Title: The Lamentable Truth of Planning

Chapter: 15

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There are those individuals in life who know you so well, that despite any subterfuge you may attempt, they always see through it. Surprisingly, his mother wasn’t one of them.

Anne, however, was one of those people, Adhemar decided, watching her as the days went by. She was overly amused by his poetry to Jocelyn, openly sarcastic to his affections for Jocelyn, and always watching him in return. So, it was no surprise when she followed him into the stables two weeks after Katherine had departed in a huff.

She crossed to him with a light step that hardly betrayed her presence. “I’d suggest we ride together alone to speak with relative privacy, but it’d be terribly inappropriate considering our prior relationship though I am your aunt at present.”

“Have you some pressing matter that needs my attention,” he asked, feigning ignorance, waiting for her to come to whatever her point was to be.

Anne’s laugh was like a tinkling, yet harsh chime. “Oh, Adhemar, I’m absolutely astounded at your behavior lately. Speaking poetry?” Crossing her arms, she leaned against the stall, eyes widening. “Being nice to everyone? And I do mean everyone. Really, you must admit you’re overdoing it more than a tad.”

“Overdoing what?” He continued brushing his favorite horse.

“This act. This latest method of wooing Jocelyn. I mean, even the gentlest of men has a temper. Ask her. Her lost love William yelled at her on occasion and had a fit of temper. He wasn’t this meek, agreeable creature you’re portraying.”

“I still don’t see what you’re talking about.”

Standing straight again, she shook her head. “This isn’t you. It never has been. I remember what you were like as a boy, Adhemar. You’ve always had no use for poetry. You’ve always disciplined the servants when they’re in the wrong. You’ve never behaved like such a spineless wretch in all your life! So forgive me, please, if I don’t believe bad humors left you and this is the real you. You’re…” She broke off as servants entered and went about their duties, stepping closer after a moment and continuing on in a whisper. “You’re pretending. I understand why. Jocelyn is important to you and to this family. I understand. I even understand getting rid of Katherine. Believe me, nothing has pleased me more than to see her backside riding off into the distance.”

“Do you have a point, aunt?” He’d meant to say the words gently, but they came out snippy and hard.

Relief crossed her features. “There, there’s the man I know.”

“Anne.” He lowered his voice as well. “What do you want?”

A shrewd gleam lit her eyes. “To help you.”

“Help me?” The idea of her helping him in this floored him. Why would she do such a thing? “Why?”

“Must I have a reason?”

“It would be nice to hear one for once.” He crossed his arms, fully expecting her to flounce away in a huff. Instead, she paused, swallowing so hard he heard it clearly.

Anne half turned away. “I’d see you happy. I’d not thought you could be after….Well, if Jocelyn will make you happy, then I’d help you with her.”

“It won’t erase what you and uncle did.”

“I’m well aware of that, believe me.”

He considered her proposal for longer than he once would have, then shook his head. “No. If this fails, then I’d have only myself as her target.”

Her glance flicked to him and stayed, surprise, then confusion there. “You’d protect me from her anger? How…unselfish of you.”

It was his turn to look away. “This is between Jocelyn and myself. No other. If she asks you, play ignorance, disbelief, whatever. Be the role you married into. Aunt.”

After a moment, she sighed. “Very well. It’s between you two and I shall stay out of it.”

Adhemar snorted. As if he’d ever see the day that’d happen! He predicted Anne would still stick her delicate nose into their business whenever she wanted. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Setting the brush aside, he motioned for a servant to take over before taking Anne’s arm and leading her from the stables. “When do you expect Uncle back?”

She shrugged. “When he returns.”

“Which will be when?”

Pulling her arm free, Anne turned to walk towards the pond. “Like he tells me these things, Adhemar. All I know is that he was going to watch you at tournament between conducting business meetings. He’ll be back whenever those meetings are completed.”

“What was Uncle’s business,” he probed, but Anne appeared as in the dark as himself, shrugging again in the irritating, unconcerned manner she had.

“Business is his end of our marriage. I care for the children, domestic matters, and of course him. I’ve never asked unless he first told me his business and when Robert has told me it’s been to ask for the advice I can give him. He’s not asked for advice lately, so I’ve not asked what business he has.”

Adhemar stared at her. When he spoke again, the words he voiced weren’t what he’d intended. “Why did you go with him that morning long ago? Why didn’t you scream, for you’ve always had a loud yell. Did you even try or did you just leave me without protest?”

