“Aye. Jonnet’s taken the horses on through the woodland to Penffordd Manor as they were too skittish to handle. He’ll be back with a fresh pair.”
“We didn’t mean to scare any of you,” mumbled a Ghoul Robber. “Ma will have our hides if she finds out.”
“Which we will discuss later,” said Gwen. “But Tristan, what are you doing here?”
“I…”
Gwen tilted her head, the two Ghoul Robbers raised white eyebrows and the coachman peered up from beneath the handkerchief at his forehead.
“Well… Er… I followed you.”
“Why was that?” asked Gwen.
“Aye,” chirped in the Ghoul Robber with the rabbits, dropping them to the stone floor and taking a seat at the end of the bench. “What would you do that for?”
Tristan glowered. “Don’t you have somewhere to haunt?”
“’Tis snowing out,” replied the second, also taking a pew. “And this here hut only has one room. Don’t they always… Besides she’s a lady so you’ll be needing us, your lordshipless, to chaperoom.”
“Chaperone?”
“Like I said. Carry on.”
Tristan cleared his throat. Had imagined passionately sweeping Gwen into his embrace and declaring all within the privacy of her elegant home, not…here. In a slate hut with an audience of three and a strange smell.
But that could be a Ghoul Robber.
Yet hadn’t he earlier pontificated about not wasting a single moment? He turned to Gwen.
“I… I remember,” he rasped simply.
Gwen brought a hand to her lips. “You remember…”
“Everything, Gwen.”
“That’s wonderful.” Her blue eyes widened yet no smile lit her face. In fact, she stood up and stalked to the fireplace, that red pelisse lighting the room like a fiery beacon.
“I remember…us,” he continued. “Our picnics in the boat shed. Talking and… Our kiss.”
Ooooh’sfilled the hut.
“Good thing we’re here to shiperone then, eh?” declared one Ghoul Robber with a nudge to the other.
“Could you not be quiet?” Tristan hissed.
The Ghoul Robbers mimed sewing their lips shut.
Tristan hobbled over and placed hands to Gwen’s slender shoulders. “What must you have thought of me over the past weeks? My blundering words of friendship.”
She swivelled and blinked. “I… It was not your fault. I understood, Tristan.”
Gwen’s blue eyes were moist and forlorn and he could bear it no longer. Thought to just declare himself, for whatever her own feelings were for him, she must know his.
No more lost time.
“I never got to say this before as I was awaiting the right moment. Foolish of me as I have since learned that such words should never wait.” He cupped her pink cheeks. “Gwen Evans, I lo–”
“Tristan…” A finger to his lips. “You do not have to say this through obligation to the past. That is why I remained silent.” She placed a palm to his heart. “You have been through such an ordeal, so if…if your feelings have changed, I would…understand.”
