Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) (24 page)

He hadn’t, but he was waiting for the right
time. He’d been thinking a lot on the trip here and realized that
he’d been afraid to love because of what happened to him in the
past. But he did love Ruby and he would tell her soon.

“Look, old lady, I don’t see as that is any
of your business.”

“Oh, but it is. Because this dagger can only
be given to you if you are her true love.”

“I told you I love her, now are you going to
sell it to me or not?”

“This dagger cannot be bought because it has
already been sold.”

“Sold? To who?”

“That too is a long story,” she told him.
“But I will give you the dagger if you give me your ring in
exchange.”

“My ring?” He held his hand over his ring,
knowing that he hadn’t taken it off his finger since the day he’d
come back to Sheffield. It was his last remembrance of his father.
It meant a lot to him and he wasn’t about to give it to a blind old
woman. “Oh, no, I couldn’t do that. Besides, this ring is worth ten
times the price of that dagger.”

“You can’t put a price on true love,” she
told him.

“What the hell does that mean?” he asked,
but the old hag just smiled a broken-toothed smile.

“Lord Sheffield, I’m over here,” Locke
called out from behind him and Nyle saw him heading over from the
wagon. “Lady Ruby would like to leave now as it is getting
dark.”

“Give me a second,” he said, and turned back
toward the hag. “Is there any way I can give you coin for the
dagger, please?”

“Nay,” she said. “The only thing I’ll take
is that ring which you love so much that you won’t part with it for
the woman you say you love.”

“I do love her,” he said. “And this ring
means naught to me at all.” The ring did mean a lot to him, but she
didn’t need to know. That was probably one of the reasons why she
wanted it.

“Then prove your love for your wife and
trade that ring for this dagger.” She held it up in front of his
face and he could see the ruby glittering in the setting sun.

“Lord Sheffield,” Locke called from behind
him, and Nyle noticed him walking down the street toward him.

He turned back one last time toward the hag.
“My wife, Ruby, means more to me than all the money in the world.
Take the ring,” he said, slipping it from his finger and putting it
in the woman’s palm. “But please give me the dagger as I think this
would make her very happy.”

“You’ve proved to me you really are her true
love,” she said and smiled. “Here is your dagger, and I know she
will be happy to see it returned.”

“Returned?”

“Lord Sheffield, who are you talking to?”
Nyle spun around to see Locke standing there. “Oh, you found a
dagger, that’s beautiful. Where did you get it?” asked Locke.

“From this blind old hag,” he said, turning
around, but to his surprise the woman was nowhere in site. He
peered down the dark street wondering how she had moved so quickly
in the dark.

“I don’t see any old hag,” said Locke. “Are
you sure you are not feeling ill, my lord?”

“I am sure. I traded her my signet ring for
the dagger as she would not let me buy it.” He held up his bare
hand to show him, already feeling naked without it.

“Not your ring,” said Locke in
disappointment. “That was worth much more than the dagger.”

“No,” he said, running a hand over the
dagger, knowing how happy it would make Ruby. “I think this dagger
is worth more than that ring could ever be. Now don’t say anything
to her yet, as I want to wait and surprise her after we get to her
father’s castle.”

Ruby was so excited when they rode over the
drawbridge and through the gate into the courtyard of Blackpool
Castle. So excited, that she rode ahead of the entourage and
dismounted, seeing her sisters standing there waiting for her right
inside the gate.

“Ruby!” Her sister Sapphire picked up her
skirt and ran over to her followed by the her twin sisters, Amber
and Amethyst right behind her. Ruby threw herself into their arms
and they all started crying.

“What kind of a happy homecoming is this if
you are all going to stand there and cry?”

Ruby’s head snapped up at the sound of her
father’s voice and she looked over to see him descending the steps
of the battlement. She darted across the courtyard, throwing
herself into him so hard that she almost knocked them both
over.

“Papa!” she cried, shedding more tears of
joy.

“Welcome home, daughter,” said her father
giving her a hug and a kiss.

“Earl Blackpool,” acknowledged Nyle
dismounting and walking over to greet him.

“Sheffield,” he said with a nod, letting go
of his daughter and clasping hands with the man. “I trust you are
taking good care of my daughter?”

