To Stand Beside Her (20 page)

“She’s going to be fine,” Roger said out loud to the empty room
,
“
j
ust like you wanted Erich.”

Chapter 1
2

The ride home took longer than expected.
There was fresh snow covering part of the valley path, and it was slow going at parts.
They had been riding all day and everyone was eager to get off the horses and relax a bit.
As they turned the last corne
r
, Kay hurried her horse ahead of the rest.
Leila let her friend run ahead so that the men could take in the sights around
her
home.

Leila’s home was in the valley between two of the biggest mountain ranges on the south end of the
North Country
.
The city
,
which they lived near
,
was situated on a lake in the valley.
Her parent
s
’
land extended from the north east shore of the lake up the mountain side.
The path they were walking
on
took them around the outskirts of the town and to the backside of her parents land.
Any open view gave a picturesque view of the lake and surrounding mountains.
Of all the places
Leila
had traveled over the years, her parents
’
home
was
one of the most beautiful.

As they approached
Leila’s home
, the men could not see the house hidden behind the evergreen trees.
Leila hopped off her horse as all three men stared at her.
They had to walk through the thickest parts of the trail on their way to her home and did not wish to do so again.
All three men were thoroughly frozen to the core.

“Well
,
do you guys want to get inside or have you grown accustomed to the cold and wish to stay out here?” she asked the confused men.
As Leila walked ahead, she pulled back the branches to expose her home.

“If you want to stay outside that is fine, but can I at least put the horses in the barn?” she asked.

Instantly
,
Nalick, Theo, and Macarius
jumped off their horses and
followed Leila and the horses into the barn.
After they were finished with the horses,
she
cautiously took Nalick’s hand.
She was feeling nervous
,
and he could tell.
He squeezed her hand and smiled down at her.
Macarius and Theo could feel the anxiety.
Bringing home a king and two noble soldiers was not the nicest greeting for someone often kidnapped.

“We could wait here, if you’d like,” Theo suggested trying to ease the tension.

“No, the more people, the less likely anyone can get mad at me.
It should be near dinner time, so everyone should be busy.
Hopefully I can introduce you to a few at a time,” she replied.

Nalick raised his eyebrows, “How many people will we be meeting tonight?”

“There
are
normally fourteen
,
including me, as long as my brothers don’t have any friends over or any other family is visiting,” Leila explained quickly.
Leila led the men out of the barn and around to the front door of the home.
Leila paused at the door trying to build up the courage to enter.

Now or never
.
S
he pushed open the door.

Leila led the men into a small room before the main house.
She removed her coat and shoes before opening the door to the home
and
took a deep breath before entering the house.
Inside the three men followed Leila into a large kitchen.
Along the entire left side were cupboards and a large sink and oven.
Standing at the counter cutting vegetables was a woman.
She did not turn around at the opening of the door.
With eight adults and six children running around, the woman was accustomed to the door being opened and shut often.
Leila stood just inside the doorway not saying anything.

“Hi
M
omma,” Leila said
,
quietly hoping that maybe
her mother
would not hear her.
The lady turned around and dropped what she was doing to give her daughter a hug.

“Welcome back
,
sweetie,” Leila’s mom said while sticking out her hand to shake the hands of the men with Leila.
“I’m Anselma,” she said to the men.
“Everyone calls me
Selma
or just Ma around here.”
In turn each man shook her hand and introduced themselves.
Shaking
Nalick’s hand
Selma
stopped and looked closely at him.
Moving back near Leila she asked, “So is this the man Kay said something about?”

“Depends on what she said,” Leila replied quickly.

“Just that you were traveling with three men and one
plans
to marry you,”
Selma
replied.

Leila blushed and
nodded
her head
.
It had been so much easier to tell her parents that she was going to marry Erich.
Erich had started out as her partner for courier runs, and he would
make sure she was safe by
travel
ing
home with her.
He
r
parents appreciated that
Erich
watched over her
. Erich
would frequently stop by for meals or just to visit even when they didn’t have an assignment.
Her parents had
two
years to get to know him before he ever asked her to marry him.
T
hings would be different this time around.
Nalick was a stranger from another country
,
a king with much power and wealth
:
two qualities that would not endure him to her parents.
Leila was sure her parents would automatically distrust him.

