And now it is Sunday again
One year later
Wendy laughed as Eva nippled on a piece of fairy bread and made faces at Brian.
He is handsome … do you think Edward's baby will be handsome too… The little girl echoed.
"I am sure it will be. Edward is very handsome after all." Wendy smiled at the thought as she let her child tuck on her fingers.
Edward had fallen in love with a young woman from another village soon after her wedding and was now married and expecting a baby.
She sighed.
Wendy was sad that she couldn't live in the inn and have her family around all the time. At Edward's wedding, she and Eric had seemed overdressed and out of place, and Eric had frowned the entire time.
Are you sad…? Eva asked. She was suddenly standing by her side.
Wendy forced a smile and patted Eva on the head as the little boy in her lap reached out for the ever-young girl. "Sometimes life is not easy."
I am glad … I do not have to deal with such things… Eva huffed.
Wendy smiled bitterly. For a long time after Brian had been born, Eric had been beside him. But as the little boy began to grow bigger, he had stayed in his office more and she had been expected to go back to work and leave Brian with a nanny. He's still smiled and was caring towards the for the most part, but when he could see he was exhausted, and she didn't know what to do about it. Whenever she asked, he just told her that that was not something she should be concerned about.
"Well, hello old friend." A voice suddenly cut through the silence.
Wendy looked up and saw a black woman coming towards her with a smile.
It took her a moment to recognize her.
"Olympia." Wendy greeted.
"How have you been, Wendy?" She asked as she sat down in an empty chair across from Wendy and put tea for herself in an empty cup.
Wendy adjusted the toddler in her arms and smiled. "Very good and…" She stopped mid-sentence when something hit her. "Olympia, how did you know I was here?"
The last time she'd seen Olympia was a few years ago after she had gotten engaged, but before she moved to the estate.
Olympia gave her a mysterious smile and lifted the teacup to her lips elegantly. "You may know how to dance with fairies, but I always know how to find my way…"
Wendy raised an eyebrow and sipped on her tea. Everything from Olympias' quite unusual appearance to her manner of being, always hinted at her being a fairy, but she was not.
At the thought, Wendy looked down to her side where there now didn't stand a little redheaded fairy girl.
"But how have you been?" She asked as Brian muttered and played with her hands.
Olympia's brown eyes lit up. "I thought you would never ask. So many things have happened, but I can also see that you have experienced some things."
She smiled at the toddler and the little boy made big eyes of her.
"In the end, you went with that rich man?" Olympia asked from behind her teacup.
Wendy caressed the young boy's hair. "If nothing else, Eric makes handsome children."
"You are absolutely miserable, aren't you?" Olympia's frank tone surprised Wendy.
"Excuse me?" She muttered.
"You are like a caged animal standing at the edge of your cage, just wondering when you'll take a step outside of it," Olympia said and gestured to the forest like it was proving a point.
Wendy hugged her son tighter like Olympia was going to hurt him with her words.
"It is not like that." She looked sadly down at her child, who happily giggled up at her. She turned a little boy so they were facing each other.
"There might be some truth to it, but I am truly happy with my child." She said that she smiled at the little face. "I would gladly give up my ability to hunt and ride a horse if it means never to part with this little man."
When she looked up at Olympia again, the dark woman had put down her teacup and was now looking at her with understanding.
"I know the feeling." She said in a longing voice and leaned an elbow on the table, she fingered with the buttons of her uniform.
Before Wendy could ask, she opened her uniform and pulled out a small piece of paper, and showed it to Wendy.
It was a small black and white photograph - Wendy had heard about them but hadn't seen them until now - of Olympia, a black man and three children.
Olympia tapped the baby in the photo. "This was taken right after I had Maurice, Alexander wanted it to be a gift, so I would remember our family when I am not with them."
The other woman looked so sad when she said it, that Wendy slid her own hand across the table and squeezed her hand.
"I thought you said back then that your father would not allow you to marry Alexander," Wendy said, hoping to cure the other woman of her sadness.
Olympia smiled mischievously again. "He didn't give me permission, and I didn't ask."
"He does not know you are married?" Wendy asked confused, as Brian giggled.
Olympia shook her head with a delighted smile.
"But you had kids. How can he not know?" She sputtered and wondered for a moment if he had died.
"I told him some years ago that I would like to take vacations," she explained.
"Vacations?" Wendy echoed confused.
"I've told him that I would like to see the world for myself, without having to answer to him. And he allowed that. So now I just have to give him a year's time in advance and then I can go home and see my family. Of course, when he sends me out to do something, I sometimes swing by when I'm in America."
Wendy got an odd feeling and leaned away from her friend.
She had always known there was something odd about Olympia and about the giant. She still remembered how Edward had once clung to her and whispered that he had seen the man bleeding to death.
"Olympia?" She asked. "How old is your father?"
Olympia tilted her head to one side and looked more than ever like an elven. "He is as old as humankind."
Wendy leaned back against her chair with her child sputtering happily against her. It was not hard to believe that there was a man that was so old. She was pretty sure the elven queen was older than that. But she also knew that the elven queen didn't like him, and that made him scary in Wendy's eyes. "And how old are you?" She asked.
"25," Olympia said without a pause. "But sometimes I feel so old. I would give whatever I could to have a family where I could see my children every day."
