestly don't know."
Gabby handed the chain and ring back over to him. "You'll have to find out my answer when I give it to him."