“Is
D
ad around?” Leila asked
,
wanting to get both introductions done with.

“He is visiting your grandfather and probably won’t be back until after supper
.
”
Selma
returned to her cooking
.
“Kay was going to get washed up.
She said she would start warm
ing the water for you guys also
.”

Selma
would be
in a questioning mood
.
Leila
did not want to stick around to answer any questions
;
so she hurriedly grabbed her bag and shoes and led
Nalick
through the kitchen into the family room.
Leila
quickly put on her boots
,
and Nalick followed her out the back door before they met anyone else in the house.
Outside Leila led the way to another building not attached to the main house.

“
This is our bath house.” Leila made a sweeping gesture towards the building. “
You do know how to bath yourself?” she a
sked
teasingly
.
“
Wait, maybe you don't.
Do you have several women bath you at the palace?”

Nalick chuckled at the thought.
“Well
,
that is a secret
,
”
h
e replied with a wink
before
they entered the building to get cleaned
.

After spending over an hour getting bathed and dressed
,
Nalick and Leila had to return to the house and the many people that would be waiting to question them. Leila loved her family but was not ready to admit her feelings for Nalick.

“Could we just run away and pretend we got lost on our way to the bath house?”
Leila
asked
,
dread
ing
go
ing back inside and facing
her mother’s relentless questioning.

“I suppose we could, but then there is the problem of Theo and Macarius,” Nalick replied.
“Maybe they have answered all your mother’s questions, and she won’t have any left for us.”

“We can only hope,” Leila pulled her coat on and put her hood over her wet hair before leading the way back to the house.
Once inside she could hear laughter coming from the kitchen.
Cautiously she approached to find Theo, Macarius, and her mother all seated around the table playing a card game while Kay was cooking.
Leila saw her mother’s expression change back to serious once Leila and Nalick entered the room.

“How long before supper is done?” Leila asked Kay
,
trying to ease the tension
.

“About thirty minutes,” Kay replied
,
expertly handling four different pots on the stove at one time.

“The baths are all ready for you guys,” Leila said to Theo and Macarius
,
“I’ll show you where it is.” Leila offered to leave the house before her mother could ask any questions, but to her surprise, he
r
mother was just watching her and not talking.
Leila could not make out the expression on her mother face.
Selma
was not happy but nor was she mad.

“Could you g
et
Nael
for supper?”
Selma
asked Leila turn
ing
to leave.
Leila nodded before
quickly
grabbing Nalick’s arm to drag him with her.
Leila
did not want to face her mother, but the thought of leaving Nalick alone with her mother was not comforting either.

“Do you want to stay here
when we go back
?”
Nalick
asked cautiously
as they left Macarius and Theo at the bath
.
He was prepared for her response and just held his breath waiting for her to say
yes
.

“Not really,”
Leila
replied.
It was not the response he had expected nor was it one of complete reassurance either.
H
e did not find her reply good.

“I mean, yes
,
a part of me will always want to be here.
I grew up here.
To wake up in the morning and see
the sun
rise over the mountains and shine on the lake, it truly is awe inspiring.
But,” Leila paused and stopped in her tracks
thinking
, “it’s just not the place for me.
It is a little too quiet and sometimes quite boring.”
Leila looked up at Nalick to see if he understood.

“Maybe someday in my life this is what I will want, but right now I just want to be somewhere a bit more exciting
.
I was never one of those little girls that dreams about how they will marry a guy from their home village and then move in right next door to her parents
,
and he woul
d take over the family business
.”

“Is Lexia
exciting enough
for you?” Nalick asked cautiously.

Leila smiled. “It will do for now,” she replied coyly.

Nalick followed
Leila
who was
le
a
d
ing
him by rows of
dormant
grape vines.
“This is my famil
y'
s business.”
Nalick could see she was leading them to a small stone structure towards the middle of the vineyard.
As they
drew near
he could see it was a building
built into a hill
.
Leila walked around to the side door and led Nalick through several rows of
barrels
until they were near the back of the building.
Sitting in a room next to a well
-
lit fire was a dark haired man reading
papers
, Leila’s oldest brother Nael.
As
Nael
looked up
,
his face turned from serious to a big smile.
He quickly jumped up and lifted Leila and tipped her upside down as he hugged her.