Anne’s gaze fell. “We’re all weak in some way, Adhemar, even you. It’s our weaknesses that make us human and the strengths we find in our spouse that complete us. Robert completes me and I him, though I can’t claim to fully love him in that definition Jocelyn has clung to. My definition of the word is far different than hers. ” Her gaze raised to his again, oddly shuttered and cautious. Nowhere in all of her pretty noble-sounding words did she answer one of his questions. “I don’t regret this path I ended upon, for without it I’d not have my children and I’d not have known a man I’ve never had occasion to fear. Even in his anger I’ve not feared for myself. At least admit to yourself that your anger is toxic to others when it’s loosed.” She glanced back towards the stables and then up at the manor. “What I do regret is the damage done to you by every choice that was made by all those involved.”

All those involved? Adhemar pounced upon those three words. What did she mean by that? He knew of only two involved in Uncle’s betrayal: Anne and Robert. Anne made it sound like there was more he didn’t know. “You’re not telling me something.”

“I’ve not told you many things over the years.” She raised a wry brow. “I’d have peace between us if possible.”

“There can be no peace until you tell me the truth.”

Anne smiled once more, this time sweetly. “Excellent advice, Adhemar, but can you take your own words to heart?” She gestured behind him and he found Jocelyn walking towards them, a grim expression upon her face. “Don’t be too nice. It’s unbelievable,” she offered as parting wisdom, before walking away as though she’d not a care in the world.

Adhemar had the urge to run after her and throttle her, but tamped it down, forcing a gentle grin to his lips as he faced his wife. There was no escaping the fact that while he felt the fool after awhile of portraying this bland romantic male, the particular role enabled him to glimpse a part of Jocelyn he’d never seen.

Her tenderness. He’d come to know just how gentle she could be.

She was a multi-faceted woman, with so many sides to her that Adhemar had decided that he’d never really know the whole of her if he’d a thousand years to pursue the task. Jocelyn was hardly that pawn he’d made her out to be to Thatcher. Rising from her grief, she was strong for having endured. The accepting part that should be there however….

He didn’t think she accepted yet. There was a tiny sliver remaining that longed for what never could have been. He refused to let it remain and quickly ramped up his efforts to dazzle her.

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It was difficult to ignore him when he was nice. Jocelyn struggled in that regard. His stare upon her, with warmth and tenderness, was disconcerting. To see both from this man felt so very wrong! She wasn’t used to seeing those things. In a perverse way, she decided -- after much contemplation over a month-long period -- she much preferred the cool, calculating, and always manipulative Adhemar to this man with her daily.

He kissed her hands and announced that the touch of her warm skin was what made his heart come alive in his chest. He humbled himself to dance in his clumsy, unmusically inclined way with her when he once would have refused with a sneer -- and said that her nearness alone kept him in a state of ecstasy. Sweeping the backs of his fingers along her cheek, he exclaimed that God had smiled upon him by having her sit beside him. He was the most blessed of men for having her accomplished self with him.

All of that and more, to ad nauseum.

At least, she reflected, he didn’t come out and claim to love her. Jocelyn watched him as those days swept into weeks, searching for some sign of the man he’d once been. She wanted a snarl, a sneer, a scoff, a bit of temper displayed. Something. Jocelyn became desperate for a trace of the former Adhemar.

But he was restrained, a mere shadow of himself. Honestly, he might have been the former Adhemar’s twin -- alike in form, but not in temperament. He was far too restrained and unbalanced. Even Will, she recalled, had a temper and let it loose now and again.

This Adhemar with her today was…. She hated to admit this. She despised admitting that she found this man…boring. He everything she’d once declared she wanted and while she should have been rejoicing, she wasn’t. The reason for that made her gut clench.

She’d had Will and his love for that brief period and one man such as he was quite enough for her life. She didn’t need a copy of William Thatcher before her constantly reminding her of him.

Jocelyn grimaced. How it hurt to come to this realization! She’d been better off with Adhemar and his sort of passion after Will’s love.

