Everything I Do: a Robin Hood romance (Rosa Fitzwalter Book 1) (48 page)

They reached the Nottingham gate with no trouble, for the guards were surrounding the moat, and hitting every bush and corner with their spears and swords, trying to flush him out. Not one of them suspected that the outlaw might be making his getaway in a vehicle, looking instead for a man on foot, so, after much scrutiny from the gate-guards, the cart bearing the rugged beggars was allowed to proceed into the forest.

As soon as they were clear of the guards, Robin leapt up and, unearthing Rosa from her hiding place, took her in his arms. The cart didn’t stop, Julian tugging on the reins with gusto, and Robin tore at her dress, lifting the wet garment from her chilled skin, and wrapped her in the blanket, all the while supporting her drooping head on his shoulder.

“Look at me,” he urged her. “I need to see your eyes, my heart, please.”

Rosa lifted her eyes to him, and he kissed her brow tenderly.

“It’s all over,” he whispered. “You’re back in the forest. You are safe. How do you fare? Are you hurt?”

“Alan?” she asked through chattering teeth.

“He won’t kill him,” he replied running his hands up and down her arms to warm them, “he’ll need him for leverage. For now, at least, he’s safe.”

“I never thought you’d come for me,” she mused, starting to cry silently. “Not after what I said to you last night. But I wasn’t strong enough to go through with it, was I? In the end, I wasn’t.”

Robin lifted her more securely into his arms, and brushed away the tears from her cheeks, his heart breaking to witness her pain.

“I would not purchase my men’s or my own life with yours, Rosa,” he told her. “Not again. You will never be apart from me, nor will you be in danger as long as I’m alive, I vow it,” he added fiercely, and was surprised to hear a small chuckle come from her.

It soon turned into a cough, and he held her until it passed, Julian turning to look back at her in concern, as he held the reins.

“Do not vow it,” she said as soon as the paroxysm had passed. “For it might not be in your power to grant. This… life we have chosen for ourselves, it comes with great danger. I have made my peace with that.”

“But I never will,” Robin cried. “Not where you are concerned.”

He bent his head and crushed her lips with his forcefully. He felt her melt against him, her hands stealing around his neck, and he brushed the wet hair out of her face, kissing her again and again. Then he felt her shaking in his hands, and leaned away to look into her face: she was sobbing.

A slow tremor overtook him, and a fist clenched at his chest until he could hardly breathe.

“Why are you crying?” he asked her quietly. “Am I too violent in my happiness?”

“You are what my heart yearns for, good Robin,” she answered, crossing her arms over her chest, shivering with the cold. “I do not cry because of you but because I remembered…”

“No!” he cried, white-lipped, and held her tighter as the cart-horse stumbled over a stone. He knew, then, that she was thinking of Sir Hugh. “You will have no need to remember past pains and past unhappiness any more, do you hear me? I’ll make sure of it. Whatever he said to you, whatever he…” Robin swallowed hard, passing a trembling hand over his eyes, “did to you, it will all be forgotten.”

Rosa lifted up her eyes to his, so full of trust and love, that his breath caught in his throat. She frowned slightly as she saw the bruises and cuts on his face, and swallowed hard.

“Do you still want me?” she asked softly.

He inhaled sharply, his eyes fierce. That was all the answer she needed and she smiled, suddenly. It was for Robin as though the sun had come out just for him and all he could think of was this: if all he did with his miserable, outlawed existence was to save this one soul, then his life would have been well-spent. She was worth it. She was worth everything.

His tongue felt strangled and he couldn’t answer her right then, so fierce was the emotion that swept through him.

But she understood, and pressed his hand with her cold fingers.

“Then, as soon as we arrive at the camp, I wish for father Tuck to marry us,” she said in a small, shy voice. “I… I couldn’t bear to think of this day as the day I was almost married to… to another.”