“She is my wife,” he said, putting his arm
around her, and reaching down to kiss her. “Of course I am taking
good care of her as I would have it no other way.”

“I’ve prepared a feast in honor of your
homecoming, Ruby,” said her father. “Even though it is late, I have
made the entire establishment wait for your arrival before they
ate. And tomorrow you can tell me every single thing you’ve been
doing since you’ve been gone.”

Nyle cleared his throat. “Well mayhap not
every single thing.”

“You devil,” said the earl, putting his arm
around Nyle’s shoulder. “With that attitude you’ll be a father in
no time.”

Just then, Locke walked up and placed the
baby in Nyle’s hands. “I think he’s fussy because he wants you,” he
said.

“Sheffield, you already have a child?” The
earl’s disposition changed and he looked toward Ruby.

“We are on a mission from the king,” Ruby
told her father. “Come, let us go eat,” she said, putting her arm
around him as they headed to the great hall. “And afterwards Nyle
will tell you all about it.”

* * *

Nyle felt uncomfortable telling Ruby’s
father that Tibbar was the king’s bastard and they were on a
mission by watching him and pretending he was theirs. But it was
the truth, and besides he didn’t fancy telling the earl that the
boy could be his. As it was, he warmed up to him again as soon as
he heard the king mentioned.

“I wish we could have been at the wedding,”
said Amber, as the meal finished and Ruby’s sisters crowded around
her at the dais.

“I like this cute little baby,” said
Sapphire, having claimed the child as hers since she saw it and not
put it down yet.

“Sapphire, don’t get too excited to have
babies,” warned her father. “After all, you need to be married
first.”

“I know, Papa,” she said with a smile. “And
I only hope that I will be as happily married Ruby.”

“Well, you will have your chance, Sapphire,”
her father told her, “as I have decided to betroth you soon, as I
think it is time you marry.”

“I’m going to be betrothed?” asked Sapphire
with wide eyes.

“Papa, you made a promise to Mother to let
us choose our own husbands,” said Ruby.

“You know I can no longer uphold that
promise,” said her father. “In order to protect my holdings I have
to make alliances. Besides, I would like many grandchildren some
day.”

“I don’t mind,” said Sapphire with a
smile.

“You don’t?” asked her sister Amber.

“As long as he is handsome like Ruby’s
husband,” she asked with a slight giggle.

“I cannot promise that,” answered her
father.

“I will be happy like Ruby,” said Sapphire.
“I just know I will.”

“You do look happy,” said Amethyst in her
ever so positive view, smiling at Ruby.

“I am the happiest girl in the world,” Ruby
said, looking over and smiling at Nyle.

“Sheffield, I’ve made a decision,” said the
earl standing at the dais and raising his hand to gain the
attention of everyone there. Nyle had no idea what he meant until
he made an announcement to the crowd. “Tomorrow we will have a
celebration for my daughter and her new husband. We will also have
a proper wedding since she has yet to have one worth
mentioning.”

“Oh, Papa,” do you mean it?” Ruby asked
excitedly.

“I do,” he said. “And Sheffield, this time
you’d better make it right, as I expect you to give my daughter a
worthy wedding present.”

“I think I have something she will like,” he
said, his hand going to the pouch at his side which held the
dagger.

“You do?” Ruby smiled at him then looked
over to her father. “Papa, whatever he gives me, I am sure it will
be wonderful and I will love it. And I bet anything that you will
love it too.”

Nyle just forced a smile thinking about the
story of how her father had discarded the daggers blaming them for
the death of his wife. Suddenly, he didn’t feel so confident that
the earl would like him as much on the morrow.

Morning came, and Ruby and Nyle stood on the
steps of St. Andrew’s church with a crowd of onlookers present.
They had just finished renewing their vows and Ruby felt so happy
to be with all the people she loved that she couldn’t stop smiling.
The priest closed his book and then proceeded in giving them all a
blessing.

Ruby had chosen to don the cream colored
gown she’d worn the first day she’d left for Sheffield with Nyle.
It was her favorite as ’twas the most beautiful of her gowns and
also had the longest train.