Wendy hugged Brian tightly again. She understood Olympia's sadness.
"But I am really lucky with Alexander, you know," Olympia said and drank from the teacup again. "I'm sure he's both curious and confused about what I do, but he never asks. It is like he understands that I can't talk about it, and yet he's never mad at me."
"I think I am lucky with Eric as well. He might frown at my stories and dislike me going back to the village too often, but he put his reputation on the line so we could marry, not to mention he gave me Brain here." She tickled her son and he laughed. "He was never an easy man to deal with but I do know that he loves me."
They sat like that for hours, drinking tea and telling stories about their children and husbands.
"My lady, I was unaware you had a guest." A maid said as she came to the pavilion to collect Wendy. "I must not have heard. Is your lunch with the young lord rescheduled?"
"Oh, no." Wendy shook her head. "Tell him I will be right there after I send off my guest."
The maid curtsied and went away.
"It seems our time for now is up," Wendy said and rose from the seat to collect Brian, who was sitting on Olympia's lap and sputtering as he tried to grab at her long braids.
"Indeed," Olympia smiled at her boy like she was savoring every second with a baby in her arms. Then she looked up at Wendy. "Though I have one more question…"
Wendy lifted an eyebrow. "And what is that?"
"Could you show me a fairy?"
Wendy smiled and shook her head. "No."
Olympia shrugged and bounced the child in her lap. "You cannot blame me…"
"Wendy!" They were interrupted by Eric's angry voice as he came through the garden.
"What is it, Eric?" She asked as he came into view.
He stopped when he saw Olympia and relaxed.
"I was unaware that we had a guest." He said calmly and didn't seem to recognize her. Then he looked at Wendy. "Why did the butler not inform me?"
"How would the butler know that I was here?" Olympia said and stood up with the toddler in her arms.
"Well, of course, he met you when you came." Eric reasoned and seemed a bit confused.
Olympia shook her head, making her braids rustle. "No, he did not."
"Then how were you invited in?" Eric seemed very confused. Wendy smiled.
"I just walked in through there." She pointed in between the trees and gave Brian back to Wendy. "And now I must go back. Until next time, Wendy."
Then she simply wandered into the trees.
When they left at Eric's confused expression and took him by the hand.
"Let's go back to the estate, my love. Our lunch awaits."
She wondered for a moment if he would believe that Olympia was a fairy by the way she acted.
Wendy rocked the small boy to sleep, as she sang him a quiet lullaby.
Eric stood next to her, as she put the small child down in his crib and tucked him in.
"He is such a handsome little boy." He whispered and led Wendy out of the nursery.
They kissed and each prepared for bed.
"Who was that woman you drank tea with today?" He asked as he changed his clothes.
Wendy smiled in her mirror. "It was Olympia. You have met her once before. In the forest in my village."
"I have?" He asked a moment later he continued. "Ohh yes I remember, that girl in the forest. She was quite rude."
Wendy still smiled. "That is simply who she is. But why were you in such a rush today, when you saw us?"
Eric turned to her, and they locked eyes through the mirror. He looked embarrassed.
"When the maid came and said that you had an odd friend having tea with you, I thought … that maybe she was talking about an imaginary friend or a fairy…"
"A fairy?" Wendy said, amused.
Maybe he did believe after all.
He placed both his hands on her shoulders. "The way that you talk about fairies and such with others. They often think you actually mean it, that you believe they exist." Wendy furrowed her brows, as he continued to talk. "And for a moment, I thought that you were actually sitting and drinking tea while thinking that you were talking to a fairy or something. I'm sorry my love." He leaned down and hugged her from behind. "I did not mean to think ill of you."
Wendy sighed and put a hand over his. "Would it really be so bad if I talk to fairies and dance in the forest? I used to do that all the time back in the village and you loved it."
Eric caressed her hair while smiling at her in the mirror. "I still do, my rose. I love your theatrics and creativity, but we are not children anymore and we must not behave like as such. If people think you are talking to fairy creatures, they will think you are unwell, and they will start ignoring you."
Wendy turned her head to him. "Is there ever going to be a time, where I do not have to think about what others think about me?"
Eric leaned his forehead against hers. "I love you, my fairy. I love hearing you play your enchanting melodies and watching you dance, I love seeing you play with Brian and tell him stories. Those times are when you are the most lovely… But you also know that our standing among the other nobles depends on what they think of us, and my ability to support our family and the estate depends on, who among the nobles are willing to work with me…"
Wendy breathed in his scent.
"I am sorry for not understanding that." She whispered. "I guess I started to feel out of place here."
Eric's fingers slowly caressed her face. "With Brian and your work, you cannot visit your family so much."
Wendy smiled at his understanding. There he was again, the charming, kind, and caring Eric she loved.
"Can you promise me that you do not see me as some wild animal you wanted to tame?" Wendy whispered as a finger trailed her lips.
"Well, maybe a little," Eric said with a devious smile and eyes that glittered in the darkness. "You are like a wild forest fairy that I managed to capture in my grasp, and I have no intention of letting you go."
He left a trail of kisses down her neck. "We should go to bed, my dear." He whispered against her skin.
Wendy giggled.
Thanks for reading :)
We are nearing the end