Robin, sniffling through tears of his own, leaned down and kissed her until the cart stopped and Julian, frowning heavily, climbed down and nudged him to let his sister breathe, for they had arrived.

…

Robin Hood married Rosa Fitzwalter, daughter to the late Sheriff of Nottingham and niece to Good King Richard twice removed, one crisp evening in early spring. The wedding took place in Sherwood Forest, in the presence of one and forty outlawed men, not including the bevy of sixteen serfs and maids that had been rescued two nights since from the Sheriff’s castle.

Rosa changed into her green hose and overshirt, and Little John wove pine-needles into her still-wet braided hair with his clumsy coarse fingers, tearing up as though it was his own daughter he was preparing to wed. Father Tuck and Paul the healer prepared a concoction of red wine and herbs to warm her up after her dunk in the moat, and Julian stood watch over Robin as he changed out of his beggar’s rags, smirking in delight.

“Would you stop smiling?” Robin told him, irritated. “What is there to smile about on this day?”

“Well,” Julian said, examining his dirty fingernails. “It is your wedding day, after all. Who would have thought this day would come?”

“Shut up,” Robin told him calmly, and strode away to knock on the little cabin’s door. “How is she?” he asked Paul, as he came out.

“A little pale,” answered he, “but happy. And from what I’ve seen, happiness is always the best medicine no matter what ails one.”

“If only the groom would share in her happiness,” Julian mused tragically from behind him.

“What do you want from me?” Robin turned to address him, exasperated. “Do you expect me to rejoice that she is marrying a worthless, hunted outlaw, with no roof to put over her head, and her next meal depending on the aim of his arrow? Are you happy with the match your sister is making, or with the fact that she is getting married underneath the trees, not even wearing a proper dress?”

Julian shrugged, turning serious.

“Didn’t you hear what he said?” He raised his eyebrows in the healer’s direction. “She’s happy. That’s all that matters.”

“No!” Robin suddenly gripped him by the collar. “It is
not
! Why, only moments ago it seems, she was sinking in that dark water, and I was looking for her, but I couldn’t see anything, and time was running out… I came this close to losing her. And if I hadn’t lost her then, I would have lost her before, ‘cause she almost married the Sheriff today, and before that she nearly…”

“Stop,” Julian told him kindly. “breathe.”

Robin stood away from him, panting like a wild stag.

“If the good Lord blesses your union,” Julian went on, “what more can a man want out of life? You know it is you that she wants. You and this. This life, this forest, this fight for what is right. What business have you to refuse her?”

Robin faced him again, his lips trembling.

“Julian,” he murmured, “you cannot know… The crimes I have committed weigh on my conscience heavily this day. Necessary they were, but still… How can I come to her, so pure, so good, and I a man of no law but my own?”

“There is redemption and forgiveness,” a deep voice said behind him.

He turned and met the bright gaze of Father Tuck.

Robin sank to his knees before him.

“I feel the need to clean my soul,” he said, bending his head in humility. “This much I can do for her. Can you absolve me, Father?”

Tuck laughed.

“I cannot, my boy,” he said. “No man can. But there is One who grants pardon and peace to all who would seek Him.” He turned to Paul and Julian, who regarded their chief on his knees with surprise. “Come,” he said, “join us, you two.”

So they all kneeled and pledged their suit before the Almighty, to live according to His will, and to take no man’s law as their own but His. Each one asked for forgiveness for their past misdeeds and begged for strength to face the new trials that no doubt awaited them.

Then Robin stood and wiped his eyes discreetly. Julian slapped his back, a bit more forcefully than was necessary, and Paul supported Father Tuck as he endeavored to raise himself from the ground.  

“You’re still laughing,” Robin observed to Julian in a second.

“Well, I know of your wedding present, that’s why,” Julian retorted, and Robin, thinking he was in jest, ignored him as he went forward to meet his bride.