Her sisters all stood beside her with
bouquets of handpicked wildflowers in bright colors of pink, purple
and blue. And balanced on one hip, her sister, Sapphire proudly
held little Tibbar. Her handmaid, Oralie was wiping her eyes and
crying, sitting at the base of the steps with her injured leg
elevated. And her father looked ever so handsome as he watched from
next to her, sporting his best tunic and a long ermine trimmed
cloak for the occasion.

This is what she had wanted all along. Her
family to help her celebrate her new marriage. Now, the only thing
that would have made it perfect was if her mother and baby brother
had been alive and also there with her on this happy occasion.

Nyle stood at her right side with Locke next
to him. Nyle’s squire had the biggest smile on his face she’d ever
seen. She laughed inwardly when she realized he wasn’t smiling at
her, but rather at all three of her sisters instead.

“Ruby,” said Nyle, taking her hands in his.
“I still have not gotten you a proper wedding ring, and for this I
apologize.”

“I have a ring,” she told him, proudly
holding up her hand with the ruby ring that was once her mother’s.
“Thank you, but this is the only ring I want or need, Nyle.”

“But I do have a wedding gift for you,
sweetheart,” he said, digging into the pouch at his side. “And I do
believe ’twill go well alongside your mother’s ring.”

“What is it?” she asked excitedly, as this
was a surprise to her.

“Something I think you will really like, and
also something I want you to keep at your side for protection,
always.”

Ruby’s eyes popped open wide as Nyle handed
to her a jeweled ruby dagger.

“Nyle,” she said, her heart racing as she
took it into her hands to inspect it. “I believe this is the exact
dagger I had as a child. The one my mother gave me. Wherever did
you get it?”

“From a blind old hag in town,” he told her.
“It was the oddest thing. One minute she was there and the next
she’d disappeared.”

“Let me see that,” said her father, racing
up the steps and pushing his way between them. His face turned
ashen when he saw the dagger, and immediately Ruby knew she had not
been mistaken that this was the one given to her so many years
ago.

“Sheffield, I don’t like it,” he ground out.
“I demand you take it back to where you got it.”

“Papa, no!” Ruby held the dagger
possessively, not willing to give it up for anything. “This was a
present from Mother and my last remembrance of her. And now it is a
present from my husband. I will not give it up.”

Ruby’s sisters crowded around and inspected
it at last.

“That’s it,” said Amethyst. “That’s the
dagger you had as a child, Ruby.”

“I agree,” chimed in Amber. “Though we were
young, I do remember it well.”

“Let me see,” said Sapphire, crowding in
with the baby in her arms. “It is!” she exclaimed. “And I remember
mother telling us that those daggers would ensure that we all find
our true loves in this lifetime.”

“Well, I know I found mine,” said Ruby,
reaching up and kissing her husband upon the lips.

“I want to find my true love, too,”
complained Sapphire. “I want my dagger before I marry Lord
Sexton.”

“I want my dagger also,” said Amethyst.

“Me too,” added Amber.”

“Well, I can see I have no choice but to let
you keep it,” said the earl with a slight smile. He laid his hand
on Ruby’s shoulder. “I once thought those daggers to be evil. As
because of them I lost my true love as well as my only son. But I
see that it has made you very happy, Ruby. And you two do seem to
be in love, so I will let you keep it.”

“Papa, can you get the rest of our daggers
for us?” asked Sapphire excitedly.

“Sheffield, I will pay for the return of the
daggers. Where do I find them?” asked the earl, wanting to please
his daughters.

“I couldn’t tell you,” said Nyle. “The old
woman just up and disappeared, so I do not think ’twill be an easy
feat to find her.”

“I think you imagined the old hag,” broke in
Locke. “After all, I never saw her.”

“You couldn’t see the broad side of a barn,”
Nyle jested, “so I’m not surprised. Besides,” he continued, “I
don’t know if she had more or even if they’d be for sale. I had to
trade for this one, and I paid dearly, but ’twas worth what I gave
for it, because nothing is more important than my love for
Ruby.”

“What did you trade?” she asked. He held up
his hand and she noticed his expensive signet ring was missing.
“Oh, Nyle, you didn’t. I know how much that ring meant to you.”