Setting aside that book of poetry Adhemar had given her, Jocelyn decided that those bad humors that had plagued him were just going to have to come back. Somehow, she was going to return him to what he’d been.

~~~~~~~~~~

Adhemar’s Uncle wouldn’t leave her alone. He’d followed them to four tournaments now, spending his days waiting outside her work tent. He said nothing to her again, nor did he speak to those coming to her with jobs. All he did was wait and watch. It was maddening. Didn’t he have a home to go rebuild? After all, that was what he’d wanted her to work on. There were others just as qualified as she to perform that task. Many more so.

Kate knew very well what he was trying to do. He wasn’t the first noble to attempt to cow her into accepting his offer. Others had tried since her husband had died, one even suggesting she become his mistress and work that way. She was made of sterner stuff however, ignoring him as though he wasn’t even there. Or trying to, rather. He liked to talk to her in a way she found odd in a noble. He flirted and smiled like a beau half his age trying to woo a reluctant lass.

Still, by the fifth tournament, her temper was frayed a goodly sum by his constant presence and she poked her head from the tent, finding Robert of Anjou sitting on a camp stool to the left of her tent opening. He watched her more than Wat ever did. Not to mention Gavin’s habit of watching her. She still saw Gavin on occasion, eyeing her from afar, but never coming close to where she could ream him out for it.

“My lord, you wait in vain. I can do no work for you.”

He glanced up at her, rolling a piece of parchment up. “You could if you chose, Kate.”

“I don’t choose to do so and I won’t regardless of the hours you spend outside my tent. My lord is getting jealous,” she cried in an attempt to sway him to see things her way.

Robert of Anjou laughed. “You lie, Kate. The lord you travel with isn’t your liege and he’s hardly jealous. Why, I heard him yesterday remarking to that red-haired man of his how pleased he is to see your business doing well. I’ll stay right where I am. I’ve not harmed your business. I’ve even recommended you to a few men. I see quality and I refuse to let it slip by me.”

“Have you no family, my lord? Do they not miss you?”

“I’ve seen them,” he remarked. “A lone man travels swifter than a group, especially a man unburdened by tools and household items. I visit them between tournaments and return to conduct business.”

Stepping fully from her tent, Kate crossed her arms. “How is the gambling this season?”

“Very well. Your lord has rebuilt much of my wealth despite all of the other souls betting with me. I could invest some of your funds for you.”

Wat already did that for her and himself. “No thank you, my lord.” A generous offer. How quickly would he disappear with those funds if she’d said yes?

Robert’s gaze swept the crowd and suddenly, he stood. “I’ll be leaving temporarily. Consider my offer.”

“I’ve considered and refused.”

“Then I ask again and will send for your answer on the morrow.”

“It’ll be no, my lord.”

“Perhaps.”

In moments he was gone and Kate spied Gavin in the crowd watching her. Rolling her eyes, she returned to the tent.

~~~~~~~~~~

He watched her when Gavin couldn’t, spending his free time guarding Kate. It wasn’t what Robert wanted to do, but it was the only thing he could think of at present to aid Gavin. Besides, there was a chance she’d reconsider if she saw him there enough.

He’d not lied to Kate. He did return to Adhemar’s to visit his family. He’d even repaid Adhemar back, though his nephew was too caught up in his latest ploy with Jocelyn to notice. Anne had filled him in immediately upon his return as to what was happening, making her opinion well known. She thought Adhemar was going stupid in his quest to have Jocelyn accept him. Privately, Robert thought she was just upset that Adhemar had refused her help in his plan.

Robert predicted sparks were going to fly when Adhemar’s deception was found out, but what could they do about it? Adhemar was a stubborn man who had to experience harsh lessons before he learned things. He’d always been that way, the sort who’d stick his hand in the fire to discover for himself it was hot despite everyone telling him that fact. Eventually, Adhemar would learn.

Nor had he lied to Kate about the gambling. Sir William was a good man to bet on. He was consistent in his wins and quite a few men still refused to believe their favorite competitor wouldn’t beat him. Now, if only Robert could get Adhemar back to tournament, the money would really come in! Adhemar’s supporters were the worst. He’d been champion for so long that many of them insisted the World Games tournament had been rigged to cheat Adhemar from his rightful win.

Entering the inn, he went to his private room and packed up those few belongings he’d brought. Kate’s mention of his family had made him homesick. Surely Kate would be fine for a few days. Besides, he’d another business idea and wanted to run it across Jocelyn before implementing it. Jocelyn had the knowledge he needed in the area of his interest.

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The next tournament was in a month. Will was glad they were taking a break. Frankly, he was weary of the games and needed a rest with family and friends. He found he was looking forward to being back home.

Home. It was his home now, too. Christiana had risen to the task of wife and worked tirelessly to bring all elements together. He was grateful for her and for the way his life had turned out. It seemed like just yesterday he was a callow youth with big dreams and here he was, living his dream. Not that it was easy. He’d learned that nothing in life was, even those things of noble life that had seemed such from afar. Nobles paid dearly for ease.

Their herd was increasing, fields looking well, he saw as they rode close. George had been a good man to leave in charge. He smiled. How could anything disrupt their happiness when things were going so well?

Clouds passed across the sun for a brief moment, then fled across the sky and were gone from sight.