She came out of her little cabin, dressed like any other of Robin’s men, her only ornament being her exquisite hair that was flowing in a fiery waterfall down her back, starting from a crown of braids around her forehead. Julian tucked her hand in his elbow, and, kissing her on the cheek, started walking with her towards Robin.

Robin stood surrounded by his men, Father Tuck at his side. He was a bit pale, his lips tight and his jaw ticking, his whole body tense, but his eyes shone with happiness.

“If only Alan was here,” Rosa whispered to Julian in a wobbly voice, “we might have some music.”

“Well,” Julian said knowingly, “I’m glad you said that, for, to tell you the truth, I did not know quite how to manage this.” He bent his head to her ear in a conspiring fashion, and added: “I haven’t had much experience with gifts, you know.”

“What…?” Rosa began to ask, but immediately, Julian made a gesture with his hand, and sweet, sad music began to float from the trees all around.

Across from her, her eyes met Robin’s. His whole face lit up in a breathtaking smile as he fixed his gaze on hers, and then he lifted his head upwards to the tree branches, searching for the source of the exquisite music.

“This is Alan-a-Dale’s lute, if I ever heard it,” he murmured.

The music swelled, soaring powerfully to the skies, and still Robin’s eyes searched the leaves for his friend. Then, with a sweet, lingering cord, the melody faded into the twilight, and there was absolute silence.

Robin couldn’t speak past the lump in his throat, and Julian, standing across from him in the makeshift aisle, also looked bright-eyed and deeply moved. Rosa was smiling but her eyes were full of tears.

“Alan!” she squealed. “You’re here! I cannot believe it.”

She turned to Julian, but he was swallowing hard, and turned his face away so that no one would see his emotion.

A pair of broad shoulders appeared among the leaves on the oak directly above them, and Alan’s face, beaming in the gathering darkness, smiled down at them.

“Hullo, chief!” he called from above. “Am I not invited to your nuptials?”

Robin still hadn’t regained the use of his tongue. Alan climbed down, slowly and painfully, and hands appeared immediately to assist him to the ground. As soon as he was down, they saw that he looked beaten and battered, his clothes torn and dirty, his face tired, but glowing with a huge smile.

“For once, Rob,” Alan said, his voice cracking, “I did you proud.”

“How did you escape?” Robin asked, incredulous.

“Ask your lady,” Alan replied, smiling down at her, but Rosa shook her head.

“I had nothing to do with this,” she replied. “I never once went down to the dungeons, I was in my rooms getting prepared all day.”

Robin caught the flash of sadness that shadowed her face as she talked about her almost wedding, and drew in a sharp breath.

“Not this time,” Alan replied to Rosa. “But two of your former servants, still left at the castle, know they owe their livelihoods
and
their actual lives to you so they decided to give you a little wedding present.”

Rosa laughed and her entire face lit up.

“I wouldn’t call it little,” she said, opening her arms to embrace him.

“Well now,” he replied modestly.

“You smell awful,” she added, smiling.

“He smells like a brewery, I can tell you that from over here,” Robin remarked, his eyes shining with joy.

“Tell me about it chief,” Alan said, approaching him menacingly, and Robin made a show of holding his nose closed. “They smuggled me out of there in a barrel of wine.” Then his eyes turned serious. “They knew she would marry none but you, Rob,” he told him in a low voice. “They knew it would kill her to be the evil one’s bride. So they freed me in order to rescue her. Imagine my surprise when I found the bird already flown, and the whole town in an upheaval.”

“I rather think you took advantage of the situation,” Robin replied in the same tone.

“How else would I be here?” Alan winked at him. “Now admit it, I saw a tear fall from your eye at the sound of my lute. You’re happy to see me, aren’t you?”

“I won’t be for long,” Robin replied, pretending to scowl at him. “Not if you keep me from wedding my Rosa before the sun is down.”

Men hurried about quickly to light a few torches, for night had descended suddenly upon them while Alan was relating the tale of his escape, and soon enough the flickering flames illuminated happy faces, radiant with long-awaited joy.